Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education

0580 Mathematics June 2024

Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/11
Paper 1 (Core)

Key messages

To succeed with this paper candidates

• Need to have completed the full Core syllabus.

• Are reminded of the need to read the questions carefully, focusing on instructions and key words.
• Must not round figures in the middle of a calculation but only at the end.
• Need to check that their answers are accurate, are in the correct form and make sense in the context.

General comments

There were a considerable number of questions proved to be generally well understood and, in most cases,
there did not seem to be confusion about what was being asked.

When two or more steps are needed in a calculation, it is best if each step is shown separately. This is
particularly important with problem solving questions and vital for those that explicitly say to show all your
working, for example, with Questions 14 and 22.

The questions that presented least difficulty were Questions 1, 3, 6(a), 7 and 20(a). Those that proved to be
the most challenging were Questions 10 a problem-solving question to find height of cuboid, 13 find
coordinates of a point on a line given the equation, 20(b) use laws of indices, 23 change km/h into m/s and
25(b) find the perimeter of a compound shape. The questions that were most likely to be left blank were
Questions 12, 13, 17(b), and 25(b).

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

This question was accessible to a large majority of candidates.

8 4
(a) Many gave or cancelled this down to . All equivalent fractions were awarded the mark.
10 5

(b) This question was the second best well answered on the paper with virtually all candidates giving a
correct answer.

(c) Many were correct here. Some gave their answer as 4800 (truncation to the hundred below) or
5000 (correct to the nearest thousand. A few gave 48 without the necessary zeros or 800, the
value of hundreds in the original number. 4976 was seen occasionally.

Question 2

Some candidates have given their answer in centimetres (10.7) instead of millimetres.

Question 3

(a) Many got this correct. Some gave their answer as 12 km. This is the distance after 1 hour when the
bus stopped rather than at 50 minutes.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(b) This question was slight less well answered with wrong answers of 15 40 (when the bus set off
again), 30, 35, 45 or 60.

Question 4

The most common wrong answer was 4 instead of 2. Also seen were 1, 5, 7, 12, 16, 180, 360 or a string of 4
or 5 numbers.

Question 5

There was often no working here, so it is not possible to determine what candidates were trying to do. Some
clearly were working out the perimeter as some calculations involving Pythagoras’ theorem were shown.
Some only gave the area of the rectangle or counted the number of sides.

Question 6

(a) This part was answered well. The correct use of BIDMAS or PENDMAS gives 28 – 8 = 20 so many
were correct. A few gave their answer as –20 putting the subtraction sign at the front of their answer.
Those who worked left to right ignoring the order of operations, in effect, worked out (28 – 8) ÷ 2
which equals 6.

8 5 10
(b) This question was slight less well answered with answers of 0.8, , − or seen. This last
10 4 8
did not get the mark as the fraction must be simplified.

Question 7

This was the best answered question on the paper. Some candidates gave the answers –12 or –42 showing
misunderstanding of directed numbers.

Question 8

Some correct, well drawn ruled lines. Others only drew one line (the vertical) or included incorrect diagonals
as some did not appreciate that the arms were not all the same length. Some drew a box in the central area.

Question 9

This was done reasonably well with many gaining one mark if not the two. Some found the correct D by
counting, other did it by estimation the position and were often one or two units, horizontally or vertically,
away from the correct position.

Question 10

This question candidates found the second most challenging. Many worked out the area of the base (or top).
Sometimes these candidates went on to treat the total surface area as if it was the volume, giving h as 4.1
instead of 4.5 Occasionally a hybrid method between total surface area and volume was seen. Sometimes
Pythagoras’ theorem calculations were given.

Question 11

(a) Many candidates did not understand that the calculation needed was 1 – 0.6 = 0.4 for the
probability of picking a toy that was not wooden. Some candidates did try subtraction but took 0.6
away from 100 as if it was a percentage.

(b) Here, many candidates who were successful with part (a), realised that the probability of a picking
a toy made of plastic, or one made of metal was the same as half of their previous answer. Some
got this correct even though they had not got the previous part correct.

Question 12

Some gave the correct answer and some correctly went as far as 60 – 4 × 5 and 52 – 300 but did not give the
final values – this was not enough for any marks to be awarded. Some treated this as simplification of an

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

algebraic expression rather than noting the heading says 5th term. During their algebraic manipulation, many
misconceptions of algebra were made, for example answers of 56n and –299n2 or 55 – n and n – 295. A few
solved for n giving n = 15 and n = 10√3 or 17.3.

Question 13

Some knew that the point where a line crosses the y-axis means that x = 0 and the coefficient, the c in y =
mx + c, gives the y-value. Others used combinations of 3s and 5s in their answers. Very few diagrams were
seen or in fact any workings.

Question 14

Only few candidates were able to do this question. The instruction to round each number correct to 1
significant figure was frequently ignored, as candidates put the given numbers into their calculators and
rounded the answer to 1 significant figure.

Question 15

There were some totally correct answers, and more candidates were awarded a single mark for a partial
factorisation. Candidates had to correctly factorise out the full 4x. Factorising out the 2 by itself is not
sufficient as that is not the complete number but using 2x correctly was given a mark. Common wrong
answers that did not attempt any factorisation were 76x 2 or 76x3. A small minority thought the x2 meant a
quadratic and attempted to factorise into two brackets.

Question 16

Not many candidates were awarded full marks. Many were awarded 1 or 2 marks for various correct lines of
working. Some only used the two different sides of the rectangle or used all four but then divided by 2.
Occasionally, the correct answer was spoilt by being written as x = 8x – 10. There were some with various
ways of forming an equation and then attempting to solve it e.g. x +7 + 3x – 12 = 0 or x + 7 = 3x – 12. Others
tried to find the area by multiplying the two lengths.

Question 17

(a) Various words were given as the answer such as centre point, circumference, chord, segment,
tangent and ratio. This last word was not accepted as a poor spelling of radius as it is a
mathematical word nothing to do with circle terminology. Also seen were non-circle words such as
rhombus, parallel, vertical and perpendicular as well as non-English words. Radii was not given the
mark as there was only one radius drawn.

(b) Very few candidates were successful here. There some tangents drawn in the wrong place which
could not obtain the mark. Others drew arcs, chords or diameters.

Question 18

The HCF of 70 did gain a mark but did not fulfil all the requirements of the question as it is an even number
so the answer for full marks was 35. Others gave 5 or 7, both are odd factors so these were given a mark.
Incorrect answers that did not gain any marks were 420 (the LCF), 10 and 14.

Question 19

(a) Many were correct here. Answers such as 12.12 came from working out the square root of 343
rather than the cube root, 302.04 from ignoring the root symbols completely. The most common
wrong answer of 49.16… came from 3 ×√343 – √40.96 = 55.56.. – 6.4

(b) This question was more likely to be correct showing good calculator skills. Wrong answers such as
320 came from ignoring the brackets and 3136 was (192 + 4) × 16 and 3920 is 3136 × 1.25 and
256 came from ignoring the index.

Question 20

(a) A large majority were correct here. Some gave their answer as 137 or 0.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(b) This question was far less well answered with incorrect values seen of 5 (should have been –5) or
29 (12 + 17).

Question 21

Many candidates gave as the answer, 203, the value on the calculator display. This needs to be manually
turned into a standard form number. Often this second stage was not attempted. Of those that did try to
change the form, some had more than one figure before the decimal point. There was a mark for converting
their wrong answer to standard form correctly, but this mark was very rarely given as candidates did not
show the values prior to changing it to standard form.

Question 22

There are various methods to eliminate one variable and, in this case either equation can be multiplied by 2
to equate coefficients. Of those that got this far working showed that addition was used when the method is
subtract or the other way around. Many showed little or no working. Some candidates gave solutions that
fitted one equation only. In this case, candidates were awarded one mark for showing some understanding
of the process. Quite a few candidates omitted this question.

Question 23

Often this was started but poorly answered with majority attempting converting kilometres to metres and
relatively few attempting the conversion of hours to seconds. There were some who were close to the correct
answer but as they did not show sufficient workings and rounded during the calculation or even truncated,
they so did not get any marks.

Question 24

Expressions such as n + 7, 4n + 7, 11 + 7n were seen. The next term is 46 and that was often given as the
answer. As in previous years, a small number thought nth term meant 9th term so gave 67 as their answer.
Some treated this as a data question so gave 125 is the sum of all the terms or 25 which is the mean as well
as the median.

Question 25

In general, candidates found this question challenging.

(a) Only a small number of candidates scored full marks here. Some ignored the semicircle giving
simply the area of the triangle. Others found the area of circle and did not divide by 2 to find the
area of semicircle; this was credited with a method mark. Some remembered the circle area
formula incorrectly as rπ2 or 2r2π or used the circumference formula, 2πr. There were some who
used Pythagoras’ theorem to find the length of KL but that is not needed until the next part.

(b) Few candidates got full marks here and this was the question of the paper that was most often left
blank. A good number picked up some method marks for their use of Pythagoras’ theorem or for
the length of the arc of the semicircle. Some included the length of the dashed line, JL. Another
error was to use 12.8 as the radius of the circle instead of 6.4.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/12
Paper 1 (Core)

Key messages

• Build up a vocabulary of mathematical names of shapes and terms.

• Check that responses are sensible for what is asked in the question.

General comments

Most candidates presented clear scripts with none or few questions not attempted. There were numerous
standard process questions that many candidates understood well, with clear logical steps and well laid out
solutions. In contrast, other candidates scattered their calculations and values randomly, making their
methods difficult to follow.

The majority found questions involving trigonometry, expanding and simplifying algebraic expressions and
general terms of sequences particularly challenging.

There were a significant number who did not make figures clear or worked in pencil before overwriting their
working and answers.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

Most candidates tackled this question successfully but it was surprising that nearly one fifth did not attempt it
and a small number put 72 instead of seventy-two. Otherwise, the main confusion was between billions and
millions while thousands for both was seen at times.

Question 2

(a) While the question was done well by most candidates, it was clear that some did not have a
protractor. Cases of using the wrong scale were common with answers around 135° or reading the
angle in the wrong side of 50°.

(b) Nearly all candidates could measure the line, provided they had a ruler. However, a significant
number gave the answer in centimetres, 8.4, or felt they had to multiply by 10 to give 840.

(c) Again, the marking of a mid-point of the line was well done, but some did not mark a point with a
line or a dot but just wrote the letter M. This made it difficult to define where they intended the point
to be positioned.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(d) The majority of candidates understood the word ‘perpendicular’ although quite a number lacked
accuracy of within 2° of 90°. Some vertical lines were seen and attempts at parallel lines showed a
lack of understanding of the mathematical terms. A line bisecting the angle was seen a number of
times while some lines were so short they were little more than a point making it difficult to award
the mark.

Question 3

1
Many candidates knew that the reciprocal of 0.4 was . However, the question asked for the value of the
0.4
10
reciprocal and so this was not sufficient for the mark. Writing 0.4 as a fraction and inverting it led to but, if
4
left as an improper fraction, it had to be in its lowest terms.

Question 4

This question was well done by the majority of candidates. A mark was sometimes lost by switching
8.6  10-1 and 86.5%. While many left the % sign off the final item this was not penalised provided all the rest
was correct but candidates should be reminded that in these questions that they need to be careful to copy
items fully.

Question 5

(a) A number of candidates lost a mark by drawing just 2 lines, but most did achieve the 2 marks.
There were some poor-quality freehand lines and accuracy on positioning was not always carefully
considered.

(b) The majority of candidates gave one of the three correct quadrilaterals, but the incorrect square
was often seen.

Question 6

Some candidates showed working for the difference in temperature with 25 – (–4) or –4 –25 resulting in
either acceptable answer. While the numbers were easy enough for a mental calculation a significant
minority found the incorrect answer of 21 or –21.

Question 7

The majority of candidates showed understanding of this type of regularly set question. The main error was
from adding $6.55 and $15.50 and then multiplying by 4.

Question 8

This question was one of the more demanding on the paper but was quite well done by many high scoring
candidates, at least up to the point of finding the correct amount spent on food. A small proportion of these
did read the question fully and progressed to a correct fraction. Many did find a quarter of 750 but did not
1
know how to proceed then. Subtracting $187.50 from 437.50, leading to a fraction of was seen in many
3
scripts.

Question 9

(a) Most candidates seem to be understanding stem-and-leaf diagrams and there was a high
proportion completely correct. Only a few did not order the leaves correctly while the main error
was omitting one of the entries. This was most common with the 7 for 57 where there were two
items of data for that number.

(b) Those who realised that the median could be found from the middle value in the table (or between
the middle two in this case) generally found the correct answer. Others went back to the original
values and after a longer process some found the correct value but often errors were made. Some

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

candidates still confuse mean and median and attempted to find the mean. Unfortunately, quite a
number using the table to identify the middle of the leaf numbers gave the answer as 6, ignoring
the stem value.

Question 10

The subtraction of vectors was well done with most candidates managing the subtraction of negative
numbers. The second component as 14 or –14 was the main error. Fraction lines between components were
seen at times even though the vectors in the question clearly show nothing between the components.

Question 11

(a) Finding the next two terms was very well done and just getting one of the two was rare.

(b) Finding the nth term was more demanding for a decreasing sequence. 6n was more often seen as
part of the answer than –6n while 17, the first term, was often seen as part of the solution. Starting
from an un-simplified form was often seen and occasionally left for full marks. However, poor
attempts to simplify that lost a mark.

Question 12

Many candidates who realised that the first two zeros were not significant figures then drew a line between
the 6 and the 2 in order to check the second significant figure. Unfortunately, quite a few added zeros after
the correct answer which lost the mark. 0.05 was a common wrong answer as that was 2 decimal places.

Question 13

While there were a lot of correct shadings, many shaded A  B, perhaps due to the intersection being the
one most easily remembered.

Question 14

With 5 possible ways of getting a partial factorisation, one mark was very common. While some did not
understand how to factorise, many did achieve the correct answer, even though this was quite involved due
to 2, 5 or 10, as well as x, being factors that could be taken outside the bracket.

Question 15

While it was understandable that an incorrect response of positive was seen very often, it was clear that
many candidates did not understand correlation.

Question 16

(a) While this was a very challenging question some did make a good attempt and succeeded in
finding the fully correct answer. Answers in terms of π have rarely been asked at core level but are
likely to become more common in a non-calculator paper from 2025. Those working out a
numerical value for the given 36 often used non-exact values such as 113.1.

(b) Unfortunately, very few candidates related this part of the question to the stem giving the area as
36. Those who did see the connection and realised that height was volume divided by area often
gained the marks.

Question 17

For those understanding standard form this question was very straightforward and consequently was done
well. A major misconception was to have 2 figures before the decimal point leading to 17.4  104.

Question 18

This trigonometry question was a straightforward example of basic bookwork so those who understood the
topic generally succeeded in finding the answer from a correct use of cosine.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 19

The division of mixed numbers was quite well done but many lost a mark by leaving the answer as an
improper fraction rather than the required mixed number. Nearly all candidates started with at least one of
the mixed numbers changed to a correct improper fraction Most realised that inverting the second fraction
was needed but some inverted the first one or even both. Cancelling was generally more successful than
simply multiplying numerators and denominators before simplifying.

Question 20

The majority of candidates understood that they had to multiply the appropriate terms in the brackets to give
four terms, two of which would combine leaving three terms in the answer. However, multiplying directed
numbers caused many errors to be made, resulting in at least one mark being lost. The most common error
was –28, instead of + 28 when the number term was calculated.

Question 21

A high proportion of candidates understood the rules of indices and applied them successfully.

Question 22

The question of bounds was complicated since the length, l, was in metres while the accuracy was in
centimetres, resulting in the question being found challenging. Working in centimetres, but not reverting back
to metres for the answer did gain 1 mark, as did the often seen correct values but the wrong way round.

Question 23

While there were a good number of fully correct responses, even those who seemed to understand what was
required rarely scored more than 1 of the 2 marks. The most significant reason was missing the number 6
since it did not come in either of the sets but was in the universal set as defined. Some included 12 in the
diagram even though ‘less than 12’ was stated in the question. Each digit should only be present in one
section of the diagram but there were quite a lot of answers where numbers were in two sections.

Question 24

For a question towards the end of the paper this probability question was well answered. However, some did
lose a mark by converting the probability to a decimal without sufficient figures for accuracy when multiplied
by 570. Just looking at the figures in the question candidates should have realised the answer was going to
be in the hundreds.

Question 25

(a) In ‘show that’ questions all steps should be made clear and when the answer is given in the
question proof of the calculation performed means an answer to at least one more decimal place
should be recorded. For this reason, most candidates who clearly understood how to do the
question only scored 2 of the 3 marks. In applying Pythagoras’ theorem, adding the squares
instead of subtracting them produced answers which defied the given one, as did answers from not
squaring the sides at all.

(b) Many did not realise that the given value of 13.3 for BD in part (a) would lead to a basic
trigonometry calculation to find the hypotenuse, CD. While many made the correct start with
13.3
sin 48 = transforming this to a correct expression for CD was rare to see. Most often it was
CD
CD = 13.3  sin 48.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/13
Paper 1 (Core)

Key messages

Read questions carefully and ensure answers are given appropriately for example in the simplest form.

Ensure full working is shown on ‘show that’ questions.

Check answers, especially for algebra questions.

General comments

The majority of candidates attempted all the questions, with many setting out their working in a clear and
logical way. A small number did not show any logic in their working, especially on the longer questions.

Candidates generally did well on number questions, although some found standard form challenging. Other
topics which candidates found challenging were Set Notation, Converting Scales and Bearings.

Partial rather than full factorisation led to marks being lost.

Most candidates appeared to have use of a calculator and sufficient time to complete the paper.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

Many correct answers were seen. There were also many responses where the place values of the 2s were
incorrect and had too many zeros.

Question 2

The majority of candidates gave the correct answer.

Question 3

Correct answers were seen regularly, but there were also a significant number of candidates who did not
simplify both terms correctly and only had one of either 6x or −9y in their answer. 6 x − 7y was a common
incorrect answer scoring 1 mark. A small number of candidates wrote terms involving x 2 and y 2 .

Question 4

(a) This was generally well answered, common errors included 164 000, 170 000, 1647, 164700 and
attempts at standard form.

(b) This was often correct, with 17, 16.9, 17.000 being common errors.

(c) This part was less well answered compared to previous parts of question. The most common error
Was 0.04 There was also confusion with the position of the decimal point leading to answers of
0.38, 3.8, 3.7665 or 36.665.

Question 5

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(a) Generally answered well by all candidates. However, there were some candidates who thought the
horizontal diagonal of the kite was also a line of symmetry.

(b) Generally, correct with 0,1,2 and 4 also seen.

Question 6

Generally, well answered with many converting to decimal form and correctly ordering the original values.
2
There was some confusion with as 0.4 and where to place this – a number of candidates putting this first.
5
A small number of candidates ordered from largest to smallest, but those that had shown decimal
equivalents earned the method mark.

Question 7

This was generally correct.

Question 8

3
Well answered with most candidates giving the decimal form. Errors included as the answer or 1–
20
0.0015 leading to 0.9985.

Question 9

(a) Generally, well answered. An incorrect answer that was seen often was 13 from calculating 18 − 5
rather than the difference between –5 and 18.

(b) Generally, well answered.

Question 10

(a) (i) Many candidates gave the correct answer.

(ii) Generally well answered, common errors were 7, n + 7 or 7n – 4.

(b) Generally, well answered.

Question 11

Incorrect answers included 144 from 180 – 36, 54 from correctly working out 108 but then dividing 108 by 2,
or 72, from calculating 180 – 36 to get 144 and dividing by 2.

Question 12

Several fully correct nets were seen. Generally, the two 2 × 3 faces on the side of the given face were
Correct. Some candidates drew four 2 × 6 faces. A small minority drew the 3D shape.

Question 13

This question was answered well by stronger candidates, but many incorrect responses were also seen.
Some only removed the common factors xy and gave their final answer as 4 x − 5y , others thought the x in
5xy 2 was squared and gave their solution as xy (4 x − 5 xy ) . Some candidates combined the terms as like
terms and gave the answer −1xy .

Some factorised the expression correctly with either x or y only in front of the bracket and earned 1 mark.

Question 14

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Candidates struggled to change between cm and km. B1 was often awarded for answers 1480, 148 or
1,480,000 (with no attempt to change to km). 40,000 ÷ 37 or 37 ÷ 40,000 were common incorrect attempts.

Question 15

6
Generally answered well by most candidates. Many candidates found the equivalent fraction and
14
6 1 42 7
calculated − correctly, whilst some calculated − and then simplified. Some candidates
14 14 98 98
incorrectly tried to subtract 3 and 1 and 7 and 14 in some way without finding a common denominator.

