#a level

Sat here debating how far back I should go....

We'll start at secondary school.

Strap in.

We enter secondary school (high school) at eleven, which is 'year 7', year 8, year 9, so on.

Year 9 is when you start studying your citizenship GCSE. GCSEs are a standardised Level 2 qualification (if you get a passing grade or above, otherwise it is level 1) administered by a national curriculum to all students. The citizenship one teaches you laws, and rights, kind of basic 'here's why stuff is the way it is' knowledge.

In Year 9, you choose what other GCSEs you want to do come next year. Standard practice is you will do: English Literature, English Language, Mathematics, and then choose either Combined or Triple Science (combined is 2 GCSEs equivalent across Biology/Chemistry/Physics, and triple is an individual GCSE for each science). You will then choose usually 3 (but some schools do 2) more subjects like History, Geography, Health and Social Care, Music, so on so on, the more minted your school is the more niche options you can choose. Oh yeah and also 2 languages, your minor and your major, you will drop your minor a year in and only do exams on your major. (These are usually French/Spanish/German/Mandarin Chinese, which you will have studied two or three of since year 7, if not one of them since year 1 (5 years old.))

In Year 10, you drop all your other subjects and only do your GCSE ones. This is the year you will have your minor language slowly phased out, and complete exams on your Citizenship GCSE, then you get a taste of the process and already have one under your belt for year eleven.

In Year 11, you start applying to colleges, or sixth forms (we'll get to that). Come May, all students will begin do do 2-3 papers on their GCSE subjects, and usually go on study leave around June time. Then secondary school is over, hurray!

Usually in mid-to-late August, there is 'Results Day' which is when everyone traipses back to their school and gets their grades, and buckle in.

Formerly (and as of 2025/2026 study year, reinstated):

A* A B C D E F G U (Unmarkable)

From 2017 until the revision:

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 U (Unmarkable)

Basically a D and below, or a 3 and below is a 'you failed'.

UNLESS

Core subjects (maths, englishes, science) and languages are divided into Higher Tier and Foundation Tier.

If you do Higher Tier, it is as seen above.

If you do Foundation Tier, you get an easier paper and can only score as high as a grade 5, there is no option to score higher as they are marked in larger mark bands and...yeah you just can't.

On results day, you get your results, then drive right to the college you want to go to, as it is also Enrollment. You will have already applied with your predicted grades for every subject, and probably got a conditional offer. You go to Enrollment and confirm that offer, get a place, job done sorted.

Now we're at college/sixth form/sixth form college, which is what I am currently in.

So secondary school is 11-16, sixth form is 17-18 education.

Now we do something called A-Levels, which is a Level 3 qualification.

A-Levels are a step up from GCSEs, and you do 3 or 4 of them. Unless you're super duper uber fuck off smart, then you can do however many you want (some people do seven...for some reason). But you do need to have really high grades for your college to allow you to do four, because it is so much work.

Entering your first year of A-Levels, you are now in Year 12 (there's a theme here...).

An A-Level is basically the equivalent of 3 GCSEs crammed into one, and is the highest motivator for my urge to eject myself into outer space and never return.

(Uni students like to come along and talk about how A-Levels are harder than university, like that is helpful in any capacity.)

Once again, a two year course, exams are in May/June of Year 13.

Throughout Year 12 you are also, along 15 hours of classroom time and a 'suggested' equivalent outside of the classroom, sxpected to prep to apply for university.

There's an intermediary called UCAS, a company you send your application to and they forward it to your five uni choices (including a firm and a safety choice).

This prep is called 'supercurriculars', and refers to extra subject-specific activities you do outside of your classroom time, usually watching documentaries, going to talks, reading theory, summer schools, social mobility programmes, work experience, so on. They do not care about your extracurriculars (sport, hobbies), they are irrelevant to your application, you have to showcase how dedicated you are to your subject.

If you are applying to Oxbridge (Oxford or Cambridge University) or a Medicine or Dentistry course, your UCAS application must be done, dusted, and sent off by October of your Year 13. If you aren't, you have until mid December to send yours (January 6th, but you don't want to be caught out while your teachers/advisors are on Christmas holiday).

A big part of A-Levels (and formerly GCSEs, before the gender achievement gap widened too far and they removed it to improve male achievement) is coursework. Which is what your question was actually about, lordy.

These are best described as mini dissertations (or soul sucking evil mechanisms of an inherently flawed education system, but I digress).

It will look different, but for each subject you'll usually be doing one or two pieces (some don't have coursework, but most do), usually between 1000 and 5000 words depending on what is required. Your teacher can only help you with revisions once, but it's a whole bunch of faff because you just need to hope your coursework is good enough because they can't really tell you.

This will then (usually) be marked by your teacher (which is why they can't help you), and a randomised few will be selected by your exam board to have their examiners check your teacher's marking was accurate otherwise they will all be recalled and remarked to give you a more precise grade (not always good...).

Coursework, depending on how much there is, often amounts to around 20% of your final grade, the rest divided between three exam papers to be completed at the end of Year 13.

You (hopefully) get conditional offers from your unis (very rarely do you get an unconditional offer, it's very hard) partway through the year. They will get your grades before you do, again in August (before GCSE Results Day), so everyone is fixed on UCAS' website morning of, because that will show you if you got in (yayy) or not (shit).

If you haven't, you get shafted into something called Clearance, who grab you by the scruff and throw you at another university that will take you, rather than your ideal choice.

Then university is usually 3 years (often took up to 4 as many take up either a placement year or an international study year with a partner university).

Dissertation (if you choose to do it) is in your third year, then you're home free (saddled with thousands of pounds in debt that will loom over you for the rest of your life because this country is incredibly classist and works very hard to oppress the working class).

• sunday ~ 18/01/2026 •

first studyblr post!

did maths (binomial expansions) and chemistry (enthalpy changes) in preparation for 2 upcoming tests. loads of practice questions but this is the academic comeback of the century, and by god am I going to make it worth it when it’s exam time.

⏰ 2h 40mins

🎧 God’s Menu by Stray Kids

📖 The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts

🎞️ Taskmaster Season 19