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IGCSE Home Tutor in Al Warqa

The cheapest thing an IGCSE home tutor in Al Warqa can do for you is tell you which syllabus code your child is actually entered for. Get that wrong and every hour afterwards is spent on the wrong papers. This page starts at the bottom of the Dubai rate card and works up, names the Cambridge and Pearson codes, and explains the tiering decision that costs families more than any hourly rate. Lessons run one-to-one over live video to Al Warqa.

  • Syllabus codes named: 0580, 0625, 0620, 0610, 4MA1, 4PH1
  • Core and Extended grade ceilings stated, not implied
  • Cheapest market tier published first, with its source
  • Free trial lesson, no fixed term, no grade promised

37%

of Dubai private pupils on a UK curriculum

5

subjects at grade E or 3 for MoE British-track equivalency

6

Cambridge administrative zones for exam timetables

2

UAE exam series a year: June and November

International schools near Al Warqa
  • GEMS Our Own English High School, Al Warqa
  • The Westminster School, Al Qusais
  • Dubai Scholars Private School
  • The Apple International School
  • Al Sadiq Islamic English School
  • Star International School Mirdif
  • Uptown International School
  • GEMS Royal Dubai School
  • Dubai English Speaking College
  • Al Mizhar American Academy

School names are shown for local academic context only. IB Gram is an independent tutoring platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing any school listed here.

IB & IGCSE in Al Warqa

Cheapest first: what IGCSE support in Al Warqa really costs

Work up from the floor rather than down from the premium. The lowest advertised online rates in Dubai sit around AED 33 to 52 an hour at Tutopiya and AED 45 to 65 at EdFlik, which buys a university student or a recent graduate checking homework. That is a real product with a real use: a Year 9 who needs company while finishing set work is well served by it, and paying four times as much for the same service is the commonest avoidable expense in this market.

Above that sits the band most Al Warqa families actually need. A qualified subject tutor working online is roughly AED 150 to 300 an hour, with Unitors publishing IGCSE from AED 150. That tier can mark against a mark scheme, knows whether your child sits Paper 2 or Paper 3, and can tell the difference between a content gap and a technique problem. Above that again, specialist rates of AED 200 to 450 and more make sense for one subject in the final run to a series, and almost never for all of them.

The expensive mistake in IGCSE is not the hourly rate. It is the tier. Cambridge 0580 Mathematics is sat as Core, with Papers 1 and 3 and a grade ceiling at C, or as Extended, with Papers 2 and 4 and the full range to A star. The science syllabuses work the same way. A child entered for Core cannot be awarded an A regardless of how brilliantly they perform, and a child entered for Extended who is not ready can come out below where Core would have placed them. Correcting a tier decision costs a term. Nobody's hourly rate matters by comparison.

Delivery, plainly: IB Gram does not send tutors to homes anywhere in the UAE. Home visits are a service we run only in India. Al Warqa lessons are one-to-one over live video, timed to Gulf Standard Time. For this part of Dubai that is more than a technicality. The local school supply around Al Warqa'a and Al Qusais is largely CBSE and British, and a tutor who lives within a short drive is far more likely to know a national curriculum than to know which paper a Cambridge Extended candidate sits.

What follows is written so a parent can check it. The codes are the ones printed on the examination entry. The grade ceilings are the published tiering rules. The series are June and November, the two Cambridge and Pearson sittings UAE candidates use. The rate bands name their sources. And where a figure could not be verified, it is left out rather than estimated, which is why you will not find a fine amount for unpermitted tutoring anywhere on this page.

At a glance

  • Budget online tier: AED 33 to 65 an hour (Tutopiya, EdFlik)
  • Qualified subject tutor online: AED 150 to 300 an hour (Unitors from AED 150)
  • In-home across Dubai, travel included: AED 180 to 500 an hour
  • Cambridge Core maths caps at grade C; Extended reaches A star
  • UAE candidates sit the June and November series, not the India-only February-March one
  • MoE British-track equivalency needs five subjects at no less than grade E or 3
IB programmes

Every IB programme stage, mapped to UAE school years

Al Warqa families reach IGCSE through British-curriculum schools in Al Qusais, Mirdif and Academic City, and increasingly through private candidacy. The notes below cover each route and what support costs inside it.

IGCSEAges 14-16 · Years 10-11

Cambridge IGCSE

Two-year courses assessed by terminal written papers, with practical or alternative-to-practical components in the sciences. Most subjects are tiered: Core for grades C to G, Extended for the full A star to E range. Cambridge runs June and November series, and every centre is allocated to one of six administrative zones, so the correct zone timetable matters more than parents realise.

Cambridge codes a parent in Al Warqa should be able to read off an entry form: 0580 Mathematics, 0625 Physics, 0620 Chemistry, 0610 Biology, 0654 Coordinated Sciences, 0500 English First Language. Knowing the code is the difference between a tutor teaching the right paper and a tutor teaching the subject.

IGCSEAges 14-16 · Years 10-11

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE

Pearson's equivalent, available in May-June and November each year. Mathematics A is 4MA1, sat at Foundation or Higher tier rather than Core and Extended, with Foundation reaching grade 5 and Higher running to grade 9. The sciences are 4PH1, 4CH1 and 4BI1, with Double Award Science as 4SD0, and the assessment structure differs from Cambridge in ways that matter for revision.

Several schools reachable from Al Warqa run Pearson in some subjects and Cambridge in others, which is why a tutor should be asked which board before anything else. The November 2026 Pearson final timetable ran from late October to 19 November 2026; always check the live official timetable rather than a restated date.

