New blow to A-levels

Teenagers aiming to study history or English at Oxford University will have to sit new entrance tests from this year.

The disclosure is a further blow to the credibility of A-levels as a way to identify the brightest students.

It follows the introduction of new tests for applicants to medicine and law courses at Oxford, Cambridge and University College London.

Oxford scrapped its own entrance exams nine years ago amid concern that they favoured applicants from independent schools.

The move to new tests will provoke renewed criticism that admissions to the country's elite universities will once again favour those with a privileged education, hampering government attempts to widen access to higher education.

It follows a rise in the proportion of A-grade A-levels - now more than one in five, compared to 17 per cent a decade ago.

The move comes weeks before a government task force, chaired by Brunel University vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Schwartz, is expected to condemn the proliferation of bespoke university entrance exams and call for their replacement with a single national test.

The new Oxford history exam would mean that from this autumn, the university will pre-select candidates for interview instead of interviewing all applicants.

The university's English faculty is canvassing schools over a similar test in English, though this would not be introduced before the 2005 admissions round.

The new tests are likely to present students with a text to analyse, to assess whether they have the skills for studying the subject at high academic standard.

A spokesman said: "The aim of the (history) test will be to assess in a fair and objective way, placing those from all backgrounds on as level a footing as possible."