As I am browsing the Internet, I came upon the UCAS tariff system. I began filling it out and realized that the only US qualifications were IB or AP. There is nothing for SAT or ACT… Is there any way to calculate it in?
I’m just curious p, I know it doesn’t really matter becuase I meet the minimum requirements for me school, but I am just curious.
It is not very useful for US students. For one thing, my kid took 10 AP tests. A UK student would not take 10 A-levels. So her tariff would look artificially high.
@VickiSoCal I’m just curious becuase I took 3 AP tests, the sat, act and sat subject tests
@steponsani, the UCAS tariff is based only on subject-specific tests (A level, IB, SAT II, AP). Most, but not all, UK universities also ask for an SAT score from US credentialed applicants, but it is not part of the tariff system.
@VickiSoCal, that was the same for my collegekid & it came up later when she was applying for grad-scheme jobs in the UK. She had to include her UCAS points, and they were dazzled by them.
In the current UCAS tariff system, 10 APs at a score of 5 (28 UCAS points) would equate to 5 A Levels at A* (56 UCAS points). A score of 1 will give you 12 points (an additional 4 points for 2 and so on).
In the old UCAS tariff system, if you did a Group A AP course, you would get 120 UCAS points for 5, 90 for 4 and 60 for 3. Group B subjects would get you 50 UCAS points for 5, 35 for 4 and 20 for 3. Group A subjects were full-year and usually required previous knowledge (calculus, english, languages, history, hard sciences) and Group B was everything else (studio art, computer science, government and politics, micro+macroeconomics, statistics etc.).
A statement by UCAS on Advanced Placement scores:
“The AP is not the same size as an A level due to it generally being a one year course.
AP courses and exams are criterion-referenced and are aligned to first-year university
level learning objectives in the US. Therefore The College Board does not specifically
allocate a number of Guided Learning Hours to the qualification. However, it was agreed
with The College Board that 135 direct learning hours and 30 indirect learning hours was
an appropriate representation of the size of the qualification. A total of 165 hours
resulted in the qualification being allocated to size band 2.”
For reference: http://www.youthoria.org/store/1338887722.621LID0.pdf
Unfortunately, neither SAT IIs or ACTs equate to any ucas points.