A Reference Card — Programming Concepts | IGCSE Computer Science

Exam Frequency Analysis

Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)

This topic accounts for approximately 13% of your exam marks.

stable

High

Stable13%

Paper 2 is almost entirely programming. Variable types, assignments, loops and conditionals are tested every session.

A short reminder of every operator and function on one page.

DECLARE Identifier : DataType
CONSTANT Identifier ← Value

`INTEGER`	`REAL`	`CHAR`	`STRING`	`BOOLEAN`

`+`	`-`	`*`	`/`	`DIV`	`MOD`	`^`

`=`	`<>`	`<`	`>`	`<=`	`>=`

`AND`	`OR`	`NOT`

`LENGTH(s)`	`SUBSTRING(s, start, length)`	`UCASE(s)`	`LCASE(s)`

Single = for equality in CIE pseudocode (not ==).
Single quotes for CHAR, double quotes for STRING.
← (or = in some specs) for assignment; do not mix with the equality =.
Strings are 1-indexed in CIE pseudocode (not 0-indexed like Python).
Always declare a variable before using it, with the right data type.
Use MOD for "is divisible by" rather than dividing and checking the fractional part.