Your Daughter Evening
Spring Term 2012
HOW A-LEVELS WORK
Michael Lingard, Director of Studies
This paper gives information on the following questions:
- How are my A-levels “built”?
- What determines my A-level grade?
- What will my results certificate in August tell me?
- How will my qualifications contribute to a University application?
HOW ARE MY A-LEVELS “BUILT”?
An A-level is made of either 4 or 6 “Units”, each of which is assessed through exam or a practical assessment. Half these Units (2 or 3) are at Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level. The other half are at a higher standard called A2. So an A-level is 50% AS-level Units and 50% A2 Units.The AS Units are designed to be taken in the first year of a two-year course, with the A2 Units in the second year.
The AS Units on their own constitute a qualification in their own right – an AS-level. So a student who studies 4 subjects in the first year of Sixth Form, carrying on three of them into the second year will attain 3 A-levels and 1 AS-level.
An A-level can be graded A*, A, B, C, D or E. An E-grade is a pass. An entry below E-grade standard is deemed “unclassified” (U) and does not count as a qualification. An AS-level can be graded A, B, C, D, E (no A* here! – see table 1).
Although the A-level is equally weighted between AS and A2 Units, the Units WITHIN AS and A2 may not be equally weighted, and this will vary from subject to subject. The weighting is achieved by means of the “Uniform Mark Scale” or UMS.
A 4-unit A-level is out of 400 UMS, and a 6-unit A-level is out of 600 UMS. An A grade always requires attainment of 80% of the UMS marks, with 70% for a B, 60% for a C and so on, so that the following applies...
TABLE 1: UMS GRADE BOUNDARIES FOR AS AND A-LEVELS
|
Grade
|
2-Unit AS
(most subjects)
|
3-Unit AS
(eg Maths, Science, Music)
|
4-Unit A-level (most subjects)
|
6-Unit A-level
(eg Maths, Science, Music)
|
|
maximum score
|
200
|
300
|
400
|
600
|
|
A*
|
does not exist
|
does not exist
|
320 including 180+ in the A2 Units
|
480 including 270+ in the A2 Units
|
|
A
|
160
|
240
|
320
|
480
|
|
B
|
140
|
210
|
280
|
420
|
|
C
|
120
|
180
|
240
|
360
|
|
D
|
100
|
150
|
200
|
300
|
|
E
|
80
|
120
|
160
|
240
|
Different Units, contributing different amounts to the UMS, therefore have nominal grade boundaries corresponding to the percentages above (80% for A etc). These can be seen in the following table:
TABLE 2: UMS GRADE BOUNDARIES FOR INDIVIDUAL UNITS
|
Grade boundary
|
Unit of out 60 UMS
|
Unit out of 100 UMS
|
Unit out of 120 UMS
|
|
A
|
48
|
80
|
96
|
|
B
|
42
|
70
|
84
|
|
C
|
36
|
60
|
72
|
|
D
|
30
|
50
|
60
|
|
E
|
24
|
40
|
48
|
WHAT DETERMINES MY A-LEVEL GRADE?
However, it is vital to realise a central point to this system: the final grade for a qualification is found by adding the UMS scores from the individual units and comparing the total with Table 1. At that point Table 2 does not really count for anything!
For example, an AS-level in Physics consists of:
Unit 1 = 120 UMS (therefore 40% of the AS, and 20% of the full A-level)
Unit 2 = 120 UMS
Unit 3 = 60 UMS
(therefore totalling 300 UMS)
Imagine a student gained
117 in Unit 1,
94 in Unit 2,
40 in Unit 3
The ‘grades’ for the individual Units would be A, B, B for Units 1, 2, 3 (Table 2)
However, the ‘Bs’ would not matter: the total UMS score is 251, which is a Grade A (Table 1)
Moreover, this is 11 marks “into” a grade A. Should the student take Physics on to A-level, (s)he could afford to score 10 marks less than the A-grade boundary on the A2 modules, and still score an A grade in the overall A-level.
WHAT WILL MY RESULTS CERTIFICATE IN AUGUST TELL ME?
Results certificates in August for AS-levels are surprisingly un-transparent! And you will have one for each exam board you have ‘used’. The certificates list each unit taken, and give the UMS score, plus a notional grade (see table 2) in lower case letters.
They do not tell you the weighting of the Units (ie the maximum UMS for each). They also do not tell you your overall AS grade. You find these by adding your Unit scores and using Table 1. The arithmetic involved can be surprisingly tricky at times of high stress, so we have staff on hand to help you make sense of it all!
A-level certificates are a bit more helpful - you do get the overall grades, but the individual unit information is there as well grade. The capital letters are your final grades.
You may not be interested in this now, but keep this paper – it may help you to read it on results day as you come to collect your results, so that you know what to expect.
HOW WILL MY QUALIFICATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO A UNIVERSITY APPLICATION
If you are applying to a “selecting” University, ie an oversubscribed one, their offer to you will most likely be in the form of grades in your three core A-levels, for example A*AA, or AAB, or BBB. There is usually very little leeway in these grades. If you JUST miss them you may still be accepted on to the course, but there is no guarantee. That is why it is vital to apply to universities whose offers match your likely level of attainment.
If you are applying to “recruiting” Universities, you may well get offers in term of “UCAS points”. Our post-16 courses have a certain points value on the “UCAS tariff”, as follows:
TABLE 3: UCAS POINTS
|
AS-Level
|
A-level
|
EPQ
|
|
Grade
|
UCAS points
|
Grade
|
UCAS points
|
Grade
|
UCAS Points
|
|
|
|
A*
|
140
|
A*
|
70
|
|
A
|
60
|
A
|
120
|
A
|
60
|
|
B
|
50
|
B
|
100
|
B
|
50
|
|
C
|
40
|
C
|
80
|
C
|
40
|
|
D
|
30
|
D
|
60
|
D
|
30
|
|
E
|
20
|
E
|
40
|
E
|
20
|
Other qualifications, such as Music / Speech and Drama Examinations also count on the Tariff. You will gain your place provided you score enough points overall, however you scrape them together!
Please note these numbers are completely different from the UMS tables above. It doesn’t help that the two systems use confusingly similar numbers!!
The full list of qualifications that come with UCAS points can be found at:
http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/
I hope this has been useful; please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Michael Lingard
Director of Studies
Autumn Term 2011/12
This event focusses specifically on issues that appertain to girls in J5 and J6 and for the three year groups in the Lower School (S7 - S9). Parents are invited to join their daughters' for supper in the dining room before a short introductory talk that sets the scene for the event.
Parents are then split into smaller, more intimate groups to participate in workshops on subjects of their choice. The themes for the workshops cover topics that are relevant to the parents of daughters in these year groups. Coming together in this way, the parents have the chance to exchange ideas, receive advice and perhaps to receive reassurance that their concerns are real yet manageable.
Workshops include:
- Learning at home - supporting your daughter's learning at home emcompassing homework and exam revision and the parents changing role as their daughter progresses up the school.
- E-safety - a workshop covering issues both internally and externally of dangers on the internet and ideas for ways of protecting your daughter at home.
- 'Guided not constrained ...': an introduction to the English Department's approach to girl-centred learning - a workshop focussing on how the Mount School English Department works with the students to foster a love of literature and language.
- The Importance of a healthy lifestyle - Living Adventurously - a workshop looking at the work / life balance. Looking at how girls can achieve their goals and aim to be the very best they can be.
- Maths the Mountie way - a workshop focussing on how to support your daughter and help to increase her confidence in a subject ususally dominated by boys.
- The best classroom is roofed only by the sky - a workshop focussing on finding out more about the Forest School Programme run at the Mount.