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AICE

Dec 17, 2020

The AICE Diploma, which is overseen by the University of Cambridge, demands that students fulfill a number of rigorous requirements. This program can earn students recognition, college credit, and scholarship money at certain schools, and it’s also an excellent way to further your education all around.

Seven credits are required for earning the diploma: one credit each from Groups 1, 2, and 3, and three credits distributed across the groups in any desired combination. The last credit is earned through Cambridge International AS Level Global Perspectives & Research. Optionally, up to two credits may be taken from Group 4, the interdisciplinary and skills-based subjects group.

Passing an AS Level exam (corresponding to a one-year course) earns one credit; passing an A Level exam (corresponding to a two-year course) earns two credits. All exams must be taken within a 25-month period.

The grades in each subject are A*, A, B, C, D, or E, or a fail. An A* is similar to a high A+ in the US, while an E is similar to a C.

Depending on the scores, the student can earn the AICE Diploma at Pass level, with Merit, or with Distinction. There are 20-60 points awarded per credit. Here are the point ranges required to meet each level of distinction:

  • AICE Diploma at Pass Level: 140-249 points
  • AICE Diploma with Merit: 250-359 points
  • AICE Diploma with Distinction: 360 or more points (maximum score is 420 points)

The student will get certificates in the subjects taken even if the diploma is not earned. This will help in getting into college or earning college credit.

The whole AICE program is overseen, ultimately, by a branch of the University of Cambridge. The classes are hard, and most are offered at two levels: the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) Level, and the Advanced (A) Level. AS Level classes are one year long and less demanding than their A Level counterparts, which are two years in length.

Classes tend to be narrow and specific in focus; the AICE Diploma entails an extremely specialized program. In this way, AICE is more like IB than it is AP (if you’re familiar with these programs).

The AICE Diploma is internationally used and recognized, and is accepted at many universities around the world. At some schools, AICE courses will earn you college credits (we’ll go over this in more detail when we talk about the benefits of the program).

College Credit

The students will earn up to 45 hours of college credit from the AICE Diploma. Individual course certificates can also earn college credit if the student does not earn the diploma. This depends on which college the student wants to attend. The colleges around the world that recognize AICE can be found at the Cambridge website.

The AICE program is also described as an acceleration mechanism, meaning it gets the student ready for hard college classes at a more rapid pace than traditional coursework. As with the AP and IB programs, AICE involves studying college-level material before the student graduates from high school. The student is also more likely to be accepted into honors classes right away when they get to college if they have an AICE (or AP or IB) Diploma under their belt.