IGCSE ~ Questions and Answers

Over the past couple of months, we have had many parents come up to us and ask us about what IGCSE is. Many parents enquire about this while their children are very young -- to those parents, I always say to wait another 10 years.

However, for curious and concerned parents, here are some Q&A. Feel free to reach out to us for more information!

What is IGCSE? 
IGCSE stands for International General Certificate of Secondary Education and is a board headed by Cambridge University's CIE division (Cambridge International Examinations).

At what age does IGCSE become relevant?
Age 14-17 is when you need to think about what board your child might join. The IGCSE course spans 2 years, Class 9-10, with the examination to be given at the end of that time period. Before that, your child could be homeschooled, studying in ICSE, CBSE, State or any type of combination.    

Why IGCSE?
Good question. A parent might choose IGCSE as the preferred board for the freedom of choice it gives the students in terms of subjects. It allows private candidature too, which means it is home-school friendly and does not depend on previous Board/s experience of the student. The grading is moderated. IGCSE does not rely on rote learning. It involves understanding the concepts and is purely an application-oriented syllabus.  

What is the Indian equivalent?
The closest Indian equivalent to IGCSE would be ICSE, the board that functions as the Indian syndicate of Cambridge curriculum. In the western world, IGCSE is the equivalent of the O Levels.

My child is not well-versed in XYZ subject. Do children get choices?
Students get plenty of choices while taking the IGCSE. Maths (Core or Extended) and English (as a First Language / Second Language) are the two compulsory subjects, but other than those, they have a choice between more than 100 other subjects. Most schools, however, can only facilitate and examine certain ones, and you will need to check with the school what subjects they offer. 

Who corrects the papers?
The IGCSE answer scripts are sent by the Centre directly to the CIE, where they are corrected by certified CIE examiners all over the world.

What type of marking/grading system can I expect?
While not all papers have percentage scores, these can be solicited from CIE in case of further studies in India. Generally, the grades are from A* (Highest) to U (Ungraded). In certain papers (Core papers), C is accepted as Satisfactory/Pass.

What is Core & Extended?
Core papers are those that test the basics and are mainly composed of multiple-choice questions. They are meant for those students who find higher-level content in the subject too challenging. An Extended paper is longer and more topics are examined. This choice can be made by the teacher/facilitator towards the end of the course while registering the child for the exams.  

How does Abheek help?
Abheek Academy takes in private candidates writing the IGCSE (CIE) which is a programme that spans Class 9-10. Students above the age of 14 qualify to write the exams.

At Abheek, we facilitate our students for certain subjects (we prefer that they take 5 or 6 subjects at maximum).

We are NOT a CIE Centre. We are merely facilitators in IGCSE. To write the examinations and register your child, we will refer you to nearby IGCSE schools. 

Where can I learn more?

Find out more at the following link, a wonderful resource for all homeschooling parents! (Not affiliated to Abheek, but superbly useful for all Abheek parents and educators.)

Also feel free to check out the official website.

Cmbridge International - Website 

Melkote ~ A Whole World Away!

An educational + leisure trip to Melukote was arranged by Abheek for Inspiring kids of 6th grade. The main criterion for this trip was to experientially understand fibres and fabrics which they are learning about in their chemistry section. Apart from this, they visited the Melukote Cheluvanarayana Temple and Rangantittu Bird Sanctuary as well. 

Breakfast 7:50 hrs – Breakfast was at Bidadi for some famous Thatte Idlis. From there we continued our journey to Hosa Jeevana Daari at Chinakuruli road, Melukote. 

Arrival at Hosa Jeevana Daari at 10:20 Hrs -- Hosa Jeevana Daari is a local body / a Society formed by the Mr. Surendra, under the mentorship of Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan. This society was inspired by none other than Mahatma Gandhi and has been training local people in the ancient Indian art of making yarn from cotton, weaving, colouring of cloth etc. Today, Mr. Santosh (son of Mr. Surendra) heads the Society as the Secretary. With the help of Mr. Manu, the children from Abheek were introduced to the society, Melukote, cotton and the processes that take place in making cloth without stitching. 

Their journey with cotton started from ancient weaving techniques, through events under the British Rule, its connections with the Industrial and the Green Revolution, Gandhi’s influences on skilled labourers and modern age practices of cloth making. 

A connection with Local Geography, biodiversity, weather and climate changes were also added. This gave the children and the educators of Abheek a holistic picture of our past. 

We had some lovely hot Lemongrass Tea in between served by Mr. Suman. He was a local who has been given free education and trained by the Hosa Jeevana Daari Society. 

The next stage was to see how the yarns were made and spooled into weave-able fibres. They visited the weaving and cloth dyeing centre to understand how the fibres were made and woven into a single role of fabric. The children also used the semi-traditional “Charaka” and spooled fibres into small rolls. 

After this, they made a short visit to Melukote Cheluvanarayana Temple before it closed for the afternoon. Due to lack of time, they were not able to visit the Yoga Narasimha temple and the Akka – Tangi Kalyanis’. 

Upon return, a sumptuous home-made (with organically grown vegetables) lunch was served. The standard Bisibelebhath, with Melukote’s famous Puliyogare, cucumber raita and curd rice were served. For desserts, a local form of sweet pongal was served. 

