A-Levels Explained
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A-Levels Explained
One of the most important decisions you’ll have to make in high school is choosing the right curriculum.
One of the most popular globally recognised curriculums is the Cambridge International Examinations: Advanced Level (CIE), more commonly known as the Cambridge International (GCE) A Level and AS Level.
Through CIE, you can gain A Level qualifications, made up of AS Levels and A2 Levels.
But wait, what does that mean?
Don’t worry! It’s all here in this blog. Keep reading to see A, AS, and A2 Levels explained in-depth.
What are A Levels?
According to the official UCAS website, “A levels are subject-based qualifications that can lead to university, further study, training, or work. You can normally study three or more A Levels over two years.”
Recognised by universities around the world, the A Levels originated in the UK.
How are A Levels Graded?
Grades for the A Levels Range from A* to U. The table below depicts the score you need for each grade:
A Level Grading System
What are AS and A2 Levels?
The A Level qualification has two components: AS Level and A2 Level.
You must study and complete your AS Level before you take your A Level. They take the average of your two scores (50/50) to produce your overall A Level score. Students usually complete the AS Level in their second to last year of high school and the A2 Level in their final year.
Both AS and A2 Levels are designed to be year-long courses.
You can sit for the exam two times each year. The first is in May/June, and the second is in October/November.
Due to the school year structure, students in the southern hemisphere usually take the Oct/Nov series, and students in the northern hemisphere typically sit the May/June series.
However, there is another option!
Some students sit both the AS and A2 Level papers during the same exam periods.
While this might sound more difficult, it comes down to personal preference and schedule. Choose whatever works best for you and your timetable.
While sitting the exams together may offer a heavier workload, this could be a great option if you think you’re less likely to forget the content learned in AS by the time you reach A2.
It’s important to note that students must take AS and A2 Level papers within 12 months of one another. Otherwise, the AS mark “expires” and can’t be combined with the A2 mark to gain an A Level qualification.
How to prepare for the AS and A2 Exams?
Though the syllabuses may appear long and confusing, choose to focus on the learning objectives. They explain learning expectations and everything about the exams.
The objectives get more difficult because they're written in the order they're taught. To get an idea of the difficulty, scroll down to the bottom to check out the more difficult topics!
You can also look at past papers online. Because A Levels are a popular curriculum, many online resources are available.
Use past papers to get a better sense of the exams and their difficulty level by skimming through their content. You can also use these to get an idea of the exam structure.
Try to look at past papers from recent years because they tend to get more difficult as time goes on! Even better, look at specimen papers (fancy term for sample papers) for the current year released on the Cambridge website to get the most up-to-date examples.
How are the AS and A2 Level exams scored?
You don’t necessarily need to get 70% or 90% of questions correct, to get a 70% or 90% on your report card.
Scaling makes this possible.
All exams are scaled on a bell curve, so raw grades are often inflated. Your score might inflate 1%-15% depending on where you score, the difficulty of the paper, and the subject you choose to take.
If the past papers look impossible, do not fear! You may be getting an unrealistic representation of your final score.
When looking at past papers, always look at the grade and scaling boundaries of that year’s exam.
The Difference Between AS and A2 Level
Now you should have a broad understanding of how A Levels work, what AS and A2 Levels are, and how together they give you your overall mark.
But what is the difference between AS and A2 Levels?
- They may have minor differences in exam structure. For example, AS science papers have a multiple-choice component but A2 science papers do not. However, the two levels still have a lot in common.
- They are both one-year courses.
- They both require a year-long study that culminates in a series of exams.
- They both count for 50% of your final A Level mark.
A2 Levels are generally harder than AS Levels. They build on the knowledge you learn taking your AS papers.
Many A2 Level papers also test on the content covered in the AS papers. For example, business studies A2 exams require you to recall knowledge from AS business studies.
Resources for AS and A2 Levels
Many resources are available to help with your AS and A2 studies?
Cambridge publishes a set of textbooks geared towards the curriculum of each subject. These textbooks offer comprehensive cover for both the AS and A2 courses.
Alternatively, you could buy study guides and textbooks produced by other companies that target A Level students.
Final Thoughts
The A Level curriculum is a hugely popular, internationally recognised curriculum that helps you secure your place at a top international medical school.
Some final advice?
A Levels is an incredible curriculum that opens up many tertiary opportunities for high school students.
Unlike other curriculums, coursework or classroom participation grades don't affect the final score of AS and A2 courses.
Your entire grade is determined by how you perform in your final exams.
While you may think that this is an excellent opportunity for you to procrastinate, think again!
Prepare and study throughout the year so you don't jeopardise your final grade. Take notes and keep up with the content!
Next Steps
Check out some of the other and high school curriculums blogs to learn about which high school diploma is right for you!
- The Ultimate Guide to A Level Chemistry
- Understanding the International Baccalaureate Programme
- Pros and Cons of the International Baccalaureate
- What are the Hardest and Easiest AP classes?
