Advanced Extension Award

The Advanced Extension Awards are qualifications. They were introduced in 2002, in response to the British Government's "Excellence in Cities" report, as a means of testing students at the most demanding standards found across the world. They are aimed at the top 10% of students in the British A Level tests, and are designed to allow students to "demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills to the full". They are assessed completely by virtue of external examinations.

Justification

As the proportion of students attaining the top grade at A-Level increases (25.8% of all subject results in 2008 were graded at an A), it is becoming increasingly difficult for employers and universities to differentiate "the exceptional students from the good" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4538127.stm BBC NEWS | Education | Cambridge seeks harder A-levels ] ] . The AEAs attempt to give universities information that helps make this distinction

Results

According to [http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels2004/story/0,14505,1285758,00.html EducationGuardian.co.uk] , in 2004, 50.4% of the 7246 entrants failed to achieve a grade at all, indicating that the awards are fulfilling their role in separating the elite. Only 18.3% of students attained the top of the two grades available, the Distinction, with the remaining 31.3% of students receiving a Merit. However, only time can tell whether this set of results is attributable to the qualification's youth, and therefore the lack of experience of teachers and small bank of past papers to refer to.

In addition, not all of the 'best' students take the AEA as some see it as an increased workload (both for teachers and students), and as it only occasionally forms part of a conditional offer from a university, many students see it as somewhat pointless. In addition, in some colleges and sixth forms, only students who are applying to Oxbridge are allowed to sit the examFact|date=September 2007.

Since the 2005/2006 application year, a Distinction has been worth 40 UCAS points, and a Merit worth 20 points [ [http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/QualificationsExplained/DG_10039019 Advanced Extension Awards : Directgov - Education and learning ] ] . Bearing in mind that a grade A at A level is worth 120 points, this adds to the arguments against the AEA being a worthwhile use of school's time and resources. However, it should be noted that 40 points is the equivalent of two grade boundaries at A Level, and thus a student with A Level results ABB, for example, would be bumped up to the equivalent of AAA. It is also the case that the Advanced Extension Award requires no knowledge of academic material beyond the syllabus of its corresponding A-Level subject and thus rewards the student with a better understanding and appreciation of the material which the A-Level does not fully examine.

Available subjects

Due to the small numbers of candidates for each subject, the exam boards have divided the subjects offered amongst themselves - so unlike for A-Levels, each AEA is only offered by one board.
* Biology (including Human Biology) (AQA)
* Business (OCR)
* Chemistry (AQA)
* Critical Thinking (OCR)
* Economics (AQA)
* English (OCR)
* French (OCR)
* Geography (WJEC)
* German (CCEA)
* History (Edexcel)
* Irish (CCEA)
* Latin (OCR)
* Mathematics (Edexcel)
* Physics (CCEA)
* Psychology (AQA)
* Religious Studies (Edexcel)
* Spanish (Edexcel)
* Welsh (WJEC)
* Welsh as a second language (WJEC)

Withdrawal

The last AEA examinations will take place in June 2009 with results issued in August 2009. After this time the Advanced Extension Award qualification will be withdrawn. [http://www.jcq.org.uk/attachments/published/449/13a.%20Withdrawal%20of%20AEA%20specs.pdf] This came after a decision by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), that the new A* grade being offered at A level will overlap with the purpose of the AEA, thus rendering them unnecessary.

References

*http://www.qca.org.uk/qualifications/types/613.html
*http://www.edexcel.org.uk/qualifications/QualificationQA.aspx?id=71975
*http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels2004/story/0,14505,1285758,00.html
*http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels2003/story/0,13394,1018079,00.html
*http://www.jcgq.org.uk/attachments/published/94/A,AS,VCE,AEA%20Results%20Summer%202003.pdf

ee also

*Sixth Term Examination Paper

External links

* [http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/QualificationsExplained/QualificationsExplainedArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10039019&chk=y/EGuQ Directgov: Advanced Extension Awards]
* [http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_4682.aspx Official site]