<p>Can someone please enlighten me the differences with these A Levels Exams and how AOs will view them accordingly. Are there any A Level that is supposedly harder than the rest? Thanks!</p>
<p>In England there are lots of different 'exam boards' which set A-levels. They're named after the place they are based . So the one in the middle of the country is called Oxford-Cambridge something. Here is their web site
<a href="http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/docroot/ocrservices/aboutocr/aboutocr.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/docroot/ocrservices/aboutocr/aboutocr.jsp</a></p>
<p>Many, many foreign students seem to think that this means these examinations are therefore sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They are NOT. OCR is just a company the government pays to write and mark examinations. UK students usually take A-levels from the nearest examination board to their home. I took AQA A-levels (<a href="http://www.aqa.org.uk/%5B/url%5D">http://www.aqa.org.uk/</a>) and Oxford couldn't care less who examined me. All UK A-levels are treated the same.</p>
<p>University of Cambridge does endorse English certificates, which you can read about here
<a href="http://www.cambridgeesol.org/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.cambridgeesol.org/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Singapore and Hong Kong A-levels are different and apparently a LOT harder (though I didn't take them, so I don't know). In my experience students from these countries have often come to the UK to take A-levels at a boarding school here because UK A-levels are easier. Those that have Singapore/Hong Kong A-levels don't seem to get any extra credit for it. At the very least I expect their maths A-levels are a lot harder because such students are always very good at maths and over-represented in science and engineering.</p>
<p>thanks so much... so will the admission officers view candidates from singapore/hong kong and Uk differently and favour the Hong Kongers and Singaporeans more??</p>
<p>screwup, i guess not. thats why there's the SATS to kinda even out everything. (: (:</p>
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thats why there's the SATS to kinda even out everything. (: (:
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<p>But most Oxford applicants don't have SATs. I don't. Usually only Americans do. Oxford prefer APs and most UK universities treat these sort of like A-levels. They're not strictly equivalent though since (UK) A-level grades involve an element of 'coursework'. That is work done in class throughout the year. Whereas APs are just a test.</p>
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so will the admission officers view candidates from singapore/hong kong and Uk differently and favour the Hong Kongers and Singaporeans more??
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<p>I suspect not since Oxford is a UK university and 90% of the undergraduates are from the UK (but only about 25-30% of the grads). When I applied internationals were slightly less likely to be accepted than UK students, but I don't know if that's still the case. There might be some statistics on the Oxford web-site.</p>
<p>screwup if you are a US student just do APs and SATs as normal. You don't have to do A-levels to apply to Oxford (indeed more and more UK students are doing IB instead). Most colleges are used to lots of international applicants and will understand their qualifications. You can always email the admissions office and ask them to advise you.</p>