Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) Past Papers 2024–2025 | Question Papers, Mark Schemes & Examiner Advice – Updated 2026
- Jack Wilson
- Mar 6
- 12 min read
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers are one of the most effective ways to prepare for the exam. On this page you will find the latest Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) past papers from 2024 to 2025, including question papers, mark schemes, and source files used in the official examinations. All resources are organised by exam session and variant to help you practise under real exam conditions. This page is regularly updated for 2026 so students can access the most recent materials available.
Practising with ICT 0417 past papers helps students understand how Cambridge structures questions, how marks are awarded, and which topics appear most frequently in the exam. Alongside the past papers, we also provide insider teacher and examiner insights and preparation advice by clicking here or scrolling below to help you avoid common mistakes and maximise your marks. Unsure what changes were made for the 2026 ICT exams as compared to previous exams? Click here to find out.
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – November 2025 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/11) Paper 1 Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/13) Paper 1 Variant 3 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) Paper 2 Question Paper | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) Paper 3 Question Paper | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the November 2025 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the November 2025 exam session, students needed between 163–169 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, depending on the variant taken. For a Grade A*, the threshold ranged from 191 to 198 marks out of 280. This shows that the grade boundaries are fairly consistent and fall within a narrow range, with a Grade A typically achieved at around 58–60%, and a Grade A* usually achieved at around 68–71% of the total marks.
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – June 2025 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/11) Paper 1 Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/13) Paper 1 Variant 3 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/21) Paper 2 Question Paper Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/22) Paper 2 Question Paper Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/31) Paper 3 Question Paper Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/32) Paper 3 Question Paper Variant 2 | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the June 2025 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the June 2025 exam session, students needed roughly 161–170 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, depending on the exam option taken. For a Grade A*, the threshold ranged from 188 to 199 marks out of 280. This shows that the grade boundaries were fairly consistent, with a Grade A typically achieved at around 57–61%, and a Grade A* usually achieved at around 67–71% of the total marks.
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – March 2025 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/21) Paper 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/31) Paper 3 | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the March 2025 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the March 2025 exam session, students needed 182 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, while 212 marks out of 280 were required for a Grade A*. This means a Grade A was achieved at around 65%, while a Grade A* required approximately 76% of the total marks across all three papers (Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3).
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – November 2024 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/11) Paper 1 Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/13) Paper 1 Variant 3 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) Paper 2 Question Paper | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) Paper 3 Question Paper | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the November 2024 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the November 2024 exam session, students needed around 162–166 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, depending on the variant taken. For a Grade A*, the threshold ranged from 196 to 199 marks out of 280. This shows that the marks required to achieve the top grades were consistent and fell within a narrow range, with a Grade A achieved at around 58–59%, while a Grade A* was achieved at around 70–71% of the total marks across all three papers.
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – June 2024 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/11) Paper 1 Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/13) Paper 1 Variant 3 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/21) Paper 2 Question Paper Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/22) Paper 2 Question Paper Variant 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/31) Paper 3 Question Paper Variant 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/32) Paper 3 Question Paper Variant 2 | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the June 2024 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the June 2024 exam session, students needed between 166–177 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, depending on the option taken. For a Grade A*, the threshold ranged from 196 to 207 marks out of 280. Thus, Grade A achieved at around 59–63%, while a Grade A* was achieved at around 70–74% of the total marks across all three papers.
Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (ICT 0417) Past Papers – March 2024 | Past Papers with Mark Schemes and Source Files
Cambridge IGCSE ICT | Downloads | |
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/12) Paper 1 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/21) Paper 2 | ||
Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417/31) Paper 3 | ||
How many marks were needed to get an A or A* in the March 2024 Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
In the March 2024 exam session, students needed 178 marks out of 280 to achieve a Grade A, while 210 marks out of 280 were required for a Grade A*. This means a Grade A was achieved at 64%, while a Grade A* required 75% of the total marks.
What Your IGCSE Cambridge ICT Examiners Actually Look For in Your Answers
Our combined years of experience teaching and examining Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology have given us a clear picture of where students consistently lose marks. The mistakes in this guide are not a matter of ability — they are a matter of awareness. Read through each point carefully, and make sure none of them apply to you come exam day.
1. Use Generic Terms, Not Brand Names
This is one of the most common — and entirely avoidable — mistakes I see across theory papers. Students frequently write brand names like Excel, Word, Windows, or MacBook when answering questions about software and hardware.
