<p>what a frikkin crazy thread :D</p>
<p>i did my Cambridge A levels... n they were ****** easy..pretty much 2 week study.. look people, if you're applyin to US colleges, your A level grades dont really matter.. if you've got good O level grades, decent SATs...coupled with some ECs... AND DONT NEGLECT THE ESSAYS... you're set :)</p>
<p>and oh, i <em>totally</em> blv u can do 13 A levels :P</p>
<p>don't know about A-level, but IB can be pretty demanding. Its just that there are many other things that are required other the courses themselves (Extended Essay, CAS, etc.). IB makes students do a lot of writing assignments that exceed the high school level, and its curriculum is more geared towards increasing understanding, not learning facts. I find IB superb because it teaches me how to think on my feet and see things from many different perspectives.</p>
<p>Im sure rookie that schoolwork is demanding.. i'd say it also depends on the school you attend.. my high school was a circus, i almost never went to skool (30% attendance in grade 11 n 12)... so well, i never had the homework or anything haha</p>
<p>okay whoever needs to decide b/w the two, you need to remember that colleges dont favor any particular curriculum.... but yes, they do favor certain traits in applicants ... perseverence, hardworkin nature, passion for learnin bla bla blaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :D</p>
<p>just pick either and give it your best shot!!!! ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
...if you're applyin to US colleges, your A level grades dont really matter...
[/quote]
i've always wanted to believe this statement, but somehow someway for some reason, there's this something inside me that thinks the opposite is true. I'm delusional.</p>
<p>Laila, did you sit for further maths paper?</p>
<p>I understand your dilemma... if I were in your place I'd perhaps be nervous too, but honestly, colleges ask you for a grades forecast, which obviously would be made by your college counsellor... and well, if you've been good all along, they'd expect you to NOT screw up your senior year (haha i proved em wrong lol)...</p>
<p>banedon, are you applying AFTER taking ur A levels???</p>
<p>i didnt sit for further maths. i took pure n stat, econ, accnts, eng lit, business.. piece o' marble cake :D</p>
<p>I think that expat made a concise and useful statement early on in the thread. Thought that it might be important to bring it back:</p>
<p>"If you know what you want to study in college, I think many people prefer the A-levels because they can concentrate on subjects they prefer... The IB program would be much better for someone who isn't sure what they want to study, and who has many different interests. I think that both the A-levels and the IB program provide excellent preparation for college." -expat </p>
<p>I'm doing the full IB program at the moment, at a very IB-focused school. Here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>Take the IB only if you're going to do the full program. A handful of certificates is not nearly as impressive since it implies a lack of the TOK, EE and CAS components.</p>
<p>Only do the full diploma if you're willing to commit to all the requirements. The whole humanities, TOK, two languages (or conversely the one science and one mathematics) shindig can be annoying if you have a strong aversion to some of the subjects.</p>
<p>According to a friend who transferred from the British system, the IB does in fact encourage more independent work and critical thinking instead of the A-level's fact-memorisation. Appropriate for you? You judge.</p>
<p>The A-levels definitely allow you to focus on particular academic field, but the same applies for the IB diploma, since you assign your subjects importance by taking either Higher or Standard level. It's just that with the A-levels, you don't have many potentially pesky/beneficial extra requirements. Read up on the requirements, either on the IB website or somewhere in this thread - sandwiched between angry posts flaming those who refuse to accept the existence of 13 A's-guy - and decide which one is better for you.</p>
<p>By the way, the heated argument (shouting session) about the guy with 13 A's was pure hilarity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
banedon, are you applying AFTER taking ur A levels???
[/quote]
ooh finally you got that right :)
[quote]
i didnt sit for further maths.
