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A
(AS and A2)
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International Baccalaureate (IB)
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Cambridge Pre-U
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Diploma
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AQA Baccalaureate |
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Who is it for?
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16 to 19 year olds
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16 to 19 year olds
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16 to 19 year olds
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14 to 19 year olds
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16 to 19 year olds
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What can you study?
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Most students study four AS-level subjects in Year 12 and reduce these to three A2s in Year 13, although it is possible to do more (or less)
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Six subjects (three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level). All must study literature, a foreign language, a humanities subject, a natural science and mathematics
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Free choice of three separate and distinct principal academic subjects from a list of 26
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14 (generally vocational) courses currently available: e.g. IT, construction, media, travel and tourism, engineering.
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Three A-level subjects in any academic discipline |
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How does it work?
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The AS level takes a year and can be a freestanding qualification, or it can form the first half of the full A-level. In year two, students take the A2 exam. Courses are divided into four modules, which may be retaken. In 2010 a new A* grade was introduced to challenge the ablest students
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Over two years, in addition to their six subjects, students complete a 4,000- word Extended Essay and a Theory of Knowledge course. They also do community service work. All exams are taken at the end of the second year of study; there are no modules. Conceived as a holistic integral programme bound by a clear philosophy
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Besides their three subjects studied over two years, students also complete an Independent Research Report and a Global Perspectives Portfolio. Exams are taken at the end of the second year of study; there are no modules
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Introduced from September 2008 and studied at three levels: Foundation, Higher and Advanced. The latter amounts to 3½ A-levels. Study covers two years and mixes classroom teaching, project work and workplace experience to gain practical life skills
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In addition to their three A-levels, students do an Extended Project Qualification that aims to make them responsible for their own learning; achieve breadth through an AS level in Critical Thinking, Citizenship or General Studies; and undertake enrichment activities outside the curriculum
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What is it worth?
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The new A* grade is worth 140 UCAS points; A = 120; B = 100; C = 80
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The top score of 45 IB points is worth 720 UCAS points. A top grade (7) in a Higher Level subject is worth 130; a Standard Level grade 7 is worth 70. In UCAS points, the IB goes some way beyond A-level
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The top grade, Distinction 1, marks achievement above the new A-level A* grade; Distinction 2 (145 points) is aligned to the A* at A-level, and Distinction 3 (130) to the current Grade A
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Foundation = equivalent of five lower GCSE passes; Higher = equivalent of seven GCSE passes at higher grades; Advanced, equivalent to 3½ A-levels, is potentially worth 420 UCAS points)
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Maximum 550 points for three A* A-levels, grade A Extended Project and the AS level at grade A |
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Where can you study it?
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Schools and FE colleges
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219 schools and colleges in the UK currently offer it
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Most interest has come from a small number of highly selective independent schools
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State schools and colleges
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UK schools which recognise that A-levels are not, in themselves, sufficient preparation for university |
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Comment
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Still the best-known sixth-form qualification in the UK, and taken by the largest number of students as their means of entry into higher education. Some critics claim that A-levels have become significantly easier in the past 20 years or so, and that we have witnessed ‘grade inflation’
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Internationally recognised and valued. Heavier workload than A-levels and more independent learning. The percentage of candidates achieving the different grades has remained constant over the years, while A-level pass rates have risen steadily
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Designed specifically to provide universities with a means of differentiation from A-level A grade students by offering a more rigorous and stretching academic programme assessed on a series of higher grades
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It was hoped that it would become ‘the qualification of choice’, but its focus on vocational subjects, and the fact that it is to run alongside A-levels, mean it could be regarded as a second-class qualification
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AQA Bacc is derived in large part from the spirit of the IB Diploma Programme: depth, some breadth, thinking and research skills, extra-curricular experience
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