AP, A Level, IB HL: Who is keeping score and who is taking more?

I was asked to answer the following question of the website Quora.com

How are GCE A-level grades assessed by US universities for undergraduate admission
How much knowledge do admissions officers generally have about the curriculum? Are they compared to APs? What is the general impression?

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You have asked a great question.

I will concentrate on how schools tend to interpret the A Level curriculum for admission and how they may be compared to AP (or IB) courses and grades.

A decade or so ago, most A Level students who applied to selective US schools were enrolled in 3 A Levels. The number of students applying to the US who were taking A Levels was not all that large, and 3 was what was often recommended for most students in most countries. Since that time however, it has become the norm for students who are accepted to selective schools to be enrolled in 4 A levels.

There are several reasons for this. Applications to the most selective schools have skyrocketed over the last decade. As a result, acceptance rates have dropped dramatically and only those who have truly exceptional qualifications are typically admitted. While applications have soared, few top schools have increased the percentage of international students enrolled by any significant number (Other schools, not at the very top, however, have increased international students dramatically).

The other reason that most around the world take 4 (or more) A levels to get accepted to top schools has to do with how our brains are trained and wired. And it also has to do, to a significant degree, with the performance on A levels by applicants from one particular country: Singapore.

In Singapore, there are no longer A levels; instead, they have H1, H2, and H3 exams.  For all intents and purposes the curriculum and standards are the same for H2 and A Levels or at least that is the way they are interpreted by US schools.  In order to be eligible for Oxbridge, students generally need either 4 A levels or 4 H2s. But here is where students from Singapore run into problems. At just one school, Raffles, there are literally hundreds of students who take 4 H2s and any many of them score all As (Here is information from Wikipedia which is accurate: Each year, about 345 places in top UK universities and 140 places in top US colleges are offered to Rafflesians. In 2013, 53 students have been offered places at Cambridge University, 23 at the London School of Economics and 39 at Oxford University. This is one of the highest, if not the highest, number of students from a single institution offered places at the UK's top three universities. 49 students have also received early admission offers from top US universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford.[15] 70 a year on average gain admission to the 8 Ivy League Colleges plus Stanford and MIT.[16] 50% of places in the NUS Medical and Law faculties also go to Raffles Institution graduates.[14]

Students in Singapore reacting to A level results

On top of the 4 H2’s, many of the top students take H3s that are post A Level research classes. And on top of that some students go far beyond what any other schools does in terms of performance and coursework.
Here are results from Raffles this year:

9 Distinctions: 4 students
At least 8 Distinctions: 80 students
At least 7 Distinctions: 277 students
At least 6 Distinctions 533 students

(I will not distinguish here on the difference between A* and A grades as there is not yet enough research to determine how well A* predict future academic success in US universities and colleges.)

Remember, this is just one school in Singapore. It has the highest results in the country (and the world) but there are other schools such as Hwa Chong and National Junior College that have many great students too.

Why do I mention all this? Well, for those in Singapore, 4 A levels with all A’s is not all that special: there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of students who earn these marks. Because so many apply to top schools and because top schools limit the numbers they enroll from any particular country and any particular school (they can’t say this in public but the stats are pretty convincing), the students end up applying to schools out of the top twenty and then enroll in them.

And what has this done? Essentially ruin the curve for everyone else. It used to unheard of to see students with more than 4 A levels, but now at a highly selective school in the US it would not be unusual to see dozens or more from just one school. If a reader has read many many applications from students with more than 4 A levels it then begins to seem that those who apply with ‘only’ 3 are not doing as much as they should. (Cognitive scientists call this effect ‘priming’.)

A reader who has read hundreds of students with 4 A Levels now has a neural network that ‘expects’ to see students apply with 4 A Levels. After all, if hundreds of students from one place can do it why can’t others too?

