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GCE Advanced Level in the United Kingdom

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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 two years of further education (after GCSEs). It is a non-compulsory qualification taken by students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In Scotland schools can choose the A-Level as an alternative to 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,[1] 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 Development.[2]

A-levels were first introduced in 1951,[3] 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.[4] The former is generally taken in Year 12 (Year 13 in Northern Ireland) (lower sixth) and the latter is generally taken in Year 13 (Year 14 in Northern Ireland) (upper sixth). Satisfactory achievement in 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,[5] making them a de facto university entrance examination (though some 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.

Grades and grading history

Originally, A-levels 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).[3] They also introduced norm-referenced grading, which meant that only a certain proportion of candidates will achieve certain grades – 10 % A, 15 % B, 10 % C, 15 % D, 20 % E and a further 20 % allowed an O level pass.[6] In 1984, the Secondary Examinations Council advised that grade boundaries should be based on the partition of the mark scale rather than on proportions of candidates, in a move towards a criterion-referenced system. Examiner judgement was to be the basis for the award of grades B and E, with the remaining grades determined by dividing the mark range between these two points into equal intervals. This system was introduced in 1987 and remained in force until the introduction of the new curriculum in 2000.[7] 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 the current system, A-levels are graded from A to E, along with a fail grade, U (Unclassified or Ungraded).[8] The raw mark in papers are converted to Uniform Mark Schemes, so that every A-level is out of 600 UMSs, and every AS-level is out of 300. Percentages of these UMS scores are: 80% is an A grade, 70% is a B grade, 60% is a C grade, 50% is a D grade and 40% is a E grade; anything lower is unclassified (U).[8]

Demographics

In the UK, A-level results have risen for over 20 years in a row, with a 2005 pass rate (A-E) of 96.2%.[9] For the June 2005 series, a total of 783878 (359284 male, 424594 female) candidates received their full A-level results;[10] for the AS-level, it was 1079566 (492248 male, 587318 female).[11] 22.8% of A-level final results were graded A; 23.8%, B; 23.3%, C; 17.2%, D; 9.1%, E; and 3.8% were not graded (U).[12] The most popular subject, from most A-levels achieved to least, were: English (all combined) (85858:11%), General Studies (59403:7.6%), Biology (53968:6.9%), Mathematics (52897:6.7%), Psychology (50035:6.4%).[10] Further Mathematics was the subject with most A grades as a percentage, 58%.[13] In general, languages, science and mathematics subjects tended to yield the highest proportion of A grades.[10] Over the last few years, languages and sciences have declined relative to other subjects such as Psychology and media studies.[14] Full A-level grades are higher than AS grades;[15] for example, 22.8% of A-level grades are graded A compared to 17.9% at AS-level.[16][11] Girls outperform boys.

Research from Durham University found A-levels were graded "more severely" in mathematics, sciences and modern languages than in humanities and arts.[17] Researchers called for applicants' results to be "weighed" when being offered places. Dr Robert Coe, director of the educational evaluation group at Durham's curriculum, management and evaluation centre, said: "It is perfectly clear from our research that two A-Levels are not equal, with some more severely graded than others. Dr Coe and Prof Peter Tymms's study found that students with a grade B at GCSE in history, economics, geography, English language and literature, sociology and business studies went on to score a grade C on average in those subjects at A-Level. But those with a grade B at GCSE in maths, computing, German, French, chemistry, physics and biology were more likely to score a grade D at A-Level. Dr Coe said students avoid hard subjects at A-Level in favour of ones where they had more chance of getting top grades.

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 Mathematics, 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. Unlike A-level General Studies, Critical Thinking, which aims to improve student’s analytical skills, has generally received a more positive reception from Universities. Often it is given a UCAS tariff score unlike General Studies and some University admissions tutors see it is an advantage when applying for competitive courses.[1]

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 generally study more than 3 subjects in their final year.[18] 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, Mathematics-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 breadth compared with the old system.

Curriculum 2000

Main article: Curriculum 2000

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.

Examination boards

A-level examinations are administered through a series of examination boards. These were originally based on the major UK universities but have over the last 50 years merged into five very large organisations, the AQA, OCR, Edexcel, the WJEC and the CCEA. Some of these boards also offer A-levels to international students.

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 registration 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.

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 system.[19] 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. The points system also allows for non-academical input, such as higher level music grades or a Key Skills course.

