ABSTRACT
All students should have access to qualifications that are highly respected and valued by leading universities. The primary purpose of A Levels is to prepare students for degree-level study. In 2013 then-Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, sent a letter to Glenys Stacey, the then-Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, setting out a range of concerns about the current state of A Level examinations. Exams at the end of two years give students the possibility to grow and mature intellectually through the study of a discipline and thus raise the possibility of results being a far more rigorous and fairer test of their ability at a subject. Many independent schools are already beginning to think about introducing their own systems of accountable and reliable internal examinations in order that their students can apply to university with some Advanced Supplementary (AS) Level equivalent evidence of their ability.
