Talk:Scholarship level

Inaccurate

It is not true to claim one could not take S levels without taking the A level. I have 2 S levels: one in History and one in English. My English teacher taught me a couple of lunchtimes a week as I was already taking too many A levels for the timetable. He contacted the examination board and I was permitted to take the S level without having done the A level. It was rare to do so, certainly, but it was permitted.

Yours sounds like a highly individual case and you haven't cited any references to support your claim. If it was permitted, it was an exception. Certainly when I took my S level in 1990, it was NOT permitted and explicitly prohibited in the University of London's Regulations and Syllabuses. Generally the rule that no S level without the corresponding A level holds true.Masterrows (talk) 00:17, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

What references would you like me to cite? It would be a rather odd thing for me to make up! Even if I uploaded a copy of my S-level English certificate, it wouldn't prove I *hadn't* done the A-level. You will just have to take my word for it, I am afraid. Or we could contact the exam board a decade on? I have no doubt mine was an *unusual* case, but I assure you it isn't imagined or fabricated. This was 2001, by the way, so some years after your example. It was certainly received wisdom even then that one could only take the S-level with the corresponding A-level (my teacher didn't think think it would be possible, for example), but to describe this as a "rule" is inaccurate. I am quite sure it was the case that 99% of S-level entrants also took the A-level in the appropriate subject, and it *may* have been a rule in 1990. It wasn't a rule by 2001!

The article makes clear that the examination was usually taken only by those taking the A-level, so I think its balance is correct and the claims accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.147.6.203 (talk) 17:07, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

This page doesn't say which board was responsible for the S papers? Do you have any examples of papers or links to papers? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.147.254.137 (talk) 01:50, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I took mine in 1984, and the board I entered (Oxford) only allowed the entry of 2 subjects per sitting. Presumably you can sit more than 2 subjects at S-level if you entered subjects with different boards in the same year or over different years with the same board. And oh, I had Distinction in one and Merit in the other. 81.129.180.142 (talk) 00:41, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

I think all the boards offered them, eg Oxford, Cambridge, Oxford & Cambridge, London, JMB, AEB, although not in all subjects, for example Law, Accounting. 81.129.180.142 (talk) 00:27, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

The WJEC definitely offerd one as I took Biology S - something like "Gydar chlod yn yr papur arbennig" Stub Mandrel (talk) 07:34, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

JMB certainly did. I did JMB Pure & Applied Maths in 1988 Illuminatusds; talk 15:04, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

Grades

'S'-Levels were at one time graded, Distinction, Merit and Credit (1,2 and 3). Then Credit was dropped, so that there were only the 2 grades of Distinction and Merit. 86.136.61.102 (talk) 02:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Doubt that - you might be confusing this with the STEP paper which also had the S grade ("Outstanding"). Do you have any references?Masterrows (talk) 00:21, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

From my school year book of 1977, so was years before STEP. But that was a private publication. 81.129.180.142 (talk) 00:23, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

And the S-level gradings for the science subjects such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc, depend not just on the S-paper sat, but also from the marks obtained in the Practical Paper/Exam. 81.129.180.142 (talk) 00:42, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Sorry but...

Is there anyone anywhere out there who has heard of S levels or Special levels refered to as "Scholarship level". This looks to me like a case of someone making a term up when they didn't know what the "S" meant. I cannot find the term in the reference provided (which refers to S and AS) but perhaps it is a pdf search problem--BozMo talk 12:51, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

I, too, only knew it as a Special paper but this was the 1990s so perhaps it evolved to be known as such? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.129.86 (talk) 23:37, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

I never knew it as "scholarship level": it was always and exclusively referred to as "special". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.147.6.203 (talk) 17:09, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

The "Scholarship Paper" was renamed the "Special Paper" in 1963 or so. Perhaps inappropriate to title the article based on the old name. --benmachine (talk) 10:14, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

They were known as S-papers or -S-level: S for Special, but the copies of syllabus I had from 1981 to 1984 stated that the papers were at a level known previously as Scholarship level, so S also stood for scholarship. The older teachers in my days always called them scholarship papers. 81.129.180.142 (talk) 00:32, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Excessive/unsourced detail on style

The article currently includes this paragraph:

Up until and including 1960, the actual mark in steps of 5 was provided to candidates. The S level Higher Maths papers were not marked unless at least 75(Distinction) was secured in the A level Pure and/or Applied mathematics papers. The marks were normalised, but usually completion of 2 or 3 questions of the 10 was stated by the examiners on the paper to be sufficient to secure a distinction (75). The highest possible score was 90 for ten excellent answers, due to normalisation. The subject matter was identical to the A level syllabus, but the questions very considerably harder.