Question 16

This was a challenging question for many candidates as they divided by 56.40 instead of 48. Some
candidates simply subtracted 48 from 56.40 and gave the answer 8.4 as the final answer or 8.4 per cent.
Some divided 48 by 56.40 leading to 85 per cent and some went on to subtract this from 100 per cent to
perhaps make it seem like a more likely answer.

Question 17

Several correct answers were seen. Common errors were incorrect use of sin or tan with 8 cm and 37°,
8
whilst some did use cos but incorrectly, such as trying to evaluate cos37 = .
AB

Some candidates gave the answer 6.4 without a more accurate answer seen or truncated their answer to
6.38. Others had used either sin or the sine rule to work out AC first and then used Pythagoras theorem to
find AB . There were a few candidates who just worked out the missing angle as 53 or tried to use
Pythagoras theorem initially.

Question 18

Generally, well answered. Where the lower bound was correct, there were occasions of the upper bound
being 83.4

Question 19

Many correct answers were seen to this straightforward simultaneous equation. Common incorrect answers
were t = 7 , w = −8 or t = 7 , w = 8 , from subtracting rather than adding the pair of simultaneous equations.

Question 20

Many candidates did not know where 48 should be on the diagram and this impacted their solution.
Several candidates measured the bearing and gave an angle of 122 degrees as their answer. Some
candidates managed to find and label 125 degrees but went on to find the 55 degrees angle and give that as
their final answer.

Question 21

(a) (i) Some correct responses were seen but many earned 1 mark for 4 or more numbers correctly
placed, many appeared not to know 1 is a square number, others confused with square and cube
numbers. A significant number did not use 5 and or 12.

(ii) Set notation was not well understood, several wrote 1 and 64 or listed all the numbers on their
Venn diagram.

(b) Generally answered well. The common error was to shade both full circles.

Question 22

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

7
(a) (i) Although many gave correct answers in part (a). Common incorrect answers were 7 × 103, ,
1000
7 × 10–2, 0.7 × 10–2.

(ii) Common incorrect answers were 0.7 × 109, 7 × 10–8, 7 × 109.

(b) Several scored 1 mark for 36,000 but did not convert this to standard form. Common incorrect
conversions to standard form were 36 × 103 and 3.6 × 10–4.

Question 23

This question was generally not well answered. Some fully correct responses were seen, but these were
rare. The most common mark awarded was for the correct use of the formula given in the question to find the
volume of a sphere. Some realised the units were not consistent, but overall, very few candidates converted
the units correctly. Candidates who knew that the volume of a cylinder was  r 2 h often gained a method
mark for working out this volume correctly, but many used the diameter instead of the radius. Others did not
attempt to work out the volume of the cylinder out, or simply used the wrong formula.

Some candidates did achieve the SC for rounding their answer down.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/21
Paper 2 (Extended)

General comments

To succeed in this paper, candidates need to have completed full syllabus coverage, remember necessary
formulae, show all necessary working clearly and use a suitable level of accuracy. It is also important that
candidates read the question carefully to establish the form, units and accuracy of the answer required and
to identify key points which need to be considered in their solutions.

This examination provided candidates with many opportunities to demonstrate their skills. It differentiated
well between candidates with a full range of marks being seen. Many high-scoring scripts were seen, and
there was no evidence that the examination was too long. Some candidates omitted questions or parts of
questions, but this was likely due to a lack of knowledge rather than time constraints. It would have been
helpful if candidates had written their numbers more clearly, as some of them were difficult to distinguish,
particularly 4s and 9s, and 1s and 7s. Some candidates’ handwriting was not as legible as others, which may
have contributed to the errors in their work. There were also instances where working was not shown or was
not shown clearly, showing working allows for the award of part marks when the correct answer is not seen.

It is important to take care when manipulating algebraic expressions. Some errors were caused by poor
writing and some by not applying the laws of algebra correctly. For example, in Question 12 where they
were solving simultaneous equations and working was required.

As in previous series, there were some questions where candidates rounded to an unsuitable level part way
through calculations, this was particularly evident in Questions 7, 10, 12, 14 and 21. Premature rounding or
use of inaccurate approximations for π often lead to inaccurate final answers. Candidates should keep
greater amounts of accuracy in intermediate steps than they required for their final answer. Candidates
should also be mindful that completing working in one line when they should use several lines, particularly
when performing two steps of algebraic rearrangement in one line, means that they can miss the opportunity
for method marks.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

In this question candidates were asked to find the coordinate that would complete the parallelogram. There
were lots of correct answers seen, but there were also many responses seen with only one value in their
coordinate correct. Some candidates could not identify the correct position for D on the diagram but were
able to correctly give the coordinate for their point in the appropriate quadrant of the diagram. Common
errors included drawing a triangle rather than a parallelogram or placing the coordinate in the 1 st quadrant
rather than the 2nd quadrant.

Question 2

(a) In the first part of this question candidates needed to find the probability of an event not occurring.
The majority of candidates were able to give a fully correct answer.

(b) Candidates were generally able to complete the table giving the number of wooden toys and using
the equal probability of plastic and metal toys to find their probabilities. If errors occurred it tended
to be with the number of wooded toys, but these candidates still normally achieved a mark for the
probability of plastic and metal evaluated correctly.

Question 3

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(a) Candidates were required to use the nth term of sequences to find the 5 th term of sequence A and
of sequence B. This was generally well answered with the majority of candidates able to find the
required terms. Where candidates were not able to find both terms, they were often able to find the
5th term of the linear sequence. A common error was to show a substitution into the nth term, but
not to evaluate this to obtain the required terms.

(b) Candidates were asked to find the smallest positive integer in the quadratic sequence given by the
nth term n 2 − 300 . Many candidates were able to try at this question, either by forming an
equation/inequality or by use of trial and improvement. A common incorrect answer was 18, the
term number of the first positive value in the sequence, rather than 24 the term in the sequence, in
most of these cases candidates had shown working and could be awarded partial credit.
There were a minority of candidates who did not know how to make a start with the question.

Question 4

Candidates were asked to find the greatest odd number that is a factor of 140 and a factor of 210. Whilst fully
correct answers were seen regularly, so were the answers 7 (the greatest odd prime factor of 140 and 210)
and 70 (the greatest factor of 140 and 210) gaining one mark only. Common approaches to the question
were to find all factors of 140 and 210, often working with factor pairs, or to find the prime factorisation of 140
and of 210. On rare occasions candidates worked out the lowest common multiple instead and gave their
answer as 840.

Question 5

(a) In this part of the question, candidates needed to work out 3 343 − 40.96 . This was answered
correctly by the majority of candidates who seemed to be confident at use of their calculators.

In this part of the question, candidates were required to work out (192 + 4  16 )
1.25
(b) . Again, this was
answered correctly by the majority of candidates.

Question 6

In this question candidates were presented with 6 congruent kites and asked to find the size of a missing
angle. This involved application of the sum of angles on a straight line, sum of angles in a quadrilateral and
properties of a kite. There were a reasonable proportion of fully correct answers. Where incorrect answers
were seen a common error was working with 5 angles at C totalling 180 in total rather than 6. Some
candidates drew in the diagonal DB and tried to calculate x from here using angles in a triangle, whilst some
thought DCB = 40, the same as angle DAB. Another misconception was that angles in a kite added to 180
and having calculated 30 correctly, candidates then added 40, but subtracted from 180 instead of 360 before
dividing by 2.

Question 7

(a) In this part of the question candidates were asked to find the area of a compound shape made up
of a right-angled, isosceles triangle and a semi-circle. Fully correct solutions were seen regularly,
as well as responses that gained part marks. Most candidates were able to calculate the area of
triangle JKL correctly, and then a significant number were able to work out the area of the
semicircle correctly from here. Some candidates forgot to divide the area of the full circle by 2 to
get the area of a semicircle. Some candidates used 12.8 (the diameter) rather than 6.4 (the radius).

(b) Candidates were asked to find the perimeter of the compound shape. In order to do so they
needed to find the arc length of the semi-circle and use either Pythagoras’ theorem or trigonometry
to find the hypotenuse of the triangle. Fully correct responses were seen, as well as responses that
gained part marks. Common incorrect answers included 63.8 where the candidate included an
extra 12.8, and 38.208 from adding 20.106 and 18.102 but omitting JK from the perimeter.

Many candidates who did not answer the question fully, did either use Pythagoras Theorem to find
KL correctly, or calculated the length of the semicircle correctly. Some candidates did forget to
divide their circumference by 2 but had often gained marks for using Pythagoras to get KL. There

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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

were also candidates who had the correct method but premature rounding for some of their
answers meant their final answer was out of tolerance.

Question 8

Finding the nth term of the linear sequence in this question was well answered. Many candidates were able
to give a fully correct nth term, often in the form 7n + 4 , but 11 + ( n − 1) 7 was also a common correct
response. Common incorrect responses included n + 7, 4n + 7 from misunderstanding how to use the
common difference in finding the nth term or the next term in the sequence 46.

Question 9

This question on exponential decrease was answered correctly by a significant proportion of candidates.
Many were able to show clear working and obtain a correct answer. It was noted that the majority of
candidates working with compound decrease did so by use of the multiplier approach, with only a minority
attempting to do the longer stepwise process of working year by year. Common incorrect answers came from
working with simple depreciation rather than a compound process, this led to answers of $2000 (3 years of
depreciation at 25 per cent) or $6000 (one reduction of 25 per cent).

Question 10

In this question candidates needed to find the interest rate based on the initial amount in an account and the
final amount in the account after 8 years. This was answered well by around half of candidates who were
able to find the interest rate of 1.25 per cent generally working from the compound interest formula and
rearranging this. Incorrect or incomplete methods were also seen regularly. A common incorrect approach
was to subtract 1500 from 1656.73 and then divided by 8 to give 19.6 per cent, whilst others incorrectly
divided 1656.73 by 8 and then by 1500 to get 0.138 before converting this to a percentage 13.8 per cent.

Question 11

Finding the inequalities that define the region was answered fully correctly by only a minority of candidates
with many struggling with inequality notation or identifying the lines that made up the region. There were a
range of errors seen in partially correct responses. Common errors included use of equals signs or the wrong
inequality sign when attempting to express the inequalities, there were also others who included R in some
manner in their attempted inequality statements. Some candidates had x and y reversed on the vertical and
horizontal lines. Others were unable to find the equation of y = x correctly to use in their inequality for the
diagonal line. In some cases, candidates seemed not to know how to express a region using inequalities,
they either listed coordinates that they thought satisfied the region or were the vertices of the shape of R,
whilst some tried to describe the region in words.

Question 12

This question on solving simultaneous equations was answered well by around half of candidates. The most
common correct approach taken was to multiply both of the equations to equate coefficients and then add or
3x
subtract. Where candidates took this approach, they generally chose to multiply + 5y = 5 and
2
4 x − 3y = 46 to equate the coefficients of x before subtracting. It was common to see errors in arithmetic,
particularly when dealing with the fractional coefficient of x, which often meant that candidates could gain
partial credit for a correct method with arithmetic errors. There were also a number of candidates who had
incorrect processes such as not multiplying all terms when attempting to equate coefficients, adding the
equations when they should subtract to eliminate (or vice versa), inconsistent addition/subtraction when
attempting to eliminate or incorrect algebraic processes.

It was less common to see candidates attempting to use rearrangement and substitution in their attempt to
solve the simultaneous equations. Where this was seen there were often errors made in the rearrangement.
It was noted that few candidates using either method seemed to check their answers to ensure that they had
a solution that worked for both equations, checking in this way would have highlighted when errors had been
made in the approaches attempted.

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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Where candidates were not successful in their attempts to solve the simultaneous equations due to errors in
their method, they were often able to find a pair of values that worked for one of the two equations given.
This was awarded the SC mark.

Question 13

This question was based on knowledge of angle facts in cyclic quadrilaterals. Candidates needed to work
with the fact that opposite angles in a cyclic quadrilateral add to 180° to form and solve equations. This was
answered well by many candidates, but errors were also common.

Many candidates thought the correct method was to add all 4 angles together and equate to 360 (angle sum
of a quadrilateral). This approach nearly always led to no progress being made towards the answer.
However, candidates who did realise that the opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral added to 180 and
added 4m and 5m first to get 9m = 180 were able to solve the question. A few candidates just added 4m +
38 and p to get 4m + 30 + p = 180 and could not solve from here but did gain a mark.

Question 14

Here candidates were required to find the area of a shaded major sector. A reasonable proportion of
candidates were able to find the required area successfully. However, some candidates just worked out the
area of the whole circle and made no further progress. Others found the area of the circle and then realised
they needed to take something off this answer but were not sure what to subtract. Some candidates worked
out the area of the smaller sector using 48, gaining a mark, or had the angle of the major sector 312 seen.

Question 15

Candidates found writing the recurring decimal 0.146 as a fraction relatively challenging with only a minority
able to give a fully correct answer including working. A number of candidates misinterpreted the recurring
decimal notation as 0.146146… which meant that they could not gain credit. Where candidates had a non-
calculator approach for this type of question, they were generally relatively successful. Many set up a pair of
equations such as 1000 x = 146.4646  and 10 x = 1.4646 . then subtracted to find that 990 x = 145 which
often lead to a fully correct answer, although some struggled with the subtraction due to writing differing
numbers of decimal places in their two equations and did not successfully eliminate the recurring part of the
146 73
decimal. Common errors seen included methods such as = or 146/999. Some candidates had the
1000 500
correct answer seen but with no method shown gaining no marks.

Question 16

(a) Candidates were asked to shade region of the Venn diagram representing M  N . This was
answered correctly by a slight majority of candidates. Incorrect answers included shading a range
of differing regions in the diagram.

(b) In this question candidates were asked to find n(B ( AC)) . This proved to be challenging for
candidates with only a small minority of correct answers seen. There were a range of incorrect
 
answers seen, although 4 which is n(B A C ) was common. There were many candidates who
gave incorrect answers that indicated that they did not understand the meaning of the n( ) notation.

Question 17

This question asked candidates to find the area of a triangle which involved use of the formula
1
area of triangle = ab sin C . This was answered well by many candidates. Common incorrect attempts
2
1
included treating the triangle as right-angled and working out  6.7  5.9 . There were a few candidates who
2
did not know the area of a triangle formula correctly, using absinC for example instead. Others attempted to
use Pythagoras’ theorem or trigonometry in attempting to find the perpendicular height of the triangle,
however this was not possible with the information present in the question without incorrect assumptions

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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

being made about how the length AC was divided by the perpendicular (generally the candidates attempting
this incorrectly assumed that the length was bisected).

Question 18

Candidates were asked to draw a suitable line on the graph provided in order to solve an equation. There
were very few fully correct answers seen and many candidates did not attempt to draw a line, but instead
tried to solve the cubic equation algebraically. Where candidates did draw a straight line, this was often
y = 2 rather than the necessary y = 2x . If a candidate did manage to draw the line y = 2x successfully they
nearly always gained full marks.

Question 19

(a) In this part of the question candidates were asked to factorise 12m2 − 75t 2 . This was only
answered correctly by a minority of candidates; however, some were able to gain part marks for a
correct partial factorisation. Many candidates were able to factorise out the 3 successfully, but from
here failed to recognise the difference of two squares. Some tried to factorise into 2 brackets and
had terms that gave 12m2 and/or −75t 2 but that also left mt terms if expanded.

(b) The majority of candidates were able to factorise xy + 15 + 3y + 5 x successfully. There were also a
good number of candidates who were able to make a start and factorise to x ( y + 5 ) + 3( y + 5) or
y ( x + 3 ) + 5( x + 3) but could not complete the process. Incorrect responses included a wide range
of incorrect attempts at factorisation.

Question 20

Candidates were asked to solve 8 sin x + 6 = 1 for 0 x 360 . Only a minority of candidates were able to
give the two required angles. There were also issues with premature rounding of figures leading to
inaccurate final answers. Many candidates were able to rearrange the equation successfully to get
5
sin x = − , but having got –38.7 simply used this and/or the positive value 38.7 as one of their answers.
8
Some candidates were able to go on to find one of the required answers but struggled to find the second
one. There were a reasonable number of candidates who, having found the incorrect 38.7 as one of their
angles, went on to give this and 141.3 as their two solutions and were awarded the special case.

Question 21

This question requiring use of Pythagoras’ theorem and trigonometry in three dimensions was, as would be
expected for a question at this stage in the paper, found to be relatively challenging. There were some very
good answers seen, however there were also many incomplete or incorrect responses. A significant number
of candidates were not able to identify the required angle correctly and carried out calculations that were not
worthy of any marks as a result, whilst several candidates did not use the most direct method to calculate
angle ECH and lost accuracy as a result. If the correct angle was identified, many of these candidates were
able to use Pythagoras theorem to calculate HC , but some of these candidates then calculated other
lengths, like EC , before attempting to use trigonometry, and often lost accuracy. Candidates who identified
the correct triangle sometimes worked out angle CEH instead of ECH . Other candidates thought they were
calculating angle ECD rather than ECH .

Question 22

This question on probability required candidates to identify a method to find the probability that Jen picks red
and then work with this to find the probability that both Stephan and Jen picked a blue counter. This was
answered well by a minority of candidates, but many incomplete or wrong answers were also seen. A
common error was 0.6 × 0.75 = 0.45, whilst some candidates added where they should have multiplied.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/22
Paper 22 (Extended)

Key messages

To succeed in this paper, candidates need to have completed full syllabus coverage, remember necessary
formulae, show all necessary working clearly and use a suitable level of accuracy.

General comments

Candidates generally attempted the majority of the questions on the paper and it did not appear that time
was an issue. Although there was a high level of non-response in the very last question on the paper this
was a comparable amount of non-response with similar questions on previous papers when it was not the
last question on the paper. Candidates showed particular success in the skills assessed in Question 1, 3(a)
and 11. With the most challenging questions being Question 19(b), 23(a) and 24(b). Candidates could have
improved their checking in certain questions. For example in Question 4 the question asked for a fractional
answer and many did not give this. In Question 9 the question asked for a single transformation and some
gave more than one transformation. In Question 13 and 21 the question asked for all working to be shown
and some was often missing.

Candidates were very good at showing their working in most questions with very few just offering an answer
only, this maximised opportunities to gain method marks in questions. Candidates should be encouraged to
read the instructions on the front cover of the examination paper. A number of candidates ignored the
instruction to give non-exact answers to 3 significant figures or 1 decimal place for angles. Candidates
should be encouraged to work with simple fractions or in their working, perhaps ensuring they can type them
in to their calculator. Many candidates try to avoid working with fractions when they arise and convert them to
decimals which often leads to loss of the final accuracy mark in a question.

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Comments on specific questions

Question 1

It was unusual to see an incorrect answer to this question. Approximately half of the answers were –29 and
most of the rest were 29. In nearly all cases, there was no working shown. The most common incorrect
answer was 21 from taking the difference between 4 and 25. Some less able candidates benefited from
drawing a number line to help with the calculation.

Question 2

Candidates tended to score 2 or 0 marks on this question with the majority scoring 2. The most common
error was to add the fixed charge to the hourly rate before multiplying by 4 leading to the answer $88.20.
Another error seen was to multiply the fixed charge by 4 and then add to the hourly rate leading to the
answer $68.55. There were also some addition errors seen suggesting some candidates may not have had a
calculator or were choosing to not use it.

Question 3

(a) Candidates generally understood how to complete an ordered stem and leaf diagram nearly all
scored 2 or 1 marks with most scoring 2. Some candidates scored 1 mark due to recording eleven
of the twelve values in their diagram with those in the final two rows having most of the errors seen.
Candidates that crossed through the values in the list as they recorded them were the most
successful as they were less likely to omit any. A small minority scored just 1 mark as they did not
write the leaves in numerical order, this was not as common as missing a value out.

(b) This was answered correctly by about two-thirds of candidates. Some candidates used their
diagram to locate the median, others re-wrote the list. Most candidates found the median by
n +1
crossing off the highest and lowest values until they came to the middle. Very few used to
2
n
find the position of the median, some wrongly used so it was common to see the 6th value
2
chosen and a common incorrect answer was 44. The candidates using the diagram were able to
locate the median on the third row between the 4 and 8, but many gave their answer as 6 rather
than 46, missing out the ‘tens’ in the stem. Those re-writing the original list tended to be more
successful as they gave the 46 rather than just the 6. Not all candidates appreciated the need to
use an ordered list to find the median so in a few cases the median was sought from the list in the
order given in the question rather than one that was rearranged into numerical order first. A small
minority found the mean of the values instead of the median.

