It’s not, it’s the very low end of an A, but still an A, as I alluded to in post 7, but forgot my sledgehammer to drive the point. 
Now perhaps the OP’s school was sooooo demanding that an 80 really was the highest score awarded (which I doubt), then yes, an AO is not going to be aware of specific school’s grading standards. But not a real concern, particularly if the OP maintained grade excellence at the current school.
Right now, OP is so confused that all we can really do is point him back to the GC and whatever info he can glean about his targets, on his own. We can’t assure him all colleges will have the savvy of a top college with international AOs who’ve travelled the world.
I do agree an A is an A. (Not an A+.) Many intl hs define a broad point range as “excellent” and you work off that. Fine. No sledgehammer needed. But now OP adds, “the first 3 years of my past app were bad due to some circumstances.” He recently asked about NYC “colleges that require less than 3.3 GPA and about a 1200 SAT score.” Presumably, that’s just the US experience.
That doesn’t suggest a tippy top college, but one where he can grow and flourish and build his future. The GC is the best resource, for starters.
In fact, the US GC can likely provide some context for the “pass” grades, when writing her letter.
Sorry I didn’t clarify, I’m a girl but that doesnt really matter.
I was searching for low GPA schools because I wanted to have safety schools.
Secondly those 3 year grades were because my mom was hospitalized and almost died so yes they were bad my counselor and I will mention that. The last two years were descent but now I have a 4.13. The problem is that my old school did not translate my past grades into a GPA , so I can only look for schools with my current GPA. However I calculated my GPA by myself using the scholaro and I had a 3.3 and 3.68 gpa the last two years of high school.
Also here is the Maltese grading system according to scholaro:
Scale Grade Description Division US Grade
80.00 - 100.00 First Class Honours A
70.00 - 79.00 Second Class Honours Upper Division A- / B+
55.00 - 69.00 Second Class Honours Lower Division B
45.00 - 54.00 Third Class Honours C
35.00 - 44.00 Compensated Pass D
0.00 - 34.00 Unsatisfactory F
So consider having your GC submit something like the scale you mentoned here. Talk with her about it.
“my old school did not translate my past grades into a GPA” But they gave you number gradess, right? You can either eyeball for how much falls into the 80+ range or work it out yourself for an average. Cores and other courses related to your possible major matter most. Are the 3.3 and 3.68 US or a stab at a Malta equivalent? And the 4.13 is weighted? Or what? And it’s letter grades, not any weighted extra points.
Then, you go to the web site for a school like NYU, look up the “mid 50th percentile,” see where you land. You want to be at the top of this range or better. That’s a start. They’ll review everything, not just stats.
I used a calculator to translate my Malta grades to US grades and they are unweighted. The 4.133 is weighted, 3.85 UW. I will ask my counselor to provide a scale. The OG Malta grades are number format.
Ok if I’m not mistaken, my current transcript has my 11th grade and 9th and 10th grade just have the Malta grades incorporated but just with “pass”. So in theory the colleges will only focus on the last two years of the Malta grades and that the 3 year grades are sent to show that I have fulfilled the credits for my current school?
Most colleges just don’t get into the nitty gritty of GPAs. So if you are a 3.91 vs a 3.95 they don’t care. But they do absolutely need to know how different the grading scale is in Malta. You want them to have in front of them your Malta transcript with the meaning of the grades and the current school’s transcript showing that you’ve fulfilled your state’s graduation requirements. I remember being surprised when I was in France when essays with a 15/20 grade were marked “Excellent”.
I’ll make sure to ask for that! I have a clearer idea of why all 5 years of grades from my previous school are going to be sent because they contain credit requirements needed for me to graduate from my current school. However, I don’t fully know (given I provide a grade scale) what the colleges will look at. From what I understand its usually grades 9-12 meaning only my last two grades from my previous school will count if I’m not mistaken. I just don’t know how to search for colleges because as I said I only have the GPA from my current school to guide me and if I’m being honest apart from the last two years of grades from my old school, the other three years of grades are bad due to special circumstances. I’m just really bummed out about the whole thing because I had to learn all of this within a span of a few months while others probably years. I might be coming off as picky and a little bit annoying honestly but its because I don’t want those past grades to be the make or break of my application because I was truly in a rough spot at the time and I know what I’m capable of…