Can Someone tell me how the Universities in the UK measure your grades.. i.e AAB?? what is that??

Question

I want to go to school in the UK and I would like to understand the grading scales. I currently have a GPA (Grade Point Average) of a 3.5. Can anyone teach me what AAB, ABB etc mean...thanks

Answer 1

When a student is at 6th form or college, they take A Levels (or equivalent qualifications like Highers in Scotland) and their teachers predict the grades (from A to E) that they will get in the exams.

These grades go on the university application and the admissions tutors at the universities use them to decide whether to offer the student a place. For example, AAB would mean A in French and German, B in Maths (or whatever subjects the student was taking).

The offers are almost always conditional, which means that they only count if the student gets their predicted grades.

But as an international student, these entry requirements wouldn't apply to you because you wouldn't have taken A Levels unless you come over here for the last couple of years of school.

UCAS is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. You submit your application to them, then they pass your application on to the universities you've decided to apply to. They have a section for internation students here:

http://ucas.com/studyuk/index.html

I think they probably have a way to convert grades from other countries into the UK equivalent. Or they might want you to take a test.

Grades aren't usually the deciding factor for the admissions tutors though. They get lots of applications from students with good enough grades for the course, so they base their decision on: your personal statement, which is where you write about yourself and why you want to study this course; and also your reference(s).

Sometimes, they interview students before they offer them a place, but this varies depending on which course and which university. I think they don't usually interview international students though, because of the travelling involved for them.

One thing you could do is get in touch with the admissions tutor for each course you'd like to apply for. You could email them to ask about how international students' applications are assessed and what your entry requirements would be. Apparantly some universities take communication like that into account when they assess your application, so taking the initiative to contact them is a good sign, and make sure you spell check etc to make a good impression.

Good luck with your application, hopefully you'll be over here really soon :)

Answer 2

AAB, etc refers to grades obtained at English A-Level.

One way that universities measure grades is by the UCAS points tariff, where an A at a level is worth 120 points, etc and a university may say that you require more than 200 UCAS points to apply, for example.

This points system is run by UCAS, which is the organisation through which students apply to UK universities. For more information on how the points are calculated for qualifications other than A-Levels, see the Tariff page on the UCAS website:
http://www.ucas.com/candq/tariff/index.html

If you are from outside the UK, you may also find the International Students section of the UCAS site to be useful:
http://www.ucas.ac.uk/studyuk/index.html

Answer 3

As above when you actually get to Uni in the UK the grading system changes again to a 'classification' system. This means that your work receives a percentage and the percentage corresponds to a classification with a description of the quality of work - i.e., 70%+ is a 'First' which is excellent work, 60% - 69% is a '2:1' which is above average work, 50%-59% is a '2:2' which is average work, 40%-49% is a 'Third' which is a pass but below average and less than that is a fail.

Answer 4

right here are grades for a U.ok. Honours degree. First - very few human beings receives this, frequently one or 2 in line with courese in line with 3 hundred and sixty 5 days. you have to be an stunning student in all tests 2.a million or top 2d - an excellent grade for proficient and hardworking scholars. 2.2 - Wittily regularly occurring as a "Desmond" the most comon grade, good information of the course although not magnificent third (under no circumstances seen this as third) A handfull of scholars receives this grade, person-friendly to lampoon them as daylight hours television observing slackers yet dedicated scholars with detrimental psychological ability would get this grade too. bypass degree - No Honours, you've performed little artwork and characteristic detrimental information of your problem, not of a lot cost at the same time as in concept a first, 21, 2.2 and so on have the same cost whichever Uni you attend, the same grade from a nicely known Uni is mostly harder to receive.anmd held in larger esteem than the same grade from a redbrick Uni or maybe worse, a former Poly.

Answer 5

A is good, the highest grade. They also measure by UCAS points.

Answer 6

aaa means three "a" grades in a levels, so
abb means one "a" grade and two "b" grades in a levels.