Oxford University has announced that undergraduate admissions to some courses will require an A* grade from next year onwards. Unlike other elite institutions, such as Bristol, Warwick, UCL, and Cambridge, which have made offers using the A* grade since last year when the grade was first introduced, Oxford decided to wait until now, purportedly following the 2008 National Council for Educational Excellence recommendation of not using the A* grade in admissions for the first few years after its introduction.  

Mike Nicholson, the director of Oxford undergraduate admissions, explained: ‘The introduction of the A* grade coincided with significant content and syllabus changes to most AS and A-level programmes and created a great deal of uncertainty. After extensive discussions with teachers who expressed reservations about their confidence in accurately predicting who would achieve the new A* grade, Oxford made the decision not to use the new grade for its first two years.'

The A* grade was introduced in 2008 to address the need to differentiate between the many students that score A grades in A-level. By 2008, on average, 25.9% of all candidates who appeared for an A-level exam scored an A, far higher than the 13.8% of candidates who achieved an A in 1993.

This year, 30% of A* grades went to independent school pupils, who only make up 14% of A- level candidates. This had raised concerns among some that relying on A* grades will affect the admission of state school pupils to elite universities. Cambridge, however, saw no significant change in state school admission statistics this year.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the University of Oxford asserted that concerns regarding outreach weren’t the reason for not using the A* grade till now. However, Oxford’s statement also pointed out that admission is based on several criteria, not just A-level results.

Wheras Cambridge asked for module marks even before the A* grade was introduced, Oxford’s reluctance is apparently because of their method in differentiating students during admissions is less grade-dependent. Usually, Oxford applicants undergo more comprehensive admissions tests during the interview process. However admission statistics reveal that this year while 90% of students admitted to Oxford did score at least one A*, each student admitted Cambridge scored on average 2.5 A*s.

While Cambridge requires at least one A* for all subjects, Oxford will only require an A* for certain subjects – mainly science and mathematics based subjects. However, for few special courses Oxford will require 2 A*s from next year (courses such as Mathematics, Mathematics and Philosophy, and Mathematics and Statistics). The minimum grade requirement for IB students is now 38-40 points.