Confused about new linear A Level AQA Spec?

For my Physics A-Leve I do 3x2 Hour papers, and this is for the AQA exam board, so I would imagine that AQA Biology would be doing the exact same

Thanks for that, are you doing the new 'a level' may i ask?

Many schools will make all students take the AS exmas to see how much progress they have made. Students who carry on to do the whole A Level have to take all the exams at the end of the two years - the AS exams that they may have taken at the end of the first year don't count, are are effectively for nothing other than a progress check.

Out of curiosity...since these new A levels are taken in the summer of 2017, what happens if a student didn't do well in some exams and needed to resit some? As they are now fully linear, would they have to resit the whole thing as in resit every single unit again (even the ones they did well in) or could they re-sit certain modules in the summer of 2018?

A levels will no longer be modular. You would have to retake all of the exams.


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Hi people of student room, could someone please explain to me that if I am doing the 'A Level' Biology course starting September of this year, am I doing the AS papers as well as the A Level Papers for the new linear Biology spec all at the end of two years? Or am I just doing the 3 A Level papers which are 2 hours long each?Thanks

Many schools will make all students take the AS exmas to see how much progress they have made. Students who carry on to do the whole A Level have to take all the exams at the end of the two years - the AS exams that they may have taken at the end of the first year don't count, are are effectively for nothing other than a progress check.

That's just unsustainable. Three years of work in two.

I'm not sure what you mean here. An A Level course is a two year course. The entire course will now be examined at the end rather than throughout (with the AS exams basically being a glorified mock exam for full A Level students), but it is still a two year course. Harsh, perhaps, but I don't see how it is three years of work.
It does appear that the only retake option will be to wait a year and then retake all of the exams. I can't see anything that suggests that you can only retake some of the papers. It does seem that any coursework marks can be carried over.

The AS course is different though! Different content and different exam structures! If you were to sit the AS exams you would need to do the AS course (a one year course) if you're doing the A Level you would then need to complete that two-year course afterwards (in one year).

@Compost Rubbish! A2 doesn't exist anymore and whilst the essential content is the same, the wider knowledge for most subject are targeted in different directions as far as answering the questions is concerned.

Rubbish. The content of every reformed science AS level I've looked at is identical with the content scheduled to be taught in the first year of a full A level. At least one school in my area is allowing candidates to take AS exams before deciding which subjects to take through to full A level. Every school has determined its own strategy in response to the reforms and it is not sensible to generalise. Cambridge university is still encouraging potential candidates to take AS exams in at least 3 subjects reformed or not!
http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/qualification-reform

@Compost Rubbish! A2 doesn't exist anymore and whilst the essential content is the same, the wider knowledge for most subject are targeted in different directions as far as answering the questions is concerned.

Well that's just stupid. The history ASs are completely different to the A Level. And the English Lit is just unrecognisable!

Which exam board are you taking? I've just looked at the AQA History specification, and, as expected, it says "Content for the AS and the first year of the A-level is identical."
I'm not aware of any of the new A Levels where this is not the case.