Question 4

This question early on in the paper saw a variety of answers and approaches. The most successful
candidates worked methodically starting by finding 187.50 as a quarter of 750, and then subtracting this and
the 437.50 from 750 to leave $125. Approximately a fifth of candidates stopped here and scored 2 marks
and did not carefully follow the instruction to give the answer as a fraction of the total amount. Just over half
1
of candidates found the correct fraction of . For those not obtaining 2 or 3 marks a few obtained 1 for
6
calculating 750 – 187.5 = 562.5, but then did not follow up by subtracting the 437.50. Those candidates
1
scoring 0 generally found the 187.50, but then subtracted this from 437.50 leading to a fraction of .
3
Another common error, also scoring 0, was to subtract $437.50 from $750 and then find a quarter of this
amount so a common incorrect amount spent on food was found as $78.125.

Question 5

Many candidates answered this question correctly or scored at least one mark. Successful candidates often
showed working of 30 minutes and 17 minutes, going up to the next hour and then adding on the 17 minutes
past the hour. Many candidates did not gain the accuracy mark for the answer as they did not write the time
correctly in the 24-hour clock form, with 13 5 being very common, along with 01 05 and 1 05. A common

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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misconception was to simply subtract 1030 from 1117 to give 87 as the length of the journey, not considering
that there are 60 minutes in an hour. Less able candidates continued what they considered to be a pattern
and gave an answer of 12 17 or 13 17.

Question 6

Just over half of the candidates answered this correctly with the most common incorrect answer being 0.05
suggesting that many confused significant figures with decimal places. Some candidates decided to change
to standard form, often correctly but sometimes giving answers with an index error. Common incorrect
answers included 0.04, 46, 4.6, 4.628  10–2, 4.63 and 46.28  10–3. Some candidates gave answers with 4
significant figures such as 0.04600 which scored 0. Candidates are advised that trailing zeroes such as in
0.04600 are considered significant unlike in whole numbers where the zeros are just place holders.

Question 7

This question was generally well answered by candidates with many able to shade the correct region and
gain the mark. The most common errors were to shade A  B or A’  B’. Another error seen less often was
to shade A  B – A  B.

Question 8

In this question there was almost an even split between those scoring 0, 1 and 3. 2 marks was less
PRT
commonly awarded. Most were familiar with the formula for simple interest of I = and about a third of
100
PRT
candidates substituted the appropriate values into it but very often was equated to $5700 rather than
100
$700, which usually resulted in an answer of 14.25 which scored the special case mark. A significant number
of candidates attempted to find the rate for compound interest and consequently 1.65 was a very common
incorrect answer that didn’t score any marks. Some candidates had missing zeros or resulting in the wrong
500  8  R
solution being obtained, for example a very common incorrect starting point was 700 = instead
100
5000  8  R  8R 
of 700 = . Some attempted to use the starting point 5700 = 5000  1 +  but were often
100  100 
PRT
less successful than those using I = when they tried to rearrange. A few began with just dividing 700
100
by 8 to find the increase per year in dollars but then stopped at 87.5 forgetting to then divide this by 5000
and times by 100. A few used I = PRT and forgot the 100 so 0.0175 was another common incorrect answer
which scored 2 marks.

Question 9

(a) This part was generally well attempted, with most candidates correctly obtaining 1 mark for
enlargement. Many scored 1 more mark for the scale factor 2, although 0 was sometimes scored
1
as the scale factor was often or written using words such as ‘double’ or a ratio such as 1 : 2.
2
More than half of the candidates also scored the third mark however the centre of enlargement was
found to be more challenging with this sometimes being missed out, or it was given as a column
vector, or candidates reverses the x and y coordinates. (5, 3) was also often seen as this was the
coordinate of the lower left corner in the enlarged shape. The most successful candidates joined
corresponding vertices on shape A and shape B, i.e., the rays of enlargement which led to the
correct centre of enlargement. A small minority did this inaccurately and gave non-integer
coordinates. For those scoring 0 they generally combined an enlargement with a translation which
is not a single transformation.

(b) This part was very well answered with most candidates scoring 2 marks. 1 mark was not so often
seen, but generally led to shape being within 1 square either horizontally or vertically of the correct
position. For those scoring 0 this was generally with a shape drawn at (6, –3) (6, –2) and (8, –3)
from using the top of the column vector as the vertical translation and the bottom of the column

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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

vector as the horizontal translation. In some cases, a shape which was not congruent to the original
shape was drawn.

Question 10

The correct standard form was given by the majority of candidates. Common errors were to give the power
as –5 or use an incorrect form such as 174  103 and less commonly 17.4  104. Candidates should also be
aware that it is incorrect to round or truncate the given digits as this does not result in an equivalent value, it
was common to see the incorrect answer 1.7  105.

Question 11

This question was generally completed correctly for 2 marks with working shown in the majority of cases.
Most candidates showed competency in finding the expected number using the relative frequency. Errors
involved subtracting the sample in the survey from the total population size using 1200 or 37 in subsequent
93
calculations. Some gave the answer as instead of just 93. Some just gave the proportional answer of
1240
0.075 (from a correct starting point of dividing 3 by 40 but then forgetting to multiply by 1240) or just gave 31
as the answer (from a correct starting point of dividing 1240 by 40 but then forgetting to multiply by 3.

Question 12

8.5
Most candidates identified that the angle could be found using cos x = . Answers were usually given to at
14
least 3 significant figure accuracy. Some candidates tried the longer method of using Pythagoras’ theorem to
find the missing side and then using the sine ratio or tangent ratio instead of the simpler cosine ratio. Some
made it even more complicated and applied the sine rule or the cosine rule not realising all that was required
was right-angled triangle trigonometry. These methods, although often successful, also saw a few losing
accuracy marks due to prematurely rounding the vertical side length to 11.1. Consequently a common
incorrect answer was 52.5 or 52.58 to 52.59 if they rounded the vertical side to 11.12. A few candidates used
a long route to get to the answer. They first found the height of the triangle and used it to find the area of the
triangle then equated it to 0.5  8.5  14  sin . Although a valid method the number of stages used
normally led to early rounding or truncating. Candidates are advised to look at how many marks are available
for a question. This might give them an idea of the number of likely processes involved and therefore lead to
less accuracy marks being lost. It was not uncommon for candidates to find the top angle correctly but not
completing this method by then subtracting from 90.

Question 13

Almost everyone could convert the mixed numbers correctly into improper fractions although there were a
1 1
small minority who treated e.g., 2 as 2  instead of as a mixed number. The question asked for
4 4
9 15
candidates to show all their working and some did not show sufficient working and only showed  .
4 8
Even if they reached the correct answer the maximum they could score was 1 mark. The most successful
15 9
candidates inverted the and used the method , the more able candidates cancelled before
8 4
6
multiplying and usually was the result. About a fifth of candidates stopped here and missed the
5
requirement in the question to give the answer as a mixed number. Some did give their answer as a mixed
3
number but it was not always in its simplest form e.g., 1 was a common unsimplified answer from those
15
who did not cancel before multiplying or who only partially cancelled before multiplying. Candidates are
9 15
advised that following the calculation  with arrows drawn between numbers to imply multiplication is
4 8

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18 15
not acceptable for method. Some candidates chose to work with a common denominator i.e.,  to
8 8
18 18 ÷ 15
reach . This was a less successful method as a few of the less able candidates incorrectly wrote .
15 8
Some made things more difficult by converting the fractions to the same denominator even though they still
135 32 4320
intended to multiply, e.g.,  = . A few candidates spoilt a correct answer by giving a decimal
60 60 3600
answer of 1.2 as their final answer.

Question 14

This was very well answered, the majority of candidates correctly worked out the gradient and then either
1
read the intercept off the graph, or calculated it. A common error was to find the correct gradient of and
2
then find the negative reciprocal of that to give a gradient of –2 in their final equation, this led to one mark for
the intercept if it was read off the graph, or 0 for them calculating the intercept from this incorrect gradient. A
gradient of 2 was seen from dividing change in x by change in y, and again this either led to 1 or 0 as above.

Question 15

Approximately a third of candidates scored 0 marks on this question with a few more scoring 3 marks and
many scoring 1. There were many routes to reaching the correct answer in this question, with the most
common being to draw a north line at C, and find the co-interior angle of 76, identify the 60 in the equilateral
triangle and then subtract both from 360. A common error candidates made was assuming that the co-
interior angle of 76 to the left of the North line at C was in fact 104°. Another popular method was to extend
the north line down at C and subtract 60 from the alternate angle of 104 to reach 44 and then add this to
180. The key to this question was to understand that it was an equilateral triangle and therefore the angles
within it are 60. Many did not make this connection but still gained a mark for a correct relevant angle,
usually the co-interior angle of 76 at C. Partial marks could be awarded where candidates had clearly
marked a correct angle on the diagram which candidates are encouraged to do in this type of question.
There were many values seen within the working which could not be awarded marks as they were not clearly
identified either on the diagram or by using a letter reference of the vertices. Candidates should be
encouraged to draw in north lines in a bearings question as a first step. Many candidates did not know which
angle they were trying to find as the bearing of B from C and it was clear that a large proportion thought it
was the bearing of A from C with 284 being a very common answer.

Question 16

(a) The correct answer of 0.2 or 1/5 was most commonly seen, with a few candidates writing their
answer as a negative. Candidates are advised that –0.2 m / s2 being negative is the value of the
acceleration not the deceleration. Some candidates inverted their calculation to give an incorrect
answer of 5 or –5. A small number, whilst focussed on the final triangle section of the graph,
mistakenly attempted using Pythagoras’ theorem to find the length of the sloping side or found the
triangle’s area. Also seen were candidates attempting to use various formulae not realising just a
simple gradient was required.

(b) Many candidates found this question accessible, recognising the need to find the area under the
graph, with fewer using the area of a trapezium than finding three separate areas (two triangles
and a rectangle) to add. When attempting the trapezium formula a common error was in not using
the correct top parallel side length of (240 – 30). Of those taking the second approach some
1
candidates forgot the in their calculations for the triangles so usually gained 1 mark for the area
2
of the rectangle. Common wrong working was to write the formula ‘distance = speed  time’
followed by 320  16 and the answer 5120 which scored 0 marks.

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Question 17

Only the more able candidates scored 2 marks on this question. Most placed 3 and 2 correctly in the Venn
diagram so 1 mark was commonly awarded. It was then more challenging to complete the final two values,
and 8 was often used in place of 5 leading to 7 being used in place of 10 to give a total of 20 students.
Another common error in an otherwise correct solution was to miss out the value 10. A minority of candidates
placed several values in one or more regions of the Venn diagram. In some cases, 20 was placed in the
diagram. Often an extra value was seen in the region with 2. A small minority of candidates used dots or
rather than the required numbers.

Question 18

(a) Approximately two-thirds of candidates had a good understanding of this topic and there were
many examples seen of accurately drawn tangents. Rulers were nearly always used, but there
were some instances of very thick lines being drawn. A minority left a small gap between their
attempt at a tangent and the curve. A common error was to see a vertical line drawn at x = 3 and/or
a horizontal line at 5.2 .

(b) This question had one of the highest omission rates on the paper with just under 10 per cent
offering no response. Candidates who drew a correct tangent in part (a) generally scored 1 or two
marks in this part of the question. Some who attempted a tangent showed that they knew how to
work out the gradient of a line and were able to score 1 mark. Inaccurate answers often resulted
from the misreading the scale on the graph which led to answers outside of the range, or from
using one of the points off the curve and not from the tangent. For greater accuracy candidates are
well advised to select 2 points a good distance apart on their tangent. Often points less than 0.5
apart horizontally were chosen leading to inaccurate gradients. It was fairly common to see
candidates use their vertical and horizontal lines from part (a) to simply read 5.2 on the graph at x =
3 or the vertical reading of 5.2 was divided by the horizontal reading of 3. Some candidates divided
difference in y − coordinates
the wrong way round and instead of they found
difference in x − coordinates
difference in x − coordinates y − y1
. Some used inconsistent subtraction e.g., 2 instead of
difference in y − coordinates x1 − x2
y 2 − y1
leading to a negative gradient.
x2 − x1

Question 19

(a) This part of the question was well answered, with many candidates scoring all the marks. Those
1
who were most successful set their work out clearly and used k = rather than a decimal, then
3
1
working out y = (7 – 1)2. Of those not scoring 3 they often scored 2 from correctly showing
3
y = k(x – 1)2 or better, and then substituting their value of k into y = k(x – 1)2. This is was generally
where k was found to be 3 leading to a very common incorrect answer of 108, or as 0.3, 0.33 which
led to less accurate values than the exact answer of 12. For those scoring 0, they either did not
use an equation for direct proportion, often omitting k, with 36 as a common incorrect answer, or
they tried to use inverse proportion as the first step. Some used y = 4 and x = 3 as their initial
substitution instead of x = 4 and y = 3.

(b) This part of the question was the most challenging on the paper for candidates. Approximately a
fifth of candidates scored the mark. Many vague answers were seen such as m decreases, m is
1
reduced without specifying divided by 3 or multiplied by . Many candidates wrote divide by 9,
3
whilst others put that m would increase by 3 or 9 times as in direct proportion. Some candidates
attempted to write this using notation rather than words also scoring 0 marks.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 20

Approximately half of the candidates understood the requirement to cube root the volume scale factor to find
the length scale factor and gave the correct answer. Some lost the final accuracy mark because they
4
rounded to a decimal in the working but the majority either left the scale factor in cube root form or as a
3
fraction to reach the exact answer. Some candidates were confused as to whether they should be multiplying
or dividing by the scale factor depending on which way round they had done the volume division. Incorrect
methods often involved using square roots or a mixture of square roots and cube roots, 3.38 was a common
incorrect answer from using square roots. For candidates attempting to use a volume scale factor, it was not
3
33.75 33.75
uncommon to see candidates using 3
instead of 3 leading to a common incorrect answer of
80 80
0.39. Some set up the initial relationship incorrectly, cubing the scale factor rather than the heights. Some
stated correct method but then seemed to use their calculator incorrectly, for example finding the square root
rather than the cube root. The most common error from many candidates was to use a linear scale factor,
reaching the common incorrect answer of 2.19. It was rare to award 1 or 2 marks in this question.

Question 21

Stronger candidates recognised that the equations were not both linear so managed a first stage of
substitution to eliminate one variable. The most successful approach was the simplest approach of replacing
y with x2 – 18 in the first equation reaching 4(x2 – 18) + 3x = 13. Very occasionally this went wrong in the
expansion of 4(x2 – 18) which sometimes became just 4x2 – 18. Occasionally 4x2 – 72 + 3x = 13 was
rearranged incorrectly. Sometimes the resulting quadratic was left as 4x2 + 3x = 85 instead of equating to 0.
A less successful approach, attempted by some, was to multiply the second equation by 4 then attempt to
subtract the two equations, in an elimination-type method more commonly seen in linear simultaneous
equations, this very often resulted in sign errors. In this approach it was also common to see 4x2 + 3x
simplified to 7x2. Some rearranged both equations to make y the subject correctly reaching x2 – 18 =
13 − 3 x
but this often went wrong when multiplying through by 4, often only one of the terms on the left was
4
multiplied by 4. A few decided to make x the subject of the first equation and substitute it into the second
2
 13 − 4 y 
often correctly reaching y =   – 18 but this usually went wrong when they attempted to square the
 3 
bracket. Similarly a correct starting point of 4y + 3 y +18 = 13 usually went wrong and resulted in a non-
quadratic equation. The middle M1 mark was quite often missed by candidates who did not show a method
to solve their quadratic. Some quoted the formula correctly and stated values of a, b and c but did not show
the substitution. This was required due to the demand in the question to show all working. Using the formula
was used by more candidates than factorising. Those choosing to use the formula need to take care to show
its correct use, quite often the fraction line was too short or the root sign was too short. Many did factorise
 17 
correctly, although candidates need to be aware that ‘factorising’ 4x2 + 3x – 85 to (x + 5)  x −  is not
 4 
acceptable. Those with incorrect solutions to their quadratic were often able to gain a mark by showing
substitutions into one of the original equations to find the values of the other variable. A common error here
was forgetting brackets when squaring a negative. It was common to see x = –5 followed by –52 – 18 and the
incorrect value of y = –43 instead of y = 7. Some candidates with a correct quadratic did not score full marks
due to losing accuracy, giving 0.0625 as 0.063 or 0.06. Many starting points, usually among the less able
candidates, resulted in equations that still contained terms in both x and y. About a quarter of the candidates
scored 0 marks.

Question 22

(a) (i) Approximately half of candidates identified the graph correctly as a cubic graph. It was clear that
some candidates were unfamiliar with the shapes of graphs with the most common incorrect
answer being quadratic.

(ii) Candidates were slightly more successful with the reciprocal graph with about three-fifths
answering this correctly. Exponential was often selected in this part.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(b) (i) There were some excellent smooth graphs drawn by candidates with many able to produce a
sketch of a sine curve passing through the points (0, 0), (180, 0) and (360, 0) with appropriate
amplitude and curvature. Some sketches did not pass through the key points but were clearly an
attempt at the correct shape and scored 1 mark. A common error was the amplitude being too high,
much more so than the incorrect wavelength. A small number of candidates attempted to sketch a
cosine curve and less frequently a tangent curve. Many curves were made up of straight sections
that were too straight for 2 marks to be given. Incorrect curvature also often meant the loss of a
mark. Quite a few candidates offered no response to this question.

(ii) In this question there was a high omission rate and an almost an even split between 0, 1 and 2
marks and with a about a third of candidates scoring 3 marks. Many candidates were able to find at
least one of the correct solutions having solved sin x = –0.4. Some truncated their solutions rather
than rounding which led to one answer outside the acceptable range e.g. 203.5 and 336.5. A very
common incorrect solution was 23.6 and 156.4. However, this scored the special case mark for two
non-reflex angles with a sum of 180 and usually sin x = –0.4 was seen in the working to gain 2
marks in total. A common error was to give one solution as 156.4, the result of 180 – 23.6 rather
than 360 – 23.6. Also seen was 383.6 arising from adding 23.6 to 360. Candidates are advised to
check the required range given in the question. Some candidates solved the equation incorrectly
but were able to use the correct relationship between their two solutions to gain the special case
mark. The most successful candidates used their sine curve drawn in part (b)(i), some attempted a
‘CAST’ diagram (a sketch showing four quadrants of a graph labelled C, A, S, T representing
cosine positive, all positive, sine positive, tangent positive) with varying degrees of success, the
more able understood this type of diagram the less able did not and are advised to use the diagram
found in part (b)(i).

Question 23

(a) This was one of the most challenging questions on the paper. Whilst most candidates attempted a
solution to this question about a quarter got the correct answer. The candidates that were most
successful understood set notation and used shading to identify the regions specified in the
question. These candidates could then find (EUF)’ = 9 and were then able to complete the question
by adding the rest of the elements of S. There were a variety of incorrect answers, 4, 9 and 10
being the most common.

(b) This question was also challenging for many but answered better than part (a) with just over half of
the candidates scoring 2 marks. Many candidates were able to identify the regions on the diagram
showing students that studied Spanish and one other language reaching the 2 and 3. The most
2 3
common wrong methods seen were then to multiply and rather than adding them or
10 10
1 2+3
working with a denominator of 30 i.e., the whole class, so an answer of coming from was
6 30
common. Others had a numerator of 6 from all those studying Spanish and one or two other
languages instead of Spanish and one other language. Some made both of these errors with
1 2 +1+ 3
another common incorrect answer of coming from .
5 30

Question 24

(a) There were many good attempts at the first part of the final question on this paper with just under
1 2
half of the candidates scoring 2 marks. Many gained one mark, usually for giving b + a,
2 3
suggesting that they did not appreciate that vectors have a magnitude and a direction. Some
candidates took the longer route of MP + PO +OR + RN which is equivalent to the more direct
3
route MQ + QN but also highlighted the disregard of direction with answers involving b.
2
Candidates should be careful with notation involving negative numbers as some who were possibly
2 2
trying to show the multiplication a(– ) often omitted the brackets to give a – which could not
3 3

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

score any marks as the result is not a vector. Candidates are also advised that the question asked
1  2 
for the simplest form and it was common to see final answers in a form such as b +  − a 
2  3 
2 1
which is not the simplest form. It was also common to see NM given instead of MN as a– b
3 2
was one of the most common incorrect answers scoring 0. Some responses had a numerical
answer rather than an algebraic one. There was quite a high rate of candidates offering no
response to this question.

