[Meechan]

Hey, I have a friend who has just left school and is looking to do more school leaving qualifications. We're Scottish, and highers/advanced highers are really difficult to do as adult learners without a college (and almost all near by colleges have cancelled their higher/advanced higher programs - and only one can be done in evening classes). A-levels are easier to do outside schools and colleges so I'm trying to advise her on how they work.

One thing I don't quite understand, how are the modules assessed? Are they assessed throughout the year or in a final exam, or both? And do students/schools choice which modules they study or does every student doing that A-level study the same 4/6 modules over the two years?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! And if anybody knows anything about International Baccalaureate's that would also be a great help (yet to look them up).

Thanks.

[Origami Bullets]

A Levels normally have four modules, each of which has an exam element to them. Those modules can be taken in January / June, and each module amounts to half a year's teaching. There may also be a coursework / practical element to them, particularly for science courses.

Normally schools will choose which exam board's syllabus they use - there just aren't the resources to allow everyone to start choosing what modules they want to do, because someone has to teach them all! There are three main exam boards - AQA, OCR and Edexcel, and some of those exam boards will offer multiple syllabuses for a given subject.

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(Original post by Meechan)
A-levels are easier to do outside schools and colleges so I'm trying to advise her on how they work.

One thing I don't quite understand, how are the modules assessed? Are they assessed throughout the year or in a final exam, or both? And do students/schools choice which modules they study or does every student doing that A-level study the same 4/6 modules over the two years?

Most A levels are assessed in 4 units, but Sciences, Maths, Electronics and Music have 6 (and a few minority languages have only 2). The modules may not be of equal sizes and some are assessed by coursework and some by exam. If your friend is thinking of taking an exam as a private candidate then (all other things being equal) taking A levels entirely assessed by exam is simpler - there is a thread giving the definitive list of these but they include most Maths specifications, economics, business studies, RE, some History and geography specs, law, psychology and sociology.