A* boundry introduction into AS/A2 levels

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Originally Posted by kk.

good and bad idea. what tohers have said for good idea is what i would say.

only problem i see with it is that those people, including myself, who have done/aer currently doing A2s, theyll appear less favourable to someone who has an A* a level, even though they could have had that A* on the CV.

i dont really think courses will change there requirements tbh, too much effort :P

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For the purposes of your immediate progression, it doesn't matter. Employers and universities are aware that people are not in the position to attain the A* grade yet. When you have your degree, your A-levels are of far less importance to employers.

As to your second point: when admissions offices are receiving more applications than they can reasonably handle, upping the course requirements is negligible effort. Many institutions change their course requirements often anyway (so it's important to be looking at the most up-to-date prospectus).

but if you went straight from a levels its a different matter. or in about 20 years time when people dont know which year it changed and two people had the same degree course and were trying to differentiate it.

As for universities, i think it will be a while until they change it because, well, it means changing the UCAS system for starters, it sounds stupid saying i need A*AB lol, stupid i know but meh. I think they wont change the prospectuses too soon, ie the grades. Proabbly just offer them higher requirements on UCAS.

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Originally Posted by kk.

but if you went straight from a levels its a different matter. or in about 20 years time when people dont know which year it changed and two people had the same degree course and were trying to differentiate it.

As for universities, i think it will be a while until they change it because, well, it means changing the UCAS system for starters, it sounds stupid saying i need A*AB lol, stupid i know but meh. I think they wont change the prospectuses too soon, ie the grades. Proabbly just offer them higher requirements on UCAS.

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Taking the last comment first, you wouldn't get given an offer of A*AB; it's illogical. A*AA maybe. 'A while' is relative. Personally I think it will only be a couple of years after the first A* grades are given out.

If you're going straight into work from your A-levels you have nothing to worry about because nobody else will have the new grade yet. And if you're going straight into work with an A* grade one may question why you're not going to university. And as for 20 years in the future... well, your A-levels will be irrelevant then. Chances are we'll have a different system of assessment anyway, and employers will be looking at your degree and employment experience from then on.

ok well it seems were not going to reach an agreement :P.

a lot of what i said could jsut be reworded to work, so in 5 years time etc. and not everyone goes to uni just because they do well in there a levels.why would you say A*AB is illogical anyway? you can get offers of AAB and maybe they would prefer it if you had an A* in a chosen subject. Say doing mathematics, they would want an A* in it.

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Originally Posted by kk.

ok well it seems were not going to reach an agreement :P.

a lot of what i said could jsut be reworded to work, so in 5 years time etc. and not everyone goes to uni just because they do well in there a levels.why would you say A*AB is illogical anyway? you can get offers of AAB and maybe they would prefer it if you had an A* in a chosen subject. Say doing mathematics, they would want an A* in it.

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No, I don't think we are. :D Haha!

A*AB is almost equivalent to asking for ABC now. From any university that asks for specific grades, find me one that asks for ABC. Making offers over a grade range of 3 shows no consistency.

If you are a student with A grades going straight into work, I don't think you have to worry about A* students coming and competing for the same job. First, you have the head-start. You can immediately start working and gaining experience, which is more valuable on a job application than one grade at A-level. Secondly, the typical A* student is likely to go to university.

I am not threatened by the new grade in the slightest.

yeh but as i said, the A* could be just a way to make sure they are designed for that specific course. And ABC, 300 points on UCAS. although someone said you can get points from anywhere, they do sometimes say, like for one of mine (for loughborough uni, top 10 sometimes) from 3 subjects at A level or 2 a level and 2 as.

they dont worry me, its just some implications that might occur. Like what im having now with my a levels. A lot of new courses have replaced old ones with this years year 12, so say i wanted to re-do something from this year next year, id have to self teach it >:[ annoying but maybe necessary

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Originally Posted by Barmi

It probably depends on the course as well then. :eusa_doh:

For the most competitive academic courses at the most competitive institutions, it's likely they will want specific grades as opposed to UCAS points. (For example, any of the universities I looked at to study Law required specific grades.)

On topic: I would have loved an A* A-level. Shameeeeeeeeee. :(

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Yeah, that's kinda what I mean.

Bournemouth wanted 3 B's so people just call that 300 UCAS points if ya catch ma drift G.

most unis are ignoring it and still going by the old rules.

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Originally Posted by JackBuddy

Yeah, that's kinda what I mean.

Bournemouth wanted 3 B's so people just call that 300 UCAS points if ya catch ma drift G.

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Ahhh, I get ya dude.

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Originally Posted by kk.

yeh but as i said, the A* could be just a way to make sure they are designed for that specific course. And ABC, 300 points on UCAS. although someone said you can get points from anywhere, they do sometimes say, like for one of mine (for loughborough uni, top 10 sometimes) from 3 subjects at A level or 2 a level and 2 as.

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ABC might be the equivalent to 300 UCAS points, but asking for 300 UCAS points is not identically equivalent to asking for an A, B and C. And for the universities that ask for grades (I'm ignoring UCAS points offers here), an ABC wouldn't happen – hence why I doubt an A*AB would happen.

Needless to say, I'm interested to see what UCAS will do with this A*. If there are more points involved, I could definitely see it helping those who are stronger in one particular subject to reach their required tariff points.

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Originally Posted by Technologic

most unis are ignoring it and still going by the old rules.

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Most universities are not ignoring it. Most universities are watching it closely and studying how well it reflects. They cannot immediately incorporate it until they have studied how it works in practice.

2 of the universities I've applied at for this year already upped their 2010 entry requirements to A*AA. Only for competitive subjects like law, economics and medicine though. I don't care because it doesn't affect me. I do feel sorry for people who it does affect though because it essentially means all grade requirements will be raised e.g. AAB to AAA and so on.