A LevelAges 16-19 · Years 12-13

International A Level

The usual continuation for a Dubai IGCSE student not moving to the IB Diploma. Subject choices at this point are constrained by IGCSE tier and grade, which is the practical reason the Year 10 tiering decision matters: a Core maths candidate has a narrower route into A Level Mathematics than an Extended one.

For MoE equivalency on the British track, students must show one accredited subject at Advanced Level with a grade of no less than E, or two accredited subjects at Advanced Subsidiary Level with the same grade, alongside five IGCSE or GCSE subjects at no less than E or grade 3.

MYPAges 11-16 · MYP 1 to MYP 5

IB Middle Years Programme

The IB alternative to IGCSE at the same ages, assessed against four criteria per subject group rather than by terminal papers. Some Al Warqa families compare the two directly when choosing a school, and the honest answer is that they test different things rather than one being harder.

Where a child moves from MYP into IGCSE mid-course, the gap to close is examination technique rather than content: criterion-marked tasks reward investigation and communication, while IGCSE papers reward precision against a mark scheme under time pressure.

Subject coverage

IB and IGCSE subjects we tutor

IGCSE support is bought by syllabus, not by subject. Each note below names the code, the tier structure and where Al Warqa candidates most often drop marks.

Mathematics (Cambridge 0580)

Core and Extended

Core sits Papers 1 and 3 with a grade ceiling at C; Extended sits Papers 2 and 4 and reaches A star. Extended marks are lost most often on algebraic manipulation under time pressure, on bearings and transformations, and on multi-step problems where the method is right and the working is unreadable.

Mathematics A (Pearson 4MA1)

Foundation and Higher tier

Foundation reaches grade 5, Higher runs to grade 9 with grade 3 allowed. Two papers, both calculator-permitted, which changes revision priorities compared with Cambridge. Students moving between boards mid-course lose marks to unfamiliar question phrasing rather than to unfamiliar mathematics.

Physics (Cambridge 0625)

Core and Extended, plus practical

Core takes Papers 1 and 3, Extended takes Papers 2 and 4, and candidates sit either Paper 5 practical test or Paper 6 alternative to practical. Marks go on electricity circuit analysis, on graph gradients without units, and on Paper 6 questions about variable control that reward method rather than recall.

Chemistry (Cambridge 0620)

Core and Extended, plus practical

Moles calculations, ionic equations and organic nomenclature account for most dropped Extended marks, together with the qualitative-analysis questions on the practical paper where students name a result without naming the observation that produced it.

Biology (Cambridge 0610)

Core and Extended, plus practical

The volume of terminology hides the real issue, which is applying it to unfamiliar organisms and data. Extended candidates lose marks on osmosis and transport explanations where the direction of movement is stated without the gradient that drives it.

Coordinated and Combined Sciences (0654, 0653)

Double and single award

One syllabus covering all three sciences, with Coordinated as a double award and Combined as a single. Students sit fewer papers than triple science but cover a wider spread per paper, so revision must be organised by paper rather than by subject.

English as a First Language (Cambridge 0500)

Single tier

Directed writing and reading response. Marks are lost where candidates summarise a passage instead of analysing how the writer achieves an effect, and in the writing paper where register is misjudged for the stated audience.

English as a Second Language (0510 and 0511)

Core and Extended

Reading, writing and listening with an optional spoken endorsement depending on the code entered. Al Warqa candidates frequently sit this rather than First Language, and the tier chosen affects both the grade ceiling and the vocabulary expectation.

Economics and Business Studies (0455, 0450)

Single tier

Diagram accuracy and evaluation carry the top marks. Students lose heavily where they define a term correctly and never apply it to the case material in front of them, which is a technique fault rather than a knowledge one.

Arabic (0508 and 0544)

First language and foreign language

Entered as First Language or Foreign Language depending on the child's background, and this is separate from the Arabic that KHDA requires every Dubai private school to teach. Note that Arabic and Islamic Education are excluded from the five subjects counted for Ministry of Education British-track equivalency.

How sessions run

Tutoring formats built around UAE school timetables

Three ways to buy IGCSE support from Al Warqa, priced honestly. All run one-to-one over live video on Gulf Standard Time, and none involves a tutor travelling to a UAE address.

One subject, one weekly hour, Year 10 onwards

The arrangement that suits most families: a single weak subject, a fixed slot, started in Year 10 rather than the term before the series. Beginning early is what makes the lower market tier sufficient, because there is time to fix a content gap at AED 150 to 300 an hour instead of buying specialist hours in a panic later.

  • Fixed weekly slot, chosen around the actual school run
  • Work marked against the correct syllabus code's mark scheme
  • Tier readiness reviewed before entries are finalised
  • Reviewed each reporting cycle against the school's own data

A short pre-series block in Year 11

Six to ten sessions concentrated in the weeks before the June or November series, aimed at paper technique rather than content. This is where specialist rates are defensible, because the work is past papers under timed conditions with mark schemes read line by line, and a generalist cannot do it well.

  • Past papers under timed conditions, marked against the scheme
  • Command-term discipline and working-out legibility
  • Separate attention to the practical or alternative-to-practical paper
  • Ends when the series starts, with no rolling commitment

Private candidate support

For students sitting through an examination centre rather than their school, support covers the syllabus itself plus the administrative reality: which series, which zone timetable, and what the centre requires. The entry and registration remain the family's responsibility; IB Gram plays no part in them.