Something similar has happened with students who take APs as well. A decade ago 4 or 5 APs impressed admission officers at top schools. Since then there has been what almost seems a competition to see who can take the most APs over 4 years. Top students now begin taking APs in grade 10 and by the time they graduate many have more than 10. Once again, application readers, in some cases, equate the rigor of A Levels with the rigor of APs (they learn this in part because the credit earned for an A Level is often similar to what an AP score of 5 will earn). If a reader sees hundreds of students with more than 5 or 6 APs, A Levels begin to look a little light. This interpretation may not even be conscious, but as I say priming works on our brains whether we want it to or not. I’ve read comments from admission officers who use the phrase ‘only’ 5 AP total and use this as the primary reason to deny a student very quickly. This should, however, not happen. Several studies show that beyond a certain number of APs, there is little predicative value to piling on more., One study shows that whether a student takes 5 APs or far more, there is little difference in how the students will do at the school academically. A few Deans at selective schools have said they do not require huge numbers of APs but a look at the most elite schools tell another story. Unless a student is in a sought after category (low-income, underrepresented minority, special talent, etc.), almost all admitted have far more than 4 APs total over the 4 years of secondary school.

The rush to take more top-level courses also extends now to the IB. Once again, a decade ago, almost all IB diploma students applied with 3 Higher Level courses. These days, those admitted to the most elite schools have 4 Higher Levels. For a while the IB started to make significant inroads in US schools systems. It is designed as a holistic program, requires an extended essay (something AP students almost mover do, but those in the British system do with a general paper). There were Deans at highly selective schools that said: “Send us a prepared student a la IB…it is the ‘best’ high school prep curriculum an American school can offer.” But that was years ago. Now the general comments from Deans underscore that the IB full diploma candidates are well prepared for work at any college.

One of the reasons the IB did not gain in market share? Since students were limited to 3 or 4 higher level courses they could not match the number of APs students took in schools offering the AP.  In addition, students could not earn as much credit for the IB and many schools said that all the extra work included with the diploma (extended essay, service work, Theory of Knowledge class) did not help the students gain admission as much as a student with many APs. While the full IB may be among the best preparation for future success, it did catch on in part because of the perceptions about the work involved and in part because students saw peers earning more than a year’s worth of credit with 5 AP scores of 4 or 5.

If you are a student taking 3 A Levels or if you are a student taking 3 Higher Level IBs does this mean you cannot get accepted to the most elite colleges and universities in the US? In some countries, I would say, that barring very special circumstances, the answer is yes.

On the other hand, there are still students around the world who are accepted to top schools with only 3 top level courses be it A Level or IB.  Who are they?  I can think of 3 groups.

1. Some schools around the world have as a policy that student may only take 3 A Level courses. These schools believe 3 are more than enough work and preparation for success at virtually any college or university and I think they are correct. However, a student and the officials at the school must make sure that the 3 A Level policy is listed on the school profile, in the counselor recommendation, and by the student too somewhere in the application. If there is not a place to note this on an application, then the student should find the name of the admission officers in charge of their region and email this information. (In addition to ensuring this information has been received it also allows a student to have a very good reason to connect with the admission officer.)

2. For those students who come from a country or region that sends very few students to the US or to selective schools, 3 A Levels may be enough. Schools in the US are very interested in enrolling student from a broad set of countries and regions so a student from a place that rarely sends student to highly selective schools may be admitted with 3 (or in a very few cases even fewer than this) A Levels or Higher Level IB courses.

3. United World Colleges: I have written about these schools several times. They enroll what may be the most diverse group of students in the world as a part of their mission. Some of them have been through a rigorous selection process in their country or region. A significant number comes from low-income backgrounds and have compelling stories to tell. Some of these students stand out to elite schools because of their experiences and background.

Students who are in 3 rather than 4 A Levels or Higher Level IBs may not get into some of the very top schools, but if they have high predicted grades and strong school support they will get accepted to most schools. There are many wonderful schools in the US, and while getting into the top 10 is tough for anyone, getting into a top 40 isn’t nearly as hard as some people think.  This is especially true for those students who can afford to pay the full fees. An A Level student with high predictions and strong standardized test scores and a strong set of recommendations and essays may well end being accepted over students who have lots of APs or 4 Higher Levels simply because the ability to pay has become an increasingly important part of the admission process.

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