I think this is mostly needlessly detailed, unclear, and unsourced, but I've resisted removing it because some of it could be relevant, and anyway that wouldn't leave us with much of an article. Also, I know that Mathematics was not the only Scholarship/Special paper, nor was Pure/Applied relevant throughout the life of the paper. --benmachine (talk) 10:14, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

For Maths, the Oxford Board's requirement was that at least two answers must be from the Pure section. 86.182.43.181 (talk) 02:56, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

Was that for a combined Pure and Applied Maths? That seems slightly odd because for the highest level qualification, which is what the 'S' papers ware all about, (my only classmate in the subjects went off to one of the Oxbridge Universities...) would you not go on to study the two separately (or possibly replace one with the other related qualification Statistics?) I took the combined Pure and Applied 'A' level exam the year before I left school, but I sat separate exams in my last year and sat both Special Exams (but got 'Unclassified' gradings for both) in the same exam period - OTOH they did combine the results from the first (easier) paper of the pair for each 'A' level exams to give me a second Pure and Applied qualification in my last year to go with the same from the previous year...! This was with the Associated Examinations Board around 1983-85. SlySven (talk) 14:24, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

I did Oxford board 1983/84. The codes were A50, A51, A52. A50 was Maths. A51 was Further Maths, and A52 was Pure Maths. Maths and Further Maths each had a Pure and Applied Paper. The Applied Paper consisted separately of 2 sections- Mechanics and Stats. You could answer all Mechanics or all Stats or a mixture. A52 consisted of the Pure papers of A50 and A51. If you did both A50 and A51 together, and failed both, then they take the marks from the Pure papers to see if you passed A52. Oxford did not offer a stand alone exam/qualification for Mechanics or Stats. The S-paper for A50 consisted of a Pure and Applied section that consisted of Mechanics and Stats; for A51 the S-paper consisted of Pure and Mechanics (but no Stats). The S-paper for A52 are just the same Pure section for A51. I believe AEB is slightly different, as I did A-level Stats with them (2-papers), ie they offered a stand alone Stats A-level qualification. I think they also did a stand alone Applied Maths (Mechanics) A-level (at least for a time). The AEB A-level in Maths (Pure and Stats) is one paper from Pure and One paper from Stats. I guess their scheme also provides Pure-and-Mechanics. I don't know whether they offered Further Maths as a subject, since Pure Maths, Stats and Mechanics were stand alone qualifications in their own right. A long time ago, but it is still fresh in my mind. 2A00:23C5:C13C:9F01:D03E:4052:ECBC:92A7 (talk) 01:08, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

Irrelevant but so what?

I am the proud owner of a Grade 1 In French (from the very twilight of the thing in the mid 90's) and I don't care. It was like ballet dancing- if you were into it enough, everyone thought you were a poof but it was easy. Someone nicked my certificate but I put a spell on them so they are now impotent : )

Comments by 79.65.133.218 on 25 September 2016

Anon user Contributions/79.65.133.218 left these comments in the article:

I sat and achieved a state scholarship in 1959 and disagree with most of the above

1. I did not apply to or attend Oxbridge.

2. I sat pure maths and chemistry at A level achieving a 3 grade in both and also 3 grades in both subjects at S level.

3. The financial award was £50 on top of the usual county or city grant.

4. I understood that there were 1200 awarded nationally.

5. I was never made aware of any means test.

RCWhiting

—Dah31 (talk) 06:29, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

A 3-grade is called Credit (see above). It's no wonder you did not apply or get into Oxbridge. 86.182.43.181 (talk) 02:53, 15 December 2017 (UTC)