Scholars ProgramAcademic Challenge

Academic Challenge

Instead of the broad-based American curriculum, in Britain at age 15 or 16 you concentrate on four subjects that interest you most. Your choices may include music, art, design, theater, or physical education as well as the more traditional subjects such as English, math, or physics. Or choose environmental science, business, politics, theology, or psychology. Emphasis is placed on independent research and analysis, so that even if you choose to specialize in a subject that you have studied at the AP level in the US, you will find yourself challenged.

Courses are arranged differently in each subject and at different schools, but all follow basic 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 usually nine 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.

Many British schools are now offering the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to the A-level scheme, and this may be an attractive option for American students who may see it as a more flexible choice, especially if they are enrolled in an I.B. program in the U.S.