I'm a private candidate new to this

I'm tryin to sit for OCR
I think I can directly take the A Level papers without taking the AS paper
Is this allowed or should I take the AS paper and then take the A Level papers in the next session?

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by Trevor Kim

I'm tryin to sit for OCR
I think I can directly take the A Level papers without taking the AS paper
Is this allowed or should I take the AS paper and then take the A Level papers in the next session?

What part of the UK are you in? In England, it used to be that to get an A level, you first took an AS level (which provided 40% of the overall mark), and then next year took A2 exams (which provided the remaining 60%). Theses were combined to give you an A level. This way of doing things was called "modular" (i.e. the first year and second year were treated as different modules, examined separately).

It still works this way in Wales and Northern Ireland, but England has now moved to A levels being completely separate to AS levels. So you just take the A level exams with no need to do the AS level beforehand. This way of doing things is called "linear".

From what I can see, "linear" is the only type of A levels that OCR offers. So you're fine just to take the A levels directly.

What subjects are you taking? (In case those subjects are offered in both ways.)