[/quote]
hmm, that explains your optimism...if you had sat for it i'm not too sure how you'd react though..</p>
<p>I'd made a thread about Hong Kong's ridiculously harsh grading system and "thankful" gave the following regarding the % of A given in UK:</p>
<p>In AQA GCE Advanced levels in UK:
Biology A - 23.3%
Biology B - 21.6%
Chemistry - 30.2%
Economics - 30.7%
Further Mathematics A - 45.1%
Further Mathematics B - 47.8%
Mathematics A - 32.3%
Mathematics B - 34.5%
Physics A - 28.8%
Physics B - 26.0%</p>
<p>Taking 13 subjects is not all that hard if the grading standard is as lenient as this. As long as you have decent intelligence (doesn't need to be a genius to be in top 20%), it's doable and you'll get decent grades. As for "further math", almost half got A--doesn't seem to be anything to worth sweating about.</p>
<p>aww cmon banedon, it's just ONE subject :p</p>
<p>and are you goin to take a gap year? Assuming you take your A levels by June of one year and apply for fall of next year.. ?</p>
<p>If so...what do u intend to do during that whole year ?</p>
<p>i AM taking a year off. Took A-levels last June and applying for fall next year.</p>
<p>i have several plans, but what is it that you want to know? :)</p>
<p>haha.. watever it is you have up ur sleeve :p</p>
<p>im doing a short film. bout 40-minutes long. having trouble writing the script though. working full-time 8 hrs a day too. um other than taht will be doing what i've been doing all the while; my taekwando training, badminton, the nursery home, etc.</p>
<p>hey not bad.. just do well on ur SATs and u'll be fine =)</p>
<p>When a dutch boy got 7 As at A-level, it was in the papers, so I am very skeptical towards this 13 A-levels person. Link me to a news article and I will eat my words.</p>
<p>Sam Lee don't let the 45% A in further maths skew your judgement. Only the best schools let you take Further Maths, and only nerds such as myself actually take it :).</p>
<p>Well, the Pure Math Exam in HK is harder than Further Math and over there, % of A is like 3%. You don't realize you are in heaven until you've gone through hell. ;)</p>
<p>so its the summer and I am bored so...
anyone else who does not believe the 13 As and wants to make ridiculous accusations?
I am bored, and I want some entertainment, please.</p>
<p>I don't believe the 13As thing, for good measure. It's not just that it sounds unbelievably incredible, but that I can see no mention of it outside CC. Your school's website doesn't say anything about it (one would think they'd be shouting it from the rooftops...unless they produce 13A students every year). The name of the scorer would be somewhere to start, and where he went to university would help as well, in locating relevant news articles. I don't believe a tally as incredible as that could go overlooked - not when half the bloody world knows what an A Level exam means.</p>
<p>As for me, I'm settling for four A Levels: Economics, Maths, Literature, and Law. My choice of subjects is somewhat odd in that it allows me some room for flexibility. I know I don't want to study anything in the natural sciences, and that I'm a humanities/maths person, so I have narrowed the possibilities for myself in university to just the right size; not too narrow, not too wide.</p>
<p>I do believe the IB is superior to the A Levels, however. It seems much more holistic to me. Unfortunately, my family can't afford to send me to an IB school, especially when it's so far away from my home. :( Hopefully my 4 A Levels will make up for this...still, it's reportedly rare for anyone to take four subjects. Only one or two people out of a hundred or so students (from what my lecturers have told me) end up taking four A Level exams.</p>
<p>I believe it's possible to spread them out in such a way that you can get 13 A Levels. What I can't believe is that this went totally unremarked outside CC.</p>
<p>There are loads of people taking 4 A-level subjects if you do look out for them.</p>
<p>I can see why it is so hard to believe the 13 As story. The 13 As guy was my roommate in high skl. He goes to Princeton now.</p>
<p>His subjects:
Phys, Chem, Bio, Math, Econ, Gen. Paper, Accounting, Thinking Skills, Business Studies, Computing, Further Math, Geography, Psychology...</p>
<p>he did not take it all in one session... Jun 03, Nov 03 and Jun 04.. did it in 3 sessions... and not all were full credits.. some were half credit</p>
<p>Way to address my points (by totally ignoring anything I brought up). Since you guys seem to be so smart, I'll type it up in a sufficiently sophisticated way for you to understand.</p>
<p>My dearest esteemed colleagues and partners, would it be at all possible for you to present some modicum of evidence, such as a clipping from a publication, or perhaps put forth a name or moniker such that it is sufficient to identify your intellectual acquaintance through some cursory research? Should there be no such resources available, would it not be verily a damning proof of your blatant deception, by making false assertions and refusing to present evidence? It is truly incredulous that not a single periodical of repute in this vast world of ours would be unable to recognise the genius and human interest story represented by your friend's.</p>
<p>For the less verbosely-inclined,</p>
<ol>
<li>Are there newspaper articles about this guy?</li>
<li>If not, why? Getting 13As is an incredible accomplishment.</li>
<li>Could we have a name so we could investigate this claim further?</li>
</ol>