AP vs A levels.........

<p>I know for a fact that Harvard and MIT recognize A-levels, I presume that other similar universities do as well.</p>

<p>From the MIT application:
"List Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or A-level or O-Level courses taken or under way. (If you have taken the test, please list date and score.) "</p>

<p>Out of AP, IB and A-levels, A-level certainly have much more depth. Also, the A-levels Physics AEA Paper (also called Paper 0) has very complicated calculus components. There is a question for gravitation that models the attraction between dusts in space to form planet (requires the use of an infinitely small amount of mass for the dust), and another question that requires us to mathematically prove that if we put polarizer in succession with each other, in a small angle to each other, until the last polarizer becomes perpendicular to the first one, than the light that goes through all of it is going to be turned 90 deg with zero loss of energy.</p>

<p>alevels are way harder than ap’s</p>

<p>Generally yes, A-levels are harder, but there is also considerable difficulty variation amongst A-Levels ([BBC</a> NEWS | UK | Education | University ‘soft’ A-level warning](<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7174848.stm]BBC”>BBC NEWS | UK | Education | University 'soft' A-level warning)), plus a huge variation between providers of A-levels. So, for example, a Hong Kong A-level is generally considered to be appreciably harder than an English A-level, whereas a Sri Lankan A-level is different again. </p>

<p>All of this is irrelevant. Most American Universities (which is what CollegeConfidential is focused on) are making decisions based on the educational choices that the student has made. Most students do not have a choice of whether to take A-levels, AP exams, the Abitur, Scottish Advanced Highers or the IB. They take whatever their school offers. As a result, most of the top schools can correctly interpret all of these qualifications. So it really, truly does not matter a jot, when applying to the most competitive schools which of these you have.</p>

<p>If you are applying to non-competitive schools, it also doesn’t matter which of these you have, as the schools are non-competitive by definition. So don’t stress over it.</p>

<p>Irrelevant as far as US admissions are concerned,but A levels are significantly more difficult.More topics in greater depth and at a very high level,moreso in math and the hard sciences.</p>

<p>APs are equivalent to 101 college level classes that can count for college credit if scored high enough. A levels are only equivalent to high school classes. Only the smarter students in the US take APs and of those smarter students only the top 20% get a 5 and will most likely receive credit, whereas everyone takes A levels in the UK. Also A levels are not even necessarily a more stringent of a representation of a students knowledge in a subject than a letter grade in high school. For example, a student can get a C the first semester (because he or she is struggling on the fundamentals,) but in the second semester scores an A (knowing both the fundamentals and the more advance material.) The final score that student will receive is a B and an A level taker would just receive an A* on his or her test.</p>

<p>Aps are harder.
APs are equivalent to 101 college level classes that can count for college credit if scored high enough. A levels are only equivalent to high school classes. Only the smarter students in the US take APs and of those smarter students only the top 20% get a 5 and will most likely receive credit, whereas everyone takes A levels in the UK. Also A levels are not even necessarily a more stringent of a representation of a students knowledge in a subject than a letter grade in high school. For example, a student can get a C the first semester (because he or she is struggling on the fundamentals,) but in the second semester scores an A (knowing both the fundamentals and the more advance material.) The final score that student will receive is a B and an A level taker would just receive an A* on his or her test.</p>

<p>You guys are demented to say that APs are harder. You do realize that colleges do in fact give credit for A Level courses? While you get only one semester knocked off if you do 3 A Levels only and get at least C’s (which is the norm in the UK - and even YALE gives credit for a C in many subjects), about 5 A Levels, depending on the subjects, can qualify you for a full year of credit at AMERICAN institutions (5 A Levels are considered to be equivalent to a full IB diploma). Some schools like Tufts even give credit for General Paper AS Level, the easiest subject offered by Cambridge International Examinations. And though I understand your problem with the British education system (the thing that final exams count the most), that is scarcely the problem here. High schools in fact are REQUIRED to send in transcripts with internal grades, and internal assessment is in fact done everywhere - including at A Level institutions. A Levels are more difficult because they emphasize depth as opposed to breadth and therefore are much more rigorous that their AP counterpart subjects. AP Chem, for example, is nothing in front of A Level Chemistry. Even IB Chem pales in comparison to A Level Chem.</p>

<p>And I’m quite sure you’ll have to get 4’s and 5’s in the AP to qualify for credit. You get credit for A Levels just by getting a C. Even at top schools. It’s that hard. The point is how many A Levels a student takes, kay? But if your problem is at the individual level of the subjects, then you have no argument at all. Each and every A Level is far more difficult than its AP counterpart just by the virtue of the fact that it is intended to be so.</p>

