A-level pupils 'need fewer marks to get an A'

TEENAGERS taking first-year A-level exams this summer will need fewer marks to score top grades than last year under government reforms, a watchdog predicted today.

Ministers ordered tougher questions and a new A* grade to be introduced to the so-called "gold standard" exams amid concern too many pupils were scoring As.

But the qualifications regulator, Ofqual, said pupils must not be penalised with lower results because they are taking more challenging courses.

The regulator said it was crucial to maintain standards of difficulty from one year to the next. So grade boundaries may need to be lowered if this year's candidates struggle with the new AS-levels, Ofqual said.

The decision is likely to provoke criticism from those who believe A-levels have become too easy. Highly academic universities complain that it has become impossible to select the brightest candidates on the basis of their A-levels when one in four exams is awarded an A.

If grade boundaries are lowered, however, the proportion of As awarded is unlikely to decrease.

A-levels have been modular since 2000, with teenagers taking AS-level exams after their first year and "A2" exams at the end of the course. Pupils will take the reformed AS-levels for the first time this summer and sit their final A2 exams, in which the A* will be introduced, next year. In a letter to schools, Ofqual chair Kathleen Tattersall said the new exams "bring unique challenges" for candidates and their teachers with unfamiliar types of questions.

But exam boards are working to ensure that pupils are not at a disadvantage because they are taking their AS-levels this year, Ms Tattersall said.

Examiners will use a "range of technical and statistical evidence, including students' prior attainment in GCSEs" to make sure pupils receive appropriate grades, she added.