RENZO DIAZ — Reference library
IB vs A-Levels: How They Compare and What Universities Ask For
3 min readBy Renzo DiazLast reviewed October 7, 2026
The IB Diploma is six subjects, three or four at Higher Level, plus Theory of Knowledge, the extended essay and CAS, graded 7 to 1 per subject for a maximum of 45 points; A-levels are graded subject by subject from A* to E, and most UK offers are set on three. UK universities publish an offer in each, side by side. At Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and LSE, an A*A*A offer sits beside 776 at Higher Level (or 20 points at UCL), and an A*AA offer beside 766 (or 19), and a subject named at A-level is named at HL. A 2016 study by the UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency, published by the IB, found matched IB students more likely to attend a top-20 UK university.
"IB or A-levels?" is usually asked as a question about difficulty, and answered with opinions. It has two answers that can be checked instead: how the two qualifications are built, and how universities write their offers for each. This article sets out both, from the IB's own pages, the UK regulators' and the course pages of seven UK universities for 2027 entry.
Neither answer says which is better for a particular student. They show what each route asks for, so that the choice is made against the courses a student actually wants.
Universities do not rank the two qualifications; they translate one into the other, subject by subject.
Key takeaways
- Two structures: six subjects and a core, against A-levels taken and graded one by one.
- Offers side by side: A*A*A sits beside 776 at HL, and A*AA beside 766, at Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and LSE.
- No Further Maths in the IB: where A-level students are asked for Further Maths, Cambridge asks IB students for AA at HL.
- One outcomes study: 45.7% of matched IB students attended a top-20 UK university against 32.9% of A-level students (HESA, 2016).
How the two qualifications are built
The IB Diploma is a programme: six subjects chosen across the subject groups, a core that every student completes, and a single total. A-levels are separate qualifications, each graded on its own.
| Feature | IB Diploma | A-levels |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects | Six, one from each group; an arts subject can be replaced by another science, individuals and societies or language subject | Chosen one by one; most UK university offers are set on three |
| Levels | Three or four at Higher Level (240 teaching hours), the rest at Standard Level (150 hours) | One level; in England the AS is a separate qualification |
| Grades | 7 to 1 per subject, plus up to 3 points for Theory of Knowledge and the extended essay; 45 points at most, and at least 24 for the Diploma | A* to E per subject |
| Assessment | Final exams plus coursework, marked by the IB or by teachers and moderated | In England, linear: all exams at the end of the course |
| Core | Theory of Knowledge, the extended essay, and creativity, activity, service (CAS) | None |
Sources: IB, "DP curriculum" and "Understanding DP assessment"; the UK qualification regulators' statement on changes to AS and A levels. Read 7 October 2026.
How UK universities write the two offers
Every UK course page checked gives an A-level offer and an IB offer for the same programme. Set side by side, they show how universities translate one into the other.
| University | Programme | A-level offer | IB offer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | Engineering | A*A*A, with Maths and Physics | 41–42 points, 776 at HL |
| Cambridge | Economics | A*A*A, with Maths | 41–42 points, 776 at HL |
| Oxford | Engineering Science | A*A*A, with Maths and Physics | 40 with core, 776 at HL; 7s in HL Maths and Physics |
| Oxford | Computer Science | A*AA, with A*A in Maths and Further Maths if available | 39 with core, 766 at HL; 7 in HL Maths |
| Oxford | Physics | A*AA, with Maths and Physics | 39 with core, 766 at HL |
| UCL | Computer Science | A*A*A, A* in Maths or Further Maths | 40; 20 at HL, with 7 in Maths |
| UCL | Economics | A*AA, A* in Maths | 39; 19 at HL, with 7 in Maths |
| LSE | Economics | A*AA, A* in Maths | 39, 766 at HL, with 7 in Maths |
| Imperial | Computing | A*A*A to A*AAA, A* in Maths | Minimum 41, with 7 in HL Maths and another relevant HL subject |
| Imperial | Physics | A*A*A, A* in Maths and Physics | Minimum 40, with 7 in HL Maths and Physics |
| Warwick | Computer Science | A*A*A, A* in Maths | 39, with 7,6,6 at HL and 7 in HL Maths |
| Warwick | Physics | A*AA, with A in Maths and Physics | 38, with 6 in HL Maths and HL Physics |
| Edinburgh | Physics | AAA to ABB, recent offers | 37 (666) to 32 (655) at HL, recent offers |
Sources: each university's course page for 2027 entry, read 7 October 2026. Contextual offers are left out.
What the side-by-side offers show
Three regularities hold across the table. First, the three Higher Level grades do the work of the three A-level grades. At Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and LSE, A*A*A sits beside 776 at HL, or 20 points at UCL, and A*AA beside 766, or 19; Oxford's PPE, which pairs AAA with 766, is the one exception among the courses checked. Warwick sets its own patterns, pairing A*A*A with 7,6,6 for Computer Science.
