Name

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 1 of 12

Changing from CIE to Edexcel exam board for AS and A Level

Summary • One of the CIE Chemistry AS Level papers, Paper 3, is a practical exam. They have made a list of chemicals

which are essential to carry out this exam. Some of them are dangerous. There may be other considerations for selecting an exam board other than CIE.

• This report looks at alternative syllabi to CIE

Contents Changing from CIE to Edexcel exam board for AS and A Level .......................................................................................1

Summary .....................................................................................................................................................................1

CIE Paper 3 – The practical exam paper ......................................................................................................................2

Health and safety realities ...........................................................................................................................................2

What is an exam board? ..................................................................................................................................................2

What are the options for A level exam boards? ..............................................................................................................2

Why choose Edexcel? ......................................................................................................................................................2

Which exam boards do the top schools in the UK, and around the world, use for A Level Chemistry? .........................4

What those who work in universities and in university admissions say: ........................................................................5

What students say: ..........................................................................................................................................................6

For more information ......................................................................................................................................................6

Appendix – Information about other top private schools ...............................................................................................7

Westminster school .....................................................................................................................................................7

Appendix - Harrow School ...........................................................................................................................................8

Appendix preferred A Level subjects (From Harrow) ................................................................................................... 10

Additional information ................................................................................................................................................. 11

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 2 of 12

CIE Paper 3 – The practical exam paper The only way to offer CIE AS Chemistry is to have the equipment and chemicals essential to carry out a range of

experiments in a practical examination called Paper 3. They do not want the schools to know in advance which

experiments they will be examining in a given year, so they have created a list of chemicals we must have to be able

to do any of the experiments that our students ought to understand and be able to carry out. This list includes

explosive and toxic chemicals.

Health and safety realities You could use facilities in an established school which already has the necessary paperwork and safety measures to

handle all of the chemicals instead. Any school that would agree to such a deal would be an extraordinarily

dangerous place to be in. A senior high school chemistry lab should have access to dangerous, including lethal

chemicals, the idea that you would let kids from another school, who might easily have no experience working in

such an environment to try it all out there, is from a scientific and educational perspective, beyond reckless. How

many other extremely dangerous things are they letting happen in their school?

What is an exam board? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examination_board

What are the options for A level exam boards? In the UK there are only 7 exam boards that award A Levels that are allowed to be offered by schools paid for by

the government (these exam boards will also be used by all private schools as well, as all universities get much of

their funding either directly or indirectly through the government):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examination_boards_in_the_United_Kingdom

Of those, only 3 are specifically for England:

UK version International version

AQA AQA

Edexcel Edexcel

OCR CIE

All of the above are regulated and accredited by a government agency, OFQUAL, to make sure that the

qualifications they award, e.g. AS Level Chemistry, are comparable to each other. This is not just to help

universities, how well a school’s students perform in exams like the GCSE and A Level can increase funding, if

they too often perform badly, then the government will close that school.

The intentions for the international versions of these exam boards are exactly the same as the UK version,

to provide internationally recognised standardised qualifications that will allow students studying them to gain

access to, and also succeed at the best universities in the world. They work closely with universities and colleges,

especially the best ones, to ensure that their qualification meets the expected standards.

The British Council, which is part of the UK Government, offers a variety of qualifications, but only Edexcel

and CIE for A Level:

https://www.britishcouncil.cn/en/exams/school

Why choose Edexcel? For the reasons listed above, if you cannot be certain that you can provide the necessary chemicals for CIE AS

Chemistry Paper 3, this is a reasonable alternative.

Both AQA and Edexcel would allow sufficient control over which practicals you do to allow new schools

working with tough regulations to organise their own practical scheme of work that fits with what is locally

possible, but Edexcel has the advantage of mapping more closely and easily to the CIE syllabus.

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 3 of 12

If you look at the comments section that I have included in the appendix “What those who work in

universities and in university admissions say” there is little interest or understanding about the differences between

exam boards. There is substantial difference with regards to subject choices, so much so that The Russell Group of

UK’s top 24 universities has even created a list of “Facilitator Subjects”:

https://russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/subject-choices-at-school-and-college/

There is no mention on their website about differences in exam boards.

I have also emailed my former university, Imperial College admissions officer for Chemistry, and he has very

helpfully suggested that his department does not take into consideration exam boars when selecting students to

progress to the interview stages, nor does he think any other departments in at Imperial, or any other university

would either.

For the best advice on this talk directly the admissions department of the university you are interested in

applying for. They will be the best people to talk to find out what actually matters. It is especially important that

you ask about if an A grade in their most preferred A Level exam board is ever better than an A* grade in the same

subject in their least preferred exam board.

