A great introduction to the British academic system❗️

Today we will introduce the differences between the British school system and the Chinese school system, as well as the age differences. Let’s start from elementary school.

Domestic primary schools generally start the first grade at the age of 6-7, while British primary schools start at the age of 5-6, so there is a difference in age. They also study for 6 years. In China, after 6 years, it is about It is 11 to 12 years old, while in the UK it is 10 to 11 years old after 6 years of schooling.

Middle school is often a point of concern for many parents. After finishing primary school in China, you will go directly to middle school. There are 9 years of compulsory education and 3 years of junior high school. When you enter junior high school, you are probably around 12-13 years old. Junior high schools in the UK last for five years, called Form One, Form Two to Form Five. Many parents will ask, is the high school entrance examination required in the British school system? Let’s explain it step by step.

After completing Form 3 in the UK, which is also known as Year 9 (former 3), you will enter the GCSE stage. The GCSE exam is equivalent to the British high school entrance examination. Generally, everyone will choose 9 subjects to study, but in China, it is directly based on one The high school entrance examination determines which high school you can pass. There are two years of GCSE, namely Year 10 and Year 11. There will be tests in the Year 10 stage. The Year 10 of GCSE is more like the first and second grades of junior high school in China. Although Alevel is the ☝️ indicator when applying to university in the future, GCSE is the second hard standard, so everyone still dare not take it lightly. If you get C or above in GCSE Chinese and English, international students are exempt from taking IELTS when applying for university. After completing GCSE, it means the end of the 9-year compulsory education in the UK (same as in China). British students will feel that I don’t want to continue studying. I want to be an apprentice or go to a vocational school, and they will transfer directly to it. This kind of school continues training, such as chef, auto mechanic, flight attendant, etc. (Due to the shortage of human resources in the UK, the starting salary will be relatively high)

After entering Year 11, in the last semester, many students will start to apply for high school (Alevel) or IB in the UK, or to advance to the Alevel at their own school. In addition to GCSE scores, they also look at their performance in school, junior high school teacher tuijian letter, etc. .

For international students, they basically have to be 16 years old or older before they can enroll in Alevel. Because there are relatively few people who choose IB, let’s focus on Alevel. Alevel is a two-year study. The first year is called AS, and the second year is called AS. A2 generally chooses 3-4 majors to study, and try to take 4 majors when applying for a G5 undergraduate degree. Alevel courses are relatively rich, with a total of 70-80 courses to choose from (of course not every school has these majors). At A2, the school teachers will start to help the school with UCAS (an institution for British undergraduate applications) and documents.

If you feel that Fried Fish is not clear, you can take a look at Figure 2⃣️ . If you still want to know something, welcome to DD!

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