Second, a subject named at A-level is named at HL: where an offer asks for A* in Mathematics, the IB offer usually asks for a 7 in HL Mathematics, as at Imperial, UCL, LSE, Warwick and Oxford Computer Science.
Third, the IB offer adds a total that the A-level offer has no equivalent for. It counts the Standard Level subjects and the core as well, so an IB student is assessed on all six subjects, not only the three named.
Further Maths
The A-level subject with no IB twin
Cambridge asks A-level applicants for Further Maths, at AS or A level, for Engineering and Computer Science where the school offers it; Oxford Computer Science asks for A*A in Maths and Further Maths if available. The current IB has two Mathematics courses and no Further Maths: Cambridge asks IB students for Analysis and Approaches at HL instead. The comparison is in IB Further Maths vs AA HL vs A-Level Further Maths.
What the outcomes research says
The comparison the IB itself publishes is a 2016 study by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), published by the IB. It compared IB Diploma students with A-level students at UK universities, using propensity score matching to select A-level students with similar backgrounds, such as income, ethnicity and gender.
After accounting for differences in academic ability, the study reports that IB enrolment increased the likelihood of attending a top-20 university by 57%. Two limits matter in reading it: it was published in 2016 and describes students at UK universities at that time, and it shows an association between the route and the outcome, not that the IB caused it.
HESA study of UK university outcomes (2016)
- Attended a top-20 UK university
- 45.7% vs 32.9%
- IB Diploma students against matched A-level students.
- First-class degree
- 22.9% vs 19.4%
- At least an upper second: 84.8% against 80.4%.
- STEM in the first year
- 39.4% vs 44.2%
- IB students were somewhat less likely to enrol in a STEM subject.
- Continued to the second year
- 94.7% vs 94.2%
- No significant difference.
Choosing between them
Four questions to settle the choice
Which degrees are on the list?
Read the A-level and IB offers for those courses side by side. The subject named in both is the one that decides eligibility.
Is the degree mathematical?
Check whether the course asks A-level students for Further Maths and IB students for AA at HL, and whether the school offers each.
Does breadth suit the student?
The IB keeps a language, a humanity and the core to the end; A-levels allow three closely related subjects.
Where will the student apply?
Outside the UK the IB is often assessed as one Diploma with a total and subject conditions; the rules of each country are in IB Math AA or AI: what universities require.
Terms used in this article
- Higher Level (HL)
- The deeper of the two IB course levels, with 240 teaching hours; a Diploma student takes three or four subjects at HL.
- 776 at HL
- Grades of 7, 7 and 6 in the three Higher Level subjects.
- Linear A-level
- An A-level assessed by exams at the end of the course; in England the AS no longer counts towards it.
- Further Maths
- An A-level in further mathematics, taken alongside A-level Mathematics; the current IB has no equivalent course.
- Propensity score matching
- A method that compares each group with students of similar background, so that differences in background do not drive the result.
Questions about the IB and A-levels
Do UK universities prefer the IB or A-levels?
The course pages checked set an offer in each and do not rank one above the other. What differs is the subject condition, which is written in both.
What IB score is equivalent to A*A*A?
It depends on the university. Cambridge pairs A*A*A with 41–42 points and 776 at Higher Level, Oxford Engineering Science with 40 and 776, and UCL Computer Science with 40 points and 20 at HL.
Is the IB harder than A-levels?
They demand different things. The IB asks for six subjects, a core and coursework across two years; A-levels allow depth in three subjects, assessed by exams at the end.
Is there Further Maths in the IB?
Not in the current programme. The IB has two Mathematics courses, Analysis and Approaches and Applications and Interpretation; Cambridge, which asks A-level students for Further Maths where offered, asks IB students for AA at HL.
How many A-levels do universities ask for?
Most UK offers are set on three. Imperial also states offers for students taking four, such as A*AAA.
Written by
Teaching IB since 2016. Seven years of IB reviews you can check on Google — and named results with the documents behind them.
Last reviewed October 7, 2026
Sources
The structure of each qualification comes from the IB's own pages and the UK qualification regulators; the offers from each university's course page for 2027 entry, read on 7 October 2026; the outcomes from the IB's summary of the 2016 HESA study. The patterns described in section 3 are my reading of the offers in the table.
- IB — DP curriculum
- IB — Understanding DP assessment
- UK qualification regulators — Statement on changes to GCSEs, AS and A levels
- IB — How do DP and A level students in the UK compare at the university level? (2016)
- University of Cambridge — Engineering, entry requirements
- University of Oxford — Computer Science
- UCL — Computer Science BSc
- LSE — BSc Economics
- Imperial College London — Computing BEng
- University of Warwick — BSc Computer Science