  • Syllabus-led teaching from the official subject content
  • Guidance on which series suits the student's readiness
  • Signposting to the official timetable rather than restated dates
  • No reproduction or supply of past papers or mark schemes
Verified tutors

IB and IGCSE tutors available to students in Al Warqa

The tutors below teach to a named IGCSE syllabus code rather than to a subject in general, because Cambridge 0580 and Pearson 4MA1 are different papers with different tiering. Each Al Warqa session is one-to-one over live video.

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The full picture

What IB and IGCSE study actually looks like in Al Warqa

01

The Al Warqa IGCSE rate card, cheapest tier first

  • AED 33 to 65 an hour: supervision and homework company
  • AED 150 to 300 an hour: a tutor who knows your syllabus code and mark scheme
  • AED 200 to 450 and above: specialist, worth it for a final pre-series block
  • AED 180 to 500 an hour: in-home, with the Al Warqa commute inside the rate

At the bottom of the Dubai market, Tutopiya advertises from AED 33 to 52 an hour and EdFlik from AED 45 to 65. What that buys is supervision and homework company from a university student or recent graduate. It is a legitimate product and it is badly undervalued by parents who assume cheap means useless: a Year 9 who will not sit down without someone present is well served, and nobody should pay AED 300 an hour for that.

The middle tier is where IGCSE work actually belongs, and it runs roughly AED 150 to 300 an hour online, with Unitors publishing IGCSE from AED 150 and IB from AED 200. The distinguishing feature is not politeness or punctuality; it is whether the tutor knows that your child sits 0580 Extended Papers 2 and 4 rather than Core Papers 1 and 3, and can mark a response against the published scheme. Ask the code question before the rate question and the tier sorts itself out.

At the top, Bestimate's Dubai table puts IB, IGCSE and A Level specialists at AED 200 to 450 and above, TutorChase quotes AED 270, and BartyED sits at AED 650. In-home visits across Dubai run AED 180 to 350 in Bestimate's table and AED 200 to 500 from independent home tutors. Specialist rates are worth paying for one subject in a final pre-series block, where paper technique is the whole job. Paying them across four subjects for two years is how a household ends up with a tutoring budget larger than a school fee instalment.

IGCSE TUTORING IN DUBAI — MARKET AED PER HOUR, PUBLISHED RATES READ OCTOBER 2026
TierAED per hourWho publishes itWhat it realistically doesSensible use from Al Warqa
Budget online33-65Tutopiya, EdFlikSupervises set work, answers questionsYear 9 and 10 homework routine
Qualified subject tutor, online150-300Unitors from AED 150 for IGCSEMarks against the syllabus scheme, fixes content gapsThe default for one weak subject
Subject specialist, online200-450+Bestimate; TutorChase at AED 270Paper technique, tier decisions, timed practiceOne subject in the pre-series block
Premium named or examiner-led500-650+BartyED at AED 650Narrow, high-level coachingRarely necessary at IGCSE level
In-home one-to-one180-500Bestimate 180-350; independents 200-500Teaching plus the tutor's eastern commuteNot offered by IB Gram in the UAE
02

Core or Extended: the decision that costs more than any hourly rate

Cambridge tiers most of its IGCSE syllabuses, and the tier is chosen by the school when entries are made. Mathematics 0580 Core sits Papers 1 and 3 and cannot be awarded above grade C. Extended sits Papers 2 and 4 and reaches A star. The sciences follow the same pattern: Core takes Papers 1 and 3, Extended takes Papers 2 and 4, and candidates additionally sit either the practical test or the alternative-to-practical paper. Pearson uses Foundation and Higher tiers instead, with 4MA1 Foundation reaching grade 5 and Higher running to grade 9.

The money consequence is blunt. A child entered for Core who needs a B for a sixth-form place cannot get one, no matter how many hours you buy. A child entered for Extended who is not ready can finish below where Core would have placed them, because Extended papers assume content Core candidates never meet. Both are reversible before entries close and expensive afterwards, and the decision is usually made in a single conversation with a subject teacher that most parents do not realise is happening.

So the first useful thing an IGCSE tutor does in Al Warqa is pressure-test the tier against current work. That takes one or two sessions at ordinary rates, and it is worth more than a term of general revision. Where a child is borderline, the honest options are to buy targeted work on the specific Extended content they are missing, or to accept Core and plan the post-16 route around it. What nobody should do is enter Extended on optimism and buy specialist hours in Year 11 to rescue it.

TIERING BY SYLLABUS — PAPERS AND GRADE CEILINGS
SyllabusLower tierPapers at lower tierUpper tierPapers at upper tierGrade range
Cambridge Mathematics 0580CorePaper 1 and Paper 3ExtendedPaper 2 and Paper 4Core to C; Extended to A star
Cambridge Physics 0625CorePaper 1, Paper 3, plus 5 or 6ExtendedPaper 2, Paper 4, plus 5 or 6Core to C; Extended to A star
Cambridge Chemistry 0620CorePaper 1, Paper 3, plus 5 or 6ExtendedPaper 2, Paper 4, plus 5 or 6Core to C; Extended to A star
Cambridge Biology 0610CorePaper 1, Paper 3, plus 5 or 6ExtendedPaper 2, Paper 4, plus 5 or 6Core to C; Extended to A star
Pearson Mathematics A 4MA1FoundationPaper 1F and Paper 2FHigherPaper 1H and Paper 2HFoundation to 5; Higher to 9
Cambridge English as a Second Language 0510 / 0511CoreReading and writing, listeningExtendedReading and writing, listeningTier affects ceiling and vocabulary demand
03

Cambridge or Pearson: ask the board before you ask the price

Several schools within reach of Al Warqa enter Cambridge for some subjects and Pearson Edexcel for others, and families routinely do not know which. The two are comparable qualifications and genuinely different papers. Pearson Mathematics A 4MA1 is sat at Foundation or Higher with both papers calculator-permitted; Cambridge 0580 splits Core and Extended and has a non-calculator component. Revision built for one board wastes time on the other, and a tutor who has only ever taught one will not notice until the first mock.

