Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028.

4 Details of the assessment

Paper 1 – Computer Systems

Written paper, 1 hour 45 minutes, 75 marks

This question paper consists of short-answer and structured questions set on Topics 1–6 of the subject
content.

All questions are compulsory, and candidates answer on the question paper.

This paper assesses all assessment objectives, AO1, AO2 and AO3, and assesses the full grade range, A* to G.

This paper is externally assessed.

Calculators are not allowed in this examination.

Paper 2 – Algorithms, Programming and Logic

Written paper, 1 hour 45 minutes, 75 marks

This question paper consists of short-answer and structured questions set on Topics 7–10 of the subject
content.

All questions are compulsory, and candidates answer on the question paper.

The questions require candidates to have practical programming experience.

Knowledge of programming language syntax is not examined; in all cases the logic is more important than the
syntax.

This paper assesses all assessment objectives, AO1, AO2 and AO3, and assesses the full grade range, A* to G.

This paper is externally assessed.

Calculators are not allowed in this examination.

Scenario question
The final question in Paper 2 is a 15-mark unseen scenario question using the methods and concepts listed in
Topics 7-10 of the subject content.

Candidates will be required to write an algorithm using pseudocode or program code for the context provided.

It is expected that candidates should spend 30 minutes answering this question.

Teachers are advised to familiarise themselves with the updated Paper 2 specimen paper and mark scheme for
first assessment 2023, which provide an example of the scenario question, how it will be marked, and include
an indicative 15-mark response.

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 32

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Mathematical requirements
Calculators are not permitted in IGCSE Computer Science examinations.

Candidates should be able to:

• add, subtract, multiply and divide
• use averages, random numbers, decimals, fractions, percentages and ratios
• use both positive and negative integers, and real numbers
• use arithmetic and Boolean operators
• use different number systems, including binary, denary and hexadecimal
• use methods of counting, totalling and rounding.

Flowchart symbols
Flow line An arrow represents control passing
between the connected shapes.

Process This shape represents something being

performed or done.

Subroutine This shape represents a subroutine call that

will relate to a separate, non-linked flowchart.

Input/Output This shape represents the input or output of

something into or out of the flowchart.

Decision This shape represents a decision

(Yes/No or True/False) that results in two
lines representing the different possible
outcomes.

Terminator This shape represents the ‘Start’ and ‘Stop’

of the process.

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 33

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Logic gate symbols

NOT

AND

OR

NAND

NOR

XOR (EOR)

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 34

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Pseudocode
The following information sets out how pseudocode will appear within the examinations of this syllabus. The
numbers and letters that appear at the end of a sub-heading provide a cross reference to the relevant section
of the subject content.

General style
Font style and size
Pseudocode is presented in Courier New. The size of the font will be consistent throughout.

Indentation
Lines are indented by four spaces to indicate that they are contained within a statement in a previous line.
Where it is not possible to fit a statement on one line, any continuation lines are indented by two spaces from
the margin. In cases where line numbering is used, this indentation may be omitted. Every effort will be made to
make sure that code statements are not longer than a line of code, unless this is necessary.

Note that the THEN and ELSE clauses of an IF statement are indented by only two spaces. Cases in CASE
statements are also indented by only two spaces.

Case
Keywords are in upper case, e.g. IF, REPEAT, PROCEDURE.

Identifiers are in mixed case with upper case letters indicating the beginning of new words, e.g.
NumberOfPlayers.

Meta-variables – (symbols in the pseudocode that should be substituted by other symbols) are enclosed in
angled brackets < >.

Example – meta-variables

REPEAT
<Statements>
UNTIL <Condition>

Lines and line numbering

Each line representing a statement is numbered. However, when a statement runs over one line of text, the
continuation lines are not numbered.

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 35

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Comments
Comments are preceded by two forward slashes: //. The comment continues until the end of the line. For
multi-line comments, each line is preceded by //.

Normally the comment is on a separate line before, and at the same level of indentation as, the code it refers
to. Occasionally, however, a short comment that refers to a single line may be at the end of the line to which it
refers.

Example – comments

// This procedure swaps

// values of X and Y
PROCEDURE SWAP(X : INTEGER, Y : INTEGER)
Temp ← X // temporarily store X
X ← Y
Y ← Temp
ENDPROCEDURE

Variables, constants and data types

Basic data types (8.1.2)
The following keywords are used to designate basic data types:
• INTEGER a whole number
• REAL a number capable of containing a fractional part
• CHAR a single character
• STRING a sequence of zero or more characters
• BOOLEAN the logical values TRUE and FALSE

Literals
Literals of the above data types are written as follows:
• Integer written as normal in the denary system, e.g. 5, –3
• Real always written with at least one digit on either side of the decimal point, zeros being
added if necessary, e.g. 4.7, 0.3, –4.0, 0.0
• Char a single character delimited by single quotes, e.g. ꞌxꞌ, ꞌcꞌ, ꞌ@ꞌ
• String delimited by double quotes. A string may contain no characters (i.e. the empty string),
e.g. “This is a string”, “”
• Boolean TRUE, FALSE

Identifiers
Identifiers (the names given to variables, constants, procedures and functions) are in mixed case using Pascal
case, e.g. FirstName. They can only contain letters (A–Z, a–z) and digits (0–9). They must start with a capital
letter and not a digit. Accented letters and other characters, including the underscore, should not be used.

