IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Hello,

I only did 1 year of IGCSE (Year 10/grade 9) and didn't set my final exams since I moved to the US after doing only doing(Year 10/grade 9) and didn't continue when the test is sat at the end of year 11/grade 10. Can these half-done IGCSEs be transferred to credits towards a US high school diploma, or do I re-do a year and do grade 9 again and continue high school normally per the US system(9,10,11,12)?

I attended grade 10/year 11 in the USA and was told at the END of the year that my school has no idea how to calculate my GPA since they are unfamiliar with the IGCSE grading scale or the British Curriculum.

I don't know what to do, re-do a year, transfer credits, attend a better school....Depending on if I can or can't transfer the credit, I will make a decision.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Are you planning on returning to the UK to live? If so, take your US high school transcript with you and ask at school in the UK.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

It is the opposite, I attended a British school and I moved to the US now, but my school has no idea what to do with my half IGCSEs that I did in year10/ grade 9, since a high school diploma in the US needs 4 years, grades 9-12 and I did 9 in a british school and it is only half a GCSE and not transferrable to US credits since the end of GCSE as at year 11/ Grade 10 when you sit the actual exam and I didn't do that since I studied year 11/ grade 10 in the US. Do I re-do a grade 9? Or are these half done GCSE transferrable and I need to look for a different school? I hope this makes sense.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Have you considered getting a qualification evaluation service to look at your year 10 record (do you have a British transcript for this?)
You might ask the school district if this is an option, even if they don't have knowledge of this now for students, they will have one or more such services that they recognize for evaluating the qualifications obtained abroad from their staff employed by the district.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

You say that your school requested such a thing (evaluation of your year 10 record) but to no avail - what does that mean?
Your record could not be evaluated?
As per a recent report :
Before the early 2010s, most schools offering the IGCSE were private international schools for expatriate children around the world. However in the 2010s, an increasing number of independent schools within the United Kingdom also began offering IGCSEs as an alternative to conventional British GCSEs for international IGCSE subjects, on the supposed basis that it is more challenging than the national curriculum.[7] A comparison between GCSEs and IGCSEs was conducted by the Department of Education in 2019. The study found that it was easier to achieve a grade A in English Language and English Literature in IGCSEs but harder to achieve a grade A in science subjects. Most other subjects were roughly equivalent.
Did you undertake this course in an independent school?
As you have now attended year 11 in the US, are you saying they cannot provide a GPA just based on your US school year? Why not?

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

With to no avail, I meant that the school is unfamiliar with the grading system and doesn't know how to transfer my half GCSE since it is incomplete and I studied subjects that aren't available where I live now (e.g. Business, Food and nutrition)
Yes, I did year 10/grade 9 in a private school.
the school I am in now is able to give me a GPA only for 10th grade/year 11 and if I decide to continue 11th grade/ year 12 and 12th grade/year 13, I can, but upon graduation, I will have a missing year of required subjects since my year 10/grade 9 was not transferred. According to them, I need to redo a year, but my parents won't allow me to redo a year. So, I am trying to find if what my school said is true and I need to redo, or are they being lazy and I need to find a better school that would help me instead of asking me to redo a year.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

As you have now taken grade 10 subjects, what are the 9th grade subjects which you lack? Can't you just do those?

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

The point of getting an evaluation, is because a school doesn't know how to do it, so the evaluation service does it for them, providing it in a format that they do understand. I am not sure we are sharing a common understanding of what an evaluation service does or is.
something similar to this
https://wordcommunication.com/shop/f...ma-evaluation/

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Yes, that is my problem, my school tried to have this service done, but my school aren't sure how or where and are confused. Thus, they are telling me to redo a year. Also as I mentioned, I only did half GCSE, so it hard to transfer the credits from half a year. For example, the service you linked is for a high school diploma, a full one, that will be found an equivalent to the education here. But, in my situation, it is a half done problem. For example, if a person did 9th and 10th grade outside and that is considered a full high school where they come from, they can come to the US and request a full high school diploma, since what they studied outside is equivalent to a high school diploma in the US. For me, I did 9th grade, a full year outside the US, and from where I come from and in the British curriculum, it is considered incomplete, so not transferrable for an equivalent to 9th here since in the British curriculum 9th and 10th are together. (Year 10 and 11 GCSE).

