What is the difference between 秀才, 进士, 举人, and 甲第? 秀才、进士、举人、甲第那些单词有什么区别？好像它们都是指在中国古代科举制度下成绩特高的考生。准确的区别是什么？哪些至今还在使用？

(麻烦大家帮忙改正中文错误！)



What is the difference between 秀才, 进士, 举人, and 甲第? They all seem to refer to students who did particularly well under the ancient Chinese imperial examination system. What's the precise difference? Which ones are still used today?
It's just like you attend the exam held in small village, then you passed it and became one of the top students. We call you  秀才 at that time.

After that, you are going to atten the exam held in a province scale, if you passed it also, then you became 举人. 

Only those 举人 can attend the national exam, you passed it so you became 贡士.

Only then, you can attend the exam held by the emperor and if you succeed, you became 进士. And the top one is called 状元, the second one is called 榜眼, and the thrid one is called 探花.

甲第 means the　[top successful candidate in an examination].