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The UCAT
The UCAT, or the University Clinical Aptitude Test is the medical school admission test required for many universities in Australia and New Zealand. The UCAT is designed to assess applicants for the aptitude, attitudes and beliefs required of a doctor. In order to defeat the UCAT - we should understand what it is. First off, it’s a two hour computer based exam. There are 5 separately timed subtests - Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Situational Judgement. In this blog we break down each of the sections and offer guidance on how to prepare for this important exam.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning is meant to assess your ability to read something and draw appropriate conclusions. You can see why this would be important to a doctor - you’re part of a multidisciplinary team and will have to communicate effectively. In addition, doctors have to keep current with new research and draw reasonable conclusions from published findings. Decision making involves 11 text excerpts with 4 questions each, meaning this section has 44 questions in 21 minutes - that means an average of 29 seconds per question. That doesn’t even take reading the stem into account!
Decision Making
Decision Making is essentially data interpretation from graphs, tables, text and charts. You don’t need to have background knowledge on any subject, because part of what they’re testing is your ability to understand new information. Can you think of a time a doctor might have to do the same? This section has 29 questions in 31 minutes - an average of 64 seconds per question. Compare the timing of section to verbal reasoning, it’s more than double. Consider the length of time per question as an indication of how much the test writers want you to analyse.
Quantitative Reasoning
Quantitative Reasoning is a straightforward mathematics section - there are nine scenarios each with four questions. You’ll have access to an on screen calculator - which is functional but pretty clunky! You’ll have to strike a balance between using mental maths to be quick, and keeping your wits about you, and staying accurate. This section has 36 questions in 24 minutes - an average of 40 seconds per question. It’s not a lot of time to question your maths abilities!
Abstract Reasoning
Abstract Reasoning is used to evaluate your ability to locate patterns and understand logic, separate from your language abilities. If you’ve seen the guides online with pictures asking you to find a pattern - that’s abstract reasoning. This section is sometimes hard for students to grasp, because it’s such a different set of skills. It’s also probably the biggest struggle with time management. This section has 55 questions in 13 minutes - that’s only 14 seconds per question. Don’t even think about going into this section unprepared!
Situational Judgement
Situational Judgement assesses your judgement and character in different situations - the situations are usually clinical or education based. Either situations you’ve likely been in, or a situation you could be involved in future. Then you’ll have to evaluate the appropriateness, importance or consequences of the situation. It’s one way for universities to evaluate the characteristics that are important for future doctors! Situational Judgement has 69 questions in 26 minutes - an average of 25 seconds per question.
With so much to do - how can I set myself up for success?
Prepare
This sounds like a no brainer, but preparation is the most important thing you can do if you want to succeed on the UCAT. Going over questions is one thing but the most effective thing you can do is to practice under exam conditions. That means doing computer based exams - so when you get to test day, you know what to expect. Luckily MedView has a bank of questions.
Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Time is a precious resource when you’re preparing for medical school admissions - you have to continue doing well in your studies, prepare yourself for an interview, and master a new exam. There’s not infinite time - so you have to learn how to study smarter, not just harder. So many students waste their time by continuing to drill skills that they’ve already mastered. It’s important to identify the weak points that need more TLC.
Learn Skills
Each type of question requires a specific psychometric approach to understand and answer so quickly. Skills and strategies to identify the problem and solve the challenging question are essential for success. MedView has a range of 1:1 tutoring, group workshops, practice exams and questions alongside our spiral learning curriculum to help students develop the skills necessary to succeed in time conditions. Our UCAT students are 5x more likely to receive an interview offer.
Sitting full-length practice exams under simulated conditions is the most effective preparation for developing UCAT skills. As this will familiarise yourself with the extreme time pressures, as well as allowing you to practise concentrating on psychometric skills for two hours. It is also important to practice using the computer-based platform that will be used when you sit UCAT as well.
Seek Help
Find friends that have taken the test before and ask for their experience. Better yet, schedule a free Academic Assessment with MedView today! When you start your journey as a MedView student, you are allocated an Education Coordinator who has experience helping hundreds of students get into med school. They’ll help you stay on track with your goals, offer you support, and help you succeed on your path to medical school.
Next Steps
The UCAT is an important exam that is key to medical school admission for undergraduates. We recommend starting your UCAT preparation early and integrating it into your study load to give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. If you’d like to learn more about the UCAT or how to get into Medical School, check out our free eBooks and blogs!
- What is the UCAT?
- How Universities use your UCAT Results
- A Quick Guide to Australia Medicine eBook
- A Quick Guide to New Zealand Medicine eBook
- How to Prepare for the UCAT
- What UCAT scores will get me into med?
MedView offers a range of UCAT preparation courses as well as personalised 1:1 tutoring with our expert team. If you would like to know more about the UCAT and how MedView can help, get in touch today.
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What can you do before the year starts?
