IGCSE Physics Formula Sheet: Every Equation You Need (0625)
There is no formula sheet handed out in the IGCSE Physics exam. That surprises a lot of students, because A-Level Physics gives you a data booklet and GCSE Combined Science gives you an equations page, but Cambridge 0625 does not. Every equation on this page has to live in your head by the time you walk into the exam hall. This IGCSE physics formula sheet exists to make that job manageable, organised by topic the way the syllabus is examined, with the units examiners actually deduct marks for when you leave them out. I tutor students through 0625 every week, and the question I get most often isn’t “what’s the formula for X.” It’s “why did I lose a mark when my answer was right.” Nine times out of ten the number was correct and the unit was missing, or the formula was rearranged wrong under pressure. Knowing a formula is different from being able to pull it out cold in the middle of a six-mark question. That gap is what mock tests exist to close. You don’t win an exam you haven’t rehearsed for, and a formula you’ve only read once isn’t the same as one you’ve actually used to solve a problem. Why an IGCSE physics formula sheet matters more here than in most subjects Physics at IGCSE level rewards structure. Marks are awarded for the correct formula, the correct substitution, and the correct unit, often as three separate ticks on the mark scheme. A student who memorises this IGCSE physics formula sheet properly, including units, typically picks up two or three extra marks per paper just from that final step. That’s often the difference at a grade boundary. The formulas below cover both Core and Extended content for 0625. Extended-only formulas are marked. If you’re sitting Core, skip those and focus on the rest. The formula load here is also heavier than most students expect coming from GCSE and IGCSE physics being treated as interchangeable, when the exam structures actually differ quite a bit. Motion and forces Momentum questions catch students out because “conserved” gets treated as a vague idea rather than an equation you set up before and after a collision. Write total momentum before equals total momentum after, then substitute. It’s mechanical once you’ve done it a dozen times. Work, energy and power Efficiency questions almost always give you numbers in the wrong units on purpose, kilowatt-hours mixed with joules, minutes mixed with seconds. Convert everything to base SI units before you touch the formula, not after. Thermal physics Specific heat capacity and specific latent heat use the same letter Q for energy, and students routinely mix them up on a change-of-state question. The rule is simple: if the temperature is changing, use mcΔθ. If the temperature is staying the same while the substance melts or boils, use mL. Waves and light Electricity V = IR is the single most-used formula on the whole paper, and it’s also the one students rearrange incorrectly under time pressure. Practise all three rearrangements, for V, for I, and for R, until none of them require thinking. Electromagnetism Nuclear physics Nuclear physics at 0625 is mostly conceptual rather than formula-heavy, but half-life calculations come up almost every year. The number of half-lives that have passed equals the total time elapsed divided by the length of one half-life. Each half-life halves the count rate. A count rate of 800 counts per minute becomes 400, then 200, then 100, and so on, with no separate equation to memorise, just the halving pattern applied correctly. The myth: “if I have the formula sheet, I’ll get full marks” This is worth addressing directly because a lot of students search for an IGCSE physics formula sheet expecting it to function like an open-book exam aid. It won’t, because Cambridge doesn’t allow one in the hall. Having the list in front of you while revising is genuinely useful. Mistaking that for exam-day support is where marks get lost. The honest version is this: this page will get every formula into your revision notes, but only repeated practice, ideally under timed conditions, moves it from “I recognise this” to “I can produce this correctly in ninety seconds while also reading the question properly.” How to actually use this IGCSE physics formula sheet Reading a list of equations once will not make them stick. What works, based on what I see move grades for students I teach, is this: copy the formula out by hand rather than just reading it, apply it to three past-paper questions from different years, then come back two days later and write it from memory with no notes in front of you. Repeat that cycle weekly as part of a proper igcse revision plan rather than cramming it into the week before the exam. Students who do this consistently stop losing marks on substitution and units, because the formula stops being something they’re trying to recall and becomes something they just do. Pair this IGCSE physics formula sheet with topic-by-topic past paper practice rather than doing formulas and papers as separate activities. A formula only proves useful once you’ve had to decide, unprompted, which one a question is actually asking for. That decision-making is the part most students haven’t practised, even when they know every equation on this list. FAQs Is a formula sheet provided in the IGCSE Physics exam? No. Cambridge does not issue a formula booklet for 0625, which is different from A-Level Physics. Every equation, including unit conversions, has to be recalled from memory during the exam. How many formulas do I actually need to know for IGCSE Physics Core versus Extended? Core students need roughly 20 formulas across mechanics, energy, thermal physics, waves and electricity. Extended students need those plus around 8 to 10 additional ones, including momentum, Boyle’s Law, refractive index by speed, and the transformer equations. Do I lose marks for not including units in physics calculations? Yes, and it’s one of the most common