<p>Has anyone ever heard of the Cambridge program? Thoughts? Experiences?</p>
<p>"But Alexander Carter, the Brentsville principal, has his mind made up. "I believe Cambridge is the most rigorous academic program that exists," Carter said. "The AP program is, 'Show what you know.' The Cambridge program is, 'Show us what you can do with what you know.' " </p>
<p>Experts say the debate says more about students than the programs. </p>
<p>"It's splitting hairs. It's like, can you honestly say that Georgetown Day is better or worse than Sidwell Friends?" said Denise Pope, a lecturer at Stanford University's School of Education and author of a book about stressed-out teenagers. "A lot of this is a competition over who can suffer the most. The person who can withstand the most stress and lives to tell about it is the winner." </p>
<p>But people still try to find ways to measure which is best. In presentations to parents considering the Cambridge program at his school, Carter hands out the findings of a recent survey showing that at a large state university in Florida, the average first-year GPA of Cambridge students was 3.46, compared with 3.12 and 3.10 for students who took AP and IB courses in high school, respectively. </p>
<p>No exhaustive study has been conducted to determine which program is best -- and especially what "best" would mean, according to officials in the programs. Some high schools offer one program, and others offer a choice."</p>
<p>Cambridge at secondary level is the IGCSE (International General Certificate of Education) which finishes at the end of sophomore year, and its more advanced component, which finshes at the end of high school. The programs are essentially UK qualifications which are available to internationals. They correspond roughly to the UK GCSE, which is the qualification taken by every 16 year old in the UK, and which is emphatically not elite, and generally easy. IGCSE's are a bit harder, but not much. The component for older high school students roughly corresponds to British A Levels, which are the standard UK university entrance qualification. About 25% of all A level grades are at "A" grade. As such it corresponds to a kind of AP with two years of preparation in that it is a reasonably, but not very, difficult, pre-university examination given in a particular subject, and is externally assessed with a major formal examination component. "A" grade = an IB Higher grade of 6, approximately. It's not as elite as all that, and was developed by the University of Cambridge Examinations Syndicate to meet the demand for UK style qualifications recognised particularly by UK but also by global universities. Members of the professional middle class are increasingly likely to work outside of the UK at some point, and to bring their offspring, who need more than a highly variable high school diploma and an unreliable GPA with which to be admitted to British universities. The Cambridge Exam Board are making money marketing this program to Americans, who want something more that the run of the mill HS diploma. Administrators throw the label and the fawning vocabulary around, but like the bureaucrats they are, they don't know much about the finer academic details.</p>
<p>Totally agree, I did the IB and finished in '06. Statsically, under 7% of kids get 7, whereas with UK A Level, 24% got the top mark, "A" in 2006, and this is expected to increase when the UK results are released in two days' time.</p>
<p>Well, it might not be intrinsically 'better' than IB (which is excellent; I wish I could have done it), but British qualifications are very well regarded internationally.</p>
<p>Cambrige, AP, and IB are probably all the same. </p>
<p>My county offers all three and the most pretigious county-wide is.....</p>
<p>A magnet law program. </p>
<p>So at least in my county, all Cambrige, AP, and IB are beaten. =D Harshly. The law program is so prestigious you actually have to apply sometime in the 5th grade and they follow your grades and scores all through middle school to see if you would qualify. </p>
<p>kcarls - it depends WHICH qualifications- GCSE is basic, everyone except dropouts in the UK does it at age 16+ , and standards are widely perceived to be quite low. A Levels have a better reputation, but are now known to have issues of compromised marking. As mentioned above, 24% of all A Level exams were awarded an "A" grade, and so consequently an A* (A Star) grade is probably going to be introduced, which corresponds roughly to grade 7 at IB. Additionally, some A Level subjects are perceived as being too easy, and some of the best universities won't accept more than one of three or four A Levels in these easier, discounted subjects for entry.</p>
I currently have the choice of either joining the Cambridge Program at a high school that I am not slated for with no friends in sight, or continuing my AP curriculum at a high school that has familiar faces. With an undergraduate engineering college in mind, which choice would be best? I’ve heard good things about Cambridge and that it teaches you exactly what will be on the exams you have to take, and that it has a higher budget from the high school with expansion in mind, but that’s where the upsides end for me. Judging by some research I’ve done, really the only reason colleges and universities like to see that Cambridge high school diploma is the fact that it’s standardized and they know what they’re getting from you. But doing well in AP or Running Start colleges classes would send the same message. I’m at a loss. Please give me some expert advice to help me decide what would be the best choice for me.