~Pre-U~

These informations are obtained from Wikipedia. It's about Pre-University

Advanced Level [A-level]

The A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education qualification in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, usually taken by students during the optional final two years of secondary school (Years 12 & 13*, commonly called the Sixth Form except for Scotland), or at a separate sixth form college or further education college, after they have completed GCSE or IGCSE exams. The qualification is recognized around the world and is used as a sort of entrance exam for some universities. (In Northern Ireland, classes are numbered differently - the final two years of optional secondary education are called Year "13" and "14".)

A-levels are also taken in some Commonwealth countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Commonwealth Caribbean, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Gibraltar, Brunei, New Zealand, Malta, Zambia and South Africa. In India, the same system is followed, though the names of the exams are different. Due to respective changes in the systems, these examinations differ both in terms of content and style from the A-levels taken in the United Kingdom but the standard remains relatively the same. Nevertheless, the British GCE A-levels are taken all around the world, as many international schools choose to use the British system as the examinations are widely recognized. Furthermore, students may choose to sit the papers of British examination bodies at education centre such as British Councils around the world.


Sixth Form [Form 6]

The sixth form, in the English, Welsh and Northern Irish education systems and Commonwealth West Indian countries such Barbados, Belize, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, is the final (optional) two years of secondary schooling (when students are about sixteen to nineteen years of age), during which students normally prepare for their GCE A-level examinations. The term is used to describe the final two years spent in a secondary school as opposed to a sixth form college (UK use) where students start at age sixteen after leaving secondary school.

The first five years of English secondary schooling were previously known as forms. Pupils started their first year of secondary school in the first form or first year. The first form was the year in which pupils would have their twelfth birthday. They would move up a form each year before entering the fifth form in the year in which they would have their sixteenth birthday. Pupils who stayed on at school after sixteen to study for A levels moved up into the sixth form, which was divided into the Lower Sixth and the Upper Sixth. In many private schools, the term Middle Sixth was used in place of Upper Sixth, with the latter being used for those who stayed on for an extra term to take the entrance examinations that were previously set for candidates to Oxford or Cambridge Universities.

The system was changed for the 1990/1991 academic year and school years are now numbered consecutively from primary school onwards. Year 1 is the first year of primary school after Reception. In Northern Ireland, the equivalent is "P1" with the equivalent of the English Year 1 being "P2". The first year of secondary school (the old first form) is now known as Year 7. The Lower Sixth is now Year 12 and the Upper Sixth is Year 13 (year’s thirteen and fourteen in Northern Ireland). However, the term Sixth Form has still been retained as a relic of the old numbering system and is used as a collective term for years 12 and 13. Private schools (and a few state schools) still use the old numbering.

In some parts of the country, special "sixth form colleges" were introduced during the decades from 1960 onwards, recognizing this as a particularly important phase of student life. A large proportion of English secondary schools no longer have an integral sixth form. This is mainly related to the liberal reforms in the later 20th century, where different political areas become a factor in the introduction of colleges instead of the original sixth forms.

Both of these are ‘Pre-University’ education, if you’re given a choice to choose, which one will you choose? Feel free to vote at the poll and please give your reasons in the chatbox. Thank you. ^^

That’s all for now. ^^
Adios~