A-level

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This article is about the British A-Level examination. See Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination for the examination in Hong Kong which is also commonly known as A-level.

The A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education qualification, usually taken by students in the final two years of secondary education (after GCSEs). It is a non-compulsory qualification taken by students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In Scotland schools can choose between the A Level and the Scottish equivalent, the Advanced Higher National Course of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate.

Examinations of the same name are also taken in some Commonwealth countries, including Cyprus, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Malta and the former British West Indies, although due to respective changes in the systems, today they differ both in terms of content and style from the A-levels taken in the United Kingdom and only share the name. Nevertheless, the British GCE A-levels are taken all around the world, as many international schools choose to use the British system as the examinations are recognised around the world. Furthermore, students may choose to sit the papers of British examination bodies at education centres such as British Councils around the world. The A-level is available in a wide range of subjects, from Accounting to World Development¹.

A-levels were first introduced in 1951, replacing the previous award, the Higher School Certificate (HSC). The most recent changes to A-levels began in 2001, when the government introduced Curriculum 2000 which split the A-level into two parts, the AS (Advanced Subsidiary) and A2 examinations. The former is generally taken in Year 12 (lower Sixth) and the latter is generally taken in Year 13 (upper Sixth). Satisfactory completion of both AS and A2 units results in the award of an A-level qualification.

While A-levels are a qualification in their own right, they are often the prerequisite for university-level study as well, making them a de facto university entrance examination (though certain universities also require applicants to take separate entrance examinations). Universities in the United Kingdom frequently demand that applicants achieve a minimum set of grades in A-level examinations, or the equivalent in other examination systems, before accepting them. While the government has rejected plans to introduce an English Baccalaureate modeled on the International Baccalaureate, at the time of writing (August 2005), the government is still re-examining the existing structure and may recommend changes.

1 Grades and grading history
2 A-Levels in British University Admissions
3 Curriculum 2000
4 Studying A-levels
5 List of A-level subjects
6 See also
7 External links

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Grades and grading history

A-levels are graded from A to E, along with a fail grade, U (Unclassified or Ungraded). Originally, they only distinguished between a pass and a fail, although fails were divided into two types: one meaning that the student had failed a subject at A-level but passed at the O-level equivalent of that subject, and the other meaning that the student had not passed at either A-level or O-level. In 1953, another grade was introduced: the distinction, for high passes. Due to complaints from universities that the grading system was not specific enough to identify the students they wanted, a grading scale close to the current one was created in 1963, which retained an O-level pass between the grades E and F (Fail). When GCSEs were introduced, and also to resolve the long standing problem of the narrow spread of marks between the grade boundaries, the O-level pass was dropped, replaced by a grade N, standing for 'Near miss', which was a much narrower denotation for candidates who failed to achieve the minimum standard for an A-level pass by only a few marks. The grade F was also replaced by a grade U. With the increase in the modular structure of the A-level examinations, the retention of the grade N was considered unnecessary as there was far more information to indicate how close a candidate was towards achieving a pass based on the modules taken. Therefore, with the introduction of the new revised A-levels in 2001 under Curriculum 2000, the grade N was finally dropped.

In response to concerns shown by employers and universities that it is not possible to distinguish between the large number of students achieving A grades, and in order to mirror the current GCSE standards, a debate arose in 2004 as to whether a new, higher "super A" grade (like the A* grade at GCSE) should be attainable. Although it has not yet been put into place, it was generally agreed that bringing in higher grades would be a much better idea than raising the grade boundaries to keep the standards consistent, and it has been proposed that A* and A** grades be attainable at A-level in order to stretch the most able students while still allowing others to achieve the grades they deserve.

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A-Levels in British University Admissions

Because A-level students often apply to universities before they have taken their final exams, British universities (including Scottish universities, which receive many applicants taking A-levels) consider predicted A-level results when deciding whether applicants should be offered places. The predictions are made by students' teachers and can be unreliable. Thus, the acceptance of a student onto a course will normally be conditional on him or her actually achieving a minimum set of grades (for example, conditional offer of three A-levels at grades B-B-C). Universities may specify which subjects they wish these grades to be in (for example, conditional offer of grades A-A-B with a grade A in Mathematics). A-level grades are also sometimes converted into numerical scores, notably through the UCAS university admission system². For example, under the UCAS system, an A-grade at A-level is worth 120 points, while a B is worth 100, a C is worth 80, and a D is 60, and so on; so a university may instead demand that an applicant achieve 280 points, instead of the equivalent offer of B-B-C. This allows greater flexibility to students, as 280 points could also, for example, be achieved through the combination A-B-D, which would not have met the requirements of a B-B-C offer because of the D-grade.

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Examination Boards

The 'A'level and GCSE examination are administered through a series of 'Examination Boards'. These were orginially based on the major UK universities but have over the last 50 years merged into very large organisations. The examination boards are CIE, Edexcel and SQA which offer the 'A' level and 'A' level equivalents to international students as well as UK students and AQA, WJEC, CCEA and OCR which are primarially UK based.