(b) This was less well attempted by most. The most able candidates were able to give the correct
answer and over a fifth of candidates offered no response to this question. Candidates should be
encouraged to show clear working in this type of question. Those who gave a correct route scored
a mark even if they did not get the vector notation correct. Linking the parts of the route to the
1
vectors also gained some candidates marks, for example stating that RS = b within the working
4
was worth 2 marks even if the candidate did not know what a position vector was. Those who did
1
not link b with RS could not be awarded the marks and it should be emphasised that writing it
4
on the diagram with no direction is also not sufficient. Those who showed a clear route linking the
parts of the route to correct vectors scored method marks even if the final answer or parts of the
route were incorrect. The key to answering this question was the use of similar triangles which
1 1
many understood but made the error of using a scale factor of 3 or rather than 2 or . This
3 2
1 1
resulted in a large number of candidates thinking that RS = b or that NS = MN . Some
3 3
divided correct expressions for RS , MS or NS by an algebraic term rather than a numerical
scale factor. Less able candidates did not understand the term position vector and many seemed to
think that it was MS , perhaps because they had been asked to find MN in part (a). Many
candidates did not appreciate that OS should be a multiple of b as it was a straight line, giving
their answer in terms of both a and b.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/23
Paper 2 (Extended)

Key messages

The problem of truncating numbers during multiple calculations still exists. Candidates are advised to write
down partial results to a lot more than the 3 significant figures required in the answer or to keep the full
number in their calculator ready for the next calculation.

General comments

In geometry, candidates should always look for the most efficient method. For example, in finding an angle or
a side in a triangle, establish whether it is a right-angled triangle, or not, because using the sine rule or even
the cosine rule in a right-angled triangle can easily lead to errors.

In algebra, it is important to check on a minus sign immediately before a bracketed term as a minus sign will
change the sign inside the bracket. It is also important to check each stage in algebra as a small error will
lead to an incorrect answer. This occurs in solving equations or in changing the subject of a formula.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

Some of the candidates did not know how to relate place values with the description in words and a sizeable
minority gave the incorrect answer for this question. Some common mistakes were the following: 22 002,
20 002 000 and 202 000 so either more zeros or fewer place values than required. Some used the comma to
indicate thousands and only a few chose to give the number in standard form.

Question 2

This question was not so well answered as it seems that the candidates looked at the calculation and failed
to realise that they had to add one pair of brackets. The most common incorrect response was to change the
–9 to +9. What was also seen was a bracket around the 9 and the –2 which gave 5 – 12 – 7 = –14 when
using the correct order of operations. Two pairs of brackets were seen less frequently, this was usually
5 – [ 4  3 – (9 –2)] = 0.

Question 3

Most of the candidates did very well in this question but some had challenges in adding two negative
numbers together. A common error is 6x – 7y. The error came from the addition –8y – y = –7y
instead of –8y – y = –9y. Another common mistake was that some tried grouping the terms and gave the
following as an answer: x (7 – 1) – y (8 + 1) but did not simplify the values in the brackets.

Question 4

This was very well answered with the vast majority of candidates correctly dividing 280 by 10  7 to give the
answer of 4. For those not obtaining the correct answer, this generally came from trying to work with surface
area or trying to use the volume of a cylinder. Occasionally candidates tried to cube root the 280 from seeing
the cm3.

Question 5

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

The majority of the candidates performed well in this question. A few errors came from the subtraction. The
correct answer was from 1 – 0.15 = 0.85. Some candidates used 100 – 0.15 = 99.85 but most students
17
provided 0.85 or 85% as the correct answer or less frequently the fraction .
20

Question 6

This was very well answered. Sometimes it was unanswered and very rarely 45 (x2 – x) (y2 – y) was seen.
Some responses gave a correct partial factorisation such as y (4x2 – 5xy).

Question 7

The majority of the candidates performed well in this question. The major error is from the conversion of
centimetres to kilometres. Candidates are expected to understand that 100 000 cm = 1 km such that 0.4 km 
37 = 14.8 km. Several responses gave an answer with figures148 such as 148 or 1.48.

Question 8

This was extremely well completed, and there were very few candidates who did not answer this question
5
correctly. Those who did not answer it correctly either showed no workings at all and gave the answer of
14
or made errors in finding a common denominator, without showing all their working.

Question 9

This question was very well attempted by most candidates and there was a range of different answers. Some
gave an answer 6.38 by truncating or 6.4 by rounding to fewer figures than required. Some candidates used
sin 37 rather than cos 37. A small number did then follow sin 37 with Pythagoras, however these were more
likely to get an inaccurate answer. There was an increase in candidates using the sine rule which was not
necessary in this question.

Question 10

This was answered well with most candidates giving their answer as an improper fraction with small numbers
converting to a mixed number or decimal. The biggest error was having their working the wrong way round,
that is change in x divided by change in y, or not dealing with the double negatives correctly. Some gave the
equation of a line instead of the gradient.

Question 11

This was answered well but common wrong answers included w = 2 and t = 7 with w = ─8 coming from
incorrectly calculating 5t – 3t and 19 – 5 to give 2t = 14 and t =7.

Question 12

32
(a) A common incorrect answer was 16 g8, where they had incorrectly simplified . Some responses
16
omitted the g by cancelling it out and leaving 28. Another incorrect response was 2g2 where they
incorrectly divided the powers 16 ÷ 8 = 2.

(b) Most responses answered correctly. The most common incorrect answers were 625 k6 , 53k6 or
3
1256. Some were seen to write 468.75 from 625  .
4

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 13

(a) Most struggled on this part. The most common incorrect answer was A shaded without the overlap
with B where B’ was not understood to include the area outside of B. Another common error was to
omit the shading of the overlap between A and B with the remaining shading correct.

(b) Candidates understanding of set notation at times was not well founded. Some used letters not in
the Venn Diagram, others had + and – signs included, and some put letters together e.g., RPuQ.
The biggest misunderstanding was around brackets and the need for them, many missed out
brackets, other errors included only u being used. Common incorrect answers were Ru(PuQ)’ or
RuQ’uP.’

Question 14

(a) This was answered well by a large number of candidates, giving 50° as the final answer and those
candidates applied the alternate segment theorem correctly. The common incorrect answer was
48°. This was seemingly from assuming triangle PRT was an isosceles triangle. 82° was another
common incorrect answer. This was from assuming angle RPT = 50° and seemingly trying to use
alternate angles, although not correctly as no parallel lines are given.

(b) Those candidates who gave the correct answer applied the following properties correctly: the sum
of opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral add to 180°, the angle sum of a triangle adds to 180°
and an isosceles triangle has equal base angles. Some candidates gained credit for having 132°
correctly shown on the diagram at PQR or labelled correctly in working.

Question 15

(a) Many candidates gave the correct answer using UQ = 27 and LQ = 16. A number of candidates
only gave 11 as their answer without the working out shown. Some candidates gained credit for
either 16 or 27 written down or they just stated 16 as their final answer, only giving the lower
quartile. The most common incorrect answer was 40 obtained from 50 – 10 or 21 to 22 from
looking up 100 calculated from 150 – 50.

(b) The acceptable answers of 5, 6 or 7 were given by subtracting a correct reading from 200. Some
candidates gained credit from writing an answer of 193, 194 or 195. Some candidates made an
incorrect reading from the graph and examples of this are 192, 187 or 198.

Question 16

This was answered well by the majority of candidates by giving a correct final answer of
A − πr 2 A r2
h= from A – r2 = dh and commonly also written as h = − . A small number of candidates
πd πd d
2 2
πr −A πr −A
had the answer in the form h = or h = – which are also correct. Some candidates did
−πd πd
continue to try and simplify their answers even after they had written a correct answer. Some gave their final
A 2
−r
answer shown as a fraction in a fraction such as h = π whilst others used the division sign but did not
d
A 2
use brackets so incorrectly showing h = – r  d. These often occurred when they factorised the right-hand
π
side first. The first step was particularly important and some attempted to square root first which was an error
from which they could not recover.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 17

(a) This was answered well by some candidates giving the fully correct answer 1.68  10203. The first
step was 16.8 x 10 101 + 101 followed by 16.8  10202 and finally 1.68  10203. A small number of
candidates received credit for a correct answer not in standard form 16.8  10202. The most
common incorrect answer was 1.68  10101.Some candidates had misconceptions and were
multiplying the indices, for example some incorrectly wrote 16.8 x 10 10201 .

(b) Most candidates wrote 23.1 x 10100 followed by the correct standard form 2.31 x 10 101. Some wrote
23.1  10100 as their final answer therefore not writing the number in standard form. A considerable
number made an error of incorrectly adding the indices, giving 4.2  10201 or 4.2  10202.

Question 18

The most efficient method involved first solving the equation 11.5y + y = 180 to get the solution y = 14.4 then
to find the number of sides using 360  14.4 = 25. The most common reason for not getting the correct
answer was showing 14.4 in the working but not having a simple method to find the number of sides and
giving 14.4 as the final answer. A smaller number of candidates gained credit for the correct equation of
11.5y + y = 180 oe but no further correct working was seen. Some candidates used the incorrect equation of
11.5y + y = 360.

Question 19

(a) This was answered generally well with a substantial number of candidates giving the correct
answer; however, many gave the transformation with just one correct property. The common errors
included using an incorrect term for rotation such as ‘turn’ or incorrect properties such as (–2, 0) for
the centre.

(b) Some drew the correct image. A small number of candidates drew the correct enlargement but
drawn in a translated position, usually only out by 1 square. Many incorrect solutions had their
images as very small triangles where the candidate had made the image a fraction of the original
object, for example a small triangle with one side on the y-axis with coordinates (0, 1.5), (0, 3) and
(0.5, 3).

Question 20

(a) The following correct method was usually seen, first 245 = 3x + 2 then 243 = 3x and finally x = 5
with the additional line of 3x = 35. The main error was this method, first f (x) = 3x + 2 then
f (245) = 3245 + 2 = 5 245.

(b) This part was not answered as well as part (a). The simplest solution is x = f (7) then x = 37+ 2
finally x = 2189. Some attempted to use logarithms to base 10 with a mixed outcome or they did
not write the equation correctly such as log3x – 2 = 7 which does not have the appropriate brackets.
Some did not attempt this part at all.

Question 21

There were a number of correct methods seen, the most common included the use of 4.111… ─ 0.4111…
3.7 40.7 1
leading to or 41.111… ─ 0.4111… leading to . Some candidates assumed knowledge of
9 99 90
without any working, whilst others did not show the recurring 1’s treating the decimals as terminating and a
few thought the decimal was 0.4141… which was not the set question.

Question 22

This was answered well. Most gave two answers with some giving one answer which was usually 120°.
Some could not rearrange the equation and felt the need to square it and they usually did that incorrectly.
Some solved tan x = 3 thus getting 60° and giving that as the answer with possibly 240°.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 23

Mostly candidates were able to find the common denominator correctly and have the correct numerators.
The error was dealing correctly with the negative sign between the fractions and then dealing with the
3−y
negative sign in the answer. Therefore, a common incorrect answer was . Incorrect subsequent
y ( y +1)
work was relatively common after a correct answer was seen.

Question 24

This was another well answered question. Some rounded prematurely in the question and obtained an
answer outside of the range. Those who were most successful clearly labelled the diagram, and followed on
to work out AC, many worked out AV as well although this was not necessary as the angle could be found
 4 
using tan-1  .
 5 10 

Many, having found AC or AV, then went on to find angle VAB. Some used triangles VAB or VBC rather than
triangle VAC. A few candidates who did identify the correct angle did not recognise that triangle VAC was a
right-angled triangle and opted to calculate using the sine rule, which, whilst correct, was not the most
efficient approach and occasionally led to errors in rearranging, particularly if they had the angles in the
denominator. A number of candidates kept their calculated length of AC in exact form for the second stage of
the method, which was good to see, and there were relatively few of these solutions where marks were lost
due to inaccuracy. In a few cases, premature approximations of 250 and 266 ended up leading to
answers which were slightly inaccurate. Other candidates correctly identified the required angle as VAC but
2 2
incorrectly calculated AV as 15 + 4 which was later used to incorrectly calculate angle VAC.

Question 25

Some candidates found it difficult to factorise pt – p – t + 1 correctly as (p – 1) (t – 1). The reason comes
from not dealing with the minus correctly from –t + 1 as – (t – 1). In addition, many made an error in
factorising 1 – t2 = (1 – t) (1 + t) as most wrote 1 – t2 = (t – 1) (t + 1). The most common mistake was in the
numerator which was given p (t – 1) + (t – 1) or p (t – 1) – (t + 1) or p (t – 1) + 1 – t. Since there was no clear
common factor to recognise, they did not group the last two terms. Some cancelled out terms without fully
factorising and cancelled a single term in the numerator with a single term in the denominator.

Question 26

This question was more variable in response. Those who were most successful clearly identified a route from
O to S. The main error was incorrectly identifying PQ as p + q or p – q. Many were able to get a correct
expression for OR and knew that they needed to double this for OS , but made an error and only doubled
the coefficient of p, not that of q. There were also some calculation errors with minus signs when simplifying
1 1
the expression for OR . Some candidates did not simplify their vector OR = p + q – p which led to
3 3
difficulty in obtaining a simplified final vector OS . In some cases, candidates started off without identifying
the correct route taken, very few of this approach led to success. Also, others were unable to correctly use
1 2
the ratio 1 : 2 leading to the confusion of whether to use or appropriately.
3 3

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/31
Paper 3 (Core)

Key messages

To succeed in this paper candidates, need to have completed full syllabus coverage, remember necessary
formulae, show all working clearly and use a suitable level of accuracy. Particular attention to mathematical
terms and definitions would help a candidate to answer questions from the required perspective.

General comments

This paper gave all candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and application of
Mathematics. Many candidates completed the paper however a significant number of candidates did not
attempt all parts of the paper. The standard of presentation and amount of working shown was generally
good. In a multi-level problem solving question the working needs to be clearly and comprehensively set out
particularly when done in stages. Centres should also encourage candidates to show formulae used,
substitutions made, and calculations performed. Attention should be made to the degree of accuracy
required. Candidates should avoid premature rounding as this often leads to an inaccurate answer and must
write digits clearly and distinctly. Candidates need to read questions again to ensure the answers they give
are in the required format and answer the question set.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) (i) Nearly all candidates correctly calculated the cost of 4 tickets. The few wrong answers were $6.30
or $25 (rounding to 2 sig fig.).

(ii) Most candidates successfully calculated how much each person paid as $5.67. The most common
wrong answers were $6.30 (not using the offer of 10 tickets for the price of 9), $56.70 (not dividing
between the 10 people) or 0.9 (not using the cost of the tickets).

(b) (i) Nearly all candidates worked out the number of rows to be 25. The few incorrect methods seen did
not involve division, candidates multiplied (16900) the values given.

(ii) Fewer candidates were successful in finding how many seats were not occupied. The most
common error was to simply give the percentage not occupied (16 per cent) rather than the number
of seats. Other errors given were finding the number of seats occupied (546) or misreading the
question as 84 seats were occupied, rather than 84 per cent, with the common wrong answer of

566 given. Many weaker candidates were unable to find a percentage correctly – doing
(100  84 )
650
= 12.9 per cent.

(c) Around half of the candidates correctly worked out the cost of a bag of popcorn and a bottle of
water. Nearly all candidates found the total cost as $6.45 but many then divided by 2 for the cost of
the popcorn ($3.22 or $3.23) and then divided by 2 again for the cost of the bottle of water ($1.61
or $1.615). Weaker candidates often abandoned the question after subtracting to find the total cost.
(d) (i) The majority of candidates were able to write 155 minutes in hours and minutes. The most
155
common mistakes were candidates dividing by 60 ( = 2.58) and giving the answer as 2 hours
60
and 58 minutes.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(ii) Around three quarters of the candidates correctly worked out the time that the film finished. The
most common errors were to give the time as a 12-hour time but not including the pm (05:05 or
5:05) or add the times but not take into consideration that there are 60 minutes in an hour (14:45 +
2h20min = 16:65).

(e) Most candidates were able to gain some marks by calculating the correct pay for Sunday ($57.50),
however many candidates found it difficult to use the correct number of hours for Friday or
Saturday (used 5.3 hours instead of 5.5 hours) or calculate 30 per cent of £11.50 or 30 per cent of
the total pay for Wednesday and/or Thursday. Candidates were good at showing their method
used, very few candidates only gave an answer. Few candidates did not attempt the question.

Question 2

(a) (i) Successful candidates used the angles given in the pie chart to find the fraction of people who
120
preferred mountain holidays as and then simplified to 1/3. Many candidates however did not
360
read the question carefully and attempted to give their answers as a percentage (33 per cent or
33.3 per cent or 33.3… per cent). Some candidates attempted to then change their percentages to
33 33.3 33.3  1
a fraction but were not accurate enough as or or is not equivalent to and
100 100 100 3
360
gained no marks. Weaker candidates often did not attempt the question or wrote the fraction
120
simplifying it to 3.

(ii) Around half of the candidates successfully found the percentage of people who prefer a beach
holiday. Many candidates missed out on the mark by rounding to the nearest whole number (38)
instead of giving the exact answer of 37.5.

(iii) Many candidates attempted to give a ratio in its simplest form, but most gave their answers as
decimals or fractions not as a simplified ratio in integers. The correct answer was rarely seen
however candidates were able to gain a part mark for an un-simplified ratio using the angles in the
pie chart or as a simplified fraction or decimal to at least 2 sig fig. However, candidates often made
135
errors when using the angles in the pie chart as a fraction (e.g. ) and then converting to a
360
decimal (0.375) but not giving their answer to 3 sig fig. (0.38). A large proportion attempted to work
in percentages but again did not gain marks because they rounded to 2 sig fig. Around a quarter of
candidates did not attempt this question.

(iv) The correct probability was given by many candidates – most commonly as a fraction. However,
many candidates attempted to give the probability as a percentage or decimal, without first showing
the correct fraction, and lost marks due to not rounding correctly to 3 sig fig. – common wrong
answer of 29 per cent or 0.29.

(v) A significant proportion of candidates did not attempt the question or scored no marks because
they used the 1800 in their working to show that the total number of people asked was 1800 or that
675 preferred a beach holiday. Successful candidates showed all steps to their solution. Most used
675
the 135 degrees from then pie chart to find the number of people per degree ( = 5) and then
135
multiplied by 360 to find 1800.

(vi) (a) Candidates were more successful at completing the table, with more than half of the candidates
scoring full marks. Most candidates attempted the question however not all correctly. Candidates
who went wrong often did not refer to the pie chart or the previous question where they would have
seen that the angle in the pie chart needed to be multiplied by 5 to give the frequency. Common
incorrect methods estimated by doubling 150 for Lake holidays.

(b) The majority of candidates were able to gain marks for completing the bar chart. Most candidates
who were able to write a linear scale on the frequency axis were then able to draw the bars
correctly. Candidates were more successful at drawing the bars the correct height (using their

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

scale) with equal gaps and widths. A few candidates used the sector angles from the table instead
of the frequency and another small number drew a line graph rather than a bar chart.

(b) Around half of the candidates were able to work out how much more Mr Shah paid for the holiday
than Mr Gibbs, in Euros. The most successful method was to convert Mr Gibb’s cost to Euros and
then subtract from Mr Shah’s cost. The most common error was attempting to convert $2208 to
Euros by multiplying by 1.15 instead of dividing.

Question 3

(a) (i) This question was well answered with most candidates correctly completing the timetable.
Common incorrect answers were 11:67, 12:09 or 11:07.

(ii) Candidates found drawing an accurate pair of hands on the clock challenging. Most candidates
identified that the time required was 10 27 but most made an error drawing the hour hand pointing
directly to 10 rather than clearly between 10 and 11. Most candidates did draw the minute hand
longer than the hour hand.

(b) Around a third of candidates were able to correctly work out the number of buses each day. Two
methods were most common, finding the time between 07 10 and 22 10 as 15 hours (900 minutes)
and then divide by 45 or writing a list of times every 45 minutes from 07 10 till 22 10. Both methods
generally led to answers of 20 rather than 21 because most candidates did not count the first bus
at 07 10.

(c) About half of the candidates were able to calculate the cost of the bus pass on 1 st January 2024.
Most successful candidates did it in stages, calculating the cost on 1 st January 2023 and then the
cost on 1st January 2024. Few candidates used multipliers (× 1.10 × 1.05) with most calculating 10
per cent of $50 and then adding it on, and then 5 per cent of $55 and adding it on. The most
common error was to calculate 15 per cent of $50 ($57.50 the most common wrong answer). Many
candidates gained part marks for correctly calculating $55 but then added on $2.50 rather than
$2.25.

(d) (i) This question was well answered with most candidates correctly working out the number of workers
in the hotel.

(ii) Candidates found working out the number of workers in B U T more challenging as many found the
number of workers in the intersection (n(B ∩ T) = 9) instead of the union. A significant number of
candidates did not attempt this question.

(iii) Explaining in words what the number 85 in the Venn diagram represents was challenging to all
candidates. The most common error was not to include the word ‘only’ in their answer.

(iv) Candidates were more successful at finding the probability that the worker travelled to work by bus
and train. Most candidates gave the answer as a fraction (often as a correct follow through from a
previous wrong answer), many who attempted to give it as a decimal or percentage were less
successful as they rounded to 2 sig fig. rather than 3 sig fig. or did not include the per cent sign.