Remember this: no marks can be awarded for brand names. It doesn't matter how accurate your answer is in every other respect — if you've written "Excel" where the expected answer is "spreadsheet software," you will not receive the mark.
Get into the habit of always reaching for the generic term. Spreadsheet software, word processing software, operating system, laptop computer — these are the kinds of phrases that will earn you credit. Brand names simply will not.
2. Key In Text Exactly as Shown
In practical papers, a surprising number of marks are lost not through misunderstanding, but through careless data entry. Students retype text from the question paper with small differences in capitalisation, spelling, or punctuation — and those differences cost marks.
Pay particular attention to any text printed in bold in the question paper. Bold formatting is used deliberately to signal that the text must be entered exactly as displayed. A missing capital letter, a misplaced comma, or a misspelled word in a header, footer, title, or database record can each result in a lost mark.
Always use your software's spell checker as a first pass, but don't rely on it alone — it won't catch incorrectly capitalised words or punctuation errors. Take a moment to proofread your work manually before moving on, especially for repeated elements like headers and footers that appear throughout a document.
3. Always Print Your Candidate Details
Every year, a significant number of candidates submit work with no name, centre number, or candidate number anywhere on their printouts. This is a serious problem — if an examiner cannot confirm who produced the work, marks simply cannot be awarded.
Handwritten details added after printing are not acceptable. Your information must appear as printed text, and the right place for it is in the header or footer of your document, exactly as the instructions specify. Make this the very first thing you do when setting up any new document, and check before printing that your details will appear on every page — including all report printouts and every page of your Evidence Document.
It takes thirty seconds to set up. Don't let it cost you marks.
4. Make Sure Your Screenshots Show the Right Thing
Poor screenshot evidence is a recurring issue, and it often comes down to one misunderstanding: candidates capture the process rather than the outcome. A screenshot of a "Save As" dialogue box, for instance, tells an examiner nothing — what's needed is the file actually sitting in the folder, with its name, extension, and file size all clearly visible.
Beyond showing the right moment, screenshots also need to be legible. An image that's too small, too blurry, or poorly cropped may hide exactly the detail an examiner needs to see — whether that's a primary key, a database relationship, or a line of HTML code. Resize and crop your screenshots carefully, and always check that the critical information can be read clearly without zooming in.
A good rule of thumb: look at each screenshot and ask yourself whether an examiner could award the mark from that image alone, without any doubt. If the answer is no, retake it.
5. Serif and Sans-Serif Are Categories, Not Font Names
This mistake is more common than you might expect. When a task asks for a sans-serif font, some candidates simply type "Sans-Serif" as the font name — which is incorrect and will not be credited. Serif and sans-serif are categories of font, not fonts themselves, and no such font exists by that name in any standard software.
The distinction between the two is straightforward once you know what to look for. Serif fonts — such as Times New Roman — have small decorative strokes at the ends of each character. Sans-serif fonts — such as Arial or Calibri — have clean, plain edges with no such strokes. ("Sans" simply means "without" in French.)
When a task specifies a font category, your job is to select a specific, named font that belongs to it. Learn a reliable example from each category and you'll never lose this mark.
6. Never Leave a Statement Without a Reason
In theory questions, one of the most consistent ways candidates lose marks is by stopping too soon. An answer like "it is quicker" or "it is more secure" identifies a point, but it doesn't demonstrate understanding — and it's understanding that the mark scheme is designed to reward.
A simple habit can fix this: after every statement you write, ask yourself "because...?" and then answer it. "It is quicker" becomes "it is quicker because the data is processed locally without needing to send a request to a remote server" — and that is the kind of response that earns credit.
This matters even more when the question uses command words like describe, evaluate, or discuss. These words are signals that a basic statement will not be enough. They're asking you to go further — to explain a mechanism, weigh up advantages against disadvantages, or explore an idea from more than one angle. Match the depth of your answer to the demand of the question.
7. Know Your Test Data Types
Testing questions are a reliable source of lost marks, and the confusion almost always comes down to the same two mix-ups: candidates either swap extreme and abnormal data, or they describe what was tested without explaining why.
The three categories are worth committing to memory clearly. Normal data is typical, valid input that the system should accept — for example, entering the age 25 into a field that accepts 1 to 100. Extreme data sits right on the boundary of what's acceptable — so 1 and 100 in that same example. Abnormal data is invalid input that the system should reject — such as entering -5, or a letter where a number is expected. The critical distinction is that extreme data is still valid; abnormal data is not.
