Are A-Levels getting easier?

You are unlikely to agree if you are in the middle of taking them! However, the problem for employers and universities is that, as more students come out with a raft of A grades, they don’t know how to select who is the best when places are restricted.

Two recent solutions are:

• Reducing the coursework component - partly a bid to return exams to clearer tests of an individual’s ability under pressure, as well as trying to cut the impact of ever pervasive plagiarism (aka cheating).
• Introducing A* grades and ‘high powered’ courses like the CIE Pre U

Faced with this, what can help you make it to the top of the pile?

• Prioritising study, rather than squeezing it around your social life, will mean you have a greater sense of how each subject fits together
• Making time to read around the central texts / information will give you a wider perspective and impress the examiner
• Using web resources designed to help at A Level can give you the breadth of info your teacher may be too pressured to cover. That’s certainly the idea behind Crossref-it.info which aims to give Eng. Lit students the edge over their peers.

Unfortunately, as jobs become more scarce, so more students will opt for higher education places, and the need to differentiate students becomes even more pressing…

How are you going to get yourself noticed?