A Level Reform
How will Waldegrave manage the changes to A Levels?
A Levels have been reformed. This means the subject content and assessment style has changed.
The main features of the new A Levels are:
Assessment will be mainly by exam, with other types of assessment used only where they are needed to test essential skills.
AS and A Levels will be assessed at the end of the course. AS assessments will typically take place after 1 year’s study and A levels after 2. The courses will no longer be divided into modules and there will be no exams in January.
AS and A Levels will be decoupled – this means that AS results will no longer count towards an A level, in the way they do now.
AS Levels can be designed by exam boards to be taught alongside the first year of A levels.
The content for the new A Levels has been reviewed and updated. Universities played a greater role in this for the new qualifications than they did previously.
Students starting their post-16 study from September 2017 will continue to take the AS exams at the end of Y12 in most subjects.
Exceptions to this currently include English, Drama, Media, History, RE and Geography. These subjects will not be sitting the AS qualification at the end of Y12 but instead sit an internal exam. Students should be aware that if they decide not to complete the full two year course they will not receive a qualification in these subjects.
In all cases students must attain 3 D grades to progress to Y13.