A-Level Courses

How courses work

There are a wide variety of A level courses and A Level Retakes courses offered at Westminster Tutors Sixth Form College. They can teach all exam boards and any combination of subjects is possible, as their courses are individually designed and taught either one-to-one or in very small groups. A typical A level student would study three subjects over the course of two years, although they often admit ambitious students who would like to take a fourth A level subject or an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) in Year 12.

One year or two

A-levels are normally taught over two years. They do not have to be. A one year course covers the same specification and leads to the same exams, compressed into a single academic year, and it is the usual choice for two groups of students: those retaking after a disappointing set of results, and those adding a subject they need for a specific degree.

The compression is real. A one year A-level means roughly twice the weekly pace, less room to fall behind, and very little slack if you are ill for a fortnight. It works when the student has already met most of the content once, or is strong enough to move quickly. It is a poor idea for a subject you have never studied and find hard.

Two years suits students starting a subject from scratch, students taking four subjects, and anyone who wants time for wider reading, work experience or an admissions test alongside the syllabus.

One-to-one teaching and small groups

Courses here are taught either one-to-one or in very small groups, and the difference matters more than most prospectuses admit.

One-to-one means the pace is set by the student rather than the middle of the room. Nothing is repeated for the benefit of others and nothing is skipped because most people got it. For a retake student this is usually the fastest route to a grade change, because teaching can start from the specific things that went wrong last time rather than from the beginning of the specification.

Small groups suit students who work better with other people in the room, who benefit from hearing questions they would not have asked, and who want the discussion that a subject like History, English or Politics is partly about. They also cost less.

The two are not exclusive. It is common to take one subject one-to-one, typically the weakest one, and the others in a group.

Exam boards

All the major boards are covered: AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC or Eduqas. Courses are taught to the specification of the board you are entered with, not to a generic version of the subject.

If you are retaking, staying with the board you sat before is usually the right call. The content overlaps heavily between boards but the paper structure, the mark schemes and the style of question do not, and a lot of what you already know is board-specific. Switching board means relearning how to answer as well as what to answer. The exception is where a different board's specification suits you better, for example a different choice of optional topics, and that is worth a conversation before you enrol rather than after.

How many subjects to take

Three A-levels is the standard offer and the number nearly every university asks for. A fourth adds workload rather than advantage for most courses, and very few universities require it.

It is worth taking a fourth when a course you are aiming at genuinely asks for it, or where a subject is a hard prerequisite you do not yet have, such as Further Mathematics for some engineering and mathematics degrees. Beyond that, three strong grades beat four uneven ones.

Retaking is different again. Most retake students take one or two subjects, not three, because they are moving specific grades rather than redoing a whole sixth form. There is no requirement to retake subjects you were happy with.

Adding an EPQ

The Extended Project Qualification is a single piece of independent research, roughly 5,000 words or an equivalent artefact, carrying up to half the UCAS points of an A-level.

Its real value is not the points. It gives you something specific to write about in a personal statement and to be interviewed on, and it is evidence of exactly the independent working that a degree asks for. Some universities make a slightly lower offer to applicants with a strong EPQ. It suits students applying to competitive courses who want to show depth in a subject beyond the syllabus.

When courses start

The main intake is September, at the start of the academic year. Retake students frequently join in late August or early September, straight after results day, and courses are built around that being a normal thing to do rather than an exception.

Later starts are possible, particularly for one-to-one teaching where there is no group to join, though the later you begin the less time there is before entry deadlines and exams. Our guide onwhen retake courses start covers the deadlines that actually bind.