Shake-up to end exam lottery

A revolution in the way universities offer places to the brightest A-level students can be revealed today.

The new system will allow universitiesto see students' A-level course work, enabling them to make decisions based on the grades for the six modules that make up the qualification.

The shake-up means sixth-formers who want to get into Oxford, Cambridge or other elite universities might require not just three straight A- g rades, but 18 individual A-level modules, all at the top grade.

At present, A-levels are made up of six modules, and it is possible for students to get Bs in some parts of their course work and still score an A overall. For instance, while 26.5 per cent of students achieved an A for one exam board's English Literature paper two years ago, only 6.2 per cent achieved that standard in every module.

The plan, being drawn up by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), won backing today from universities and from the Government's top exams adviser, former chief schools inspector Mike Tomlinson.

Mr Tomlinson, who will report to the Government in the autumn with his blueprint for the future of secondary school exams, said: "We need to make the system more transparent so that if students don't get a place on the course they want at least they understand why."

The Ucas plan is a response to the ever-rising number of students achieving top grades. More than one in five A-level entries now get an A grade.

This means elite universities are flooded with applications from students with top grades, making it increasingly difficult to select the brightest.

And, inevitably, thousands of teenagers are finding find themselves rejected, creating fresh doubts about the fairness of university admissions. Cambridge alone rejected 5,000 applicants with three A-grades last year and predicts 6,000 could be turned away this year.

Independent schools are claiming it has become easier to achieve top A-level grades. They are demanding the exam is made more "challenging" for the brightest students, possibly creating a new A* grade at A-level.

However, government exam advisers have blocked any such move, warning that the wholesale "recalibration" of grades risks a repeat of the A-level debacle of two years ago, when the whole exam-grading system was called into doubt.

But Dr Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has backed the Ucas plan instead.

It would mean admissions officers would be given more information about a student's academic achievements because, by the time sixth-formers apply to university, the results of their first three or possibly four modules are known.

This could benefit sixth-formers from low-achieving schools, whose pupils might do better than predicted.

If approved, sources suggested the new system could be introduced as early as next year.

Dr Geoff Parks, director of admissions at Cambridge University said today the plan offered the prospect of "fairer" admissions.