Advanced Extension Award

The Advanced Extension Awards were a type of UK school-leaving qualification. 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, usually taken in the final year of schooling (age 17/18) and were designed to allow students to "demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills to the full". They were introduced in June 2002 as a successor to the S-level examination. They were assessed completely by virtue of external examinations.

Results

According to EducationGuardian.co.uk,^[1] in 2004, 50.4% of the 7246 entrants failed to achieve a grade at all (fail), 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 next 31.3% of students receiving the grade of Merit. Given the fact that only the top students in the country sat these examinations, these results indicate that the AEAs were successful at rewarding only the most intelligent students in the country.

Available subjects

Due to the small numbers of candidates for each subject, the exam boards divided the subjects offered amongst themselves - so unlike for A-Levels, each AEA was 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 across the full range of subjects took place in June 2009 with results issued in August 2009. After this time the Advanced Extension Award was withdrawn for all subjects except Mathematics.^[2] This came after the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) decided that the new A* grade being offered at A level will overlap with the purpose of the AEA, thus rendering them unnecessary. However, the AEA in Mathematics was extended until June 2012, as confirmed by Edexcel and the QCA. This was because it met a "definite need", meaning the A* grade was still not viewed as being challenging enough.^[3]^[4] On 2 June 2011 Edexcel announced that the AEA was being extended yet further for Mathematics, until June 2015.^[5]

Many still maintain that the A-level A* grade is still too easy for the most intelligent students, and that AEAs, or similar examinations are still necessary for all subjects in order to distinguish the most intelligent students.

References

External links

National Qualifications Framework in England and Wales and Northern Ireland

For higher levels, compare with the FHEQ system.

Level 8	City & Guilds Fellowship,

Level 7	City & Guilds Membership, National Diploma, BTEC Advanced Professional Diploma, Level 5 NVQ

Level 6	City & Guilds Associateship, City & Guilds Graduateship, NEBOSH National Diploma, National Diploma, BTEC Advanced Professional Diploma, Level 5 NVQ

Level 5	Higher National Diploma, Higher National Certificate, Level 4 NVQ

Level 4	City & Guilds Licentiateship, Level 4 NVQ

Level 3	BTEC Extended Diploma, BTEC National Certificate, City & Guilds Level 3, Level 3 NVQ, A-level, National Diploma*, Ordinary National Certificate, Advanced Diploma, NEBOSH National General Cerificate, Access to Higher Education Diploma, Advanced Extension Award, International Baccalaureate, Extended Project Qualification

Level 2	City & Guilds Level 2, Level 2 NVQ, GCSE (grades A* to C), BTEC First Diploma, OCR Nationals, Skills for Life*

Level 1	Level 1 NVQ, GCSE (grades D-G), Foundation Diploma, BTEC Introductory Diploma, Introductory Certificate, Skills for Life*

Entry	English as a foreign or second language (up to level 3), Skills for Life*, Functional Skills, Entry level certificates

* certain subjects fall under this level.

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