Glossary of admissions terms
Definitions of terms you will meet on admissions pages, in alphabetical order.
A levels. Two-year subject qualifications taken in England and in British-curriculum schools abroad, usually at age 17 to 18.
Accreditation. Recognition of a school by an outside body, such as CIS, NEASC, WASC or the Council of British International Schools, after an inspection of its standards.
AP (Advanced Placement). US college-level courses taught in high schools, with exams scored from 1 to 5.
CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies). The reference number a UK university issues so a student can apply for a Student visa. Not to be confused with CAS in the IB.
CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). One of the three core parts of the IB Diploma.
CAT4. A cognitive abilities test from GL Assessment, used by many schools as an entrance or baseline assessment.
Clearing. The UCAS process that matches applicants without a place to courses with vacancies, from early July.
Common App. An online application used by more than a thousand mostly US colleges.
Conditional offer. A UK university offer that depends on final exam results.
EAL (English as an Additional Language). Support for students whose first language is not English.
Early Action (EA). A non-binding early application deadline at US colleges.
Early Decision (ED). A binding early application. If admitted, you must attend.
Extra. A UCAS service that lets applicants with no offers add one more choice at a time.
Firm and insurance choices. The two UCAS offers an applicant can hold after decisions arrive.
I-20. The form a US college issues so an admitted student can apply for an F-1 visa.
IB Diploma. The two-year International Baccalaureate programme for ages 16 to 19, scored out of 45.
IGCSE. International GCSE, usually taken at age 15 to 16.
MAP Growth. An adaptive attainment test from NWEA, reported on the RIT scale.
Predicted grades. A school's estimate of a student's final results, used by UK universities when making offers.
Rolling admissions. Applications accepted and decided continuously until places are filled.
Superscoring. Combining a student's best section scores across several SAT or ACT sittings.
Test-optional. A policy where applicants choose whether to submit SAT or ACT scores.
UCAS. The UK's central service for undergraduate applications.