Before the year starts, it is vital that you understand that the journey to becoming a doctor is a long and arduous process. Medicine is a life-long commitment whose pathway extends beyond the 6 years of study. It includes a progression from a house officer to a registrar, and application onto training schemes if you opt for the surgical pathway.
The vast majority of people who apply for medicine, do not have a clear picture of what they want to do in the future. This uncertainty is not something to worry about now – you have plenty of time to figure out exactly what you want to do. There is something in medicine for everyone. If you are still uncertain about the medical pathway beyond the 6 years of study, I would recommend doing further research.
Another thing you can do over the summer break is to identify your motivation to become a doctor. If it’s for the money, you may not be in the correct profession - it will be at least 10-12 years until you start earning the big bucks that all doctors are known for! If you have an inherent nature to help people and seek to make our society healthier, then you are on the right track.
Once your head is in the right place, enjoy your summer! The year will belong, and you will have to make social sacrifices to make your studies a priority. Make the most of the time you have by seeing friends and family, as you will inevitably see less of them throughout the year. You are likely to experience burnout sometime during the year, so optimising your rest now is important.
The single most effective way to distance yourself from your competitors is to start early and hard. After you have rested throughout December and into the new year, it is time to get started and get ahead. The Flying Start Course offered by MedView was my ticket to success. It is a highly intensive programme starting in late January that covers the first 6 weeks of content for the three core papers in the first semester. The advantages of this course are numerous:
- The most valuable aspect of Flying Start is the content covered. As the first semester contains 3 out of the 4 core papers, it is so important to get a good start. An early lapse within the first few weeks can completely derail your entire year. Being exposed to similar content ahead of time builds your confidence and gives you the opportunity to begin learning before others.
- There is a radically different teaching style from high school to university. Flying Start emulates the style you are accustomed to, while simultaneously teaching university material. This eases your transition and places students into a more comfortable and familiar environment.
- You can meet other motivated people. You may have heard the horror stories of people sabotaging each other, taking their notes and hiding their bags. While these are mostly exaggerated, there will still be those who resort to other measures to gain an advantage. The people doing Flying Start will be motivated just like you, and eager to get ahead. Working together and building these strong relationships before the year starts means that you have a better support group in place. I have met several bright individuals who were passionate and together, we were able to navigate the difficult year and succeed as a group!
MedView believes in a holistic approach to medical school admissions, meaning we surround the student with a team of experts to help develop their candidacy and skills in all three major pillars in their journey to medical school, and now it’s even more accessible with the MedView Hub App!
Over the last decade there’s been a mass adoption of smartphones and a shift in the way people behave online and communicate. Australians are spending more time online, often using multiple screens, and consuming vast amounts of content each day. And it’s only going up!
Recent figures show that almost eight out of ten Australians use social media, and 87% of them use their mobile phones to access it. Fifty-nine percent of Australians access social media everyday or most days, and over a third of people check social media more than five times per day.
We often go online to chat with friends and family, share photos, or be entertained by cat videos. But the very same platforms we use to socialise can also be used to gather knowledge that we can apply in our offline lives. One of the areas where users can reap the benefits is online communities. MedView prides themselves on finding the best tutor, strategist or consultant for each student whether they be in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom and having an online community platform allows even more core benefits for our students in a shorter amount of time. Now students can access over 320 tutors, strategists and consultants and get answers to their Synapse questions, interact in exclusive workshops, and most importantly make friends. The meaningful relationships with other members of the community increases knowledge and collective wisdom.
The MedView Hub App is our own online community platform for students, parents, tutors, and alumni to create a network of opportunities to participate in smart, focused conversation on specific medical school admissions topics (unlike the Instagram and Facebook chatter).
Over the last decade there’s been a mass adoption of smartphones and a shift in the way people behave online and communicate. Australians are spending more time online, often using multiple screens, and consuming vast amounts of content each day. And it’s only going up!
Recent figures show that almost eight out of ten Australians use social media, and 87% of them use their mobile phones to access it. Fifty-nine percent of Australians access social media everyday or most days, and over a third of people check social media more than five times per day.
We often go online to chat with friends and family, share photos, or be entertained by cat videos. But the very same platforms we use to socialise can also be used to gather knowledge that we can apply in our offline lives. One of the areas where users can reap the benefits is online communities. MedView prides themselves on finding the best tutor, strategist or consultant for each student whether they be in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom and having an online community platform allows even more core benefits for our students in a shorter amount of time. Now students can access over 320 tutors, strategists and consultants and get answers to their Synapse questions, interact in exclusive workshops, and most importantly make friends. The meaningful relationships with other members of the community increases knowledge and collective wisdom.
The MedView Hub App is our own online community platform for students, parents, tutors, and alumni to create a network of opportunities to participate in smart, focused conversation on specific medical school admissions topics (unlike the Instagram and Facebook chatter).
Find out more and begin your journey to medical school by speaking with a MedView Academic Advisor for free today!
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