Updated 29 October 2026

Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Checkpoint

For parents whose school in the UAE uses Cambridge programmes: what the stages are, how they line up with English year groups, how Checkpoint is scored, and how it all differs from England's national curriculum.

Cambridge Primary has six stages (typically ages 5 to 11). Cambridge Lower Secondary has three more, Stages 7 to 9 (typically 11 to 14). Then comes Cambridge IGCSE.

Checkpoint tests are optional, taken at the end of Stage 6 and Stage 9 in English, maths and science. Scores run from 0 to 50; 21 to 30 is 'Good' and 41 to 50 'Outstanding'.

Cambridge stages and English year groups

Cambridge stage	Programme	Typical age	Same age in England	Test at the end
Stage 1	Cambridge Primary	5 to 6	Year 1
Stage 2	Cambridge Primary	6 to 7	Year 2
Stage 3	Cambridge Primary	7 to 8	Year 3
Stage 4	Cambridge Primary	8 to 9	Year 4
Stage 5	Cambridge Primary	9 to 10	Year 5
Stage 6	Cambridge Primary	10 to 11	Year 6	Cambridge Primary Checkpoint
Stage 7	Cambridge Lower Secondary	11 to 12	Year 7
Stage 8	Cambridge Lower Secondary	12 to 13	Year 8
Stage 9	Cambridge Lower Secondary	13 to 14	Year 9	Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint
IGCSE (2 years)	Cambridge Upper Secondary	14 to 16	Years 10 and 11

Cambridge gives the overall age ranges (Primary typically 5 to 11 over six stages, Lower Secondary typically 11 to 14 over three, IGCSE for 14 to 16 year olds). The age for each stage is worked out from those ranges. Schools label their classes in different ways, so check how your school names them. For English key stages, see key stages explained.

What Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary are

They are curricula written by Cambridge University Press & Assessment for schools around the world. Each offers 13 subjects, and schools choose which to use. Cambridge says many schools teach Cambridge Primary alongside their own national curriculum. Each subject has a curriculum framework of learning objectives for every stage. In maths, for example, the strands are Number; Geometry and Measure; and Statistics and Probability, with 'Thinking and Working Mathematically' running through all of them.

The Checkpoint tests

Cambridge Primary Checkpoint is taken at the end of Stage 6, and Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint at the end of Stage 9. Cambridge marks the tests in:

English (as a first language) or English as a second language
Mathematics
Science

There is also a Global Perspectives Checkpoint, where learners write a research report that teachers mark and Cambridge moderates. Cambridge describes Checkpoint as tests that many schools use to get an international benchmark of their learners; schools decide whether to enter them.

When they are taken

From 2026 there are three series a year, in March, May and October, and every test must be taken on the date Cambridge sets. A learner who misses a test does not get a result in that subject, and can be entered in a later series instead.

How Checkpoint is scored

Each learner gets a score from 0 to 50 for each subject, plus scores for each strand (for example number or geometry in maths), and a Statement of Achievement. The score is not a percentage: Cambridge converts the raw marks with a statistical method (Rasch analysis) that allows for how hard the questions were. The score places the learner in one of six performance bands:

Checkpoint score	Performance band
41 to 50	Outstanding
31 to 40	High
21 to 30	Good
11 to 20	Aspiring
1 to 10	Basic
0	Unclassified

These bands replaced the old 0.0 to 6.0 scale from the May 2023 series. Cambridge's Progression Tests, which schools can use every January in earlier stages, report in the same bands. Cambridge designed the scale so that a learner making expected progress gets the same band at Lower Secondary Checkpoint as at Primary Checkpoint.

Checkpoint and IGCSE

Cambridge IGCSE follows Lower Secondary, for 14 to 16 year olds. Cambridge says that, on average, learners who reach 'Good' at Lower Secondary Checkpoint go on to around grade C/4 at IGCSE, and those who reach 'Outstanding' to around grade A/7. It stresses this is an average, and individual learners vary.

How Cambridge differs from England's national curriculum

Cambridge has published a comparison of its Primary and Lower Secondary curricula with the national curriculum for England. It found that by the end of Stage 6, and again by the end of Stage 9, learners will have covered nearly all the same ground in English, maths and science. The differences it lists:

Order and pace. Topics are covered by the end of the programme but not always in the same year. For a move between the two systems part-way through Key Stage 3, Cambridge advises comparing the two schools' programmes.
Written methods in maths. England's curriculum requires fluency in formal column methods; Cambridge lets the school choose the calculation method. England's number content is also more extensive by the end of primary.
Shakespeare. Required in England at Key Stage 3, but optional in Cambridge Lower Secondary.
Listening. Cambridge keeps listening skills explicit in Lower Secondary English.

Cambridge's comparison was written for its earlier curriculum frameworks. Its current frameworks were first assessed in the May 2023 Checkpoint series, so treat the detail as a guide.

The tests differ too. England's national tests, such as the Year 6 KS2 SATs, are statutory for state schools in England and use scores from 80 to 120. Checkpoint is optional, international, and scored from 0 to 50. There is no official conversion between the two.

Questions parents ask

What is a good Cambridge Checkpoint score?

Scores run from 0 to 50 in six bands. 21 to 30 is 'Good', 31 to 40 'High' and 41 to 50 'Outstanding'. Cambridge says the same score means the same level of performance in every subject, and that the score is not a percentage: it is worked out from the raw marks with a statistical method that allows for how hard the questions were.

What age is Cambridge Stage 6?

Cambridge Primary has six stages for children typically aged 5 to 11, so Stage 6 is the final primary year, for children of about 10 to 11. That is the same age as Year 6 in England. Cambridge Primary Checkpoint is taken at the end of Stage 6.

Is Cambridge Checkpoint compulsory?

No. Cambridge describes Checkpoint as tests that many schools use to get an international benchmark, and schools choose whether and when to enter learners. Ask your school whether it enters Stage 6 or Stage 9 learners.

When are the Checkpoint tests?

From 2026 there are three test series a year, in March, May and October, each on fixed dates set by Cambridge. In 2026 the March series ran from 2 to 12 March and the May series from 11 to 21 May, with the October series in mid-October. Schools choose which series to enter.

What happened to the old 0 to 6 Checkpoint scores?

Cambridge replaced the 0.0 to 6.0 scale with the 0 to 50 scale and the new performance bands from the May 2023 series, the first series assessing its new curriculum. Scores from before and after the change cannot be compared directly.

Does Lower Secondary Checkpoint predict IGCSE grades?

Roughly, on average. Cambridge says learners who reach 'Good' at Lower Secondary Checkpoint would expect to achieve around IGCSE grade C/4, and 'Outstanding' around grade A/7. It stresses that individual learners can do better or worse than this.

Is Cambridge Primary the same as the British curriculum?

No, but it is close. Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary are Cambridge's own international curricula. Cambridge's comparison with England's national curriculum found that by the end of Stage 6 learners will have covered nearly all the same ground in English, maths and science, with differences in order and detail.

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