Curriculum

A-levels are the British curriculum for all students in the United Kingdom. It is the advanced level of the GCSE examination and the university entrance examination course for British students.

1. What is A-level?

A-levels are the British curriculum for all students in the United Kingdom. It is the advanced level of the GCSE examination and the university entrance examination course for British students.

2. How many years is the academic year?

Generally, the A-level course is divided into two stages, AS and A2, which are equivalent to the second and third years of high school in China. Generally speaking, before the A-level course, there will be a one-year IGCSE course (the British GCSE course will be changed from two years to one year). So conventionally speaking, the three-year arrangement of international schools in China is roughly like this. The first year is IGCSE, the second year is AS, and the third year is A2.

3. What are the choices of courses?

Most secondary schools in the UK offer a wide range of A-level subjects, including Arts, Business, Economics, Languages, Mathematics, Science, Computing, Law, Media, Music, etc. There are more than 70 courses to choose from.

4. How do I choose a course?

Students only need to choose 3-4 courses to study among the 70-odd courses. Generally speaking, students will choose 3-4 courses that they are interested in studying at AS stage and pass the examination to obtain the AS certificate; at A2 stage, students will choose the 3 courses that they are excellent in at AS stage to continue studying and pass the examination to obtain the A-level certificate.

However, it should be noted that although it is the freedom of choice has increased. However, from the perspective of further education, in addition to the interest of course selection also need to consider the future direction of the profession and the intention of the school's professional recognition and other perspectives to choose. For example, the choice of mathematics, science and other traditional courses, most colleges will accept, like Cambridge University is less favorable to those non-traditional courses accounting, information and communication technology, art and design. So the choice of specialty also needs some consideration.

5. How are the exams organized?

A-Level examinations are organized globally by the examination boards (currently there are Oxford Examinations, Cambridge Examinations and Edexcel) in May-June and October-November each year, and the results are announced in August and February of the following year.

The reason why A-level is sought after by Chinese students and parents is that on the one hand, they can go to the top of the UK, and on the other hand, it is easier for Chinese students to get high grades in A-level, which is also known as the British Advanced Level Examination (GALE), and it is also a test-based examination. The difference between the A-level and the Chinese college entrance exam is that the A-level is not a one-time test. You can take it more than once and take the best grade as the final grade.

6. What is the grading system?

A-level grades are categorized into A*, A, B, C, D, E and U. A* is 90 points and above, which is the best; A is 80-89 points, B is 70-79 points, and so on. Business schools in the top 100 schools require students to have a minimum grade of ABB, and top ranked schools such as G5 are recommended to have a minimum of A*A*A. Some schools even prefer to provide four A-level course grades, and, in addition, require students to provide GCSE grades.