The sciences diverge too. Cambridge 0625 Physics offers a choice between Paper 5, a practical test sat in a laboratory, and Paper 6, the alternative to practical. Pearson 4PH1 handles practical skills differently again. For a student taught online, the Paper 6 route is the one where remote support works best, because the paper rewards knowing how to describe variable control, identify sources of error and read a table, all of which are teachable on a screen with a mark scheme open.

The practical instruction for an Al Warqa parent is short. Find the entry form or ask the examinations officer for each subject's code. Write the codes down. Give them to any tutor you are considering and ask which papers that code requires. A tutor who cannot answer is not necessarily a poor teacher, but they are not yet teaching your child's qualification, and you are paying for the gap while they learn it. It is a two-minute test and it eliminates more unsuitable matches than any amount of reading about teaching philosophy.

SAME SUBJECT, DIFFERENT BOARD — CODES AND STRUCTURE
SubjectCambridge codePearson codeKey structural differenceWhat it changes for revision
Mathematics05804MA1 (Maths A)Core / Extended versus Foundation / Higher tiersDifferent grade ceilings and calculator rules
Physics06254PH1Cambridge offers Paper 5 practical or Paper 6 alternativePaper 6 technique is highly teachable online
Chemistry06204CH1Different balance of structured and extended responseChanges where timed practice should concentrate
Biology06104BI1Different practical assessment routesAffects whether lab access matters at all
Combined sciences0653 Combined / 0654 Coordinated4SD0 Double AwardSingle versus double award weightingRevision organised by paper, not by science
English0500 First Language / 0510 Second Language4EA1 English Language ADifferent reading-passage conventionsQuestion phrasing drives the technique work
04

How many IGCSE subjects, and what the Ministry of Education actually requires

Parents in Dubai are told a number of different things about subject counts, and at least one competitor page ranking for these queries publishes the wrong one. The sourced position is this: for British-track equivalency, students must pass five accredited subjects in GCSE or IGCSE certificates with a grade of no less than E or grade 3, and must additionally submit proof of one accredited subject at Advanced Level with a grade of no less than E, or two accredited subjects at Advanced Subsidiary Level with the same grade.

The detail that changes a timetable is the exclusion. Arabic and Islamic education are not included among the five required subjects for the GCSE or IGCSE count. A student taking Arabic and Islamic Education, which every Dubai private school teaches regardless of its licensed curriculum, still needs five other accredited subjects at the minimum grade. Families who assume the mandatory subjects count towards the five can find themselves one subject short at exactly the wrong moment.

Two cautions belong with this. Equivalency is a process the Ministry of Education runs, not something a tutoring provider performs, guarantees or accelerates, and the official channel is the authority's own page rather than any intermediary. And no IB points threshold for equivalency is published here, because the source available for the British and American tracks does not state one and nothing should be invented to fill the gap. Verify any figure on moe.gov.ae or with the emirate attestation authority before relying on it.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION EQUIVALENCY — BRITISH AND AMERICAN TRACKS AS PUBLISHED
TrackSubjects requiredMinimum gradeAdditional requirementExcluded from the count
GCSE / IGCSEFive accredited subjectsNo less than E or grade 3One A Level at E, or two AS Levels at EArabic and Islamic education
American high schoolStandard graduation requirementsAs set by the authoritySAT Math 450 or aboveNot stated in the published source
American, English proficiencyn/an/aIELTS academic 5, TOEFL iBT 61, or SAT reading and writing 450Not stated in the published source
International BaccalaureateVerify on moe.gov.aeVerify on moe.gov.aeVerify on moe.gov.aeNo unsourced figure published here
05

Where Al Warqa IGCSE candidates lose marks, paper by paper

  • Illegible working loses method marks that were genuinely earned
  • Graph axes without units, and gradients read from squares not scales
  • Command terms ignored: state, describe, explain and compare differ
  • Alternative-to-practical marks sit in method, not in memory
  • Qualitative analysis answers that give the inference and skip the observation

The pattern is consistent enough to plan around. In Extended Mathematics, students lose marks on algebraic manipulation under time pressure and on multi-step problems where the method is correct and the working cannot be followed. Examiners award method marks for working they can read; a correct answer with illegible working scores worse than a wrong answer with clear method. That is a thirty-minute conversation and a term of habit, not a content problem.

In the sciences, two specific failures dominate. The first is graphs: axes without units, gradients calculated from grid squares rather than axis values, and lines of best fit drawn through the first and last points. The second is command terms. State, describe, explain and compare each demand a different answer shape, and a student who explains when asked to state wastes time, while one who states when asked to explain loses the marks outright.

