which qualification is harder A levels or the americans SAT's?

Question

my cousin in america did his SAT's and i was surprised to find that its a multiple choice paper, so ineffect you could know not even one answer but still pass, and is it true you get marks for spelling your name right? i also looked at the papers, i personally think A levels are much harder

Answer 1

Although they aim to test different things A-levels can be considered harder. The closest American equivalent to A-levels are Advanced Placements, AP). You can get course credit and exemptions for good A-level grades at many US colleges, including really prestigious colleges such as Yale and MIT (see links in sources). You certainly won't get that with SATs, in fact if you only have SATs most of the decent UK universities won't admit you. Instead you would have to take 2-4 APs and get a conditional offer on them. If you only had SATs you would have to complete a year of college and then try and transfer.

Answer 2

A levels are MUCH harder than the SAT or ACT; same is true for coursework.
I think American public education is a total joke when compared to the rest of the world, even in magnet and charter schools.

Answer 3

There are 3 parts to the SAT. Math, Reasoning and a writing essay.

The 1st two are multiple choice. You only get credit for correct answers. If you don't answer a question you don't get any credit. If you answer a question wrong you lose a quarter credit.

So if you randomly guess,it's to your detriment.

Answer 4

The exams are not really comparable, because the A levels are achievement tests, which are intended to test what you already know, while the SATs are aptitude tests, intended to test what you are capable of learning. You are right in saying that the A levels are more difficult, because one is supposed to study for them and doing well is a matter of showing what one has learned; that isn't what the SATs are for. Comparing the two is, as we say, comparing apples to oranges. To begin with, there is no such thing as "passing" the SAT. You get a score, and each university decides what their standards will be for admission. You are correct in saying that in theory, one could get some answers right without "knowing" them; that actually is one of the things they want to see. Realizing that some of the test-takers will never have learned some of the subject matters, can they figure it out? Of course, if you learned all of the material and mastered it, you would do extremely well, but what if you hadn't learned it? Could you figure it out? Certainly on the similar graduate admission tests there have been questions on subject matters (advanced mathematics, for example) which I had never taken a course in, but by process of elimination, my logic allowed me to select the correct response. That logic has a value in university which goes beyond just having had prior exposure to specific facts. Therefore, I would not say that the SAT was a difficult exam, but in terms of its predictive value for performance in university, it may do just as well or better.

Answer 5

I'm American, and we took the ACT. It's probably harder than both ;)

Answer 6

i think a levels is much harder.i had lived in europe and now in usa,i find american education system is easy than britsh system.