<p>Are As and A<em>s seen as different grades in the US? As in do they actually make a difference to your application? Cos I've heard in the US they are seen as the same thing. Please help? I mean like would 4A's be a huge disadvantage compared to 4 A</em>s? I'm planning on applying as a sophomore transfer student so I wanna know if A* will make a huge difference from an A. Thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t understand your question. Where are you getting these grades–“A” or “A*”?</p>
<p>I think you are a British student, in a British college, and that you have therefore taken A-levels to get in to a British college, and gotten some grades on those A-levels (which may include one or more “A” or “A*”). I hope that is the correct context for your question.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing. We don’t have A-levels in America. It’s a British thing. Most American students basically would not be able to pass British A-levels. If you were applying to an American college having just taken A-levels, most colleges would say “Oh, you have A-levels? In that case, you can skip some of our first year classes . . .”</p>
<p>You really need to contact the school you are interested in and ask them what they would be looking for from a tranfer student from a British college. I wouldn’t sweat this “A<em>” or “A” distinction, even having the “A” sets you far above most American students. Which is probably why someone has told you that an “A” and an “A</em>” are treated the same.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>(My mistake, the title of the thread clearly said “A-levels”. That should have given me the context for your post. I apologize. My advice is still sound, however)</p>
<p>Generally US universities do not seem to distinguish between an A<em>/A in A level when awarding early credit, but that might just be because the A</em> is relatively new. </p>
<p>You should probably contact they universities you wish to apply to and ask whether during the actual application process it makes much of a difference.</p>
<p>Trust me, it isn’t a hug difference to most, if not all US schools. the GCE is supposed to be much more difficult than most US schooling standards, you may even be able to skip enough courses to enter with second semester, or even year, status. I would only be concerned if the university you apply to buys into the grade inflation controversy.
I would like to let you know that my understanding of the GCE comes solely from a friend in Northern Ireland, so my word should be taken as minimal guidance.</p>
<p>Ummm, the GCE is an exam that no longer exists in the UK.</p>
<p>In the “olden days”, when I was at school, students took exams when they were 15-16. Some kids took “O”-levels, ans others took “GCEs”. But everyone knew that the O-levels were more prestigious, and so this created a “two-tier” system. So this old system was scrapped, and replaced with a new set of exams called “GCSEs”, creating a single tier system.</p>
<p>But then and now, college bound kids take another DIFFERENT set of exams when they are 17-18, called “A-levels”. These “A-levels” are what we are talking about, and their equivalents in other countries. We are not talking about “GCEs” or “GCSEs”.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Nah man A-Levels and GCE are the same, for example the math I did was called “Edexcel A-Level math GCE 8237” I’m not sure if the number code is right but it follows that format</p>
<p>Hey, I know I am a bit late, but I just wanted to ask: Does anyone know if the grades you get at A-Level is changed into points?
For example;
A* = 8
A = 7
B = 6
C = 5
and so on?</p>
<p>I don’t know what these “points” are. Who is changing these into “points” and why? Can you give us more context for your question?</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>curtisdean - the whole UCAS points thing is almost obselete even within UCAS. hardly any UK unis use it any more (they are more concerned with grades in specific subjects) and outside the UK it is completely unknown.</p>
<p>I think adcoms recognise the difficulty of A levels. They are paid to know the difference between education systems so I’m sure you’ll be just fine:)
I did IGCSE so I was freaking out about this for a while there as well. My advice is not to worry - just do the best you can and leave it all up to adcoms.
There are also a couple of websites that compare grades in each system, but I dont think you’ll need that.</p>