ACS Cobham International School has announced its students have achieved a 97 per cent pass rate in this year’s International Baccalaureate (IB) exams, with an average score of 34 points, equivalent of 512 Ucas points or four As at A-level.

The star student of the Portsmouth Road school was Ayako Satake. She achieved a score of 45, the highest possible IB score, which is the equivalent of 768 Ucas points or five A* grades at A-level.

A further 14 students achieved scores of 39 or above.

Students from the school will now be getting to start academic lives in universities across the globe.

Student David Oppenheim is one student who will be staying closer to home when he starts at Warwick University next year.

He said: “I feel that the IB has been particularly good preparation for university, and life, because it teaches candidates to approach problems from a variety of perspectives, be open-minded and encouraged to engage in teamwork. Its diversity also meant my options were kept open and I can now go on to study politics, philosophy and economics in more depth at university, each of which I was involved in through my IB course.”

The release of the results coincides with the launch of the school’s research report into the view of university admissions officers on qualifications for over 16-year-olds, which found the IB remains the most highly-regarded.

The school said the combination of qualities developed by the IB, including self management and creativity, are some of the factors which explain why it is considered an excellent preparation for university-style learning.

In particular, 62 per cent of admissions officers claim that the IB develops self-management skills, as compared to just 39 per cent who feel that this is a quality nurtured by A-levels.

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