The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A level, is a secondary school leaving qualification in the United Kingdom, offered as a main qualification in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as an alternative qualification in Scotland, and as an international school qualification worldwide. A-levels require studying an offered A level subject over a two-year period and sitting for an examination at the end of each year (AS and A2, respectively), proctored by an official assessment body. Most students study three or four A-level subjects simultaneously during Year 12 (2nd Lyceum) and Year 13 (3rd Lyceum), ages 16–18, either in a secondary education institution or in a Sixth Form College, as part of their further education. A-levels are recognised by many universities as the standard for assessing the suitability of applicants for admission in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and many such universities base their conditional admissions offers on a student's predicted A-level grades. Because A-level students often apply to universities before they have taken their final exams, British universities (including Scottish universities, which receive many applicants taking A-levels) consider predicted A-level results when deciding whether applicants should be offered places. Unless the admission offer is guaranteed, without regard to actual official marks eventually achieved by the student, these conditional "offers" to students typically become void should the student fail to achieve the marks expected by the university (for example, conditional offer of three A-levels at grades B-B-C). Universities may specify which subjects they wish these grades to be in (for example, conditional offer of grades A-A-B with a grade A in Mathematics). However, universities may be flexible if a student narrowly missed the required grades. University recognition
UK NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) is the National Agency responsible for providing information, advice and expert opinion on qualifications worldwide. An independent benchmarking exercise by UK NARIC to assess the comparability of the Edexcel International Advanced Level (IAL) against the Ofqual-regulated GCE A level found that IAL qualifications can be considered comparable to the overall GCE A level standard. Read the executive summary of the NARIC report
IAL qualifications are already recognised by many leading universities in the UK and internationally. You can find the growing list of universities using our Degree Course Finder. Select ‘International Advanced Levels' to find out where these qualifications can take you. IAL-INTERNATIONAL ADVANCED LEVEL
Our Edexcel International Advanced Level is an international alternative to our Edexcel Ofqual-regulated A level qualifications. This new suite of qualifications, regulated by Pearson, has been written to the highest standard, with the global learner in mind. Edexcel International Advanced Level qualifications are not available to centres in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Key featuresFor first teaching from September 2013 and first assessment in January 2014.Flexible, modular structure.January and June examinations to support students wishing to progress to local and international universities.AS qualifications can be taken as stand-alone qualifications or used as a stage on the way to completing an Advanced Level. AS represents 50% of an Advanced Level.100% external assessment with no coursework. Specifications can be delivered in an international context to fully equip the international learner.Available in 8 popular subjects: Accounting, Business Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Law, Physics and Mathematics. University Recognition
UK NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) is the National Agency responsible for providing information, advice and expert opinion on qualifications worldwide. IAL qualifications are already recognised by many leading universities in the UK and internationally.
