The new A levels at CATS Canterbury

Many people overseas are worried about the new changes to A levels which they may have heard about. You do not need to worry about this as we have it all in hand here in Canterbury. This year some of the A levels are new ones and some are the old ones. Universities treat them all the same and once the new A level subject is on line, the old course is withdrawn.

The main change coming is that A levels will become a 'terminal' exam with exams only at the end of the course - no more modules or exams half way through. This is exactly the same as IB which we have successfully run for many years here so this does not worry us at all. 

AS exams are still available but they no longer count towards the final A level so most good schools will no longer offer them. Schools that do will lose a whole half term of teaching with the exam no longer counting towards A level so it will waste students a lot of time which is better spent in lessons. We will offer a final end of year internal exam using A level papers and report on these grades to parents so you will know exactly what level your child is at - this is exactly what happens with our very successful IB course. This year we sent IB students to both Oxford and Cambridge so they are clearly at no disadvantage!

The other thing to be aware of is that most universities are no longer asking for four subjects at A level and taking three subjects will become the norm in the UK. Universities are not interested in lots of A levels - they want three at top grades. The main exception to this remains Further Maths and if students take this they will do Maths as well and so have four A levels. 

Students heading for top universities at CATS Canterbury will take the Extended Project Qualification (a research project top universities are very keen on) and a range of extra activities from our Key Professions Programme. This will give them a real head start in university applications and we have a very wide range of extra activities we expect students to do directly linked to their university applications. This is what will make the difference in a successful application to a top university.

So it's all systems go here at Canterbury! We are more than prepared and ready for any changes and with over 160 university visits here each year students get the chance to talk to universities directly and be reassured in everything we do here.