20th December 2009 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The new top A-level grade, A* will be awarded to student that achieve very high scores in their A-levels. The grade requires that candidates must score 80% or more overall for the two years of their course, and must achieve 90% in their final exams.
The Times has reported that leading universities will be ignoring the new score for fears that it will adversely affect the number of applications from state schools and from poorer families.
Researchers at the Independent Schools Council have said that of their candidates that took A-levels this year, 16.5% would have achieved the new top grade. This is over twice the national average.
The only university that has incorporated the new grade into its conditional offers for 2010 is Cambridge University. This has resulted in a small decrease in the number applicants, contrary to the overall increase in university applications across the nation. Many other universities will be using the grade in a limited way to help them distinguish between candidates.