WHEN the Advanced Level curriculum was born, back in the early 50s, three A grades was regarded a rare, and extraordinary, achievement.

Even two, or three, decades ago, when average marks in Jersey schools were, well, average, the triple A-grader would be guaranteed their pick of prominent colleges and courses – Aeronautical Engineering at London Imperial, Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, or Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at Oxford, perhaps.

In recent times, however, a clean sweep of top grades has become a more common occurrence, and, far more than suggesting such an achievement is no longer the same mark of supreme intelligence that it once was, it has fuelled a ferocious controversy about the complexity and toughness of the modern A-level exam.

‘Lots of people say exams are getting easier,’ says Andy Gibbs, who heads Jersey’s careers service. But I don’t think exams are getting any easier. I think the quality of students is getting better, and the way subjects are taught and assessed is getting better. Twenty years ago, your whole assessment rested on a two-week period at the end of your second year, when you were assessed entirely on your final exams. Now, you are being continually assessed through coursework, and module exams, and you can even re-take modules, so ultimately your end grade is higher.

‘World records are continually being broken in sport, but you don’t get people saying “Well, that’s because it’s easier now”. Why can’t the same thing happen in education?’

Rubbishing the real test of modern A-level exams, and denigrating the frequency with which students are now hitting top grades, does risk devaluing outstanding achievement.
As any student will tell you, an A grade at A-level is not a sure thing, and, for a sizeable proportion of candidates, it’s not even a realistic aspiration.

But despite their prowess our ‘elite’ school leavers now face a further problem – because while their AAA might suggest a sort of academic perfection, Britain’s top universities are no longer so impressed by the honour.

The glut of good grades have actually put many universities in a tricky position: how do you select the best, if the best is too readily reached?

‘Last year about a quarter of the grades at A-level were A grades. Although not all of those were straight As, it does mean that it is now very difficult for universities to distinguish between the top students,’ says Andy.

‘Some universities have actually been asking for different things, like different marking schemes and gradings. To get an A you need to score 80 per cent, but there is a big difference between a mark of 81 per cent and one of 95 per cent, so some universities want to see the actual marks. Some have even said they want to know if students have retaken modules. Others have introduced aptitude tests, like the BMAT or the UKCAT. Universities have been looking at ways of doing this for some time,’ he says.

In a new effort to find some sort of solution to that problem, Cambridge has now, controversially, adjusted its admissions policy.

In future, it says, students who achieve the long-desired AAA will no longer, in fact, be desirable, because students now have a new boundary to break – the A*.
So from 2010, if you want to make the shortlist for the UK’s most prestigious university, you’ll need to score at least two A grades and an A*.

Andy says: ‘It is getting tougher for students. There have been little bits of evidence – although purely anecdotal – that the grades being asked for are already increasing. That’s not across the board, because there are many universities who do not need to be so selective, but I would think it is particularly noticeable this year, because the government has changed the funding structure, so there are less places available. If anything, that’s going to put the grade requirements up.

‘I’m sure plenty of courses are now asking for three As rather than AAB. Brighton, which has been getting very good reports, I think has upped some of its grades, and I know one course is asking for something like AAB to do PE teaching. So why is that? It’s not that the course is any more difficult – it’s just that they know they can easily fill it.’
An A* will require a student to score at least 90 per cent in any subject, meaning that Cambridge – which has long relied on additional admissions processes to sift through growing numbers of student applications – will become the first university to move the elite benchmark higher still.

And in time, it confesses that admission criterion will ‘probably’ rise to two A*s and an A.
The bold step has not, largely, been applauded, and numerous concerns as to educational elitism and discrimination have been loudly voiced. Even the UK government’s advisory body said that the new grade should not be used as a benchmark until it had been tested, and, so far, no other colleges or universities have followed suit.

Exam boards have also been wary of the A*, saying it would take ‘time to bed down’, and the National Council for Educational Excellence has recommended that universities delay using the grade until it has been reviewed.

Yet the Good University Guide’s John O’Leary argues that universities are in an incredibly difficult position – and how else can they make offers to the best students, if so many of them are achieving A grades?

He says: ‘How would you feel if you (or your son or daughter) got one of the new A* grades at A-level and a university took no notice of it?

‘Marks of at least 90 per cent – recognised by a grade introduced specifically to aid selection to the top universities – simply ignored, and considered on a par with all the other As?

‘That is what the critics of Cambridge University’s decision to ask for one A* from 2010 are suggesting. Alan Johnson pushed it through as Education Secretary because of the constant complaints that too many people were getting three As for the top universities to identify the brightest students. Now the grade is going to be awarded and it would be bizarre for universities to pretend that it does not exist.’

What is the new A*?
A-level students will have to score at least 90 per cent to be awarded the new A* grade.

It is being introduced in an attempt to make A-levels more stretching, as pass rates continue to rise and universities increasingly struggle to identify the best candidates.
As a result, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has recommended that the A* grade should go only to students who get 90 per cent.

The only marks that will count towards the new grade, however, are those achieved in A2, which is the second-year course that follows first-year AS levels.
What are the concerns?

There may be all sorts of drawbacks associated with the A* – notably the pressure it will place on sixth-formers.

Andy Gibbs says: ‘The pressure on students these days is huge, and if you’re bringing in the A*, what it does is it actually devalues the A and B grades. We have always said to students that the A and B grades are really, really good, but you run the risk of devaluing that. You’re also asking students to contribute to that result from very early on. You’re talking about work that is done in the early stages of Year 12, when students are still 16. That work contributes to your final result, and that puts quite a lot of pressure on someone if they are hoping to get A* grades. Then you have to ask what happens after A* – if you are using it to say that someone is really good, will it get to the stage where, if you get 95 per cent or 100 per cent, you get an A**? It’s a concern for a lot of people. In many ways it is putting so much focus on that one competitive energy that other factors fall away. The danger is that you could lose sight of the person themselves.’

What do you think?
Whether you’re a teacher, parent or student, we’d like to hear your views on the new A* grade and the future of the university admissions process.
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