Instead of the broad-based American curriculum, in England at age 15 or 16 you choose two or three subjects that interest you most and concentrate on those. And in addition to the traditional subjects, your choices include music, art, design and theater as full academic subjects. Or choose Environmental Science, Business Studies, Politics, Economics, Theology or Psychology. Because more work is done in class and less as homework, the pace is more relaxed. Emphasis is placed on independent research and analysis, so that even if you choose to specialize in a subject you have studied at the AP level in the U.S., you will find yourself challenged.

Courses are arranged differently in each subject and at different schools, but all follow basic national guidelines. In some instances there will be no exams at all during the year: your grade depends completely on how you do on an externally administered exam in June; in other cases, you may prepare a portfolio of work, which combines with an end-of-year exam to determine your grade.

The British have their own vocabulary for explaining their system: You normally enter your secondary school at age 13 and stay for five years. During the first three years you study for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), a series of examinations taken in five or more individual subjects. Then at age 16 you move into the Sixth Form for your last two years of school. Here is where the specialization begins: For the first Sixth Form year, you typically choose four subjects to study at AS (or Advanced Supplementary) Level, taking an examination in each subject at the end of the year. Then in the second year you narrow your focus to three subjects to study at A (or Advanced) Level. At the end of the second year you take a further examination, which with your AS work becomes the basis of your entry into university. Although you can study other subjects on the side (a language, for example, or a general studies course), most of your effort goes into your A-level work.

Americans who enter during 10th or 11th grades for a full year or for the January to June terms can normally prepare for several AS examinations in June. If you enter during 12th grade or for a 13th year, you have the option of studying at the first or second-year Sixth Form level and of taking AS or A level examinations.