BBC Education

Exam experts are considering whether university applicants might be judged on the grades in their individual A-level modules, to sort out the best.

Some university courses are swamped with well-qualified applicants. But it is possible to get an A overall while scoring less on some of the six modules that make up each A-level. So if universities saw the module grades they would have a better idea of people’s strengths and weaknesses – typically across three subjects.

The chief executive of the QCA exams regulator, Ken Boston, said in a recent speech that it would be less risky than devising a completely new grading scale. He gave as an example the English Literature exam set in 2002 by the OCR board. Overall, 26.5% of candidates achieved an A – but the proportion who did so in all six modules was just 6.2%.