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

I am not messing subjects, I am messing credits, they would take a year to complete or I rush and mess up my GPA with a low pass (d-c), so they school is telling me to redo 9th grade as a whole.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

You have two options - either approach and pay for an evaluation service yourself (while including your school in the process so they know what they are receiving at the end and can commit to using that information towards your GPA and credits), or you retake the 9th Grade subjects required to achieve the High School Diploma.

I can understand your issue - our daughter joined a school after completing the GCSE's in the UK and the school struggled for nearly two months to convert that study into USA courses and grades. Just getting them to understand that there were more than A-D grades available and that they didn't directly align was a challenge in it's own right.

Your bigger issue here is that you likely do not have "Grades" for the partial IGCSCE, or at best maybe some indication but nothing formal. They need to do two things, first translate the syllabus you studied to courses they can credit. Then they need to translate your performance into the A-D, or 100%-70% ranges for your GPA. If they have little experience in doing that with completed courses I imagine they have found it impossible for partial courses. That's why your option is an outside company that knows how to do this. You need to school to agree they will take the output - they might not agree to this.

Is it you intention to go to College? If so, you may find some Colleges, especially Community ones, may take you on if you can show your performance at IGCSE for the year on top of your High School Transcript, enabling you to take courses alongside an Associates Degree?

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

Be prepared, given only one year of the two were studied at IGCSE, that even after evaluation you still have some 9th Grade subjects they will NOT credit. Certainly there will be something around USA History/Civics etc.

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

You first need to find out from your school Counselor which courses from Grade 9 are required for graduation in your state. Grade 9 math, english, physical science etc, as well as health science, US History & civics, maybe Financial Literacy. You then maybe able to CLEP out some of the courses, especially the latter ones I mentioned. This can often be through a local community college(much easier), university or through the College Board(much harder). You then do some self study, take a practice CLEP test, then when ready take the actual CLEP test in each subject. this also has the advantage of doubling up for college credit. Your counselor will be able to assist you here on what is available in your state, and you can look at practice tests to see if this is something you can feel confident in doing.

You also could explore which online courses are available in your state, particularly regarding the grade 9 core subjects, secondary math 1, english 9, whatever science you missed etc and could pursue these concurrently along with your grade 11 courses. There are often many institutions in your state that offer these. Again check with your counselor that the school accepts these as satisfying their graduation requirement. Also, talk to students at the school who have taken online courses as they can give you a good idea as to what to expect. finally, I hope you can see that your counselor will be key to helping you through all of this if you decide to go this route.

Finally, check and double check YOUSELF, that any CLEP course or online course is accepted by the state for your graduation year, as often the goal posts move and sometimes counselors do not keep up with change.

Good luck to you

Re: IGCSE Credit Transfer to US High School DP
 

At my kids' high school you can take tests to see what level you are at in the different subjects. Then they give you the credits for the classes you would have passed had you been in the school. For example if you test out at English level 4, then they give you the high school credits for levels 1-3 and you are placed in english 4. This is available for language testing - https://www.languagetesting.com/aappl

As imacd has already said - find out which courses are mandatory for your state's high school graduation and fill in the gaps. It's pretty common for students to take community college classes to gain credits and these can help towards college credits as well.
If you are planning on going to university here in the USA, then you can use your personal essay to explain your low gpa ( lack of credits due to international move) or simply go through the international student office explaining your particular circumstances. This is what my daughter had to do - similar situation to yours where the school refused to give her credits for her previous country's education.
If you're heading back to the UK for college/university then I would concentrate on simply getting the required credits for graduation. This may mean that you've got a lot of work to do but it's probably better than re-doing a whole year.
good luck.