'A' Levels [20 and moving to UK soon]

I do A levels currently. I'm English so can't give you an international perspective, but I can tell you lots about A levels.

I'm in my second year (A2), and did my first year (AS) last year. They require lots of work, but if you are willing to work hard, they are respected greatly by uni's.

You can do them in a year, but I would highly advice two years unless you are extremely clever or don't have a social life

I'm doing Biology, Psychology and English Language. I did Chemistry at AS level but dropped it last year. Because we are encouraged to take 4 A levels and drop one after first year.

What subjects are you thinking of doing?

So basically an A level is made up of qualifications AS and A2.

First year most students will take between 3 and 5 AS subjects (usually 4) and then will see how they are doing when they get their results and will decide what they want to focus on and will generally choose 3 and do they A2 for those subjects... Basically you can do 3 but its always good to an extra one just in case!

As for home schooling I'm not too sure exactly how it works I'm sure there are some here that have a greater knowledge. i did have a friend who did it and she had to pay for her exams and so on but its possible. Also we had a 9 year old kid who came to our college to take his math tests with us... So I'm guessing you would go to the nearest testing centre just like everyone else (:

Thank you very much for your post. I was thinking, you should have written the content for the Cambridge International Exams website

The information you shared was so missing on the site

For argument sake, can I simply take the 'A' level papers instead of having to do the 'AS' papers first? or do I have to take the 'AS' and then the 'A's?

Well unfortunately you cannot because its 2 parts. You'll generally have 4 tests to take. 1 in January 1st year, 1 in June 1st year (for AS) and same again for the second year (for A2 to complete A level)...

thank you so much for your reply. I'm thinking of taking history, sociology and English. Is the english exam the same as in 'English Language' or 'General Paper'? It is indeed confusing.

thank you so much for your reply. I'm thinking of taking history, sociology and English. Is the english exam the same as in 'English Language' or 'General Paper'? It is indeed confusing.

I recently spoke to some of my teachers and they all told me separately that AQA and Exedel papers pales in comparison to the papers set by Cambridge. This is in terms of academic recognition.

I then went onto the CIE website but they don't really offer concrete information for students like me who're not within the school curriculum in the UK but want to take the papers on their own [international students].

I just went onto the site.
http://www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-advanced/cambridge-international-as-and-a-levels/qualification/

Under 'Assessment Options', the third points says
3. Take all papers of the Cambridge International A Level course in the same examination session, usually at the end of the course.

I guess I'm going to have to send an email to CIE and find out more.

I have a Scottish teacher here and out of the 5 other teachers that I asked, all said that I should go with CIE. This despite the Cambridge papers being harder but the rewards would be aplenty later on.

If that is the case, why do people take AQA and Exedel papers?
To score ten distinctions simply because the papers are easier?

Have a look at the international forum on this website, you will probably find many more people who have experience of the CIE exams.

Hope your studies go really well

You too, along with saraw26 and CUfan have been most helpful. There were like about 100++ views on this thread but only the three of you bothered to reply me. Thanks a million


I wish only the same for you and nothing short of success.



My dad was posted to Dubai for 4 years prior to this year and I studied in an international school there. As I was much younger, I did not know much about the quality and recognition level of the various examining bodies. Instead my dad chose for me, the American system and I went along with it anyway. But I can tell this much though, I've never heard of OCR, Exedel or AQA during my time in Dubai.

My mother was a HR director [she recruits people for a chemical petroleum company]and she told me yesterday that OCR, Exedel and AQA carries no weight whatsoever outside of the UK. So does this mean that if a British student who has such qualifications were to apply for a job outside of UK, would he/she be overlooked in favour of someone who instead possesses CIE/Cambridge qualifications?

Well of course ultimately the degree that the individual possesses is what matters most in a job interview setting but for argument sake, lets just say that the recruiter places additional emphasis on where the 'A' level was awarded from and decides to filter the prospective job candidates in that manner. Isn't that ridiculous to have to be told that you did not get the job by nature of where your 'A' levels was awarded from?

My dad was posted to Dubai for 4 years prior to this year and I studied in an international school there. As I was much younger, I did not know much about the quality and recognition level of the various examining bodies. Instead my dad chose for me, the American system and I went along with it anyway. But I can tell this much though, I've never heard of OCR, Exedel or AQA during my time in Dubai.

My mother was a HR director [she recruits people for a chemical petroleum company]and she told me yesterday that OCR, Exedel and AQA carries no weight whatsoever outside of the UK. So does this mean that if a British student who has such qualifications were to apply for a job outside of UK, would he/she be overlooked in favour of someone who instead possesses CIE/Cambridge qualifications?

Well of course ultimately the degree that the individual possesses is what matters most in a job interview setting but for argument sake, lets just say that the recruiter places additional emphasis on where the 'A' level was awarded from and decides to filter the prospective job candidates in that manner. Isn't that ridiculous to have to be told that you did not get the job by nature of where your 'A' levels was awarded from

An A-Level is an A-Level, nobody looks at the exam board.

A-levels are different because they're standardised nationally and the exam board should not affect the difficulty of the course. Although they can never be perfectly equal, they're quite close.

I have to disagree with you. That may be the case within the United Kingdom but I have absolutely no interest in working there after my graduation. I might want to return to the States or head down Far East to gain some work experience.

United Kingdom is bankrupt and already as it is, unemployment rates are sky-high. The last thing I want to do is to jeopardize my job prospects and future by taking 'easy' A-Level subjects by virtually unknown and unheard of exam boards.

Your reply just shows me that you are ignorant and frankly it'll be best if you do don't reply to me at all.

You're missing the point. In the United Kingdom, OCR, Exedel and AQA are known, reputable and generally accepted by the workforce. But sad to say, this is not the case outside of the United Kingdom.

There are several international students on this site as well so I sincerely hope that you do not mislead them. Cambridge International Exams are the way to go as far as international students are concerned and only they would genuinely know the merits of that examining body.

... and you won't have people swooning over you because you took it over OCR etc

I'm not trying to tell you which one you personally should take (you seem to have worked that out yourself), I'm telling you whether there is any difference in standard between the courses. The fact international employers may be ignorant doesn't effect that.

Can either of you provide me with a written guarantee that an international employer would not discriminate my A-Levels just because I took it from another virtually unheard of examining body [AQA, OCR, Exedel] outside of the United Kingdom instead of Cambridge's A-Levels?

There are several international students on this site as well so I sincerely hope that you do not mislead them. Cambridge International Exams are the way to go as far as international students are concerned and only they would genuinely know the merits of that examining body.