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Converting A-levels to GPA

How is it done? I'm looking it up and can't find anything helpful. I got BBD but those are just made up so I'm probably going to be resitting but, what are those current grades equivalent to?
It's quite hard to convert our grades to GPA, as they take an average of different pieces of work throughout school, whereas we put all the focus on our GCSE and a-level exams, with coursework meaning very little, and classwork having no direct contribution to our final grades.
From what I've seen though, a 4.0 is consistent A's, 3.0 B's, 2.0 C's, 1.0 D's.
You'd probably be somewhere around 2.75, based just on those grades without taking into account any classwork or anything. Are you applying to unis in America? Different unis may have different ways students from the UK should convert their grades.
Original post by remussjhj01
It's quite hard to convert our grades to GPA, as they take an average of different pieces of work throughout school, whereas we put all the focus on our GCSE and a-level exams, with coursework meaning very little, and classwork having no direct contribution to our final grades.
From what I've seen though, a 4.0 is consistent A's, 3.0 B's, 2.0 C's, 1.0 D's.
You'd probably be somewhere around 2.75, based just on those grades without taking into account any classwork or anything. Are you applying to unis in America? Different unis may have different ways students from the UK should convert their grades.

What about A*s, are they equivalent to a 5.0

You're right as it is quite hard to convert a level grades to GPA
Why would you need to convert A-level grades to GPA? If you are applying to universities which normally look at GPA (i.e. NA unis) then you will be doing so as an international student (or one having studied international qualifications certainly), and they will not require or expect you to make any such "conversions" yourself and will assess your grades in the context of the qualification(s) you studied. If you are applying in the UK then it doesn't matter because UK unis don't use GPA in assessing A-level student's grades, because it doesn't make sense to do so (and they would only consider the GPA of students coming from educational systems where that is the standard form of assessment, e.g. the US).

It's a moot question...
Original post by royalty1702
What about A*s, are they equivalent to a 5.0

You're right as it is quite hard to convert a level grades to GPA

I guess so. An A* is basically an A+.
Reply 5
Original post by remussjhj01
It's quite hard to convert our grades to GPA, as they take an average of different pieces of work throughout school, whereas we put all the focus on our GCSE and a-level exams, with coursework meaning very little, and classwork having no direct contribution to our final grades.
From what I've seen though, a 4.0 is consistent A's, 3.0 B's, 2.0 C's, 1.0 D's.
You'd probably be somewhere around 2.75, based just on those grades without taking into account any classwork or anything. Are you applying to unis in America? Different unis may have different ways students from the UK should convert their grades.


Apparently, I have between a 3.2 and a 3.7 GPA.
Original post by remussjhj01
I guess so. An A* is basically an A+.

so people with 3A* would have a GPA of 5.0

ok....
Original post by royalty1702
so people with 3A* would have a GPA of 5.0

ok....

Well, in theory yeah. It is possible to have a GPA above 4.0, because some people get A+'s. If a person just got A+'s, they'd have a 5.0 GPA. Obviously it'd be very rare, but not necessarily impossible.
Original post by remussjhj01
Well, in theory yeah. It is possible to have a GPA above 4.0, because some people get A+'s. If a person just got A+'s, they'd have a 5.0 GPA. Obviously it'd be very rare, but not necessarily impossible.

I didn't know that they even had A+ grades because I thought that in some tests you have to get like 93% to get an A
GPAs can be weighted or unweighted.

If they are "weighted," then that means BOTH the level of difficulty of the course AND the student's grade in the course are taken into consideration. The US doesn't really have A+ grades (depending on the school), so for this explanation the highest grade that can be achieved is an A (ranging from 93% to 100% grade)

AP/IB classes have the highest weighting (an extra 1.0), which means that GPAs can be up to 5.0 if the student achieves an A.
Honors classes have an extra 0.5 weighting, which means that GPAs can be up to 4.5 if the student achieves an A.
Regular classes have the regular weighting, which means that GPAs can only be up to 4.0 if the student achieves an A.