On the alternative-to-practical papers, 0620 Paper 6 and its siblings, the marks sit in method rather than recall: naming the controlled variables, identifying a source of error, describing an observation rather than an inference. These are the easiest IGCSE marks to recover with a tutor and the ones schools have least time to drill, because thirty students in a laboratory is a different exercise from one student and a mark scheme. The fourth recurring loss is unit conversion in the physical sciences, where a candidate computes correctly in grams and answers a question that wanted kilograms, and the fifth is significant figures, which a mark scheme penalises quietly and consistently across a whole paper rather than in one visible place.

06

The November series as a resit route, and what it costs

UAE candidates sit the June and November series. The February-March series exists but is offered to India only, which is worth saying plainly because incorrect advice about it circulates widely. For a Year 11 who misses a grade in June, November is the realistic second attempt, and planning for it is a budget decision as much as an academic one.

The published Pearson dates give a usable shape for how far ahead these things sit. Pearson Edexcel International GCSE exams run in May-June and November each year; the November 2026 final timetable ran from late October to 19 November 2026. June 2026 results went to centres on 19 August 2026 and to students on 20 August 2026, and November 2025 results reached students on 22 January 2026. Pearson also publishes provisional timetables well ahead of each series, which is why the right habit is to open the live official timetable rather than trust a date restated on any page, including this one.

What that means for an Al Warqa family is a short, finite tutoring block rather than a new rolling commitment. A June result arriving in late August leaves roughly eight to ten weeks before a November sitting. Spending them on one subject's paper technique at specialist rates is defensible: it is six to ten sessions, with a known end date, aimed at the specific papers that went wrong. Spending them on general revision across four subjects is how the same money achieves nothing.

COUNTING BACKWARDS FROM A NOVEMBER RESIT — PEARSON INTERNATIONAL GCSE, PUBLISHED PATTERN
MilestonePublished patternWho sets itWhat the student should have done by then
June results to students20 August 2026 for the June 2026 seriesPearson, via the centreIdentified which papers cost the grade
Resit decisionWithin days of resultsThe family and the schoolCompared the resit with accepting the grade
Entry for the November seriesSet by the centre, months before the papersThe school or examination centreConfirmed entry and tier with the examinations officer
Paper technique blockEight to ten weeks before the seriesThe familyWorked through the failed papers against mark schemes
November timetableLate October to 19 November 2026 for the November 2026 seriesPearson, with zone variationsChecked the live official timetable for the correct zone
November results to students22 January 2026 for the November 2025 seriesPearson, via the centrePlanned the post-16 route for both outcomes
07

Online versus a tutor driving to Al Warqa, counted in subjects

IB Gram does not offer home visits in the UAE; that is an India-only service. The argument for online delivery here is therefore an argument about what the same money buys, and the clearest way to put it is in subjects rather than hours. At the in-home band a household supporting two subjects is paying for roughly ninety minutes of a tutor's driving per week on top of the teaching. At the online band, that same premium is a third subject.

There is a supply argument too, and in Al Warqa it is the stronger one. The schools immediately around this community are largely CBSE and British, so a resident tutor is more likely to know a national curriculum well than to know which papers a Cambridge 0620 Extended candidate sits. Widening the pool to everyone free at Gulf Standard Time changes who you are choosing between, and in a subject as code-specific as IGCSE Chemistry that matters more than proximity ever could.

The format also fits the paper that remote teaching suits best. Alternative-to-practical work is reading tables, describing method and identifying error, done with a mark scheme on screen and annotated live. For Core and Extended written papers, screen-shared past papers marked line by line is not a substitute for sitting beside a tutor; it is the same activity with a better view of the mark scheme. Where a child genuinely needs physical supervision to work at all, the honest answer is that a different arrangement suits them better.

AL WARQA — WHAT THE SAME MONTHLY BUDGET BUYS
Monthly budget (AED)Online at AED 150-300/hrIn-home at AED 180-500/hrGroup at AED 80-180 per student
6002 to 4 hours, one subject1 to 3 hours, one subject3 to 7 hours, shared syllabus
1,2004 to 8 hours, one or two subjects2 to 6 hours, one subject6 to 15 hours, shared syllabus
1,8006 to 12 hours, two subjects3 to 10 hours, one or two subjects10 to 22 hours, shared syllabus
2,4008 to 16 hours, two or three subjects4 to 13 hours, two subjects13 to 30 hours, shared syllabus
08

Permits, premises and what a tuition centre actually is

  • Private tuition work permit: free, two years, issued by MoHRE
  • Eligible: school teachers, employees, unemployed residents, university students, 15 to 18 year olds
  • No published fine schedule, so no amount is quoted anywhere here
  • Premises-based centres need a KHDA educational services permit, which IB Gram does not hold

Private tutoring in the UAE is permitted rather than unregulated. Ministerial Resolution No. 710 of 2023 introduced private tuition work permits through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and the permit is granted free of charge for two years. Eligible applicants include teachers registered in government or private schools, government and private-sector employees, unemployed individuals, university students, and school students aged 15 to 18. The MoHRE service page is titled Issuance of a New Work Permit - Private Tutor Licensing, lists no fees and a two-working-day completion time, and is applied for through the MoHRE smart app, website and e-services system.

Individuals offering private tutoring without a permit from MoHRE are subject to fines and penalties outlined in the applicable laws. No schedule of amounts has been published, so no figure appears here; a number circulating online could not be verified against any official source and is left out deliberately. What matters for a parent is that the permit costs nothing and takes two working days, which removes every excuse for not holding one.