Leaving Hosa Jeevana Daari – 14:45 Hrs -- Soon after lunch, the Abheek gang moved towards Rangantittu Bird Sanctuary and Srirangapatna. Reaching at 15:30 hrs. We had 2 hours to spend at Rangantittu. The whole group went for a boat ride and spotted many birds, crocodiles and bats. The highlights of this part of the journey were the crocodiles, who camouflaged themselves like rocks. Apart from the crocodiles, the children saw White Ibises feeding their newly hatched chicks. With the end of the boat ride came the end of our trip as well. The sun was setting fast behind us. We hit the highway, encountered some heavy rains in between Channapatna and Ramnagaram. During all this time, the children played games, listened to music and some even slept off for a short while. We finally arrived at Abheek Academy at 20:20 hrs thus marking the end of a lovely journey.

"My Cup Of Feelings"

It is rare that youngsters in an educational institute feel free to reveal their innermost thoughts to adults, but that is not true at Abheek. A wonderful session on Emotions was conducted by our guest Special Educator and counsellor for the students of ages 10 and up. The session was informal in nature and invited a lot of interaction. It began with each individual describing themself in one word. Next, the concept of feeling words was brought up. We noticed that the children had trouble distinguishing between words expressing emotion vs state/action, so a vocabulary of feeling words and emotions was gradually built up. Through this, the difference between feelings and thoughts was also gently demarcated. Individuals identified 'where' they feel these emotions most and children started discussing about the experience of being judged and having judgemental individuals around them. How do we handle judgemental people and opinions? By forgiveness, we can move forward and rid ourselves of stress regarding other people's thoughts. Our Educator brought up the importance of journalling feelings and closed the session by explaining how the students can each have an image of a 'cup' of feelings in which they should not allow their negative feelings to overflow. Pre-teens and teens greatly benefit from the open, interactive and completely candid dialogues that they have with their adult mentors at Abheek, and by suggesting strategies for them to deal with their problems, we can get closer to our own students as well.

Admissions Open! (2020-21)

Every child has a dream, but do we really allow the child to explore it? Your child has it in him or her, but do you have it in you to give him or her a chance to learn?

You could put your child in a school that hammers students into assembly-line products -- or you could choose to unschool, and opt for an education that nurtures your child into a creative, sensitive individual.

Abheek Academy is an Alternative Education Co-operative and a forum for homeschoolers. It aspires to provide a support system with friendly, warm and relaxed atmosphere.

Our learning programme runs from June 2020 to March 2021 for the coming academic year. The teacher–student ratio is 1:8 and we follow the Global Classroom Curriculum, which meets the requirement of CBSE, ICSE, IB, IGCSE & State boards.

Admissions for 2020-21 are open for the following age groups: 

Joyful (Montessori ~ ages 3-5)

Empowering (Primary years ~ ages 6-10)

Call us, meet us and feel comfortable to bring your child along, to experience the new way of learning.

Seats are limited and our admission process will close on November 30, 2019.

Meet us today! 

What is Abheek?

Abheek Academy is an Alternative Education Co-operative -- a Learning Centre and a forum for homeschoolers. It aspires to provide a support system in a friendly, warm and relaxed atmosphere. Our ambience is essentially fluid and informal. It is a space where children can be themselves and direct their own learning goals. Abheek invites all those who can share their skills with us to be a part of our day. Children are invited to experience Abheek activities with us.


Abheek began with group homeschooling. In that journey came an opportunity for more to join. 

Abheek is a learning space for alternative education. The alternative education movement is an attempt to free our thinking from the educational paradigm imposed on us. One of our many priorities is to allow the child some say in what he or she learns, and how he or she learns it. 

We are tired of philosophies! So, we don't follow a particular one. 

The school provides a stimulus for exploration and thinking and play. We want to create a space for children where they feel safe and relaxed. We slow down life for them, where everything isn't a race. Academic learning happens as a result of having fun and play. We devise activities, along with the children, that lead to 'learning'. Our rhythm for music and craft for the year is guided by our seasons and festivals.

We want to be fearless (the real meaning of 'Abheek'), and the children of our school to be fearless. We don't want to blame society, but add to the society thinking individuals, who will be capable of bringing about change.


Founded in 2011, our learning space is located in Bengaluru and reflects the various backgrounds and cultures of the area.

Why do we do what we do? 

Because we know that the idea of schooling, education, is changing with the current generation of parents. Most of us have been brought up in schools where we were merely a roll number, a person to be moulded and shaped according to our surrounding adults' whims. We were not given too many opportunities to develop our own personality. Activities and ideals about our success were thrust upon us from the outside world, and our parents and loved ones succumbed to that pressure. 

What we do at Abheek is for the children. Children have a personality, and should be allowed to explore the positive facets of it. We do not want to contain, restrain or 'train' our children. We want to show them that they are equally important and therefore responsible in shaping their own futures.  

We hope you join us at Abheek for explorations and reflections, activities and opportunities, to discover the boundless potential of children. 

One Year in Our New Campus!

It has been a year since Abheek moved into the new campus in Gottigere. With a little bit of luck and a massive dose of goodwill from all our Abheekians throughout the years -- students and staff -- we are now in a position to project a bright future for Abheek Academy's 2020 and beyond.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to every single individual who has been a part of the Abheek journey, right from its inception in 2011 to where it stands today on its trajectory of swift growth. All the staff, helpers, parents, students, advisors and well-wishers who have made Abheek what it is today - we promise to give our children the best childhood they could possibly have and to hold the door of every opportunity available to them in the future.