ABSTRACT
A Levels Advanced Level General Certificate of Education are GCE (General Certificate of Education) qualifications now made up of A/S units, which are typically taken in year twelve, and A2 units in year thirteen, or at college. This structure was introduced as a result of an Audit Commission report in 1993 concerning the high dropout level in A level courses (where all the exams were typically taken in year thirteen). However, this is again under review since A/S levels are typically taken after only two terms of teaching, and the students are often exhausted from their GCSEs two terms before. And then, in the next year, come the A levels ‘proper’. Three years of exams, exams, exams. Anyway, here’s the landscape:
A level is often used to mean an A2 level i.e. the final school or college qualification at age 18.
