To settle a ‘discussion’...are A levels harder now than they were 25 / 30 years ago?

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Or are the pressures on teens just far greater now meaning that studying is far harder?

I had, foolishly apparently, assumed that studying 3 A levels was still the norm. My view caused upset, because apparently A levels are far tougher than they were in my day. Obviously I didn’t mean to cause offensive!

I’m wondering how my own DC’s future will pan out, they are younger and obviously I’m worrying about the sheer volume of work that they are missing out on at the moment.

If bright kids who haven’t had any disruption to their education struggle with A levels I worry about my secondary aged kids who have had so much disruption.

Maths A Level is definitely harder now that it was when I did Maths A Level in 1990.

Agree 3 is the norm. Think the only people we know of doing 4 have maths and further maths as 2 of their choices.

I did mine (Languages) in 1972 - each exam involved 3 papers plus an oral and a dictation. We studied 4 books in each language as well as grammar, vocabulary, translations, history of the country concerned, etc. You were not allowed to take books, dictionaries or any other type of help into the exam. You had to rely on your memory. We had at least 3 hours of homework every night and more at the weekend.

You couldn't rely on coursework or favouritism in those days. It was hard work and not everyone passed.

3 A levels or 2 and a BTec is normal.

Schools or colleges do not get funding if students take only 2 A levels (and not with a BTec alongside) so it's definitely not the norm to do 2. It's still 3. Or 3 plus EPQ or FM.

In terms of difficulty, I think they're roughly the same now as 30 years age. Ds and I took ours 28 years apart with very similar subject combo and I think the rubric and expectations were similar. There was a point for a number of years until Gove's reforms when A levels were modular and you banked AS results towards the A level grade when the content wasn't easier, but it was easier to achieve a top grade as you weren't being tested on two years' content at once.