(e) Working out the number of single rooms proved to be one of the most challenging questions of the
whole paper. Most candidates did not use the fact that the 75 represented how many more double
rooms there were than single rooms. Most used the 75 as the number of double rooms or the total
number of rooms by error and divided by 8 or 11 instead of 5.

Question 4

(a) (i) This question was well answered with the majority of candidates correctly finding the range as 38.
Common wrong answers were 9 (not including the stem part of the number), 61 – 23 (not
completing the sum) or calculating the mean.

(ii) The majority of candidates were able to find the mode as 36. Common wrong answers were 6 or 7
(not including the stem part of the number) or calculating the median.

(iii) Around half of the candidates were able to calculate the median as 40. Common errors were 39
and 41 (not identifying the number between them) or calculating the mean.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(iv) Again, around half of the candidates were able to work out the percentage of workers that were
older than 40 but younger than 60. The most common error was rounding to 43.8 or 44 rather than
giving the exact answer of 43.75.

(b) Candidates were successful at writing the new range, mode and median. Successful candidates
kept the range the same and added 1 year to their mode and median answers. The most common
error was not adding one to the mode and median.

(c) Around a third of candidates correctly completed the stem and leaf diagram. Most candidates were
able to gain part marks for a partially correct diagram or correctly calculating the age of the new
worker as 53. Common errors were to find the new workers age as 54 (not considering the month
of birth) or not adding 1 to each of the previous numbers.

(d) Successful candidates often wrote out lists for each of the criteria given and then identifying the
number which appeared in all 3 lists. Candidates who answered with a number which satisfied two
of the criteria scored one mark – this was more common than the correct answer of 47. Common
wrong answers were 49, 11, 29, 7 or 79.

Question 5

(a) (i) This question was well answered with most candidates identifying the angle as obtuse. Common
wrong answers were acute, reflex or transversal.

(ii) The majority of candidates were able to calculate the value of angle e as 23 however most found
giving a geometrical reason more challenging. Many gave a numerical explanation of how they
found the angle rather than giving the reason. Some candidates did not meet the requirements to
gain full marks by often missing the word ‘angles’ or ‘triangle’.

(iii) Less candidates were able to find the value of angle f as 52, many mistakenly thought it was equal
to angle e and gave the common wrong answer of 23. Again, giving the geometrical reason proved
challenging, with many giving a numerical method.

(b) Only the strongest of candidates were successful in calculating the interior angle of a regular 7-
sided polygon. The most common correct method used the formula ((n – 2) × 180)/n with fewer
candidates using 180 – 360/n. Many candidates found the exterior angle (51.42…) but did not
subtract from 360, therefore not gaining any marks. Candidates found rounding to 2 decimal places
challenging with many answers given to 1 decimal place only. Around a third of candidates did not
attempt this question.

(c) Most candidates were able to find w = 7.5 by solving the equation 2w = 15, however finding x
proved much more challenging. Many candidates were able to form the equation 5(x + 7) = 15 but
were unable to solve it correctly. Common wrong answers were x = 8 or 4. Having made an error in
finding x, most candidates were still able to gain marks for correctly finding y using their w and x
and solving w + x + y = 15. A significant number of candidates did not attempt this question.

Question 6

(a) Less than half of the candidates were able to plot the correct position for point P. Common wrong
answers were points plotted at (13,0) or (0,0). Around a quarter of the candidates did not attempt
this question.

(b) Few candidates were able to use trigonometry correctly to calculate angle a. Successful candidates
used Tan correctly, however a few stronger candidates were able to find the hypotenuse and then
use Sin or Cos to find the angle. Over a quarter of the candidates did not attempt this question.

(c) (i) In this question common errors were not giving the direction of the rotation (90 degrees only) or
giving the wrong centre. Many candidates found using the correct mathematical terms difficult with
‘turn’ seen often instead of ‘rotation’. Many double transformations were seen which gained no
marks.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(ii) This part was answered poorly with most candidates unable to identify the given transformation as
a translation (common wrong answers were ‘translocation’. ‘movement’, ‘shifted’). However,
stronger candidates were able to give the vector, either as a column vector or in words.

(d) (i) Nearly half of the candidates did not attempt this question. Many wrong answers were seen, with
the most common being 3.25.

(ii) Candidates had to use their scale factor from part (d)(i) to find the coordinates of triangle D,
therefore all candidates that did not attempt part (d)(i) also did not attempt this part. Very few
correct answers were seen as very few candidates were able to identify the scale factor as 7.

Question 7

(a) Only the strongest candidates were able to draw a bearing of 236 accurately and calculate the
required distance from C as 7.2 cm. More candidates were successful at drawing a bearing of 236
than those that calculated the correct distance, however few were able to do either.

(b) (i) Many candidates attempted to draw this on the diagram and measure the bearing, but this often led
to an inaccurate answer. Very few used the calculation 83 + 180 to find the answer, with the most
common wrong answers were 277 (360 – 83) or 97 (180 – 83). Around a third of the candidates did
not attempt this question.

(ii) Completing the statement proved challenging to most candidates, with only the very strongest
candidates gaining full marks. Around a third of all candidates did not attempt the question.

(c) Finding the scale of the model proved equally as challenging for all candidates. Few correct
answers of 1800 were seen, however many candidates were able to gain a part mark with the
90
answer of 18 ( ). Common incorrect answers were 450 (90 × 5) or 18 m (scales given as a ratio
5
should not include units).

(d) Successful candidates found the scale factor of the enlargement from 9.2/5.6 and then multiplied
by 8.4. This method however did cause some problems when candidates prematurely rounded the
scale factor to 1.6 or 1.64 (instead of keeping it as a fraction) and then multiplied 8.4 by 1.6 or 1.64
– which led to an inaccurate answer. Fewer candidates used the ratio 8.4/5.6 and then multiplied
by 9.2.

(e) Calculating the curved surface area of the tower was challenging to all. Very few correct answers
were seen, however candidates were more successful at identifying the units of the answer as m².
The most common errors involved calculating the area of the circle, calculating the circumference
but not multiplying by the height of the tower or calculating the volume of the tower.

Question 8

(a) The majority of candidates were able to complete the table correctly. The common errors involved
calculating the y value for x = –3 and –2 (candidates squared incorrectly and got –15 or –9 for x = –
3 and –9 or –5 for x = –2).

(b) A significant proportion of candidates did not attempt to draw the graph, despite completing the
table in part (a). Many candidates plotted the points but did not join with a smooth curve, either
using straight lines or not joining them at all.

(c) Many candidates did not attempt this question. Of those that attempted the question, most gave the
x coordinate as 0 or the y coordinate as –3, from their table.

(d) Nearly half of the candidates did not attempt this question. Successful candidates often drew the
line y = 7 and then read off where the line and the curve intersected. The most common wrong
answers came from candidates writing the x coordinates of the intersection of the curve with the x
axis.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/32
Paper 3 (Core)

Key messages

To succeed in this paper candidates, need to have completed full syllabus coverage, remember necessary
formulae, show all working clearly and use a suitable level of accuracy. Particular attention to mathematical
terms and definitions would help a candidate to answer questions from the required perspective.

General comments

This paper gave all candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and application of
Mathematics. The paper was quite demanding although most candidates completed the paper making an
attempt at most questions. The standard of presentation and amount of working shown continued to improve
and was generally good. Candidates should realise that in a multi-level problem solving question the working
needs to be clearly and comprehensively set out particularly when done in stages. Centres should also
continue to encourage candidates to show formulae used, substitutions made, and calculations performed.
Attention should be made to the degree of accuracy required, particularly in those questions involving
money. Candidates should be encouraged to avoid premature rounding in workings as this often leads to an
inaccurate answer and the loss of the accuracy mark. Candidates should also be encouraged to read
questions again to ensure the answers they give are in the required format and answer the question set.
Candidates should also be reminded to write digits clearly and distinctly and to use correct time notation for
answers involving time or a time interval.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) (i) Most candidates answered this question correctly. The common error was 63.

(ii) Most candidates answered this question correctly.

(iii) Most candidates answered this question correctly. Common errors included 49 and 63.

(b) (i) Most candidates answered this question correctly. Common errors included 41.56 and 24√3, both
coming from the square root.

(ii) Most candidates answered this question correctly. Common errors included 16, 64 and 10 coming
from 2  5.

(iii) Most candidates answered this question correctly. Common errors included 0 and 5.

(iv) This part was reasonably well answered. Common errors included 36.5 and 18 coming from 36 
1
.
2

(c) Many correctly placed the pair of brackets, some incorrectly included the minus sign to the left of 6.
Some responses added more than one pair of brackets, few showed any evidence of working to
check their answer. A relatively high number of candidates did not attempt this part.
(d) If not scoring full marks, most gained a method mark for a correct factor tree or table, or for listing
at least the first 3 multiples of both 30 and 68. A significant number of responses set out their table
of prime factors comparing the numbers side by side rather than using separate tables for 30 and

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

68. For some candidates this approach caused arithmetic errors or confusion of which prime
factors to pick. Prime factor trees were almost always completed successfully. The most common
incorrect answers were 2040 from simply multiplying 30  68, 2 which was the HCF and 510.

Question 2

(a) (i) This question was answered correctly by most of the candidates. Some left their answer as –1a +
3a without simplifying further. The most common error was an answer of –4a from subtracting last
two terms.

(ii) Most candidates gained partial credit simplifying the algebraic expression of 2x 2 but some did not
combine fully leaving –6x – x in their final answer. Others worked out −6x – x as −5x. A few did not
appreciate that x2 and x are different variables and tried to combine them. Some went on to
introduce a bracket usually with a factor of x outside. Some found dealing with the squared terms
difficult and added powers resulting in 2x4.

(b) The incorrect answer of 24 was more common than the correct answer of 74. This arose from
wrongly calculating (–5)2 as - (52). Those that showed their working generally gained a method
mark for 49 whilst those showing no working mostly scored 0.

(c) (i) There were a significant number of candidates who knew how to deal with 35m once it was
isolated, but the common error was to incorrectly deal with the first step. Instead of subtracting 20
from T, candidates stated 35m = T + 20 or 35m = –T + 20. Some candidates who gave a correct
T
first step lost full credit by writing the final answer as m = T – 20 – 35 or m = – 20. A small
35
number of candidates gave a numerical value as the final answer, commonly 15.

(ii) Those who gave a correct rearrangement in part (i) were often successful in getting to the answer
of 1.8 here. A significant number of candidates returned to the original formula substituting T = 83,
but then some did the same wrong first step of 83 = m + 20 or 83 + 20 = 35 m. A few gained marks
for using their incorrect formula. Candidates not scoring in this part either did not have a suitable
formula to follow through from in part (i) or ignored the previous answer entirely. A small number of
candidates were unable to attempt this part.

(d) The vast majority started the question correctly by multiplying one or both equations to equalise
coefficients and then use the elimination method, and many showed full and clear working for this.
However, many struggled to add (or subtract) their two equations consistently and so were unable
to gain the method mark and therefore the answer marks. A large number of these nevertheless
gained a special case mark for substituting their value for the first variable into one of the equations
to gain a pair of values that satisfied one equation. There were however some who did not achieve
this, as they made mistakes with signs when manipulating the chosen equation in order to solve it.
A small number of candidates were unable to attempt this part.

Question 3

(a) The vast majority gained this mark, with a correct spelling or close misspelling of the answer,
though some answered trapezoid which is not an acceptable answer. The most common wrong
answer was rhombus and some just put quadrilateral. A few other shapes and mathematical terms
were seen including parallelogram and pentagon.

(b) (i) Many gained this mark, though the answers 7, 8 and 9 were also common and some answers were
wildly inaccurate with some unrealistically large areas including 28.8, 36, 40.5 and 57.6. Many
estimated part squares rather than using a triangle so were not exact. Area and perimeter were
sometimes reversed.

(ii) Those that gave the perimeter in part (i) attempted the area here. A good number answered this
within the allowed range however the answer 12 was seen often and others appeared to only
measure one side. A small number of candidates did not attempt this part.
(c) (i) This transformation part of the paper was answered very well by some candidates. However, it was
a topic where a significant number found difficulty in scoring high marks. Many identified this part
as a translation though translocation, transition and transformation were common incorrect
attempts along with those who chose an incorrect type of transformation. Vectors were commonly

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

seen, often correct but some lost marks by using coordinates or a fraction line in their vector and
others reversed either numbers or signs. A small number of candidates gave a double
transformation.

(ii) This part proved challenging and although a good number were able to identify the given
transformation as a reflection, the incorrect transformation rotation was common. The identification
of the line of reflection proved more challenging with common errors including, –3, y – 3, –3 on the
y–axis, y–axis = –3 and x = –3. A small number of candidates added a translation.

(iii) The majority identified a rotation though some added a translation and therefore scored 0. The
angle of rotation was quite often correct if present, however, the direction was sometimes missed.
A few stated 270 with or without anticlockwise. The identification of the centre of rotation proved
more challenging with a significant number omitting this part. Errors included (0, 2), (–2, –4) and (3,
1).

(d) The majority of candidates were able to draw the shape with the scale factor 2 but using the centre
of enlargement proved more challenging. Few used rays to help position the enlargement. Those
that did were mostly successful whilst others positioned their shape around or touching the given
centre of (–3, –3). A small number drew the shape with a scale factor –2. There were a significant
number of candidates who did not attempt this part.

Question 4

(a) (i) This part was generally reasonably well answered, though a small but significant number did not
appreciate the numbers and information given. Common errors included 3 and 6 reversed, 5 and 4,
16 and 10.

(ii) This part on using the table and completing the bar chart was generally very well answered with a
good number of candidates scoring full marks, particularly with a follow-through allowed. Common
errors included errors in reading the scale, inaccurate heights, inconsistent gaps and widths of the
bars.

(iii) This part on finding the mode was generally answered very well. Common errors included 15,
giving the median, the largest number, and calculating the mean value.

(iv) This part on finding the mean from a grouped frequency table caused more problems although
some excellent answers with full working were seen. Common method errors included 50 ÷ 6, 108
÷ 6 , 15 ÷ 6, finding the median and stating the range.

(b) (i) This part on completing the table was reasonably well answered with a good number finding the
required angles of 171, 126 and 63. Common errors included the percentage values of 47.5, 35
and 17.5, and a variety of incorrect angles.

(ii) This part on completing the pie chart was generally well answered with a good number drawing
their angles accurately. Common errors included inaccurate drawings, and incorrectly drawing an
angle of 189°.

(iii) This part was generally well answered, with the majority of candidates correctly starting from 28/80
and a smaller number from 126/360.

Question 5

(a) (i) This part was generally answered very well, although a small number of errors such as acute,
reflex, and very occasionally names of quadrilaterals, triangles or polygons were seen.
(ii) This part was mostly found more difficult with few candidates able to give the correct geometric
reason of alternate angles. Although a number of candidates recognised that the parallel lines were
important, many just referred to reasons of parallel, opposite or corresponding.

(b) The value of angle y as 52 was generally correctly worked out. The correct geometrical reason was
less successfully stated. A small number just gave the numerical working out.

(c) (i) This part was generally answered well, although the common errors included chord, straight line,
and circumference.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(ii) This part was generally poorly answered. Common errors included 180 – 74 = 106, 180 – 74 – 74 =
32 and 90 ÷ 2 = 45.

(iii) A small number were able to score the mark on follow-through basis. The correct geometrical
reason was rarely correctly stated. Common errors included ‘angle in a semi-circle is 90’, ‘alternate
angles’, ‘corresponding angles’ and ‘half of 90’. Again, a small number just gave the numerical
working out.

(d) This part proved demanding for many candidates though a number of fully correct answers were
seen. The most commonly used method was to find the interior angle directly by using the formula.
The most successful method however was to find the exterior angle first. Common errors included
2340, 24, and a variety of incorrect answers arising from incomplete or incorrect formulas.

Question 6

(a) (i) The table was generally completed very well with the majority of candidates giving 5 correct values.
The common error was in substituting x = 1 into the given quadratic, usually resulting in a y value of
10.

(ii) Many curves were very well drawn with very little feathering or double lines seen. A few joined up
some or all of their points with straight lines.

(iii) Identifying the equation of the line of symmetry was not generally well answered. Common errors
included y = 4, x + y = 4, y = mx + c. 4 and (4, 17).

(b) (i) This part proved difficult and demanding for many candidates and proved to be a good
discriminator, though a small number of fully correct lines were seen, and a number of lines were
drawn passing through the point (2, 7) but with an incorrect gradient.

(ii) Writing down the equation of the line of this line was not generally well answered. Stating the
correct gradient was more successful than stating the correct intercept.

(iii) This part on using the graph to solve the given equation was generally poorly answered with a
significant number of candidates not appreciating how to read the required values off accurately
from their curve. Common errors included misreading of the scale, inaccurate readings and
incorrect values such as 8 and 1 from attempting to use the given equation. A small number were
unable to attempt this part. A small yet significant number of candidates tried to solve the equation
algebraically.

Question 7

(a) The majority of candidates did not score marks in this part. Most took the area 4620 to be the total
area of the land rather than the area of the park and so divided it by 16 parts instead of 11. Another
common error was to divide 4620 by the ratio parts 2 and by 3 as given in the question.

(b) (i) The majority of candidates knew how to find a percentage, but many did not show sufficient
working in their calculations to gain the mark. Many candidates showed a complete method either
by finding 18% and subtracting this from the total or by finding 82% directly. In their working,
candidates were required to write 0.18 or 18/100 and not just 18% or alternately 0.82 or 82/100 and
not just 82%.

Some candidates used the answer 3788.4 in a reverse method which did not score.

(ii) Candidates found this part difficult, and a minority found the correct answer. A common error was
to misinterpret the question and use the park area of 4620 m2 rather than the grassland 3788.4 m2

Many started with the correct division 3788.4 ÷ 280 = 13.53 but did not round up to 14 bags,
ignoring the fact that in reality you could not buy 13.53 bags of seed so would need to round up in
the context of this question. Many of these candidates continued with a correct method using 13,
13.5 or 13.53 bags and were awarded partial marks.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

A common error was made by those who only added 72 and not 5  72 resulting in the answer 584.

(c) The large majority recognised the question required the method to find compound interest and
many candidates gave the correct answer rounded to the nearest dollar as requested. Many others
gave the exact answer and were not awarded the final mark for rounding appropriately. Having
found the correct answer some spoilt their method by subtracting or adding the principal amount
from it, while some used the method for simple interest.

(d) Those candidates who chose to calculate the number of millilitres per dollar or the cost per millilitre
for each of the three bottles usually gave accurate answers and chose the correct bottle giving the
best value for money. Some misinterpreted their answers and chose C rather than A. Those who
found the cost of 750 ml for each bottle were usually awarded full marks also.

Question 8

(a) (i) A large majority of candidates showed the correct calculation 5.5 – 3.6 and were awarded the
mark. Candidates must not use a reverse method involving 1.9. The most frequent incorrect
method was 3.6 – 1.7.

(ii) A very large majority gave the correct answer.

(b) Although stronger candidates were successful, this part on finding the area of the compound shape
was found quite difficult and demanding by many and most only scored partial marks at best for a
correct partial area. Common errors were adding all the given side lengths or multiplying them all,
forgetting to multiply by half when finding the triangular area and only finding the area of the large
1
rectangle 4.7 by 5.5. Another common error was to treat the whole shape as a trapezium  (3.6
2
+ 5.5)  4.7.

(c) A lot of confusion was seen in this part with both the calculation for volume and with the units, and
a significant minority did not attempt the question. Incorrect calculations were seen several times
1
including  1.2  2.3, 1.22  2.3, division of 1.2 and 2.3 in either order and some attempts
2
resembling a calculation for surface area. The units were often given incorrectly as cm 2, cm3 or m2.

(d) A very large majority of candidates gave the correct answer. A few incorrect methods, 275 ÷ 1.64,
were seen.

(e) The majority used the formula for the area of a circle, but many only scored a partial mark because
they forgot to find half of   2.32 since the shape was a semicircle. It was common for candidates
to write their answer with 2 significant figures, 8.3, rather than the 3 figures required and again this
could gain partial credit but only if the method was shown. Some incorrect formulas such as 2r
and 2r2 were used.

Question 9

(a) Although some correct answers were seen, the majority were not able to convert 420 metres per
minute to kilometres per hour. Many ignored the time aspect and just converted 420 m to km or
made an incorrect attempt to do this, by dividing 420 by 100 or multiplying by 1000. Others divided
their figures 420 by 60 rather than multiply by 60 to convert minutes to hours. Consequently,
common incorrect answers were 0.42, 4.2, 7, or other answers with these digits.

