<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I am a non-US student, who is attending an international school outside the country. Here, students follow the a 2-year IGCSE curriculum developed by the Cambridge Exam Board. I am currently in year 11 (equivalent to the 10th grade in the American system), and I am taking the IGCSE exams in one month.</p>
<p>Here is my situation:</p>
<p>Earlier this year, I applied to US private boarding schools and have been accepted to The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey as a REPEAT SOPHOMORE. This means I am doing the 10th grade all over again, and I am definitely planning to attend a college in the USA.</p>
<p>MY QUESTION: Since I'll be repeating a grade anyway, are these IGCSE exams I'll be taking important at all? Come senior year, I will be taking the AP exams and SATs, and I am sure that the top American colleges/universities/LACs will weight the APs and SATs more heavily than the IGCSEs, correct? I suspect that my IGCSE results will hold greater importance were I going to be applying to Oxbridge, but I don't see myself going to the U.K to study uni at all.</p>
<p>I also think that the APs are more rigorous than the IGCSEs (APs are equivalent to the IB or A-levels, which are higher than the IGCSEs in the British system), so if I get 4s and 5s on my APs, it doesn't matter then what my IGCSE grades are, am I right?</p>
<p>tl;dr - what's the point of taking the IGCSE exams when I will be repeating my current grade in an American private school AND will be taking the APs and the SATs in three years time? Or is it that the more qualifications, the better?</p>
<p>Thank you for reading :P</p>
<p>Take the exams this year. They are part of your normal program at your current school. If for any reason your current plan to come to the US for boarding school should change, you will want to have completed the IGCSE exams.</p>
<p>Thanks, happymomof1, I will certainly take the exams this year. However, I’m just wondering whether it is worth it to spend a lot of time revising for the exams, especially Geography where we have to memorize 50 case studies.</p>
<p>Given my ability and general knowledge in Geography right now, I can easily get an A for Geography, but will certainly have to revise further to get an A* – I know the difference between an A and an A* is certainly attractive to the British universities, but I don’t know whether the effort is worth it since I am applying to an American college in the next few years anyway. And I don’t plan to do anything geography-related career-wise (pharmacy does not require geography afaik).</p>
<p>I don’t mean that I’ve decided to slack off altogether. I have finished revising for vital subjects like Math, English, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. But I’ve always been an A* student in Geography, and I’m sort of a perfectionist when it comes to the academics. Basically it’s between conscience and reality.</p>
<p>My question here is, do American universities give a lot of weight to IGCSE results? My friend (who’s a current student in The Lawrenceville School) says the school did not even ask for her IGCSE results. Which means come college time, they won’t be included in the school’s transcript. Her words: “the IGCSE certificates belong to the recycle bin in the American system.” And I don’t want to put A LOT of efforts in to subjects that are so unrelated to my career anyway, only for them to go in vain.</p>
<p>Study for the exam. That way you will know that you have done your personal best. Which, truth be told, is much more important than wondering whether or not A, B, or C will be more useful in your potential college application in the US at some time in the future.</p>
<p>Some colleges and universities in the US do care about IGCSE results, some don’t. Some would even admit you based on your results this year which means that you wouldn’t need to spend three more years in High School in the first place. </p>
<p>Pharmacy is probably not a good choice to pursue in the US UNLESS you will be a US citizen or have legal permanent residence here before graduation. That is a subject that is best studied in the country where you intend to practice it.</p>