<p>Hiya A-level students!</p>
<p>Many, many questions to ask (sorry for your troubles!):</p>
<p>Are A-levels regarded well by universities in the US?
Is there some sort of comparable scale to SAT II? If so, is an A at A-level like something between 700 to 800?
For those american universities who do accept A-levels, do they look at your unit results, ie. 580/600 for all the modules has a big advantage over 480/600 even if they are both A?</p>
<p>I certainly think A-levels are regarded well by US universities, or there wouldn't be so many people from British education systems (or at least in Asia, that I know of) getting in! I don't know how it compares to the SAT II, though. According to my high school's 'school profile', the A-levels are harder than APs in the US system. In Malaysia and Singapore, we only know our grades and not our scores; I always assumed this to be universal but are you saying you know your actual A-level scores?</p>
<p>Yeah, I know my A-level scores, but my examining board is Edexcel. I know that different examining boards choose to disclose actual scores or omit them. I think Cambridge only tells you your grade, and AQA tells you your actual score. I can only vouch safely for Edexcel though.</p>
<p>I believe all 3 let you see module marks (my OCR exams have module marks given as well as grades). I believe they are considered much more in-depth than AP, which is more less equal to AS.</p>
<p>quetzal, I don't think your school sends them your module marks. But an A is an A, and they will be impressed regardless.</p>
<p>thanks urgtheunclean, the thing is, i graduated from the school last summer and they didn't send the results, I did.... Edexcel hasn't given the school any certificates so I had to send a copy of my Edexcel results which have both grade and module results. It won't matter anyway right? Like you said an A is an A and even if they look at my module results, my lowest A is like 500/600 and in French, the only subject I got a B in and I was away from an A by only 6 points, (grrrrrr, edexhell!).</p>
<p>i don't think A levels can be compared to SAT IIs. after all, A levels test knowledge to a much greater depth. A levels would be far more comparable to APs...both get you advanced credit, and both are standard/common credentials at the very top colleges. anyway, even if your module scores are shown, won't adcoms have to use your grades when comparing you to other A level holders (since the rest didn't submit scores)?</p>
<p>wmgan - Singapore's A levels are a very different creature from the ones in the UK, where virtually all exam boards offer modular AS and A levels. but i would agree that A level courses are generally slightly above the standard of AP courses (and contain over twice the material to boot).</p>
<p>um, i have a question: are A Levels considered harder, easier, or at the same level as the International Bac? I have friends who claim IB is harder because it also involves community service and other activities that count towards your final grade...</p>
<p>A levels and IBs are considered to be equivalent; you get advanced standing from both. however, from accounts i've read, i'd say that A levels have more emphasis on academics and test-taking while IBs emphasise projects, research-based learning and community service. so while universities don't favour one over another, students should choose whichever suits their style of learning and their interests more.</p>
<p>thanks seeker for the extra insight. Are you doing ALevels or the IB?
And where do O'Levels stand if we rank as follows:</p>
<p>Alevel \ IB
AP
SAT II 700+</p>
<p>normal american h/school curriculum</p>
<p>i don't think you can fit O levels into the American scheme of things, since US high schools don't have a major certificate examination at the end of 10th grade. but if i had to rank the factors in order of importance, i'd say</p>
<ol>
<li>A levels / IBs / APs</li>
<li>High school academic transcript / O levels / GCSEs</li>
<li>SAT IIs</li>
</ol>
<p>SAT IIs are just an additional basis of comparison, and i wouldn't know how exactly colleges use them. but i would hazard that adcoms expect them to correlate with your predicted, preliminary or actual A level/IB grades. the main to note is that int'l applicants are compared against others from their school system rather than against US applicants, so you have to stand out from your peers.</p>
<p>i did the A levels.</p>
<p>the main to note is that int'l applicants are compared against others from their school system rather than against US applicants, so you have to stand out from your peers.</p>
