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External candidates' dilemma: do old science A Levels or newer, cheaper ones

Anyone stuck in the middle wondering which A Levels to do? The current A Levels are more expensive, have more exams, and the ISA exams seem like a lucky dip of questions on the entire AS or A2 level rather than specifically about practicals, especially your practical.

This is compared to the new ones, which will pretty much just be 12 lessons, and the results of them won't even contribute to the final grade. Like the PSAs without the ISAs (or the marks). With fewer exams on top of that, it should be cheaper, while currently it costs the high end of 3 figures per unit just to do the practicals, pricing out those who don't have a few thousand to spare at a time.

So while the new ones (at this stage) will be affordable and easier (for external students anyway), there'll be no past papers or resources to use. Those in 2017 will be the first guinea pigs that future years base their revision on. But on the other hand, might Ofqual and colleges be friendly with their marking to give a higher pass rate so they can prove the reforms were bad, just as we're seeing the past few years with a magical sudden lowering of pass rates in the A*-B area to 'prove' the current system is actually challenging?

Another possibility is doing half your A Levels in 2017, then the rest next year. Would unis care if you did this, since it's what's done now?

There's a lot of money and time riding on this choice.