<p>Here’s the way American secondary schools do this, and what American colleges and universities probably expect. </p>
<p>First of all, American high schools go through grade 12, so American students applying to colleges are almost all in the 12th grade. In addition, most American schools operate by either semesters, so they give grades twice per year, or (less commonly) trimesters, so they give grades three times per year.</p>
<p>The school sends the Secondary School Report by the college or university’s application deadline (usually some time between November, for Early Action or Early Decision applications, and the middle of January). Along with it, the school sends a transcript that lists the student’s courses and marks for Grades 9, 10 and 11. But this form is due too early in the year to include the student’s marks for the first part of Grade 12.</p>
<p>So, after the midpoint of Grade 12, the school sends a mid-year report with an updated transcript. Schools that operate on a semester calendar send this report after first-semester marks have been reported; I don’t know whether schools on a trimester calendar wait until the end of the second trimester. The purpose of this form is to confirm that the student has enrolled and persisted in the classes that he reported he was taking, and to tell colleges and universities what the student’s marks are mid-year.</p>
<p>After the school year has ended and the student’s marks have been computed, schools send the final report. The purpose of this form is to verify that the student has completed the courses in which he or she was previously enrolled, and to report the student’s final marks to colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Most American students apply to colleges while they are still in secondary school, so the case of students who apply after graduation is not very common. (Some students transfer from one institution to another, but that’s a different case. I assume you are talking about applying for freshman admission. Although some Americans do, for example, enter the military and then attend a college or university, they are the minority of American teens.) When this happens, however, those applicants will have the secondary schools from which they graduated send an official transcript listing all the courses they took and marks they earned while they were in attendance, as well as the date of their graduation. The school probably also sends a Secondary School Report (I don’t actually know), but there is no reason to send the Mid-Year Report or Final Report.</p>
<p>Darn, that was a lot of typing. I hope it helps you figure out which forms your secondary school should send to American colleges and universities, and when it should send them.</p>