A-Levels as an International Student

Although A-Levels are a UK qualification, they are becoming more and more popular with International Students. A-levels are a great and simple way to ensure you have all the right qualifications to get offered a place at your chosen university.

A-Level courses are available from 4 main awarding bodies, AQA, Cambridge (Cambridge International), Pearson Edexcel and OCR. Regardless of which awarding body you gain your A-Levels from, they are all graded and worth the same UCAS points based on the grade you achieve. So whether you achieved an A on an AQA A-Level or an A on an Pearson A-Level, that grade is worth the same amount of UCAS points to universities.

One question a lot of International students often ask is if it matters where you study your A-Levels. There is almost a fear that if the universities know you studied your A-Levels online through an online college there may be a type of stigma attached to the qualifications you receive. This is not the case at all, especially in this modern day and age.

The most important thing to highlight here is that even as an International student, your certificates and grades are issued from the same awarding bodies as UK students use and have. So unless you make the point of telling your university that you studied with an online college, they wouldn’t actually know. However, with that said, there is no reason for a university to frown upon a student for taking the initiative and finding a way to study A-Levels from overseas.

Do I have to travel to the UK to sit the Examinations as an International Student?

The answer to this question all depends on which awarding body you decide to study your A-Levels with. You can actually study A-Levels anywhere in the world, at any time, with any awarding body. But to sit the actual examinations, with some of the awarding bodies (AQA and OCR) you would have to travel to the UK to sit the exams.

If you study your A-Level choices with Cambridge (Cambridge International) or Pearson Edexcel, they have examination centres all around the world. So you can study and learn your A-Levels in the comfort of knowing that when you’re ready to sit your examinations, you won’t have to travel far. Of course, if you’re happy to travel to the UK for the examinations, then you are free to study any of the A-Level subjects you wish to.

It’s always advisable to all International students to decide which A-Levels they wish to study and then to check they can sit the examinations for them locally, this way there are no unexpected surprises when you come to register for your exams.