Are pre-made IGCSE or A-level notes worth buying? No. They are a revision shortcut, not a preparation strategy.

It’s tempting. You’re scrolling through social media, stressed about exams, and an ad pops up for “complete IGCSE notes” for a few bucks. It feels like a quick way out. But those notes teachers sell online often have very little actual use.

Here’s the catch: pre-made notes are for revision, not learning. They’re meant to be skimmed a week or a few days before the exam to refresh your memory. They are not how you get prepared from scratch. If you use them that way, you’re building on shaky ground.

The better path is the one your teachers keep repeating. Read the Cambridge or Edexcel recommended textbooks. As you go, make your own notes. After every topic, solve topical past papers. That shows you how the exam board asks questions and where your understanding is still thin.

Let me make this concrete with a real example from IGCSE CAIE Chemistry. The topic is moles and stoichiometry. Here is exactly how to study it.

Step 1. Study the topic from the textbook and the practice book.

Open your recommended CAIE Chemistry textbook to the chapter on moles and stoichiometry. Read it slowly. Then open the practice book and work through the worked example on moles. Do not just read the example. Cover the solution, try it yourself, then check. Learn the formula for moles (mass divided by molar mass) and write it down until you can recall it without looking.

Step 2. Learn the formula and make your own notes.

Close the book. In your own words, write down what a mole is, how to calculate moles from mass, and how to use the balanced equation to find reacting masses. Draw a simple flow chart. Keep it short. One page is enough. The act of writing it yourself is what makes it stick. Do not copy word for word from the book.

Step 3. Solve actual past paper questions.

Now go to the CAIE past papers for chemistry and find topical questions on moles and stoichiometry. Do them one by one. Check your answers. If you get one wrong, go back to your notes and the textbook example. Then do another past paper question on the same topic. Repeat until you can solve them without help.

That is the whole method. Study one topic, learn the formula, make your own notes, and then solve past papers on that topic before moving on.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of work. But if you follow this method, read the book, make your own notes, and then do past papers, and it doesn’t work, I’m ready to say sorry to you in words. That’s a promise.