A tutoring operation with premises and staff in Dubai is a different legal animal from an individual tutor. It needs an educational services permit for a training institute from KHDA, with initial approval first, a maximum of six months to complete the permit and licence steps, and annual renewal requested at least thirty days before expiry. IB Gram does not hold that permit, does not operate premises in the UAE, and is not approved, accredited or licensed by KHDA, ADEK, SPEA, the Ministry of Education, the IB, Cambridge or Pearson. Anybody in this market claiming otherwise should be asked for the number.

Where we tutor

Al Warqa and the IGCSE school cluster around it

These are the communities that share Al Warqa's IGCSE school supply and its evening timetable. The notes say what the school run does to a session time, which is the practical constraint in this part of Dubai.

Al Warqa'a 1

Shortest runs, mostly north into Al Qusais where much of the British and CBSE supply sits. Children are often home by 15:45, so a 16:30 start is sustainable here through the week.

Al Warqa'a 2 and 3

Villa plots towards Al Khawaneej Road, feeding Mirdif and Academic City schools. A realistic weekday start is 17:15, and holding one later slot works better than defending two early ones.

Al Warqa'a 4 and 5

Newest edge of the community near Al Awir Road. The Academic City run adds twenty minutes each way, which pushes a workable session to 17:45 on examination-term weeknights.

Al Qusais

The nearest dense school cluster, with Westminster, Apple International and Dubai Scholars among the IGCSE providers. Pickup congestion around Damascus Street is the single most common reason an early booking fails.

Mirdif

Star International School Mirdif and Uptown International School sit here, so children schooled locally can start at 16:00. Siblings at Al Qusais and Mirdif schools genuinely need different slots.

Nad Al Hamar

Quick access to Ras Al Khor Road and a very thin supply of resident subject specialists, which is exactly the gap that widening the pool online closes.

Al Mizhar and Al Khawaneej

Villa communities east of Al Warqa on the same Mirdif school run, with heavy after-school sport competing for the 16:30 to 18:00 window.

Dubai Academic City

Dubai English Speaking College and several higher-education campuses. Al Warqa families with a child here build the longest daily commute in the cluster, and plan tutoring around it rather than against it.

School ecosystem

IB and Cambridge school communities we support in Al Warqa

Al Warqa and Al Qusais

The immediate school supply, which is mostly CBSE and British rather than international-only. For an IGCSE family the relevant question is which board each school enters: some run Cambridge throughout, others mix Cambridge sciences with Pearson mathematics, and the entry form is the only reliable source.

  • GEMS Our Own English High School, Al Warqa
  • The Westminster School, Al Qusais
  • Dubai Scholars Private School
  • The Apple International School
  • Al Sadiq Islamic English School

Mirdif, Al Mizhar and Academic City

The second ring, fifteen to forty minutes from Al Warqa. Several of these schools carry both IGCSE and post-16 provision, so a Year 11 student here is often making an A Level or Diploma decision in the same term as their IGCSE entries are finalised.

  • Star International School Mirdif
  • Uptown International School
  • GEMS Royal Dubai School
  • Dubai English Speaking College
  • Al Mizhar American Academy

Schools are named only as local context for families comparing options. IB Gram has no affiliation with any school listed and claims no endorsement from any of them.

How matching works

From first enquiry to a tutor who fits

  1. 01

    Find the syllabus codes

    Ask the school's examinations officer for the code and tier of each subject, or read them off the entry form. Cambridge 0580, 0625, 0620, 0610; Pearson 4MA1, 4PH1, 4CH1, 4BI1. Those few characters tell a tutor which papers to teach and let you test whether they know the qualification.

  2. 02

    Send a marked past paper

    One recently marked paper in the weak subject, with the teacher's annotations, is worth more than a report card. It shows whether marks are going on content, on technique, or on working nobody could read, and those are three different purchases.

  3. 03

    Pressure-test the tier before entries close

    One or two sessions at ordinary rates will show whether Extended or Higher is realistic. Doing that before the school finalises entries is the single highest-value hour in the whole IGCSE course, and it is far cheaper than rescuing an optimistic entry in Year 11.

  4. 04

    Take the free trial, then fix the slot

    The trial should end with a named weakness and a rough number of weeks. Then set the time against the real Al Warqa school run: 16:30 at the Al Qusais end, 17:15 towards Al Khawaneej Road, later again for Academic City families.

  5. 05

    Review at six weeks, then decide

    Compare the school's own assessment data rather than the tutor's impression, then extend, change subject, or stop. Where a child is heading into a pre-series block, agree the end date in advance so the block stays a block.

Why families choose us

What UAE parents tell us matters most

Syllabus codes, not subject names

A tutor here teaches 0580 Extended or 4MA1 Higher, not mathematics in general. Across the competitor pages researched for this project, exactly one syllabus code appeared in an entire seven-page cluster, which tells you how rarely this is treated as the basic question it is.

The cheapest tier published first

This page starts at AED 33 to 65 an hour and explains what that buys, because a Year 9 who needs homework company should not be sold specialist hours. Three of the six competitor pages researched publish no price at all, and two quote US dollars.

The tier decision treated as the main event

Core caps at grade C and Extended reaches A star. Getting that choice right before entries close is worth more than any amount of later tutoring, so we pressure-test it in the first sessions rather than selling around it.

June and November, never the India-only series

UAE candidates sit June and November. The February-March series is offered to India only, and advice to the contrary circulates widely enough to be worth contradicting on every page.