As in programming, it is good practice to use identifier names that describe the variable, procedure or function
to which they refer. Single letters may be used where these are conventional (such as i and j when dealing
with array indices, or X and Y when dealing with coordinates) as these are made clear by the convention.

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 36

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Keywords should never be used as identifier names.

Identifiers should be considered case insensitive, for example, Countdown and CountDown should not be
used as separate variables.

Variable declarations (8.1.1)

Declarations are made as follows:
DECLARE <identifier> : <data type>

Example – variable declarations

DECLARE Counter : INTEGER

DECLARE TotalToPay : REAL
DECLARE GameOver : BOOLEAN

Constants (8.1.1)
It is good practice to use constants if this makes the pseudocode more readable, and easier to update if the
value of the constant changes.

Constants are declared by stating the identifier and the literal value in the following format:
CONSTANT <identifier> ← <value>

Example – CONSTANT declarations

CONSTANT HourlyRate ← 6.50

CONSTANT DefaultText ← "N/A"

Only literals can be used as the value of a constant. A variable, another constant or an expression must never
be used.

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 37

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

Assignments
The assignment operator is ←

Assignments should be made in the following format:

<identifier> ← <value>

The identifier must refer to a variable (this can be an individual element in a data structure, such as an array or
an abstract data type). The value may be any expression that evaluates to a value of the same data type as the
variable.

Example – assignments

Counter ← 0
Counter ← Counter + 1
TotalToPay ← NumberOfHours * HourlyRate

Arrays
Declaring arrays (8.2.1)
Arrays are fixed-length structures of elements of identical data type, accessible by consecutive index numbers.
It is good practice to explicitly state what the lower bound of the array (i.e. the index of the first element) is
because this defaults to either 0 or 1 in different systems. Generally, a lower bound of 1 will be used.

Square brackets are used to indicate the array indices.

1D and 2D arrays are declared as follows (where l, l1, l2 are lower bounds and u, u1, u2 are upper bounds):

DECLARE <identifier> : ARRAY[<l>:<u>] OF <data type>

DECLARE <identifier> : ARRAY[<l1>:<u1>, <l2>:<u2>] OF <data type>

Example – array declaration

DECLARE StudentNames : ARRAY[1:30] OF STRING

DECLARE NoughtsAndCrosses : ARRAY[1:3, 1:3] OF CHAR

Using arrays (8.2.1)

In the main pseudocode statements, only one index value is used for each dimension in the square brackets.

Example – using arrays

StudentNames[1] ← "Ali"
NoughtsAndCrosses[2,3] ← ꞌXꞌ
StudentNames[n+1] ← StudentNames[n]

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 38

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

An appropriate loop structure is used to assign the elements individually.

Example – assigning a group of array elements

FOR Index ← 1 TO 30
StudentNames[Index] ← ""
NEXT Index

Common operations
Input and output (8.1.3)
Values are input using the INPUT command as follows:
INPUT <identifier>

The identifier should be a variable (that may be an individual element of a data structure, such as an array).

Values are output using the OUTPUT command as follows:

OUTPUT <value(s)>

Several values, separated by commas, can be output using the same command.

Examples – INPUT and OUTPUT statements

INPUT Answer
OUTPUT Score
OUTPUT "You have ", Lives, " lives left"

Arithmetic operations (8.1.4 (f))

Standard arithmetic operator symbols are used:

+ addition
– subtraction
* multiplication
/ division
^ raised to the power of

Examples – arithmetic operations

Answer ← Score * 100 / MaxMark

Answer ← Pi * Radius ^ 2

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 39

 Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Details of the assessment

The integer division operators MOD and DIV can also be used.

DIV(<identifier1>, <identifier2>)
Returns the quotient of identifier1 divided by identifier2 with the fractional part discarded.

MOD(<identifier1>, <identifier2>)
Returns the remainder of identifier1 divided by identifier2

The identifiers are of data type integer.

Examples – MOD and DIV

DIV(10, 3) returns 3
MOD(10, 3) returns 1

Multiplication and division have higher precedence over addition and subtraction (this is the normal
mathematical convention). However, it is good practice to make the order of operations in complex expressions
explicit by using parentheses.

Logical operators (8.1.4 (f))

The following symbols are used for logical operators:

= equal to
< less than
<= less than or equal to
> greater than
>= greater than or equal to
<> not equal to

The result of these operations is always of data type BOOLEAN.

In complex expressions, it is advisable to use parentheses to make the order of operations explicit.

Boolean operators (8.1.4 (f))

The only Boolean operators used are AND, OR and NOT. The operands and results of these operations are
always of data type BOOLEAN.

In complex expressions, it is advisable to use parentheses to make the order of operations explicit.

Examples – Boolean operations

IF Answer < 0 OR Answer > 100

THEN
Correct ← FALSE
ELSE
Correct ← TRUE
ENDIF

Back to contents page www.cambridgeinternational.org/igcse 40