An unweighted GPA DOES NOT take the level of difficulty of the class into account and therefore all class levels (AP/IB, Honors, and Regular classes) will be weighted on the same 4.0 GPA scale.

Many North American universities will ask students to provide BOTH their weighted and unweighted GPAs. For example, back in high school my GPA weighted was 4.5 (I took mainly AP classes, some honors) BUT my unweighted GPA was roughly 3.6.

An A* can be either a 4.0 or a 5.0, but it would depend on the scale used to calculate the GPA and whether the A-level is of higher difficulty or regular. The GPA scale and US education system works very differently to the UK edu system so there's not really a ready conversion of A-levels to GPA. Like other users have said before, if you're looking to apply to a North America University they will treat you as an international applicant and will have specific requirements listed for your country (which takes into account the country's education system and grading). I speak from experience because I applied as an American international student to UK universities and they didn't request A-levels from me, but rather my US equivalents (AP/IB exam scores).
Original post by royalty1702
What about A*s, are they equivalent to a 5.0

You're right as it is quite hard to convert a level grades to GPA

A-level grades for college & sixth-form are hard to convert to GPAs (and you wouldn't really, anyway, unless the university being applied to has a conversion list calculated already).

BUT, you CAN convert your uni degree classification (1st, 2:1, 2:2, etc) into a GPA. There are conversions available and some listed by universities. 1st is of course a 3.7-4.0 GPA, and I believe a 2:1 degree class would translate into a 3.3-3.5 GPA <-- I gave a range as some universities will take into account the mark you received for your degree (i.e. a 65% would be a 3.5 GPA, but a 6.2% would be classes as a 3.3 GPA, or further a 71% woudl be a 3.7 but a 75% and above would be considered a 4.0 GPA)
Original post by dumpling_eater
A-level grades for college & sixth-form are hard to convert to GPAs (and you wouldn't really, anyway, unless the university being applied to has a conversion list calculated already).

BUT, you CAN convert your uni degree classification (1st, 2:1, 2:2, etc) into a GPA. There are conversions available and some listed by universities. 1st is of course a 3.7-4.0 GPA, and I believe a 2:1 degree class would translate into a 3.3-3.5 GPA <-- I gave a range as some universities will take into account the mark you received for your degree (i.e. a 65% would be a 3.5 GPA, but a 6.2% would be classes as a 3.3 GPA, or further a 71% woudl be a 3.7 but a 75% and above would be considered a 4.0 GPA)

it also depends on the uni. Getting a first at oxbridge is much harder than getting a first at a low ranked uni
Original post by royalty1702
it also depends on the uni. Getting a first at oxbridge is much harder than getting a first at a low ranked uni

Not really, it rather depends on the American university. They could take into account the university from which you achieved your degree, but their conversions of a British degree classification into GPA will hold the same regardless.

Here's a scenario:

An American university you're applying to converts British degree classifications into GPAs using the following:
1st (75+) = 4.0
1st (70 - 74) = 3.7
2:1 (65+) = 3.5
2:1 (60 - 64) = 3.3
2:2 (55 - 59) = 3.0
and so on and so forth...

The university may be impressed you achieved a final degree average of 75% from University of Oxford, compared to a rival applicant that achieved a 75% from Leeds Beckett University, thanks to the prestige attending the University of Oxford holds.

HOWEVER, a 1st is still a 1st in the eyes of the American university and so both applicants would still be awarded that 4.0 GPA according to the American university's conversion standards. Just because you went to a prestigious university and achieved a 1st doesn't get you a special GPA score that transcends the conversion standards outlined.
(edited 3 years ago)
People who are not yet applying but want to maybe know where they stand in comparison to American students might want to convert their grades to GPS. It gives us a more realistic idea of what our aims and opportunities are outside of the UK. Our systems are completely different however many international schools (that are not in the UK) follow the British system, therefore there are many student bodies who will be looking at university options around the world. These students may be American by passport and therefore able to apply to American universities as a citizen of the state, however have been in a different system of examinations, making them not an international student but one with different certificates than others from their state.

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