(b) Some correct answers were seen but the majority only scored partial marks at best. Finding the
correct interval of time from 11 55 to 14 41 proved too difficult for many candidates. Those who did
manage to find the interval 2 hr 46 often forgot to subtract the rest period of 25 minutes. Many used
incorrect notation such as 2 hr 21 mins written as 2.21, resulting in an incorrect final answer.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/33
Paper 3 (Core)

Key messages

To do well in this paper, candidates needed to demonstrate that they had a good understanding of all topics
in the syllabus, remembered necessary formulae, and used a suitable level of accuracy. In addition,
candidates needed to ensure that they read the questions carefully and ensured that they were answering
the question asked.

It is generally expected that candidates show some mathematical workings. This is particularly important if
they make an error as without workings, they are usually unable to score any method marks.

General comments

This paper gave all candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and application of
mathematics. Overall, there were some excellent responses. Most candidates completed the paper in the
time available. Some of the weaker candidates did not attempt some of the more difficult parts. The standard
of presentation and amount of working shown was generally good.

Centres should continue to encourage candidates to show formulae used, substitutions made and
calculations performed. Attention should be made to the degree of accuracy required. Candidates should be
encouraged to avoid premature rounding in workings as this often leads to an inaccurate answer.
Candidates should also be reminded to write digits clearly and distinctly

In describing a transformation Question 3(b), candidates must only give one single transformation for each
part, as highlighted in the question. They should not use phrases such as ‘and then moves….’ which
indicates a second transformation and scores no marks.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) (i) The majority completed the bar chart correctly. Some candidates were awarded a method mark for
showing the missing bars added to 15, either in their working or by drawing bars whose heights
added to 15.

(ii) This part was not as successful, with many giving the incorrect answer 11, rather than the correct
term, red.

(b) (i) The majority of candidates drew accurate pie charts. Candidates needed to show their working in
this question as partial marks were available for correct angle values stated even when the sectors
were not drawn accurately. Also, follow through partial marks were available for sectors drawn to
accurately match their stated angle values.

(ii) This part was answered correctly by the majority of candidates.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 2

(a) (i) Many candidates found the correct time of arrival, 11 45. The incorrect answers varied widely, often
with no clear working shown.

(ii) This was found challenging, but there were still a pleasing proportion of fully correct responses.
Some were awarded a partial method mark for 4 ÷ 6, however it was very common for candidates
to calculate the inverse of this, 1.5, and subtract 1.5 hours from 09 24. A few multiplied 4  6 and
then subtracted 24 from 09 24. Both cases did not score marks.

(iii) Around half the candidates scored full marks here. The very common incorrect answers resulted
3
from candidates who had not interpreted the question correctly and who calculated 45  = 27 ,
5
either leaving the answer as 27 or adding 45 to this, resulting in the answer 72.

(b) The majority were able to find the correct cost for 1 kg of potatoes. A small proportion found the
correct cost of buying the onions, $3, but used this figure in an incorrect method, (11.25 – 3) ÷ 4.5.

(c) (i) This part, on sharing in a given ratio, was answered correctly by a very large majority.

(ii) This part, on finding 37.5% of 624, was answered correctly by a very large majority.

(iii) Another successful part with the majority of candidates managing to increase $420 by 12%
correctly. A few candidates found the correct increase, but either forgot to add it on or decreased
by 12%, were awarded a partial method mark if 50.4 was stated.

Question 3

(a) Around a third of candidates were able to draw a correct enlargement of the trapezium. Others
gained partial credit, usually for drawing the parallel sides to the correct length. The sloping lines
caused a problem for many.

(b) (i) This part was nearly always answered correctly.

(ii)(a) The large majority recognised the transformation was a reflection and were awarded at least one
mark. Many were unable to write the property x = –1 correctly, and answers such as –1 or y = –1
were quite common. Others used descriptions such as ‘flipped’ or described how the shape had
moved, earning no credit.

(ii)(b) Most candidates were awarded at least one mark in this part. The large majority of these
recognised the transformation but some candidates did not use the correct term, ‘translation’ and
instead described the movement in words 3 right, 5 down. This only gained partial credit.
Candidates must not write the property using coordinates. Terms such as ‘transition’ and
‘translocation’ were seen regularly and these did not score.

(ii)(c) Candidates found this part challenging to score full marks, but many candidates were awarded
partial credit in this part, often recognising the transformation was a rotation. Some omitted the
angle or the centre or spoilt the answer by adding extra information such as a further movement.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 4

(a) The majority of candidates gave the correct answer.

(b) Similarly, in this part, most candidates gave a fully correct answer. The rest were fairly evenly split
between those who were awarded partial credit because they had omitted 1 or 2 factors and those
who did not score. A few candidates had drawn prime factor trees which did not score.

(c) The majority of candidates showed a correct calculation involving 3, 19 and 57 and were awarded
the mark for this question.

(d) The majority gave the correct answer. The common incorrect answer was 8.

(e) This part was found more challenging with many misunderstanding the instruction and gave the
answer as 16 from 40  16 = 640.

2
(f) The majority of candidates gave the correct reciprocal of . The most common incorrect answer
3
was to convert this to its decimal equivalent, 0.66.

2 21 11 6
(g) Around a third of candidates gave a correct answer and these were usually one of , , ,
9 100 50 25
9 1 1 1 9 1 1
or . Common incorrect answers were from subtracting − , from adding + or
40 20 4 5 20 4 5
1
taking the middle value from the denominators, or the decimal answer 0.23.
4.5

(h) Candidates found this part particularly challenging. The large majority gave a decimal between 9
and 10, most commonly 9.5.

(i) This was found less challenging than the previous part, but it still proved difficult. Around a third of
candidates were awarded a part mark for either giving a common factor as the answer or for a
correct factor list or factor tree.

Question 5

(a) (i) Just over half of candidates gave the correct answer. Some answers were slightly inaccurate and
some gave the acute angle 34°. It seemed apparent that some candidates probably did not have
access to a protractor and estimated the angle.

(ii) Only a few candidates gave the correct answer, reflex. The most common incorrect answer was
acute, then obtuse.

(b) The majority of candidates were awarded at least one mark in this part, with either angle correctly
identified in roughly equal numbers.

(c) The majority of candidates gave the correct answer. Common incorrect answers were 42 and (180
– 42 – 42) ÷ 2 = 48.

(d) The majority of candidates gave the correct answer. Candidates who did not know the angle in the
180 − 17
semicircle was 90° sometimes assumed the triangle was isosceles and calculated = 81.5 .
2

(e) Around a quarter of candidates gave fully correct responses. Common errors were 180 – 171 = 9
or setting up the equation 180(n – 2) = 171.

(f) This question on trigonometry was answered correctly by less than half of the candidates. Some
errors involved using the wrong ratio, cosine or tangent, and a few thought the question involved
Pythagoras’ theorem.

Question 6

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(a) Candidates answered this part very well, with nearly all giving the correct answer. A small number
of errors were made with the order of operations such as 15 + (4 + 7)  (2 + 6) = 1320 or those who
set out the correct calculation but evaluated it incorrectly.

(b) This part was answered correctly by a very large majority of the candidates.

(c) Another part successfully answered by a very large majority of candidates. A few errors were made
4
by those who rearranged to get 4x = 18 + 12 or those who solved 4x = 6 as .
6

(d) This part was also answered very well with a majority being awarded full marks. Most of the other
candidates were awarded a method mark for expanding one of the brackets correctly. The common
incorrect answer was 23x – 14 from ignoring the minus sign in front of 24.

T −6
(e) Around half of the candidates were awarded full marks. The common error was .
5

(f) This was found to be the most challenging question on the paper with a minority of candidates
being awarded full marks. Many candidates were able to score a part mark for an expression x + 6,
5x or 5x + 6. Most of these did not know how to proceed and made no further progress.

Question 7

1
(a) (i) Just under a third of candidates indicated the correct position for the probability of on the
6
number line. The most common incorrect answer showed an arrow pointing to the second marker,
likely reflecting the number 2 given in the question, but many other varied incorrect answers were
also given.

4
(ii) Around a half of candidates gave the correct answer. The most common incorrect answer was ,
6
likely from candidates who included 1 as a prime number.

(iii) This was answered well with the majority knowing the probability was 0.

(b) The majority of candidates gave the correct probability as a fraction in its simplest form. A few
scored a partial mark if they left the answer unsimplified.

(c) (i) The majority gave the correct answer. A common misunderstanding was to write a fraction out of
24 rather than 16, from counting all the squares in the table containing numbers.

(ii) This part was found challenging with many varied incorrect answers being given, either fractions or
integers.

(iii) Another challenging part, with only a minority of candidates being successful. Common errors were
13
just 3 or from giving the probability of a number being less than 10 rather than at least 10.
16

(d) (i) About a half of candidates were able to complete the tree diagram correctly. Many others
4 1
completed the first blue disc correctly as or they completed both second red discs as and so
5 5
scored a part mark.

(ii) Around a third of candidates gave the correct probability. The most common incorrect answers
4
were from taking the probability from the tree diagram that the second disc was blue or adding
5
4 4 8
+ incorrectly to equal .
5 5 10

Question 8

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(a) Around half of the candidates gave the correct answer. A common error was to multiply the three
numbers given on the diagram together.

(b) Over half of the candidates gave the correct answer. Those candidates who started by setting out
1
the equation  b  4.5 =15.3 nearly always reached the correct answer. The common incorrect
2
1
answer was 3.4 from those who forgot to deal with the in the formula for the area of a triangle.
2

(c) Over a third of candidates gave the correct answer. A common error was to calculate the diameter
or to give the answer correct to 2 significant figures instead of 3 and these candidates were given
partial credit. Some candidates started with an incorrect formula for circumference of a circle (2)r2
or they only calculated 58.6 ÷ 2 neither of which scored.

(d) About half the candidates scored full marks in this question showing they were able to find the
correct shaded area. Many others were able to make some progress by finding the area of the
rectangle and/or the area of a circle or semicircle and hence many partial marks were awarded in
this question.

Question 9

(a) Just under half of the candidates gave the correct equation of the line y = 4x + 3. Many varied
incorrect answers were given. These included y = 3 and y = 7 appearing regularly.

(b) Candidates who set out clear working tended to be successful, but this was a minority. Many did
not know how to approach this question, often giving an incorrect answer with little or no working. A
very common error was made by those who started with the correct equation 5 = 2 – 6a but
rearranged this incorrectly as 5 – 2 = 6a leading to the answer of 0.5.

(c) (i) The majority of candidates completed the table with the correct values.

(ii) The majority of candidates scored full marks for a correct curve and many others were able to draw
a reasonably good curve or plot most points accurately. It was quite common for candidates to use
a ruler to join some of the line segments on the graph rather than draw a good freehand curve.
These candidates were not awarded full marks.

(iii) This part was found particularly challenging with the majority unable to write the equation for the
line of symmetry.

(iv) Around a third of candidates gave the correct answer. It was common for candidates to include the
value of x for the negative point of intersection along with the positive value. Incorrect answers
varied although 0 and 6 appeared regularly.

© 2024
 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/41
Paper 4 (Extended)

Key messages

Candidates sitting this paper need to ensure that they have a good understanding and knowledge of all the
topics on the Extended syllabus. A number of candidates did not offer any responses to many of the parts
and some candidates missed out whole sections.

Candidates generally showed a good level of working but the importance of showing methods that are being
used cannot be underestimated. Often candidates would have similar incorrect final answers but only those
whose working could be seen and followed could be awarded method marks.

General comments

Candidates should be careful with accuracy. Many candidates are working to 2 significant figure accuracy,
which is not sufficient. All calculations should be worked out to enough significant figures, so that final
answers are accurate to at least 3 significant figures.

Many candidates show multiple attempts when answering questions, but it should be clear which of their
attempts they require to be marked. If none of the methods lead to the answer line, all attempts will be
marked and the attempt with the lowest mark will be the mark awarded. This can often have a detrimental
effect on the candidate’s score. Others routinely cross out their working throughout the paper and this
sometimes leads to a possible correct solution being overlooked if several are offered. Candidates should
also try to work down the page and from left to right. Some candidates write solutions which go all over the
answer space, and this makes it difficult for examiners to follow their method.

The ‘show that’ questions on this paper are 5(a)(ii), 6(b)(i), 6(b)(ii) and 7(b)(i). Questions that ask
candidates to ‘show’ results require rigour within the solutions and no errors can be made. Candidates are
expected to start with the given information and arrive at the value or result that is asked to be shown,
ensuring that every step is explicitly shown.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) (i) Under half of all candidates answered this question correctly. Common errors included
inaccuracies when copying the numbers, dividing the numbers the wrong way round, finding the
answer as a fraction rather than a percentage and giving the answer inaccurately as 4.5 or 4.54.

(ii) A good number of candidates were able to gain one mark for evidencing some simplification of the
ratio. The simplest starting point was to divide the three numbers by 1000 and simplify from there.
Common errors included miscopying of the original numbers, not simplifying far enough or
simplifying beyond the simplest form so that decimals, rather than integers, were seen in the ratio.
A common approach that did not score was to divide each of the three given numbers by their total.

(iii) Whilst this question could be worked out by using the actual areas of the countries, and a
considerable number attempted this, it was much easier to work out the answer using only
1
percentages. The starting point was to find 30% and then calculate 30% of 43 %. Some
3

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

1
candidates used the correct method but approximated 43 % to 0.433 and lost the accuracy mark.
3
1 1
Very common errors included merely adding together 60% + 10% + 43 % or working out 43 %
3 3
1 1
as 43  = 14 %.
3 3

(iv) A fair number of candidates answered this part correctly. Common errors included multiplying the
27 23 50
area of the rain forest by or or and a large number of candidates lost the final mark
50 50 23
because they did not attempt to round to the accuracy required. Other errors included answers
which used percentages and were either 100 times too big or too small and calculator errors or
slips when copying numbers.

(v) There were a good number of correct answers seen. The most common errors usually had the
omission of one of 60 or 24 in the calculation and others used 360 or 52  7 for the number of
days. Whilst many were credited for 31 903 920, this was not always converted into standard form
or was written either with an incorrect power or with less than 3 significant figure accuracy or for
example as 31.9  106. Candidates using an incorrect method often scored one mark for converting
their answer correctly into standard form.

(b) There were some correct answers to this part and most candidates showed at least one correct
upper or lower bound for 6440 or 4400. Common errors included adding on or subtracting off 10
and 100, rather than half of these amounts, using both of the upper (or lower) bounds or dividing
rather than subtracting the values. Some candidates found the difference of the original numbers
and either gave this as their answer or attempted to apply bounds to this answer.

Question 2

(a) (i) Most candidates correctly reflected the triangle. The most common error was to reflect the triangle
in the y-axis.

(ii) Most candidates translated the triangle correctly. The most common error was to translate the
triangle by the wrong number of units in one of the x and y directions.

(iii) Fewer candidates answered this part correctly. Many recognised that the triangles dimensions
1
should be halved but either drew the triangle in the wrong position or used a scale factor of +
2
1
rather than – .
2

(b) A minority of candidates answered this part correctly. The majority of candidates worked out 10  3
2
 = 12 taking no account that enlarging the area needed to use the square of the scale factor for
5
each part of the enlargement.

Question 3

1
(a) (i) Most candidates correctly evaluated C. The most common incorrect answer was 400 from  (5 
4
8)2.

(ii) This part was answered well by many candidates. However, there were a significant number of
candidates who made errors when isolating y2. These errors almost always saw candidates

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

1
subtracting the and /or 2.4 from 15, rather than dividing them into 15. Less common errors
4
included misreading 2.4 as 24 and forgetting to square root 25.

(b) Most candidates used the correct common denominator of (x – 1)(2x + 5) and set up the numerator
correctly as 4(2x + 5) – 3(x – 1). The most common errors arose from the –3(x – 1) term, when
candidates either did not have brackets or did not remove the brackets correctly, with the 3
frequently becoming –3 or –1. Other errors included having the numerator round the wrong way as
4(2 x + 5) − 3( x − 1)
3(x – 1) – 4(2x + 5), reaching but cancelling the brackets to give 4 – 3 = 1, slips
(2 x + 5)( x − 1)
with arithmetic and slips when multiplying out the brackets in the denominator, which was not
required. Candidates who did not score had often simply added the numerators and denominators.

(c) A fair proportion of candidates answered this part correctly. Most candidates knew they needed to
multiply out a pair of brackets and then multiply that result by the third bracket. Candidates who first
multiplied out (2x + 3)(4 – x) were usually more successful than those starting with (4 – x)2, the
latter often forgetting the middle terms and having 16 – x2 or 16 + x2.The most common errors were
slips with signs, arithmetic and powers of x. A minority of candidates did not use a correct process,
and these tended to attempt to multiply out the three brackets in one go.

(d) A minority of candidates solved this efficiently using a variety of approaches. Some started by
3
 16 x16  4 3
dealing with the negative power to get 
 y 8 
and then dealt with the power of whilst others
  4
3
were able to successfully deal with the power of – on each of the 3 terms in one go. To score full
4
−6 12
y 8x
marks candidates were required to simplify answers such as to or 8x12y–6.
1 −12 6
x y
8
3 4
Common misconceptions included changing the power of – to when dealing with the negative
4 3
3 12 2
3 x x
power, finding 16  = 12 rather than 16 4 = 8, cancelling to
, and not recognising that the
4 6 1
y y
power also operated on the 16.Those who started by cubing all the terms were usually not
successful.

Question 4

(a) (i) Many candidates gave the correct value for the median. The most common incorrect answers were
6 +13
9.25 from misreading the scale and 9.5 which was seen coming from calculations such as .
2

(ii) Many candidates gave the correct interquartile range. The most common incorrect answer was to
give the range 11.6–8.2 without evaluating it.

(iii) Some candidates answered this question correctly. Most were able to select the required times of 6
and 13 and many were able to go on and calculate the difference in speed, often first in m/s.
However, candidates were not always able to then convert to km / h. Premature approximation and
lack of a clear method were evident in many solutions. Those who converted from seconds to
hours, before using speed, frequently gave statements such as 6 s =0.0017 h which was not
6
sufficient without showing or 0.00167 as a minimum level of rounding. A common
3600
misconception was to subtract the times before finding the speeds.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(b) (i) Many candidates gave the correct class interval for the median. The most common incorrect
answer was 400  d  420, which was the middle of the three classes.

(ii) This part was answered well, with the majority of candidates working out the mean correctly,
supported by clear working. A minority of candidate used the lower- or upper-class bounds, rather
than the mid interval value, but with a method shown, they were often able to score some marks.

(iii) A small minority of candidates answered this part correctly. Many candidates gave the answers
2.8
5.2, 7.6 and 8.4, which were found by multiplying the frequencies by without taking into
7
consideration that the class intervals were different size widths.

(iv) A minority of candidates answered this correctly. Others scored only two marks because they did
not consider that the cars could be chosen in either order or did not multiply by 2. Other errors
included calculating products using ‘replacement’ with denominators all being 80 and adding rather
than multiplying the fractions. It was rare for a candidate not to score at least one mark for writing
20 7
down or .
80 80

Question 5

(a) (i) Many candidates gave the correct vector. Common errors included finding the vector in the
opposite direction, namely QP , adding the coordinates, slips with arithmetic and slips with signs. A
few candidates including a fraction line within their vector which was not allowed.

(ii) Being a ‘show that’ question, solutions needed to have no errors to score full marks and a fair
2 2
number of candidates achieved this. The most common error was writing 5 + −5 , without
brackets around the –5 . Others made no progress with this part and were unable to score.

(iii) Some candidates answered this correctly but not all of these recognised that the radius was found
in the previous part, with many starting again. However, most candidates were able to state the
formula for the area of a circle but had either no value or an incorrect value for the radius, so did
not score. Common incorrect values used for the radius came from the length, or half the length, of
the chord PQ.

 x1 + x2 y1 + y 2 
(iv) This part was well attempted with some correct answers given and evidence of  , 
 2 2 
being used. Others scored one mark for one correct value. The most common incorrect answers
 x − x2 y1 − y 2 
were, for example, (2, –6) from  1 ,  and reversed answers, namely, (1, 3).
 2 2 

(v) A small proportion of candidates gave the correct equation of the line. Most candidates were able
to find the gradient of PQ but not all went on to find the gradient of the perpendicular. Others
1
reached y = x + c but did not recognise that the previous part gave them a coordinate on this
3
perpendicular. A minority of candidates used previous parts and recognised that the perpendicular
bisector passed though the origin and were able to give the line directly, but this method was not
expected.

(b) A small minority answered this correctly and those that did, had usually drawn a clear diagram,
used vector notation correctly and showed clear routes and methodology to find the position vector
of M. Other made little or no progress with few being able to complete a full diagram, write down a
2 3
route for OM or state AB = b – a. A common incorrect answer was a + b which came from
5 5
the ratio of AM:MB.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
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Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 6

(a) Less than half of the candidates answered this correctly. Common incorrect answers included 235
which was found using the reverse bearing from H as 180 + 55, wrongly assuming that HB was
north.

