Baccalaureate gets top marks at Ucas
By John Clare, Education Editor
The International Baccalaureate won the first official recognition yesterday of its academic superiority over A-levels, the exam it is beginning to replace.A new points tariff announced by Ucas - the Universities and College Admissions Service - made a relatively modest IB score of 35 points (out of a maximum of 45) equivalent to four and a half A grades at A-level.
Even 30 IB points is judged equivalent to three and a half As at A-level, sufficient to secure entry to most academically selective universities.
Katy Ricks, the head of Sevenoaks, welcomed the new tariff as a "just reflection of the IB's breadth, depth and coherence".
She said: "Ucas has clearly taken account of the fact that in the upper mark bands students reach a significantly high level of knowledge and skills and that studying six subjects is demanding."
Other heads will see the premium Ucas has attached to the IB as confirmation of how far A-levels have slipped from the "gold standard". That can only hasten the rate at which state and independent schools switch to the IB, as widely admired for its stability as for its academic rigour.
Among the 87 schools that have adopted it are two of the most academically successful, North London Collegiate and King's College School, Wimbledon. The majority, though, are state schools.
IB candidates take three subjects at higher level and three at lower. They are also required to write an extended essay, take a course in the theory of knowledge and fulfil the requirements of a component called "creativity, action and service".
Credits: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1523204/Baccalaureate-gets-top-marks-at-Ucas.html
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