Online one-to-one, stated before you book

Al Warqa lessons run one-to-one over live video on Gulf Standard Time. IB Gram does not provide home visits in the UAE; that service is India-only. You will not find that out after paying.

Sourced facts or no facts

Every rate names its publisher. The equivalency rules are quoted from the published clarification. No fine amount appears because none is published, and no IB equivalency threshold appears because the available source does not state one.

Student and parent reviews

What students and parents say about working with IB Gram

Practical feedback on tutor fit, revision structure and communication from IB and IGCSE families we have taught.

“Every session has been a positive learning experience. The students are progressing well, becoming more confident, and showing a genuine interest in learning.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The students have developed a much better understanding of the concepts through regular practice and guidance. Their confidence and participation have improved noticeably.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“Watching the students progress from one session to the next has been very satisfying. They are learning with confidence and showing genuine interest.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The sessions provide a good balance of explanation, practice, and feedback. Students are steadily building their skills and confidence.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The students are showing a positive attitude toward learning and are becoming more independent with each session. The progress has been very encouraging.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“Personalized support and regular practice have helped the students make excellent progress. Their confidence has improved significantly over time.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The learning process has been smooth and engaging. Students are asking better questions, understanding concepts more clearly, and improving consistently.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“It is rewarding to see students become more confident in their abilities. The sessions are productive, engaging, and focused on meaningful learning”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The students are making steady progress and developing a stronger foundation. Consistent practice and individual attention have helped a lot.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“I have seen noticeable improvement in the students' understanding and participation. Their enthusiasm for learning is truly encouraging.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“A supportive learning environment makes a big difference. The students are responding well to personalized guidance and regular feedback.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The overall learning journey has been very positive. Students are becoming more confident, curious, and comfortable with new concepts.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The students have shown great progress with regular practice and guidance. It is wonderful to see their confidence grow with every session.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“It has been a rewarding experience working with the students. Their confidence and understanding have improved significantly through consistent guidance, practice, and personalized attention.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“The learning experience has been wonderful. The students are engaged, confident, and showing consistent improvement. The teaching approach is supportive, clear, and focused on building strong fundamentals.”

Priya Vivek

Gurugram

“We were stuck on Math AA HL paper 3 sample questions. The matched tutor walked through the syllabus depth and IA strategy, and our daughter's confidence shifted in three weeks.”

Priya R.

Gurugram

“Physics HL felt scary before mocks. The tutor mapped my weak topics and gave a realistic command-term plan. Mocks went up by two grade boundaries.”

Aarav K.

DLF Phase 5

“We wanted Economics HL support that matched the actual paper command terms. IB Gram matched us within a day with a specialist who understood our school's IA timeline.”

Sneha M.

Sector 57

“Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry past-paper practice made the difference. The tutor was honest about pace and progress, and the lesson notes were structured.”

Reema S.

Sushant Lok

Questions parents ask

IB and IGCSE tutoring in Al Warqa: your questions answered

How much does an IGCSE home tutor in Al Warqa charge?+

Dubai rates run from roughly AED 33 to 65 an hour at the budget end, where Tutopiya and EdFlik advertise, to AED 150 to 300 for a qualified subject tutor working online, with Unitors publishing IGCSE from AED 150. Specialists sit at AED 200 to 450 and above, and in-home visits run AED 180 to 500 once travel is included. IB Gram publishes no fixed UAE price list and quotes after a free trial, because what you need depends on the tier, the subject and how many weeks remain before the series.

Which IGCSE syllabus code is my child in Al Warqa actually entered for?+

Ask the examinations officer or read the entry form; it is the most useful question a parent can ask. Cambridge codes include 0580 Mathematics, 0625 Physics, 0620 Chemistry, 0610 Biology, 0654 Coordinated Sciences and 0500 English First Language. Pearson Edexcel uses 4MA1 for Mathematics A, 4PH1, 4CH1 and 4BI1 for the sciences and 4SD0 for Double Award Science. Several schools near Al Warqa enter different boards for different subjects, so one answer does not cover the whole timetable.

What is the grade ceiling if my child sits IGCSE Core instead of Extended?+

Cambridge Core candidates sit Papers 1 and 3 and cannot be awarded above grade C. Extended candidates sit Papers 2 and 4 and can reach A star. Pearson uses tiers instead: Mathematics A 4MA1 Foundation reaches grade 5 while Higher runs to grade 9. The practical consequence is that no amount of tutoring lifts a Core candidate above the ceiling, so if a sixth-form place requires a B the tier has to change before entries close, not afterwards.

Can a tutor change my child's IGCSE tier before entries are finalised?+

A tutor cannot change the entry; only the school can, and the decision usually happens in a conversation with a subject teacher that parents do not realise is taking place. What a tutor can do, in one or two ordinary-rate sessions, is test current work against the upper-tier papers and give you an evidenced view. That evidence is what a reasonable head of department will discuss. Doing this before entries close is far cheaper than buying specialist hours in Year 11 to rescue an optimistic entry.

Does it matter whether my Al Warqa school enters Cambridge or Pearson Edexcel?+

They are comparable qualifications rather than one being harder, but they are genuinely different papers. Cambridge Mathematics 0580 splits Core and Extended and includes a non-calculator component; Pearson 4MA1 uses Foundation and Higher tiers with both papers calculator-permitted. The sciences differ in how practical skills are assessed. Revision built for one board wastes time on the other, which is why a tutor should be asked which board they are teaching to before anything else is agreed.