<p>Now go do your research before blabbering away next time.</p>

<p>P.S.: Regular classes at most American high schools are extremely silly and easy. I fairly recall how a student from my school who used to fail in math went to one and had to be bumped to junior year from freshman year because he was “too smarter than his classmates” lol.</p>

<p>This post was created in 2006… but nevertheless, universities such as Cornell have acknowledged A levels equivalent to AP’s. It is written on their website as well as the CIE website</p>

<p>Whichever is more difficult depends on the individual subject. However, they are weighted the same</p>

<p>If i have the option of doing A Levels (CIE - harder than British A Levels) and AP and i’d like to know which one is easier to do. If i do AP’s i’ll have done the equivalent for IGCSE and the same goes for A Levels. I think doing the AP’s would make it easier to get into american universities, what do you guys think?</p>

<p>MIT is familiar with all of these qualifications, as well as the other UCLES ([UCLES</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLES]UCLES”>University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate - Wikipedia)) qualifications. You state that CIE A-levels are harder than UK A-levels. There are of course, a wide variety of CIE qualifications. So for example CIE runs the Singaporean A-level program, which bears no resemblance to many of the other CIE A-level exams, and indeed CIE and OCR (who do UK A-levels) are both brands of UCLES. Just to be clear, when I say that MIT is familiar with the exams, I should point out that Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill sits on the advisory board for CIE.</p>

<p>So, with that preface, and with the understanding the MIT knows that the CIE A-levels are harder than the APs, then which should you do? Well that depends on the circumstances under which you get to do them. As a rule AP’s are substantially smaller than APs, as a result, at most schools that offer A-levels, there is usually a restriction on the number of A-levels that a student can do at one time. At many schools that limit is 4, sometimes even 3. Therefore, if you are doing 4 STEM A-levels then that may leave no room for any HASS subjects. Since that does not match well with an MIT education, you may well prefer to do APs, where you can usually take more of them and get a more rounded education. Alternatively, your school may not offer enough APs for you to do that. I normally advise students aiming at the top schools to take the hardest program that their high schools offer (which would normally be A-levels), but there may be a good case to take APs.</p>

<p>If you are looking purely for the easiest path through secondary school, then that is not a trait that correlates well with admission to the most competitive universities.</p>

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<p>I am by no means trying to find the easiest way out of high school, i just wanted to know which qualification would be most beneficial for me to do after completing my IGCSE’s this year. I should clarify that my school doesnt offer both A Levels and AP considering its a British school, they only offer A Levels. Another local school however offers AP’s (17 AP’s in total). The reason i was considering doing AP’s instead of A Levels is because i prefer to be well rounded so that i don’t fail out of some of my general ed classes during freshman/sophmore year. This is because i will only be doing maths and science for a levels, which will put my at a disadvantages compared to others. As i won’t have as strong a base in english, social sciences and foreign languages.</p>

<p>Thanks for the informative reply though!</p>

<p>I must say they aren’t really comparable because of the differentiation between subjects. I might add that a student with 5 AP classes to balance is probably under a bit more stress than a person with 3 A levels. Nevertheless, anyone who does either of these classes is challenging him/herself to his/her fullest extent.</p>

<p>My friend got 6 A* A Levels in Math, Further Math, French, Computing, Physics and Chemistry. He also got 15 A* GCSEs in Math, Stats, French, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, IT, Computing, English Lang, English Lit, RE, History, Geography, Classics Civilisations and Additional Math. How many APs do you think this is worth.</p>

<p>Your friend would get a full year of college credit and start college with Sophomore standing.</p>

Now, I am just a US student and I’m not 100% sure about how things convert from one country to the next.
But, what I can say is that the difficulty of the courses will vary from region to region; and anything administered by the Collegeboard is honestly just terrible in every way, including the test itself.
As a margin of reference, an standard US high school diploma (which would be Honors or CPA) is the equivalent of a GCSE for UK students. Whereas the AP programs are designed to be studying college-level material, and are comparable to an IB Diploma. (The Collegeboard also launched this program called AP Capstone to try and compete with the IB program and stuff, but it is absolutely horrible. Don’t ever do AP Capstone. ever.)

I am also aware that this post is ten years old, but I wanted to provide insight to anyone stumbling upon this page in the years following 2016