Hi everyone, I have seen this question asked many times without any proper answers, so I thought this should be the right moment for me to end such dilemma (Yes, I am a very smart guy, thanks
).
First of all, what is the equivalent of "A-Level" courses in the US universities?
We get such an answer from the British Council website, the OFFICIAL ORIGINAL AUTHENTICATED website, here:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa-education-uk-glossary.htmGlossary#_a_If you don't want to open the links:
Exams taken by English, Northern Irish and Welsh students in order to gain entrance to UK university, similar to
Advanced Placement (AP) tests.So A Level in UK=AP in USA
Now, how to calculate the CIE (A Level) GPA?
From the OFFICIAL ORIGINAL AUTHENTICATED CIE website, here:
http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/recognition/Calculating%20GPAs%20for%20IGCSE.pdfOo, but that is for IGCSE, not A Levels?
Oh, you mean the O Level courses? never mind.
Forget about the A Level for a while, and let's see the PDF:
CIE US
A,A* A
B A-
C B
D C+
E C
F D+
G D
U F (FAIL)
Alright, now the Numerical Values for the above US alpha grades are as follows (from the same PDF):
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
(This is seems to be the standard US values, I have found them on many webstes, here forexample:
http://www.ncu.edu.tw/~joshua/gpa_charts.htm)
Therefore we have:
CIE Numerical US
A* 4.0
A 4.0
B 3.7
C 3.0
D 2.3
E 2.0
F 1.3
G 1.0 (Least possible passing US Numerical Grade, I guess)
Alright till now?
Now what is so special about AP (which are the equivalent to A Level) courses when calculating the GPA?
Let's take the "OAK PARK HIGH SCHOOL" for example, how do they add A Level courses to the GPA?
Here:
http://www.ophs.opusd.k12.ca.us/gpa_&_class_rank.htmIf you don't want to open the link:
Got it everybody?
THAT SIMPLY, MEANS THAT EVERY AP COURSE (EQUIVALENT TO A LEVEL COURSE) RECEIVES 1 EXTRA POINT!!!
For example, If I got A in an A-Level Mathematics, that would have the Numerical value of 5 (the O Level numerical value of A=4, add 1 extra point, 4+1=5), Got it?
Another Example:
I studied (for real) 8 O Level subjects, my Grades were as follows:
Mathematics A*
Chemistry A
Accounting A
Physics B
Biology B
IT B
Arabic C
English C
That would be a GPA of (4+4+4+3.7+3.7+3.7+3.0+3.0)/8=3.64
(That wat of calculation is from the above CIE pdf file, nothing I came by if from myself)
Then I studied 2 A Level Subjects:
Mathematics B
Chemistry C
They would have the numerical values of 3.7+3.0 respectively, plus 1 Extra Point for each of them, that would be 4.7+4.0 respectively.
Then we calculate the GPA:
(4+4+4+3.7+3.7+3.7+3.0+3.0+
4.7+
4)/
10=3.78
GOT IT everyone?
(No wonder my IQ is 144, that's 2 points less than the US president)