The one for me.

A levels are 'worthless'
Top London university will make students sit for entrance exams

EVERYONE can get As in their A-level exams. What's the point?

That's the gripe of the rector at the world renowned Imperial College.

So before a student can flash his impressive A-level results to the London-based university, he will have to sit for a problem-solving entrance exam.

This will make Imperial College the first university in Britain to do so since Oxford scrapped its system 13years ago, reported the Daily Mail.

The move follows a trend by elite universities to introduce admissions tests in individual subjects to supplement A levels.

Breaking away from the current trend of wholesale testing, Imperial College professors believe that their test - which will assess general intelligence, creativity and the ability to solve science-based problems - is something that could one day be adopted nationwide.

Sir Richard Sykes, the rector, said so many students now achieved three, four or five grade As at A level, it was impossible for tutors for identify true high-fliers.

A test covering all courses apart from medicine would be introduced as early as 2010, he revealed.

Said Sir Richard: 'We can't rely on A levels any more. Everybody who applies has got three As or four As - they are not very useful.

'In a sense they have become almost worthless because they don't allow us to select the sort of students we need.

'What we have taken now is a decision to have an entrance examination to gain entrance to Imperial College.'

However, Sir Richard did note that the university will continue to consider A-level results only after the new test has whittled applicants down.

'We are doing this not because we don't believe in A levels, but we cannot use A levels any more as a discriminatory factor. They have all got four or five A levels.'

He said that 'grade inflation' had 'destroyed' the role of A levels in telling students apart.

SEPARATING THE BEST

The exam will not be 'too dependent on rote learning' because tutors are looking for 'innate ability'.

'That would hopefully become a national system if it proves to be successful in the selection of students,' Sir Richard said .

'A lot of universities are thinking the same as we are thinking. Top institutions have great difficulty separating out the best students.'

'You can't get into a top university without some evidence you have done the subject work,' said Sir Richard, whose institution offers 235 different degree courses and is ranked fifth in the world behind Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge.

But the introduction of an A* grade by ministers in 2010 to help top universities separate candidates would not be enough, he warned.

Cambridge abandoned official entrance exams more than 20 years ago and Oxford followed suit in 1995 but, with pupils passing one in four A-levels at grade A, both institutions are now reintroducing papers in selected subjects to assist the selection process.

The admissions director at Oxford said the university ran tests for particularly over-subscribed courses including medicine, law, physical sciences, history and English, but they have no intention of introducing a university-wide test for now.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,166648,00.html

walao then might as well dun take.. zz.. see! now Singaporeans are so stressed about getting good results, and end up it doesn't really matter~ so apparently getting 3As for you H2 subjects will probably assure you a place in local uni.. Well lucky I don't think I'll be planning to go overseas to study la.. haha..

anyway talking about overseas studying, Kiat Wah mentioned to me James is taking some test this Saturday for his uni admission! All the best James!