at the top of the class

Those are grammatically quite different. Are you sure you wrote the question exactly as you intended?

Hi GPY,

If someone was top of the class or at the top of the class, is there a difference?

Thanks
TN

Let's assume you are comparing:

He was top of the class.
He was at the top of the class.

The former means that he was the best; the latter could be construed as meaning that he was one of the best.

Hi GPY,

Thanks again for helping. I thought it wrong.

TN

Hi GPY,

I tried to find something like 'He was top of the class' or He was a student from X high school, graduation top of his class' but I couldn't find it. All it came up was with preposition 'at' which has a different meaning. Does that mean it's not a common way of saying it? Thanks again for your help.

TN

No, I don't think it's particularly uncommon. I don't know why you couldn't find any examples. When I search Google I see lots:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22He+was+top+of+the+class%22

Note, though, that "He was a student from X high school, graduation top of his clas

Hi GPY,

Thanks for the correction and the link.

TN