(b) (i) Most candidates showed angle CBH = 100 by clearly evidencing 180 – 25 – 55. To score the mark
both of 25 and 55 needed to be seen together with a subtraction from 180.

(ii) The majority of candidates used the sine rule to set up an implicit equation to find BH. Many then
successfully rearranged this to find an explicit calculation for BH. Some substituted the values for
sin100 and sin25 before rearranging and these candidates were often at risk of premature
3
approximation. The most efficient method was to use the calculator once to evaluate 3 x − 2 − 2 ,
to at least 2 decimal places in order to show that BH = 13.7 to 1 decimal place as required.

(c) Many candidates recognised that the cosine rule was needed to find an angle within triangle ABH
although it was not always clear that candidates knew which angle they were finding. Some used
unnecessarily longer methods such as the cosine rule for angle BAH and then the sine rule to find
angle ABH. Having found angle ABH, not all candidates added 190 to it to find the bearing.
Common errors included errors in stating the cosine formula, errors in substituting into the formula
and errors in evaluation, with A2 + b2 – 2abccosB being evaluated as (a2 + b2 – 2ab)cosB. Some
candidates wrongly tried to use right angle trigonometry.

(d) (i) There were some good answers to this question. Marks were mainly lost due to lack of accuracy
32
when calculating = 1.727… with candidates often using 1.7 or 1.72. Other errors
10  1.852
included not multiplying by 10, using an incorrect formula for time, such as distance  speed or
speed
or finding the correct time interval but not giving the arrival time. Others gave the time
distance
incorrectly, such as 2.44 when 2.44 pm was required.

(ii) A small minority of candidates answered this correctly. Others recognised the position of the boat
but found its closest distance to B rather than its distance from H at that point of time. Incorrect
answers included those that assumed the boat was at the midpoint of CH and others who found the
distance BC.

Question 7

(a) (i) Most candidates were able to show the area of one side of the box but not all found the total
surface area correctly as there were often errors with the numbers of each side. Some found the
surface area of a closed box and others had more than 2 of some of the sides. Others had correct
methods but made calculation errors with statements such as 40  30 = 120 frequently seen. A
minority found the volume of the box.

(ii) Only a small proportion of candidates attempted to answer this question using the correct method
of fitting whole cylinders into the box. Whilst some of these scored full marks, others scored one
30 40 70
mark for answers such as 18 from   = 18.6. The majority of candidates used
15 20 15
calculations involving , whether it be for surface areas or volumes. An extremely common
incorrect answer was 23 which came from dividing the volume of the box by the volume of a
cylinder.

(b) (i) This was a more challenging ‘show that’ question. Only a small minority of candidates scored full
marks by showing rigorously that the radius was 2.993…and thus 2.99 correct to 3 significant
750
figures. Most candidates scored one mark for showing volume = but few could get much
8.9
further. Candidates needed to use the given ratio to replace h by 3r in the formula for the volume of

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1
a cone, which is V = r2(3r). Many simply replaced h with 3  2.99 and went onto find r thus
3
using the 2.99 to find 2.99.

(ii) This was a complex part, but some candidates showed excellent solutions, with clearly set out
calculations and retention of accuracy, to score full marks. Other candidates found the curved
surface area but omitted to include the circular base and others were only able to find the area of
the circular base. Candidates often attempted to use the given formula but with inaccurate figures
for the slant length. Where no workings were shown these candidates could not score. However, if
these candidates had shown use of Pythagoras, their method may have been rewarded despite the
lack of accuracy. Others incorrectly used the height of the cone as the slant height.

Question 8

(a) This question expected candidates to substitute x=0 into the equation to find the y intercept and
factorise x2 + 7x – 18 = 0 to find the x intercepts, which some candidates did successfully. Often
with these marked on the axes a smooth parabola was drawn though the symmetry was not always
correct, and the minimum was frequently drawn at (0, –18), rather than to the left of the y axis.
Other candidates completed a table to find coordinates, labelled all the axes and attempted to draw
the curve by plotting points. This was not required and more often than not resulted in graphs that
were not a smooth shape. Other candidates were able to draw a graph with a parabolic shape and
score one mark, although candidates should be careful of the curvature at the ends and make sure
the graph does not come back in on itself.

(b) (i) Many candidates were able to correctly give the derivative. Although candidates were not
dy
penalised in this question for poor notation, candidates should write = 3x – 2 rather
dx
than Y = 3x – 2.

(ii) Fewer candidates knew to set their derivative to zero to find the correct turning point. Other
candidates did not use their derivative but were successful in using the completing the square
method, although this was less efficient in this case. Others tried to factorise the equation, and
some completed a table of coordinates, neither of which was helpful.

(c) A minority of candidates answered this question with clear and detailed workings. Some scored
most of the marks but did not evidence correct use of the quadratic formula for finding the x values,
which was required for full marks as was accuracy to 2 decimal places as asked for in the question.
Some candidates reached x2 – x – 33 but could not recall accurately the quadratic formula and got
no further. As in previous parts, some candidates attempted to accurately plot the two equations
and made no real progress. Others never equated the two equations so, despite trying various
methods with the two curves separately, were unable to score.

Question 9

(a) (i) It was extremely rare for a candidate not to find f(3) correctly.

(ii) Many candidates found gf(3) correctly.

(b) Many candidates were able to correctly find the inverse function. Most candidates started by
swapping the x and y in the function to x = 6 – 2y and then rearranging. Common errors were not
dividing every term by 2 or sign errors when moving terms across the equal sign or forgetting to
switch x and y. Other errors included just reversing the signs in g(x) giving g–1(x) = –6 + 2x or
1
confusing the inverse function with reciprocal resulting in g–1(x) = .
6 − 2x

(c) A good number of candidates answered this part correctly. Errors that were seen included sign
errors in the simplification of 6 – 2(2x – 7) and slips with signs and arithmetic when solving 4x + 1 =
6 – 4x + 14. Some candidates were unable to set up the correct equation, some simply writing 4x =
1 = 2x – 7 and others trying to rearrange f(x) = g(2x – 7) to find x in terms of f and g. Also seen
were g(x) = 6 – 2x(2x – 7) and g(x) = (6 – 2)(2x – 7).

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(d) Many well answered this question. Some candidates showed excellent algebraic work in being able
3 x −2 −2
to write hh(x) = 3 , although this was not required as an easier approach was to first
evaluate h(2) and then find hh(2). Errors included writing 3–1 = 0.3 and the misconception that
hh(2)=h(2)h(2).

(e) Unless candidates understood that h–1(x) = 10 can be rewritten as x = h(10) this part was almost
impossible for candidates to solve. However, a number of candidates were successful and reached
x = 6561.

© 2024
 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/42
Paper 4 (Extended)

Key messages

To do well in this paper candidates need to be familiar with all aspects of the syllabus. The recall and
application of formulae in varying situations is required as well as the ability to interpret situations
mathematically and problem solve with unstructured questions. Work should be clearly and concisely
expressed with intermediate values written to at least four significant figures, and only the final answer
rounded to the appropriate level of accuracy. Candidates should show full working with their answers to
ensure method marks are considered when final answers are incorrect.

General comments

Many candidates were well prepared for the paper and their solutions were often well presented.

Candidates performed well where questions were directly assessing a clearly identifiable area of the
syllabus. Candidates found questions to be more challenging when they needed to identify the mathematics
required or combine several topic areas.

In questions requiring candidates to show a result they need to show the individual steps of their working in a
coherent order leading to the result they are being asked to show. Most candidates were unable to show a
clear route to the result required in Questions 5(e) and 9(b).

Some candidates rounded or truncated values prematurely in their working, leading to inaccurate final
answers and the loss of method marks. This was particularly common in questions involving trigonometric
ratios and Pythagoras’ theorem. Where answers are exact integer or decimal values, candidates should give
this value as their answer rather than rounding to 3 significant figures unless the context of the question
requires a rounded value.

There was an error on the question paper in Question 11(b)(i) where the coordinate (–2, 2) had an incorrect
y – value for the function y = 2x3 –6x + 8. The coordinate should have been (–2, 4) and this has been
corrected on the published version of the paper. This error had no impact on candidates as only the value
x = –2 was needed to answer the question.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) This was generally answered well with most candidates correctly converting 1.5 litres to 1500 ml
and then simplifying to the ratio 10:3. Some gave a final answer with decimals which did not earn
the final mark as the ratio when simplified should have only integers.

(b) This was answered reasonably well with many candidates giving the correct three values. Errors,
where they occurred were either with conversion of 1 litre to millilitres or because candidates
attempted to share a quantity other than 1 litre, for example 1.5 litres or 1950 millilitres.

(c) Candidates answered this part well. Infrequent errors included correctly calculating the increase
0.48 but then subtracting it from $3.20 or candidates treating the question as a reverse percentage
problem giving an answer of $2.78.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(d) Most candidates showed a good understanding of exponential growth and gave the correct answer.
A small number attempted a year-by-year calculation but often did reach the correct answer either
as a result of doing fewer or more than 5 steps or by prematurely approximation within the step by
step calculation. The most common error was to treat the growth as 5 × 2.5 per cent.

(e) A number of candidates gave a correct answer. Many found this lower bound question to be
challenging and did not select the correct combination of bounds for the subtraction to give the
lower bound of the distance. Almost all candidates gained partial credit by showing one of the four
correct bounds involved in the question. A small number did not consider bounds and gave the
answer 4.5 from the lengths given in the question, 23 – 18.5.

Question 2

(a) This part involving angles in parallel lines was very well answered. Almost all candidates were able
to use angles on a straight line to find angle a = 142° and alternate angles to find angle b = 142°.
When an error was seen it was to state that angle a and/or angle b were equal to 38° even though
the diagram showed that both were obtuse angles.

(b) This part was also answered very well. There were different approaches with some candidates
divided 360 by 12 to find the exterior angle first before subtracting from 180 while others used the
formula for the interior angle sum and then divided by 12. The latter approach led to the more
errors as some gave the interior angle sum incorrectly, for example, (n – 1) × 180. Partial credit
was given to those that showed the correct method to find the angle sum of the interior angles or
the correct method to find an exterior angle.

(c) Many candidates were able to use the relevant circle theorems correctly to find angle f = 56° and
angle g = 34°. Candidates who recognised the alternate segment theorem were able to find angle f
first before using the angle at the centre is twice the angle at the circumference together with the
angle sum in an isosceles triangle to find angle g. Many other candidates began by using tangent
meets radius at 90° and the isosceles triangle to find angle g first and then angle sum of a triangle
and angle at the circumference is half the angle at the centre to find angle f. Those making errors
included the incorrect use of the alternate segment theorem or using alternate angles to state angle
g = 56°, as well as numerical errors in otherwise correct methods.

(d) Most candidates answered this part well. Other candidates that clearly stated that the angle of 129
was opposite to angle k or indicated this c on the diagram gained partial credit. Common errors
included answers of 129° or 64.5°.

Question 3

(a) (i) Most candidates were very confident with this topic and gave a correct answer supported by
working. A small number incorrectly multiplied the class widths by the frequencies, and some
multiplied either ends of each interval by the frequencies. Only a very small number of candidates
added the midpoints together.

(ii) The majority of candidates drew a correct histogram. Some attempted freehand drawings and this
sometimes led to inaccuracy with the heights of some bars. Candidates are advised to use a ruler
when drawing histograms. Some made errors when attempting to calculate the frequency
densities, for example dividing the frequency by the total frequency or by the corresponding
midpoints.

(iii) Many candidates found this probability question challenging although there were a considerable
number scoring either 2 or 3 marks. The most common misunderstanding was not to appreciate
that the two candidates could be chosen in either order. The other common error was to not to treat
19 3 19 3
the choices as dependent events i.e.,  not  . A few candidates added the two
40 39 40 40
probabilities instead of finding the product.

(b) (i) This was answered well by the majority of candidates. The most common error was to give an
answer of 8 which was the lower quartile.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(ii) Most candidates drew a correct box-and-whisker plot Some gave gave the lower quartile as the
lowest value, others drew more than one line in their ‘box’ and so gave a choice for the median
value. Some boxed the entire plot and had no ‘whiskers’. A very small number were unfamiliar with
the term ‘box and whisker plot’.

(iii) A comprehensive reason was required in this part that stated the median was 22 and that made a
correct reference to 100 or 101. A minority of candidates were able to give both of these elements
in their answer with the majority making reference to one of the elements only.

Question 4

(a) (i) Many candidates were able to find the area of the semi-circular cross section. Some candidates
then omitted to multiply by 100 to find the volume or did not convert 1 m to cm to achieve consistent
units. Incorrect conversion of units was also an issue for some.

Some candidates having found a correct volume omitted the final step of rounding to the nearest
10 cm3. Another common error was to use the area of a circle instead of the area of a semi-circle
as the cross-sectional area.

(ii) This was the most challenging question on the paper. The lack of structure meant that candidates
had to devise their own strategy to solve the problem. A very common misunderstanding was to
deduce that as the level of the water below the top of the tank was half of the radius then the
volume of the water was also half of the volume of the half cylinder.

If we consider the centre of the circle O and the ends of the chord A and B, candidates who created
triangle AOB were often able to gain some credit for their approach. Some candidates used
1
Pythagoras theorem to find AB and went on to find the area of triangle AOB. Further credit could
2
be gained by using trigonometry to calculate angle AOB or another relevant angle to then find the
area of sector AOB or another relevant sector. Some candidates made an assumption about the
angle and values such as 90° and 45° were given no credit when finding a relevant sector area.
Some candidates found the area of sector AOB and subtracted the area of triangle AOB to find the
shaded area whilst others added the area of the two smaller unshaded sectors to the area of
triangle AOB before subtracting this total from the area of the semi-circle. In both approaches it
was necessary to set work out clearly. Confusion over whether the working was for the whole of
triangle AOB or sector AOB, or for the smaller sectors or right-angled triangles, often led to
inconsistent doubling or halving of values. Most candidates were unable to start to build a
structured approach to the problem.

(b) Most found this part challenging. Candidates who understood Archimedes principle were able to
calculate the volume of the stone 42 × 35 × 0.2 and then use the given formula to find the mass of
the stone from the density and volume. However, the most common approach was to assign a
value d to the depth and calculate the volume using 42 × 35 × d and then subtracting 0.2 from their
d and calculating a new volume, before subtracting to find the volume of the stone. This approach
was sometimes successful but the error of subtracting 0.2 from 42 or from 35 instead of from their
value for d was common. The most common error was to use the area 42 × 35 instead of a volume
in the formula mass = density × volume and calculate mass = 42 × 35 × 2.2, or for some calculate
2.2 × 0.2.

(c) Candidates appeared very well prepared for this part which was answered very well. Candidates
used Pythagoras’ theorem to find AC and/or AG and then almost always used a correct trig ratio to
find angle CAG. The most common error for some candidates was to premature round a value
before the final trig calculation for the angle, for example some gave an answer of 46.2 from
rounding 208 to 14.4 and then used this within their method.

Question 5

(a) This was well answered. Almost all candidates scored at least 1 mark for a correct element in the
3
answer. The common error was in applying the index to one of the elements 25 or x6, for
2
example as answer of 25x9 was given by some.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Some treated the index as a ‘multiplier’ and multiplied 25 by 1.5 rather leading 37.5x9.

(b) Many gave the correct answer for the nth term. Some others were familiar with the form of the
expression needed for an exponential sequence and gained partial credit by giving an expression
of the form 6n.

1
The answer was most often written as × 6n–1 and any correct equivalent to this was given full
6
credit. A small number of candidates were able to give a correct expression in working but then
1
simplified it incorrectly, for example  6n −1 = 1n −1 . The most common misconception was to treat
6
the sequence as an arithmetic progression and to give an answer of the form 6n.

(c) Candidates were very well prepared for this part and there were many fully correct answers.
Common errors included transcription errors of terms from line to line in working, as well as slips
when multiplying and collecting negative terms. Some after multiplying a correct pair of brackets
then omitted essential brackets when multiplying by the third bracket.

(d) (i) A number successfully manipulated the given expression to the required answer showing all
working steps and no omissions. There were a number of approaches used.

Some attempted to simplify like terms before dealing with the fraction, others attempted to work
with the left-hand side of the equation before removing the fraction. Both approaches were often
successful but sign errors and omission of essential brackets were often seen.

Some attempted to remove the fraction but did not multiply all terms in the equation by (x – 2).

Some did not keep an equation within their working and worked in isolation with expressions and
so omitted the key element required in this type of question and although partial marks were
awarded, the omission prevented full marks.

(ii) The majority of candidates were able to factorise the quadratic equation correctly and then write
down the two solutions. Some did not follow the demand in the question and used the quadratic
formula and could then only score one mark for correct solutions.

(e) As this was a ‘show that’, candidates were required to construct expressions in terms of x and y, for
the total surface area of the cylinder and the total surface area of the hemisphere before forming an
equation. A small number were able this concisely and successfully. The most common error was
4 ( 5 y )
2

to exclude the flat circular surface area for the hemisphere and to give . A number of
2
candidates also omitted essential brackets when substituting 5y for the radius. For the cylinder,
some considered the curved surface area only.

The majority found forming the expressions for both surface areas challenging and were able to
make only limited progress.

Question 6

(a) The majority of candidates recognised this as a cosine rule problem and many were able to
demonstrate the method correctly. Candidates then needed to give an answer to sufficient
accuracy e.g. 9.546… to demonstrate that this would round to 9.55 correct to 2 decimal places to
score full marks. There were a large number that gave the answer 9.55 without greater accuracy.

(b) (i) This was very well answered. A few gave an incorrect statement such as 180 – 26 + 42 = 112.

(ii) The majority of candidates answered this very well. Almost all recognised it as a sine rule problem
and were able to show the substitution and rearrangement of the sine rule leading to the answer.
There were a number of candidates that gave an answer of 6.9 instead of to at least 3 significant
figures. Candidates should note that Examiners will not imply method marks for values given to 2
significant figures unless the method is written down leading to those figures.

© 2024
 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(c) Many were successful in this part. Most candidates understood that the shortest distance is the
length of the perpendicular from point D to line AB.

Some candidates lost accuracy within a correct method by prematurely rounding the value of sin64
or by giving their answer correct to only 2 significant figures.

A small number used an incorrect trigonometry ratio to find the length.

The most common method error was to assume incorrectly that the perpendicular would bisect side
AB.

Question 7

(a) Most candidates solved the equation correctly. A small number of candidates rearranged correctly
to 7x = 14 and then gave the answer x = 7.

(b) Most candidates factorised the expression correctly. Some gave a partially factorised answer,
either 5(2a2 + a) or a(10a + 5). A small number of candidates made an error in one of the terms in
the bracket such as 5a(5a + 1) which gained no credit.

(c) Few candidates identified this expression as the difference of two squares. It was more common
for candidates to expand the first bracket and simplify the result. This led to the result 4x2 – 12x
which was often given as the answer rather than factorising to give 4x(x – 3) as required. Errors in
the first expansion were also seen, for example 2x 2 − 12x + 9 , 4 x 2 − 12x − 9 and
4 x 2 − 6 x + 6 x + 9 . Those candidates who used the difference of two squares usually started
correctly with ( 2 x − 3 + 3 )( 2 x − 3 − 3 ) but some gave the answer 2 x ( 2 x − 6 ) rather than factorising
fully as required.

(d) (i) Candidates usually gave the correct fraction as their answer. Some evaluated the result correctly
but gave a decimal answer with fewer than 3 significant figures.

(ii) This part was usually answered correctly, although some candidates rounded the correct answer of
x
3
19683 to 3 significant figures. A small number of candidates showed either 3 or 39 without
( )
reaching the correct answer. The most common errors were 3 32 = 27 , 32  32 = 9 and

332 = 729 .

1
(iii) Many candidates correctly evaluated f(7) and wrote 3k = but they were not always able to use
27
1
this to find k = –3. Answers of k = 3 and k = were also common. Some candidates evaluated f(7)
3
but did not equate this with 3k.

Question 8

(a) Many candidates stated the three correct inequalities. In some cases, candidates used ⩽ in place
of < or reversed the inequalities. Some candidates were unable to form the equation x + y = 24
required for the final inequality, with xy ⩽ 24 as a common error.