When I was a student at university no-one knew anything about exam boards (most lecturers, in fact had

very little understanding of what an A level was; their primary role was research, and especially, to get grants for

that research). Similarly, when I was studying for my PGCE at Cambridge, no emphasis or information was ever

given relating to which exam board you should or should not use, or if there was any difference between them.

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 4 of 12

Which exam boards do the top schools in the UK, and around the world, use for A Level Chemistry? For a list of the top schools (in terms of academic performance) in the UK for:

• iGCSE results, click here

• For A Level results, click here This list ignores IB schools and school that do not offer A Levels. Some schools like Harrow and Eton, are not the top performing, but are the most prestigious (e.g. in the Eaton Group). Some are just really old.

School iGCSE Exam Board

A Level Exam board

Website

Shanghai Concord Bilingual School

CIE Edexcel http://www.concordschool.com.cn/

Cardiff Sixth Form College, Wales, UK

N/A WJEC (Welsh exam board)

https://www.ccoex.com/en/page/departments

Concord, UK AQA OCR http://concordcollegeuk.com/academic/academic-departments/chemistry/

Concordia Shanghai, China

N/A (AS AP syllabus)

N/A (AS AP syllabus)

https://www.concordiashanghai.org/academics/high-school/science

Dulwich College, UK Don’t say Don’t say https://www.dulwich.org.uk/senior-school/academic/subjects/science

Dulwich Shanghai, China Don’t say N/A (IB) https://oss-assets.dulwich.org/blocks/file/SS%20Parent%20Handbook_Final_LR-20180903-101849-656.pdf

Eton College, UK Don’t say Don’t say https://www.etoncollege.com/c_block.aspx

Harrow School, UK OCR OCR Chem A https://www.harrowschool.org.uk/MainFolder/Sixth-Form-Booklet----2017-19.pdf

Kings school, Canterbury, UK (oldest continuous school in the world)

Don’t say Don’t say https://www.kings-school.co.uk/academic/subjects/the-sciences/#slide3

North London Collegiate School, UK

Edexcel Don’t say https://www.nlcs.org.uk/senior-school-sixth-form/subjects/chemistry

Raffles Institute, Singapore

Don’t say Don’t say http://www.ri.edu.sg/ (highest number of students entering Oxbridge and Ivy League in Asia)

St Paul’s School, UK Edexcel 4CH1

OCR A https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/st-pauls/academic/chemistry

Tangling Trust, Singapore

Don’t say Edexcel https://www.tts.edu.sg/seniors/curriculum https://www.tts.edu.sg/uploaded/documents/sixth_form/2018-20_A_Levels_Options_Booklet.pdf

The Perse School, UK Don’t say Pre-U (CIE) https://www.perse.co.uk/prep/academic/curriculum/ https://www.perse.co.uk/upper/academic/subjects/chemistry/

Westminster school, UK. Don’t say

Mix of Edexcel A Level and PreU

https://www.westminster.org.uk/academic-life/results-and-leavers/ https://www.westminster.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Sixth-Form-Courses-2019.pdf (Highest academically achieving school in the country.)

Most of the best schools in the UK, and around the world, do not place much emphasis (sometimes none) on the exam boards they take. The very best high schools often offer a range of exam boards; each science in Concord UK, for instance, uses a different exam board.

Universities, including Oxbridge are required, at least officially, to consider them as all equal. This is an important point to understand, because the exam board is chosen by the teachers and the school, not the students, so it would be unfair to offer students advantages simply because of the school they were attending rather than the quality of their achievements. British universities have legal responsibilities, and a great deal of social pressures, to avoid the appearance of favouring students from more affluent backgrounds.

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 5 of 12

What those who work in universities and in university admissions say:

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 6 of 12

What students say: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=547887

For more information This website is by the UK government and explains what they think exam boards are and why a grade in one is the

same as the same grade in the same subject in another. It also explains changes to the A Level that happened in

2018:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guide-to-as-and-a-level-results-for-england-2018

Below are data that the government uses to allocate additional funding for higher performing state schools in the

UK. If a school performs better than expected, it will be given more money to encourage it to continue and to think

about expanding its intake. The UK state school sector is a massive industry with globally competitive amounts of

money invested by the government. All formally qualified teachers in the UK will have had to train at a state school,

even if later they then work after qualifying for a private school.

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 7 of 12

Appendix – Information about other top private schools

Westminster school https://www.westminster.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Sixth-Form-Courses-2019.pdf

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 8 of 12

Appendix - Harrow School https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_School

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 9 of 12

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 10 of 12

Appendix preferred A Level subjects (From Harrow) https://www.harrowschool.org.uk/MainFolder/Sixth-Form-Booklet----2017-19.pdf

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 11 of 12

Additional information

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-international-advanced-levels/about/faqs.html

Patrick Brannac www.SmashingScience.org Page 12 of 12