Where theres no such thing as failure.

last updated 8 January 2015

United Kingdom

Michael Prowse

Passing your A-levels used to be a cause for great pride, said Michael Prowse in London’s Financial Times. The exams, which seniors in British high schools take for admission to university, were among the toughest in Europe. Now, though, “the exam has become as hard to fail as it once was to pass.” Twenty years ago, less than 70 percent of students passed their A-levels. But then the government, out of the admirable wish to make a college education available to more people, began making the tests easier. The pass rate rose each year until, now, an astonishing 97 percent of students pass. And fully 25 percent of those earn the once-rare top grade. With so many A students, it is now impossible for university professors or employers “to tell the bright from the merely competent.” It’s time for “a frank admission that A-levels are past their best-by date.” A broader, tougher final exam would serve students—and the nation—better.