(b) Some candidates drew all four required lines accurately and identified the correct region. Many
candidates were unable to distinguish between strict and inclusive inequalities. Strict inequalities,
such as y < 10, should use broken lines and inclusive inequalities, such as x ⩽ 16, should use solid
lines. Most candidates drew the lines x = 16 and y = 10 but some made errors in drawing one or
both of y = x and x + y = 24. Some candidates omitted one of the lines, often x = 16. Even when all
four lines had been drawn correctly, some candidates were unable to identify the correct region,
with many satisfying just three of the four inequalities. Some candidates who had made errors
when drawing lines gained credit for identifying a region that satisfied three of the correct
inequalities.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(c) Most candidates identified that the largest amount would be found by substituting values for x and y
into 8x + 12y. Many identified a point on the border of their region and substituted correctly into this
expression to gain the method mark. Candidates who had identified the correct region rarely
reached the correct answer of 228 as they used the point (14, 10) which does not satisfy the
inequality y < 10. Some candidates used points from outside their region and gained no credit.
Some candidates with an incorrect diagram found the correct answer by using the information
given at the start of the question to identify the required values as 9 large cakes and 15 small
cakes.

Question 9

(a) Some candidates were able to find a correct expression for the perimeter of the shape and identify
the values of a and b. It was common for this expression to be evaluated as 42.3 rather than
leaving the arc lengths in terms of π and candidates were then unable to find the required values.
Some attempted to subtract multiples of π from 42.3 to give values of a and b. The most common
error was to either subtract the two arc lengths or to subtract the perimeter of the small sector from
the perimeter of the large sector. Some candidates found sector areas rather than arc lengths.

(b) (i) Most candidates found this part very challenging and were unable to make any meaningful attempt
at the question. Many attempted some calculation with 127.3 and 6 sides without finding any
angles. Some candidates identified the interior angle of the hexagon as 120° or divided into
equilateral triangles and identified the 60° angle but made no further progress. The most successful
solutions resulted from equating the area of one equilateral triangle with 127.3 ÷ 6, although some
showed insufficient stages or accuracy in values to gain full credit. The value given in the question
was 7.0, so candidates needed to show a value correct to at least 3 significant figures to gain the
accuracy mark. Some candidates had learnt a formula for the area of an equilateral triangle, but
use of this formula did not gain full credit without showing the 60° angle. Some candidates used the
7.0 cm in the question in their method which could not be awarded any method marks.

(ii)(a) Most candidates found the volume correctly. A small number found the surface area rather than the
volume.

(b) Many candidates found the surface area correctly. Common errors were to use an incorrect
number of rectangular faces or to add just one hexagonal face rather than two.

Question 10

(a) (i) The majority of candidates found the correct coordinates of the midpoint. A common error was to
subtract the x and y values rather than adding them before halving the result and these values
were subtracted in either order giving answers of (1.5, 3) or (–1.5, –3). Some candidates carried
out the correct calculations but then gave (–1,4.5) as the answer. Occasionally the sum of x and y
values for the two points were not halved.

(ii) Some candidates gave an answer of 6.7 following from the correct calculation. A surd answer was
acceptable as the final answer but where a decimal answer is given it should be correct to at least
three significant figures. There were only occasional surd answers. There were a few candidates
who tried to find the gradient rather than the length of AB.

(b) (i) Many gave the correct gradient. Other candidates attempted to rearrange the equation some did
4 4
this incorrectly and gave answers of, for example, 4, –4 or . In a few cases the answer of − x
3 3
was written or sometimes the rearranged equation. Finding, or attempting to find, the gradient of
the line joining points A and B from part (a) was also attempted by some.

(ii) Many candidates gave the correct coordinates, but a number gave a coordinate with the x–
coordinate not equal to zero. Some substituted y = 0 and arrived at the answer (3,0) or (0,3). Some
gave the coordinates (0,12) as the rearrangement in part (b)(i) had not been divided by 3
previously.

(iii) The method to find the equation of a perpendicular line was understood by most candidates. Those
with the correct answer to part (b)(i) usually found the correct equation in this part. Many with the

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

incorrect gradient were able to find the equation of a line perpendicular and through the required
point and earned the method marks for this..

Question 11

(a) There were a number of candidates that correctly substituted of x = − 1 into the given derivative,
showing that the result was equal to 0. In this part, it was not uncommon to see a variety of
different attempts offered with no selection of the preferred method. In cases like this where a
choice of method is offered, Examiners cannot award credit unless a choice is made by the
candidate. Many did not know how to use the given derivative to justify a stationary point. A few
candidates appeared to use their calculator to solve the given cubic expression, listed the three
solutions, and then assumed that they had done what was required. Other attempted to involve the
y coordinate 6 in the substitution. Other incorrect attempts involved either differentiating or
attempting to integrate the derived function.

(b) (i) Many candidates obtained the correct gradient of 18, and often those who did not gave a correct
derivative for partial credit. Errors were sometimes seen in attempts at the derivative, or in the
evaluation of their derivative at x = –2.

(ii) A number of candidates were able to obtain the correct two values of x but not all of those who
found the derivative correctly were able to solve 6x2 – 6 = 0. Many candidates did not appreciate
that both sides of the equation could be divided by 6. Some candidates solved the equation to find
only one of the two solutions, x = 1, and then often gave 0 or 6 for the second solution.

© 2024
 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

MATHEMATICS

Paper 0580/43
Paper 4 (Extended)

Key messages

To do well in this paper candidates need to be familiar with all aspects of the syllabus. The recall and
application of formulae in varying situations is required as well as the ability to interpret situations
mathematically and problem solve with unstructured questions. Work should be clearly and concisely
expressed with intermediate values written to at least four significant figures with only the final answer
rounded to the appropriate level of accuracy. Candidates should show full working with their answers to
ensure method marks are considered when final answers are incorrect.

General comments

There were some very good scripts in which candidates demonstrated an expertise with the content and
proficient mathematical skills. However, there were some poorer scripts in which a lack of expertise was
clear and a lack of familiarity with some topics resulting in higher numbers of incorrect responses. The
standard of presentation varied considerably. For many scripts it was generally good, however there were
occasions when a lack of clear working made it difficult to award some method marks.

Some candidates changed answers by overwriting one digit with another making it difficult to determine the
intended answer. There was no evidence that candidates were short of time, as most candidates attempted
nearly all the later questions. Premature rounding resulted in some candidates losing a number of marks.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

(a) (i) Almost all candidates calculated the correct total. Most errors involved numerical slips in calculating
one of the two products.

(ii) Many correct answers were seen. Errors usually involved a lack of accuracy in the final
percentage, often resulting from too few figures. Some candidates found the cost of running the
club as a percentage of the sum of the running cost and the membership fees.

(iii) More able candidates had no difficulty in applying reverse percentages to find the correct number
of members in 2022. The most common error involved increasing 120 by 4 per cent leading to
124.8, which was often rounded to 125, and this earned no marks.

(iv)(a) Those candidates that understood what was required almost always obtained the correct number
50 + x 14
of members in 2024. Most opted to set up an equation of the form = and solved it
70 + x 19
correctly. Very few opted to scale up the ratio 14:19 until a common increase in adult members and
child members was found. Weaker candidates used the fact that the numbers of members in 2023
had a factor of 10 and so scaled up 14:19 to give the common wrong answer of 330.

(b) Candidates were more successful in this part, and many calculated a correct percentage. When the
previous part was incorrect some were able to follow through correctly from the previous answer.
Following on from incorrect answers often involved percentages greater than 100. In the case of
the common incorrect answer of 330, some found that this was 275 per cent of 120 and gave this
rather than the increase of 175 per cent. Others would calculate the percentage increase as 175
and subtract 100 to give an increase of 75 per cent.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(b) (i) Many candidates had a good understanding of exponential increase and found the correct
population at the end of 3 years. Weaker candidates often calculate the decrease after 1 year and
multiplied this by three leading to a common wrong answer of 2275.

(ii) This was well answered by many candidates, usually using a trial and improvement method. Those
with an incorrect method in the previous part almost always continued with the same method and
did not obtain a correct answer.

Question 2

(a) (i) Almost all candidates used the nth term correctly to find the 4th term of the sequence.

(ii) Many correct answers were seen. Weaker candidates tended to make more errors in this part,
usually when rearranging their equation, often leading to n3 = 1091.

(b) Most candidates found the fifth term of the exponential sequence with answers given as a decimal,
fraction or in standard form.

(c) A majority of candidates provided correct solutions to all parts of the table. Sequence A had the
highest success rate with some responses for the nth term left in non-simplified form. Candidates
were just a little less successful with sequence B, especially when it came to finding the nth term.
Rather than treat the fraction as two separate sequences, some worked with the fraction as a
whole and attempted to find a pattern in the differences. Sequence C proved the most challenging
with fewer correct answers for the nth term. Many attempted to use the difference method but were
not always clear on how to proceed after finding the second differences of 2.

Question 3

(a) Many candidates had no difficulty in finding all three statistical measures. For the mode a value of 6
was a common error. The most common error for the median was 3.5, simply finding the median of
the six possible scores. Errors with the mean sometimes resulted from slips with the numeracy and
occasionally some gave the answer 10, the mean of the six frequencies.

(b) (i) Most candidates were able to set out their calculations clearly and went on to obtain the correct
value of the mean. Occasionally some candidates made slips, either with a midpoint or with the
numeracy work. Some candidates mistakenly use the interval boundaries or the interval widths in
an otherwise correct method. Those that made errors in completing the table were able to earn
credit for a correct method. In some responses candidates gave their answer without showing all or
any working, risking losing some or all of the marks if their answer is incorrect.

(ii) Those candidates with a good understanding of histograms had no difficulty in calculating the
height of each of the remaining bars. Almost as many were unsuccessful. Using a scale factor of
0.3, from the first bar, and finding the heights of 21.6 and 5.4 was the most common error. Others
divided the upper or lower bound by the frequency and some gave random values without any
method shown.

Question 4

(a) Most candidates made a good attempt at this question and a majority were able to show the
desired result. In many cases, candidates showed clear algebraic manipulation from setting up the
1
initial equation to reach the final form without any errors. Most opted to use the formula ab sin C
2
1
with a few using  b  h after using trigonometry to find the height. As this was a show questions
2
1
candidates were expected to show the use of sin 30 before replacing it with . Other errors
2
included the omission of brackets and sign errors.

(b) Most candidates tackled this in the expected way by using the quadratic formula. Some chose to
calculate the discriminant separately and substituting its value into the formula. There were
occasional slips when substituting, especially with the value of c = –6. A less common approach
involved completing the square, usually attempted by the stronger candidates. Some failed to fully

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

evaluate their answers and only gave a surd form while others failed to show any working, losing all
the method marks in the process.

(c) Nearly all candidates made use of their positive answer to part (b) and attempted a perimeter
calculation, and many correct answers were seen. Some were unable to link their answer to the
previous part to this part and only gave an answer of 4r + 4. Others found the area of the square
rather than the required perimeter.

Question 5

(a) (i) Many candidates were successful in interpreting the graph to give the value of f(2). A common
error was solving the equation f(x) = 2.

(ii) Many candidates were successful in solving the equation f(x) = 5. Misreading the scale was a
cause of many of the errors seen.

(iii) Many candidates gave a correct value of k with most errors resulting from a misinterpretation of the
graph.

(iv) A clear majority of candidates were able to identify the y-axis as an asymptote to the curve.
Tangent was the most common error with root and perpendicular also seen.

(b) (i) Many correct straight lines were seen. Common errors included lines with gradient 2 from
misreading the scale and lines with a y-intercept of +2.

(ii) Almost all candidates with a correct straight line gave a correct value of x for the point of
intersection with the curve.

(c) This proved more challenging and fully correct solutions were in the minority. Most of the
candidates that attempted the question understood the need to use integer coordinates from the
graph and substitute them into the given function to show that c = 2. As this was a show question it
was not acceptable to replace c with 2 and attempt to show that for a chosen value of x, they were
able to get the correct value for y. A very high proportion of candidates made no attempt at a
response.

(d) Only the stronger candidates were successful when answering this question. Most of them were
able to find the values of p and q correctly with the occasional slip with a sign when rearranging.
2
Many of the other candidates did not realise that they needed to replace c with 2, equate x2 –
x
and x – 2, and then rearrange to the given form. Some equated the given form with x – 2, others
substituted values of x in the given form trying to obtain two simultaneous equations, all without any
success. A high proportion of candidates made no attempt at a response.

Question 6

(a) Most candidates applied Pythagoras correctly to the triangle and obtained the correct length for the
ladder. Some gave insufficient figures in their answer, and some gave the answer in surd form.

(b) Most candidates applied the tangent ratio correctly to find one of the acute angles. Some
candidates used less efficient methods by first finding the length VW and then using either the sine
or cosine ratio. Most of the candidates with a correct angle went on to give a correct bearing. Some
were unsure of how to proceed, and a variety of calculations were seen, for example 90  their
angle and 180  their angle.

(c) Many fully correct solutions were seen. Most candidates opted to use the sine rule to find AB and
were then able to find the perimeter. Some chose less efficient methods such as finding BD and
applying the cosine rule to find AB. Others drew a perpendicular from D to AB and used a
combination of Pythagoras and trigonometry to find AB. These less efficient methods often resulted
in inaccurate final answers due to premature rounding of intermediate values. Some of those that
found BD then included it their perimeter calculation. Others assumed that the triangle ABD was
isosceles.

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(d) This proved more challenging than the previous part and fewer fully correct solutions were seen.
Stronger candidates had a good understanding and were able to apply the cosine rule to find PR
and then using it to find the required angle. As in the previous part, premature rounding of PR led
to inaccuracies in the angle PQR. Some recognised that the cosine rule was required but used the
rule incorrectly, sometimes omitting the 2, replacing the – with + or using sin 110 instead of cos 110.
The negative value of cos 110 also led to errors. A few assumed SPQR was a cyclic quadrilateral
and angle PQR = 180 – 110 = 70o was a very common error.

Question 7

(a) (i) Many candidates displayed a good understanding of speed and calculated the correct time in
minutes. Leaving the time in hours and dividing the speed by the distance were the common errors.

(ii) This proved more challenging and fewer fully correct answers were seen. The stronger candidates
demonstrated a good understanding of lower bounds and showed clear working in obtaining the
correct time. Others had the correct idea for the calculation but did not use the correct lower bound
for the distance and/or the correct upper bound for the speed. Some mistakenly thought they
needed to use the lower bounds of both the distance and of the speed.

(b) This was quite a demanding question and only the more able candidates obtained a correct
answer. Their solutions often demonstrated excellent algebra skills and a sound knowledge in the
manipulation of fractions and different units of speed. Most candidates attempted to find the
distance travelled in each part of the journey and equate their sum to 240. Having found a correct
equation some went on to solve it correctly. In cases where this did not happen, it was mainly due
to a lack of expertise in dealing with the fractions correctly.

A significant number of candidates were unable to set up a valid equation, although some had a
correct expression for at least one of the two distances. Some candidates completely
misunderstood the question and thought that each part of the journey was for 240 km thus setting
240
up two equations. Others formed a fraction such as with no equation seen.
t t + 60
100  + 110 
60 60
Others used speed  time when they needed speed  time = distance.

Question 8

(a) (i) This proved more challenging and fully correct solutions were in the minority. Some fully correct
methods were seen but premature rounding of some of the interim values meant that some
candidates lost accuracy in their final answer. Calculating the curved surface area of the cone
proved the biggest stumbling block with many candidates using the perpendicular height of the
cone rather than using Pythagoras to calculate the slant height. Most were able to correctly
calculate the curved surface area of the cylinder. Another common error was forgetting to include
the area of the circular end, although some candidates included two, and sometimes three, circular
22
ends. Several candidates used incorrect values for pi, such as 3.14 or .
7
(ii) This proved less demanding, and candidates were more likely to obtain the correct volume. Errors
were often due to using an incorrect height for one or both parts of the solid. Some did not include
the volume of the cylinder in their calculation.

(iii) This proved more challenging and fully correct solutions were in the minority. Many candidates
could not make the link with the volume of the solid found in the previous part. Those that did
usually went on to obtain the correct volume of the empty space. Many restarted, working from the
dimensions of the box and working out the radius of each solid before calculating its volume,
usually incorrectly, by treating it as a cylinder of length 17.5 cm. Others attempted to calculate the
area of the cross-section for the empty space and stopped there.

(b) Another challenging question with only a small majority of candidates correctly calculating the
volume of the smaller solid. Many of those with an understanding of similar solids gave clear and
concise working. Those with little or no understanding were unsure of how to approach the
question and a variety of fractions were seen, sometimes raised to a power of 2 or 3 and
98
sometimes square rooted or cube rooted. The most common error involved 450  = 220.5.
200

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

Question 9

(a) (i) Almost all candidates gave the correct probability.

(ii) Again, almost all candidates gave the correct probability.

(b) Many correct answers were seen. Some candidates missed the statement that the first card was
2 1
replaced. Weaker candidates made a variety of mistakes such as  , adding the denominators
7 7
2
rather than multiply and giving the answer as .
7

(c) (i) A small majority of candidates had no difficulty in finding the correct probability. Many others had
not considered the two ways in which this event could occur and gave the common incorrect
2 1 1
answer of  = . Some candidates added the probabilities instead of multiplying. Some
7 6 21
2 1 3
weaker candidates gave the answer as + = .
7 7 7

(ii) Candidates were less successful in this part and only a minority of correct answers were seen. The
2 1
correct answer generally came from 1 – 2   with some candidates mistakenly using either
7 6
2 1 2 1
1–  or 1 – 4   . Some candidates attempted a sample space, but these were rarely
7 6 7 6
complete or correct. Others attempted to consider the ways in which the two letters could be
different, and a series of products could be seen which were often incomplete. A significant number
of candidates made no attempt at a response.

(d) Candidates found this very challenging and correct responses were in the minority. Many appeared
to guess the value of n as working was missing or not related to the answers. Stronger candidates
often checked the probability of an A for different values of n, usually starting with n = 1 or 2.
Others showed random fraction work and others gave answers that were not integers. A high
proportion of candidates made no attempt at a response.

Question 10

(a) Those candidates that understood the terminology used in the question almost always
differentiated the function correctly with only a few candidates making an error in one part of the
derivative. It was evident that many of the weaker candidates did not understand the terminology
as many made no attempt, some factorised or rearranged the given equation and others gave
random algebraic expressions. In part (b) a significant proportion of these went on to differentiate
the function correctly.

(b) This proved more challenging and only the stronger candidates were successful. Most recognised
the need to substitute x = –1 into the equation of the curve to find the y-coordinate of the point.
Many made sign errors when dealing with the –1 incorrectly, such as evaluating –16 instead of
(–1)6. Some recognised the need to find the gradient of the tangent but not all linked this with using
the derivative, often finding the gradient of a chord instead. Having reached this point successfully,
some made sign errors when trying to find the equation in the form required. A significant number
of candidates made no attempt at a response.

(c) Candidates fared a little better in this part and a greater number of correct answers were seen.
Most attempts involved equating the derivative to 0. Some candidates had no difficulty in factorising
and finding the two x-coordinates, but some were unable to factorise correctly. Some decided they
needed to do further differentiation and the number of derivatives often reached four or five. Having
found the correct x-coordinates most had no difficulty in finding the corresponding y-coordinates.
Some weaker candidates equated the equation of the graph to 0 rather than the derivative. A high
proportion of candidates made no attempt at a response.

Question 11

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 Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education
0580 Mathematics June 2024
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

(a) The more able candidates recognised that the ratio of the angles was the same as the ratio of arc
3 3
lengths. Some recognised that the minor arc was of the circumference and so angle x was
10 10
of 360. In a similar way, some found the angle of the major sector before finding angle x. Most
candidates opted to set up an equation involving the full formulae for the lengths of the two arcs.
Not all cancelled the obvious terms which led to some getting tied up with some large numbers
resulting in some unnecessary errors. A significant number of candidates made no attempt at a
response.

(b) (i) Those who knew both the formulae for area of a triangle and the area of the sector of a circle were
nearly always successful. Errors included using 2πr instead of πr2. There was some confusion on
1
which side of the equation to include the . Errors in the simplification process were seen and
2
some candidates provided insufficient working for a ‘show that’ question. Some candidates
extended the radius OB out to join a perpendicular from A. This led to solutions that involved
sin(180 – y) and thus a leap to siny which was often not understood. Others drew a perpendicular
from O to AB resulting in an expression for the areas involving half angles. A high proportion of
candidates made no attempt at a response.

(ii) This proved less demanding, and most candidates completed the table correctly. Many slips were
seen, the most common being the omission of the zeros for 341.00. Some candidates omitted the
.00 for 341.00 or forgot to round up to 1. Other rounding errors were seen and these included
writing 341.17 instead of 341.18 and 341.50 instead of 341.49.

(iii) Those candidates that realised they were completing a trial and improvement method for finding
the value of y almost always gave the correct value. Many others did not understand what was
required in this question as demonstrated by the high number of worded answers such as: ‘wrong’;
‘equal’; ‘right’; ‘not accurate’.

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