A-level

Because British students often apply to universities before they have taken their A-levels, the universities consider predicted A-level results (made by students' teachers) when considering whether or not to offer places to applicants. An offer of a place will usually require students to achieve a minimum set of grades (e.g. obtain three grades in your upcoming exams: B, B and C) in the A-levels before they are officially admitted. A-level results are published in mid-August, allowing students and universities to organise university places to commence study in September or October of the same calender year.

Following changes introduced in 2001, an A-level now consists of six modules studied over two years. Three modules are assessed at the end of the first year, and make up a qualification called the "AS-level" (or Advanced Subsidiary level). Another three modules are assessed at the end of the second year (which make up a qualification called the "A2": an AS and an A2 in the same subject constitute a complete A-level). There is an opportunity in the second year of study to retry any AS modules that have gone badly, and many students take advantage of this.

Modules are assessed either by exam papers marked by national organisations, or by coursework. Three organisations set and mark exam papers in England (AQA, Edexcel and OCR). There is also the CCEA in Northern Ireland and the WJEC in Wales.

The number of A-level exams taken by students varies. Three is usually the minimum required for university entrance, although some students take four or five A-levels, and a few take even more. However, the students that rack up large numbers of A-levels typically take subjects such as languages (which they spoke fluently already) or sciences/mathematics (which scientifically-minded students can absorb very quickly).

A-levels can go quite deep into their subjects, but they have been criticised for lacking the breadth of European-favoured qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate, or the curricula found in American high schools, since most A-level students do not study more than 3 subjects.

There has also been a case of "grade inflation" in Britain, where more students every year are achieving the highest A-grades, making it difficult for universities to distinguish between the best candidates. However, the decision to switch to a new exam system has not yet been finalised.

A-Levels are graded from A to E, along with a fail grade, U (for Unclassified). Originally, they only distinguished between a pass and a fail, though a fail was divided into two, one meaning that the student failed at A-level but passed at the O-level equivalent of that subject, and the other meaning that he 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 regarding the problem with distinguishing between pass grades, in 1963, a grading scale close to the current one was created, but retaining an O-level pass between the grades E and U. When GCSEs were introduced, the O-level pass was dropped, replaced by a grade N, standing for 'Near miss'. This was dropped in 2000.

On a less serious note, the NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) in the Harry Potter books are a thinly-disguised reference to A-levels, which British author J. K. Rowling took.

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