Criticisms and reformation

In the UK, the average grades achieved by A-level candidates have been steadily rising for over 20 years in a row.[9] The government and teaching bodies maintain that the improved grades represent higher levels of achievement due to improved and more experienced teaching methods,[20][21] but many educationalists and elements of the popular press argue that the change is due to grade inflation and the examinations getting easier.[22] 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.[23] 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.[citation needed] Yet another view is that, because of 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 better candidate self-selection and enabling students achieving less than desired grades to retake specific units.[23] The ability of unlimited resits, with the best mark going through, has improved results.[24] According to some, students selecting "easier" subjects such as psychology and media instead of "harder" ones have also contributed to this rise.[25][26][27]

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.[28] 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 changes[29] 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. More universities have wanted to see applicants' individual module results to see how comfortably they have achieved their result.[30] There are fears that the A-level may not offer an accurate test of ability,[31] nor will it be a good prediction of future academic success.[32]

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.[33] 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. The Advanced Extension Award has been increasing used to serve this purpose.[34]

The September 2004 reformation of the Mathematics syllabus, following calls it was too hard,[35] has attracted criticism for allegedly being made easier.[36] In the change, content consisting of three modules (Pure 1-3) were spread to four modules (Core 1-4). It is alleged that this makes the course easier as students do the same amount of work for more qualifications. Further reforms to make the Mathematics syllabus more popular have been met with mixed opinions.[37] Supporters cite it will reverse the downward trend in students taking the subject whilst others are concerned that the subject is being "dumbed down".

Following criticisms from many groups, from September 2008 onwards, candidates will take 4 papers for most A-levels, instead of the current six.[38]

A possible reformation would be something called the post-qualifications applications system (PQA), where applicants apply to university after they receive their results.[39] It is said that this will be fairer to applicants, especially those from lower-income families who tend to be underprediected. 55% of predictions are over-estimates and 9% are under-estimates. Education ministers have said that it will be implemented by 2012.

List of A-level subjects

To show items click on [Show]

See also

GCE Advanced Level in the United Kingdom

References

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  2. ^ "A level exemplification and performance description subject list", Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  3. ^ a b "Education and Skills - Third Report", House of Commons, 26 March 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  4. ^ "Education and Skills - Third Report", House of Commons, 26 March 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  5. ^ "Education and Skills - Third Report", House of Commons, 26 March 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  6. ^ "Education and Skills - Third Report", House of Commons, 26 March 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
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  12. ^ "All Subjects A-level grades, 2005", BBC News. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  13. ^ "Mathematics (Further) A-level grades, 2005", BBC News. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  14. ^ "Media studies overtakes physics", BBC News, 18 August 2005. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  15. ^ "A-levels 'are not meaningless'", BBC News, 15 August 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  16. ^ "A-level results by subject 2005", EducationGuardian.co.uk. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  17. ^ "Call to consider 'easy A-levels'", BBC News, 4 September 2004. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  18. ^ "Q & A: Overhauling the exam system", 16 July 2003. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  19. ^ "The UCAS Tariff", UCAS. URL accessed on 5 June 2006.
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  22. ^ "So are A-levels getting easier?", BBC News, 16 August 2001. URL accessed on 5 June 2006.
  23. ^ a b "A-levels are not what they were", BBC News, 15 August 2005. URL accessed on 5 June 2006.
  24. ^ "A-level variations 'nothing untoward'", BBC News, 23 December 2002. URL accessed on 5 June 2006.
  25. ^ "A-level pupils urged to spurn 'soft' subjects", EducationGuardian.co.uk, 12 August 2005. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  26. ^ "Media Studies. Discuss", BBC News, 18 August 2005. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
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  33. ^ "A++ grade 'will select the best'", BBC News, 18 October 2004. URL accessed on 5 June 2006.
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  37. ^ "'Split' over A-level maths reform", BBC News, 5 February 2006. URL accessed on 12 June 2006.
  38. ^ "Exam watchdog unveils plans for A-level reform", EducationGuardian.co.uk, 29 March 2006. URL accessed on 11 June 2006.
  39. ^ "Plans to change university entry", BBC News, 22 May 2006.
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  42. ^ a b c d e f g Qualifications : GCE including applied subjects: Modern Foreign Languages", Edexcel, 20 June 2006.
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