When explaining why something is being tested — a validation routine, a file structure, a calculation — don't just name the thing. Describe what could go wrong, what the test is checking for, and what a correct outcome would look like. That level of reasoning is what moves an answer from a partial mark to a full one.
One final point: a test strategy is your overall written approach, decided before you build your test plan. It's not the same as the test plan itself, and examiners will notice if the two are conflated.
8. Write Comparisons in Prose, Not Tables
When a question asks you to compare, evaluate, or discuss, it is tempting to split your answer into a neat table of advantages on one side and disadvantages on the other. It looks organised — but for these question types, it will limit your marks.
The problem is that a table of separate points doesn't actually compare anything. Higher mark bands require you to make direct connections between the options you're discussing, and a table structure makes that almost impossible to do naturally.
Write in paragraphs instead, and use explicitly comparative language. Rather than listing "tablets are lightweight" in one column and "desktops are heavy" in another, write: "Tablets are significantly more portable than desktop computers because their compact size and low weight allow them to be carried easily between locations, whereas a desktop's separate components make it impractical to move regularly." That single sentence demonstrates comparison, reasoning, and technical understanding — all of which a table of bullet points cannot show.
The structure to aim for is: item A → comparative word → item B → because → reason. Build your answer around that pattern and you'll be in the right mark band.
9. Don't Let Your Software Write Your HTML For You
Web authoring tasks require you to produce clean, compliant HTML and CSS — and one of the most common ways candidates lose marks is by trusting their software's automatic output without checking it manually.
The most frequent structural error involves video embedding. Many applications will insert an <object> tag by default, but this is not what the mark scheme expects. The correct approach is to use a <video> tag with a nested <source> tag inside it. If the task specifies that the video should loop or play automatically, those attributes must appear explicitly within the <video> tag — they won't be added for you.
The other error I see repeatedly is misplacing elements in the wrong section of the page. Your page title and any link to an external stylesheet belong in the <head> — not the <body>. This is a fundamental point of HTML structure, and placing them incorrectly will cost you marks even if everything else looks right on screen.
Get into the habit of reading through your raw HTML code before submitting. What the page looks like in a browser and what the code actually says are two different things, and examiners are marking the code.
10. Use the Right Spreadsheet Function for the Job
Spreadsheet questions test whether you understand why a function is used, not just whether you can type it in — and two particular habits tend to give candidates away.
The first is wrapping calculations inside a SUM function unnecessarily. Writing =SUM(A1+B1) or =SUM(60*C14+D14) is incorrect because SUM is designed to add a range of values, not to evaluate an expression. A formula like =A1+B1 or =60*C14+D14 is the right approach — clean, direct, and accurate.
The second is choosing between VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP without looking at the data first. The rule is straightforward: if your reference table runs vertically — data arranged in columns — use VLOOKUP. If it runs horizontally — data arranged in rows — use HLOOKUP. Look at the orientation of the data before you decide.
More broadly, always ask whether a simpler function exists before building a complex nested IF statement. If you're counting or averaging based on a single condition, COUNTIFor AVERAGEIF will do the job more efficiently and with far less room for error. A concise, correct formula will always be rewarded over a complicated one that's harder to follow and easier to get wrong.
Can I still use past papers and revision guides from before 2026 to prepare for my Cambridge IGCSE ICT (0417) exam?
Yes — with one important distinction. Resources endorsed for "examination from 2023" are fully suitable for your 2026 exams, as the core syllabus content has not changed.
However, if you are using resources from before 2023, some content will be outdated. The 2023 overhaul removed topics like Mail Merge and Applications in Manufacturing Industries, and added new ones such as metatags, video controls in HTML, and CSS classes. It also shortened Paper 1 to 1 hour 30 minutes and set Papers 2 & 3 at 2 hours 15 minutes each. As long as your past papers and guides are from 2023 onwards, you are good to go.
Will the 2026 exam papers look different from the ones I have been practising with?
Slightly, yes — but only in appearance, not in content or difficulty. Starting from the March 2026 series, Cambridge is updating the layout and formatting of question papers to improve accessibility. The types of questions, topics tested, and level of difficulty remain exactly the same. The assessment structure is also unchanged: Paper 1 (Theory) is worth 40% of your grade, and Papers 2 and 3 (Practical A and B) are each worth 30%. So while a 2026 paper may look a little different visually, your existing practice materials will prepare you just as effectively.
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