Easy A-levels leave students ill-prepared for unbiversity Learning House

Easy A-levels leave students ill-prepared for unbiversity

January 16, 2012 – 1:11 pm

Easy A-levels are leaving students at a disadvantage when they arrive at university

University departments are being forced to run extra classes for first years to bring new students up to speed on key concepts in maths which they should have learned at school, according to Professor Alison Wolf, from Kings College London.

At the same time, the drive to make subjects such as physics “more accessible” and appealing to teenagers has resulted in exams becoming easier, said Tim Oates, the specialist reviewing the National Curriculum for the education secretary, Michael Gove.

In evidence to the education select committee, Prof Wolf, an adviser to ministers on vocational education, said university tutors were increasingly complaining that first year students were not ready for their studies, despite “the ever increasing number of people with As”.

“A large number of universities are having to do more lower level work with students when they come in to bring them up to a certain level, particularly in maths,” she said.

“They haven’t always put on extra classes and they haven’t always changed their first year syllabuses and they are now doing both and that has to count as concrete evidence.”

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