<p>that's a good point.... but what if you were doing a wide-scale international comparison of the overall applicant pool? how do the A'Level grades correlate to the AP and IB Grades</p>
<p>my guess is something along the lines of:</p>
<p>A- Level (A) (B)
IB (7) (6)
AP (5) (4)</p>
<p>well, i'm sure you can see the problem - AP is a 5 point scale, A'Level is (?) - not too sure how wide the range is. What do you think, are these assumptions accurate?</p>
<p>i'm not sure really...i've seen one or two pages on university websites detailing the required grades for A levels and IBs in order to obtain advanced standing, but i don't remember much - maybe you should go take a look. I imagine an A level 'A' would correspond to an AP '5' and an IB '6'-'7'. but overall, i think adcoms are smarter than to attempt a comparison as broad-spectrum as that - A levels and IBs are different in nature, and even among different A level boards significant differences in difficulty, percentages of each grade, etc. exist.</p>
<p>seeker - thanks a lot, I guess if they only have the grades of other A-level students that's what they will compare. that's some relief... The reason I asked about A-level in terms of the SAT II, is that some universities,Yale for example, accepts A-level results in lieu of SAT II results.</p>
<p>gianievve - It's kind of difficult to compare IB results with A-level results and universities vary the way they do it. The LSE, for example asks for AAA as A-level for Economics, and for IB students the requirement is a (6)(6)(6) at Higher Level ... Cambridge asking for AAA at A-level for the same course asks for a (7)(6)(6) at Higher Level... but you are roughly correct.</p>
<p>hi guys</p>
<p>Im in my last year of Alevels</p>
<p>4As 2 B at Olevels
1 A 3 B at A/S levels (maths, econ, acc, business)
and 4 A at predicted Advance Levels</p>
<p>toefl 283
v.good ECs and leadership</p>
<p>wht are my chances for mcgill..anyone?
any do i need SAT 1 or 2???</p>
<p>bugzz:</p>
<p>i don't understand, you got ABBB for your a-levels and then AAAA for your predicted a-levels? do you actually mean you got ABBB for your AS levels and you're waiting for the final results for your A2s or did you do 8 full a-level subjects (that's nuts!!!)?</p>
<p>i think SAT 2s are still needed, but quite a lot of places will not care if you answered the SAT 1 or got a good score there.</p>
<p>quetzal:</p>
<p>i did edexcel a-levels too.</p>
<p>i'm curious if american universities place different weightings for different exam boards. from what i know, edexcel a-levels is easier then the cambridge ones. so do they actually think more highly of people who did cambridge a-levels?</p>
<p>about sending them the scores, i finished all my modules in the June 2004 session and i got the little score report with the exact scores around mid-august and then they sent the official certificate with just the grades around october.</p>
<p>i think its better to send the official certificate cos its less confusing for the people at the admission office (especially for subjects like edexcel maths where you pick and choose which modules you wanna do from somehing like 20 available ones). so if you send in the score report with the exact grades i think you have to accompany it with a letter explaining the system.</p>
<p>fats that was a typo i meant ABBB in AS and predicted AAAA in Alevels..</p>
<p>btw i am talking about ONLY Canadian Unis, not american.. since ive got canadian citizenship it will cheaper to study in canada..</p>
<p>thanks for ure reply</p>
<p>oh.</p>
<p>yeah, canada's cool. and they don't need all the gibberish about extra carriculars and "unique" essays and stuff right? i think its sorta like in the UK, where they only look at the a-level grades.</p>
<p>i would have applied, but they don't give financial aid and i can't afford the fees cos i'm from the poor underdeveloped third world. but maybe there are exceptions, do any canadian unis give fianancial aid?</p>
<p>yes they certainly do, </p>
<p>if u got strong grades and v.v.good ECs unis like york, mcmaster, mcgill do give full scholarships..</p>
<p>my frnd is applying for full scholarship in schulich business school ( york )</p>
<p>he has A/S AAA
Olevels AAAABBB
and predicted AAAA</p>
<p>U should apply and give it a shot</p>
<p>Regards</p>
<p>Hey Alevels are very important in prestigious uni in the US . Imagine my acceptance to ucsb and USC was conditional to get min B. However I ended up getting 3As and 1B and I got 48 credits which is equivalent nearly one year at uc and I was able to skip many courses and take the advanced one directly. I dont know how they are compared with sat II . ..but they are not subsitute for sats, thats for sure.
Good luck !</p>