How many IGCSE subjects does an Al Warqa student need for Ministry of Education equivalency?+

Five. Students on the British track must pass five accredited subjects in GCSE or IGCSE certificates with a grade of no less than E or grade 3, plus one accredited Advanced Level subject at no less than E or two Advanced Subsidiary subjects at the same grade. Arabic and Islamic education are not included among the five. One ranking Dubai page states that six subjects are required, which does not match the published clarification. Verify your own case on the Ministry's own channel rather than through any provider.

When do IGCSE exams happen for students in Al Warqa?+

UAE candidates sit the June and November series. Cambridge runs IGCSE, O Level and International A Level examinations in those two series, and every centre is allocated to one of six administrative zones, so the correct zone timetable matters: Cambridge states it cannot accept responsibility for candidates who miss an exam after using the wrong one. Pearson Edexcel International GCSE also runs in May-June and November. The February-March series exists but is offered to India only, so it does not apply here.

Is a November resit worth paying for after a disappointing June result?+

Often, and the timing works. For the June 2026 series, results went to centres on 19 August 2026 and to students on 20 August 2026, which leaves roughly eight to ten weeks before a November sitting; the November 2026 final Pearson timetable ran from late October to 19 November 2026. That window suits a short, finite block of six to ten sessions on one subject's paper technique, with a known end date. It does not suit general revision across four subjects, which is how the same money achieves nothing.

My Al Warqa child is taught online, so what happens with the science practical paper?+

Cambridge science candidates sit either Paper 5, a practical test in a laboratory, or Paper 6, the alternative to practical, and the school decides which. Paper 6 is assessed on method rather than manual skill: naming controlled variables, identifying sources of error, describing an observation rather than an inference, reading tables and plotting correctly. All of that is teachable over live video with a mark scheme on screen. Where a school enters Paper 5, laboratory practice happens at school and tutoring covers the theory and technique around it.

Does anybody travel to Al Warqa to teach IGCSE in person?+

Providers in the Dubai market do, at AED 180 to 500 an hour with the commute inside the rate, but IB Gram does not. Home visits are a service we run only in India, and every UAE lesson is one-to-one over live video on Gulf Standard Time. In this community the trade is usually favourable: the schools immediately around Al Warqa are largely CBSE and British, so a nearby tutor is more likely to know a national curriculum than to know which papers a Cambridge Extended candidate sits.

Where do Al Warqa IGCSE candidates lose the most marks?+

Three places, consistently. Working that an examiner cannot read, which forfeits method marks that were genuinely earned. Graphs with unlabelled axes and gradients measured in grid squares instead of axis values. And command terms treated as interchangeable, when state, describe, explain and compare each demand a different answer shape. On alternative-to-practical papers the marks sit in method rather than recall, which makes them the easiest IGCSE marks to recover and the ones a class of thirty has least time to drill.

Should we buy tutoring in Year 10 or wait until Year 11?+

Year 10, if there is a known weakness, because starting early is what makes the middle market tier sufficient. A content gap addressed in Year 10 at AED 150 to 300 an hour becomes, in the final term of Year 11, a specialist-rate problem under deadline pressure. The exception is paper technique, which is genuinely a Year 11 purchase: a short block of timed papers marked against the scheme in the eight to ten weeks before a series is one of the few places specialist rates earn themselves.

Do Arabic and Islamic Education count towards my child's five subjects?+

No. The published clarification states that Arabic and Islamic education are not included among the five required subjects for the GCSE or IGCSE count on the British equivalency track. Those subjects are still mandatory in every Dubai private school regardless of the licensed international curriculum, so a student takes them and needs five other accredited subjects at no less than E or grade 3. Families who assume the mandatory subjects count can discover they are a subject short at an awkward moment.

Does my IGCSE tutor need a licence to teach in Dubai?+

Individuals providing private tuition need the MoHRE private tuition work permit, introduced by Ministerial Resolution No. 710 of 2023. It is granted free of charge for two years, MoHRE's service page lists a two-working-day completion time, and eligible applicants include registered school teachers, government and private-sector employees, unemployed residents, university students and school students aged 15 to 18. Tutoring without one attracts fines and penalties under the applicable laws, though no schedule of amounts is published. Because it is free and fast, asking is entirely reasonable.

Can you supply past papers and mark schemes for my child's syllabus?+

No, and you should be wary of anyone who offers to. Cambridge, Pearson and IB materials are copyright, and reproducing or distributing syllabus documents, past papers, mark schemes or grade-boundary tables is infringement. What a tutor can legitimately do is point you to the official source, work with material the school has already issued, and teach the technique that a mark scheme rewards. The teaching is the product; the papers belong to the board that wrote them.

Reading

Guides for Al Warqa families

Longer reads on fees, exam calendars, school choice and the rules that apply in Al Warqa.

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Keep exploring

More IB and IGCSE tutoring pages for Al Warqa

Every page below covers a different question Al Warqa families ask about IB and IGCSE support, with its own syllabus detail, costs and tutor availability.

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Send the codes, send one marked paper, take the free trial

Find the syllabus code and tier for each subject that worries you, send one recently marked paper, and tell us what time the Al Warqa school run actually ends. The free trial lesson should finish with three things: which papers your child sits, where the marks are going, and whether the tier they are entered for is realistic. Lessons are one-to-one over live video on Gulf Standard Time. Nothing is promised about a grade, there is no fixed term, and if we cannot cover a syllabus properly we will say so rather than take the booking.

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