Admitedly, I finished 'high school' having done A levels in the UK. The calculus A/B here appears to cover stuff equivalent to an O level or gifted 15 year old/NT 16 year old in the UK. Anyone taking science A levels without A level Maths tended to get bogged down sometime in the second year of the 2 year course. I had been under the mistaken impression that AP classes were like A levels.
A levels are real 'college prep' classes which is why most Europeans are puzzled by the fact that 'AP' is a higher level class than mere 'college prep' because in Europe traditionally only the rich and stupid/academically inclined regardless of family income went to college.
My mistake there - but this does rather highlight why there are so many H1 visas getting printed. Outside of the U.S. most kids doing STEM subjects are starting college at a much higher level then their US peers....
Not sure that is quite right but I'm not sure I know everything about the English system to compare either. (I'm not upset.. just trying to clarify terms.) I'm not sure it's fair to compare the two A level years with the last two years of H.S. I would have to look this up, but I'm under the impression that the A level years are more equivalent to last year of H.S. and first year of university. (Edited to add looking it up the last two years of H.S. & 6th form years do seem to cover the same age. I still think they roughly cover the material of senior year & first year of university.)
Keep in mind that U.S. "AP" Classes are kind of in a no man's land. Many of them aren't like any class actually taken at a University. For example AP US History, most university history classes don't cover the entirety of U.S. history in one semester course but rather specialize. This class is more a cross between an Honors High School class and one challenging enough to be consider a university course. AP's are 'supposed' to be university first year courses that are taken IN High School.
We do have a difficulty is defining terms and it's largely what's causing confusion in answering this question. This goes for Algebra as well as Calculus. The only way to really compare would be to look at subject matter vs. other subject matter. It's complicated in the U.S. because each state in the past has had their own standards. The textbook publishers have text books labeled by state to handle these discrepancies. Different districts teach the classes differently. And different school districts offer different classes. I know school districts and private schools that offer multi-variable Calc, but my district doesn't