International

University of Cambridge A & AS levels

Edexcel A & AS levels

Scottish Qualifications Authority (Scotland) Higher & Advanced Higher

Assesment and Qualifications Alliance A & AS levels

Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations

Welsh Joint Education Committee (Wales)

Council for Curriculum Assesment and Education (Northern Ireland)

In the UK it is customary for schools to register with multiple examination boards and to 'mix and match' 'A' levels to get a curricula that fits the school profile. Schools outside the UK are often unaware that registeration with one examination board generally makes registration with them all a 'pro forma' exercise, all 'A' levels in the British system, being considered exactly equivalent.

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University Applications

Under the UCAS system, students are allowed to apply to up to six universities and accept offers from up to two universities: one acceptance is a firm choice, which, if they achieve the minimum grades, they are contractually bound to attend or they must withdraw from the university application process entirely for that year; and the other is known as an insurance choice, which has lower grade requirements, and is a backup in case the student fails to meet the requirements specified by the firm choice university. A-level results are published in mid-August, allowing students and universities a chance to organise university places in preparation for the commencement of studies in September or October of the same calendar year. Students who have not met the requirements for their firm choice university may first contact the university to see whether they will still accept them; or accept their insurance offer if they fail to meet their requirements for their firm choice. If they are unable to meet either options, they may go through the UCAS clearing process and find and apply for courses with remaining places in universities all across the country. Alternatively, they may choose to reapply next year.

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Questions over Academic Rigour

For many years, the average grades achieved by A-level candidates have been steadily rising. The government and teaching bodies maintain that the improved grades represent higher levels of achievement due to improved and more experienced teaching methods, but many educationalists and elements of the popular press argue that the change is due to grade inflation and the examinations are getting easier. A third view is that, as schools come under increasing pressure to improve their examination results, pupils are being coached to pass specific examinations, at the expense of a general understanding of their subjects. Still another view is that, as the cost to an examination board of changing a subject's syllabus is very high, they are reluctant to do so, leading to a lengthy period over which exam questions will inevitably be very similar and so teaching towards their likely content will be more successful. Yet another view is that due to the new changes introduced in Curriculum 2000 where students are examined in both years of sixth form, less academically able students drop subjects they find difficult resulting in the self-section of better candidates and students achieving less than desired grades can retake specific units.

Universities in Britain have constantly complained that the increasing number of A grades awarded makes it hard to distinguish between students at the upper end of the ability spectrum. The C grade was originally intended to represent the average ability, and students typically required 60% or higher across all assessments to attain it; however, the average result is now at the lower end of the B grade, rendering this measure almost meaningless. Thus, many universities now have their own entrance tests or interviews to distinguish between applicants. In 2005, the head of admissions at the University of Cambridge outlined changes³ he believed should be made to the current system, particularly the use of the Advanced Extension Awards, a top-up qualification that tests the most-able students some of the harder content in their A-level course.

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Curriculum 2000

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Following the introduction of Curriculum 2000 in September 2000 (with the first AS-level examinations held in Summer 2001 and A2 examinations the following year), an A-level now consists of six units studied over two years. Normally, three units are assessed at the end of the first year, and make up a stand-alone qualification called the "AS-level" (or Advanced Subsidiary level). Another three modules are assessed at the end of the second year, which make up the "A2". A2 units do not form a qualification in their own right; the satisfactory completion of the AS and A2 units in the same subject is required to constitute a complete A-level.

Units are assessed by exam papers marked by national organisations and internally-assessed coursework. Four organisations set and mark exam papers in England and Wales (AQA, Edexcel, OCR and the WJEC). The CCEA sets them in Northern Ireland. International exams managed by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) also have A-levels in a variety of subjects.

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Studying A-levels

The number of A-level exams taken by students can vary, though generally not in the state sector in which over 90% of students are educated. The normal route is to study four subjects at AS-level and then drop down to three at A2 level, although some students continue with their fourth subject. Three is usually the minimum number of A-levels required for university entrance, with some universities specifying the need for a fourth AS subject. Some students obtain five or more A-levels: those that do have often taken languages that they already speak fluently, or multiple Sciences and Mathematics courses, which can have overlapping content. General Studies and Critical Thinking, which require a grasp of basic political ideas and current affairs in order to write essays rather than specific learning, sometimes augment a student's batch of qualifications. While many universities do not consider an A-level in General Studies to be a stand-alone subject (and thus is not accepted as part of an offer), it may affect the offer which a student receives. For example, a student of Maths, Physics and Computing might receive an offer of B-B-C for a Physics degree, whereas one also taking General Studies might receive B-C-C.

Compared with the curricula of high schools in the United States, the A-level system provides more depth into the subjects being studied - and often A-levels can be used as points that count towards their degree. However, the A-level has been criticised for providing less breadth since many A-level students do not study more than 3 subjects in their final year. A major part of this criticism is that, while a 3- or 4- subject curriculum can be balanced across the spectrum (e.g. students may choose one science subject, a language subject, and a "creative" subject like Music), in many cases students choose three closely-linked subjects, for instance, Maths-Physics-Chemistry or Sociology-Psychology-Politics. This is in part due to university entrance examinations, which, for degree programs such as medicine, may require three related A-level subjects. Thus, while the purpose of Curriculum 2000 was to encourage students to undertake contrasting subjects, to broaden their 'skill-base', there is a tendency to pursue similar disciplines. However, others disagree, arguing that the additional AS-level(s) studied would already have provided more depth compared with the old system.

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