DP has just declared that A'levels are harder than a degree.

[supersop60]

And that's what employers are looking for.
AIBU to think he's a twit?

er, no! A Levels are a piece of piss compared to degree at a decent uni.
Like night and day.

Sounds like someone who struggled with their degree.

I found my A-levels harder than my degree. The jump from GCSEs was a shock and I failed some of my first AS-level exams having never failed an exam before in my life because I thought I could get away with not revising like I had in my GCSEs. I do also find exams much more difficult than coursework and my A-levels were largely exam based. My degree was all written assignments with no exams at all so I found that much easier. I’d definitely rather do another degree than sit A-Levels again.

That said I don’t agree that employers care more about A-levels than degrees, once you have a degree I don’t think A-levels are really relevant anymore in most cases.

My immediate reaction is to agree with your husband. A levels were far deeper subject matter than degree, which was a wider range of subjects. Maybe it's the choices I took (maths and further maths at a level, as well as economics and biology). My degree was business related and much more broad.

As an accountant, the big 4 firms always said a level grades were a FAR better indicator of how well students would do in their ACA exams than degree results.

As an employer if accountants, I always look at a level results. I would take someone with 4 As at A level and a 2:1 over someone with Bs and Cs and a first.

But i suspect it depends on what subjects you're talking about.

I agree that (in my opinion) my A levels were 100% harder than both my degree and my masters

I disagree that employers don’t look for degrees though

I found a levels much harder

I did business studies at BTEC (Equiv A Levels) and degree and masters and the diffrence was depth and complexity. But business studies does cover more breadth than some degrees so strategy, HR, marketing, computing, finance, stats etc so maybe more variety than some degrees. It defintiely got harder as we went on

I went to a.top university 35 years ago. I found A levels much harder than the degree and I got a 2:1 when they were only about 30% of degree not 70+% like they are now

Another who thinks your dh has a point.
It is a commonly held perception that the jump from GCSEs to A Levels is the hardest jump to do.

A-levels tend to be done by attending school or college for 35+ hours a week plus homework on top. Many degrees (not all, by a long chalk), but many degrees only have 9 hours contact time a week. Yes, there is study on top - but study you can do at a time and place to suit you and not totaling what you had to put in at A-level . The level you are working at will hopefully go up, but there is more time to study it. There is more support for differing needs at University - I know of several students who have had support for learning at University that "didn't qualify" when they were at school. Many degrees aren't dependent on two exams within a few days at the end of two years.

As has been said previously, if an employer is trying to fill a degree level position, they might also look at the A-levels, but if they are filling a degree level position then obviously the degree is important.

I teach A Levels (English Lit, History and Film Studies). Not one of these A Levels is about parroting knowledge (with the exception of some aspects of History). All are about learning to construct arguments. It is not difficult to study A Levels but it is very difficult to do very well at A Levels. Three As at A Level I think is an amazing achievement. Bs and even Cs are good. I sometimes wonder if I would get an A * myself if I sat the exams for my subjects. I did get a 2.1 from a Russell Group without much work and I was very lucky in that. Degrees though do demonstrate independence and stamina (mine was four years , husband’s five) in learning.

A levels really not that difficult - I guess splitting time between 4 subjects may be tricky. Although I did medicine (and an intercalated BSc) so not the usual degree path. My experience is once you have a degree no one seems to give a shit about anything before that - might just be my industry though

There is a bigger jump in learning between GCSE and A Levels than between A Levels and 1st year of degree. This might be what he means.

I did double maths, physics and chemistry A levels (late 70s) and then a chemistry degree. The degree was definitely harder - both in complexity of subject but also the sheer amount of practical work. And the subsidiary maths we did for the first year and a half included harder stuff than the 2 A levels. Someone mentioned degrees being easier because of modular exams... nope. Finals covered all 3 years. Far fewer went to uni and only about 10% were awarded Firsts back then ... neither 'bright but lazy' nor 'hard worker' alone would cut it on a science degree then.

. Although I personally thought the transition between gsce and a-level was bigger than that between a-level and a degree.

I found this, found the step up much harder.

a levels are vastly easier certainly compared to the best university degrees: they have softer material; more teaching hours/better support; much more comprehensive and accessible course materials.

I left school 25 years ago, so my experience is very out of date. But I'm going to chip in anyway. My A levels were multiple three hour long exams, testing everything that we had learnt in the preceding two years.

I went to a well enough respected, old university. We had ten weeks of lectures then exams, for three years. I only ever had to retain my knowledge for a few weeks at a time.

So, what I learnt was much more in depth, but I was able to learn it then within weeks I never had to think about it again.

I've done both and I've always said. A levels are the hardest exams you will ever do.

A levels are often a better indicator of someone's academic ability.

Not sure I agree with this though, I got a E in one A-Level module which I retook a few months later. I ended up getting 97%. It just so happened that what I revised the 2 days before came up, even the essay I had practiced.

Degree was much harder than A-levels. I found A-levels difficult at the time but actually we didn't actually cover that much at A-level it was just because GCSE's were so crap that it felt like a leap. I studied a STEM subject at a top uni btw.

The hardest exam I ever sat was at degree level. I've never been in an exam where so many people were so visibly upset by how hard it was.

That's really interesting - thank you everyone.
I did a degree which was way harder than A'level, both in content and in workload.
DP 2 A Levels, then went to Music College, which was nearly all practice, and not academic.
I quoted to him things like Engineering or medicine, where you'd much prefer to have someone with a degree building bridges or fixing your broken hip.

@supersop60 but of course, engineering and surgeons are graduate jobs, so of course they require degrees. A lot of non grad jobs ask for GCSE's and/or A levels and that often isn't waived with a degree.

My A levels were much harder, mainly because I went to a very bad (as in poor) high school and the transition to a much posher college was hard. I remember my first Chemistry A Level class and everyone knew who to use the equipment and I’d never seen it before! So yes for me A levels were harder than my degree. But it’s all down to individuals and the specific courses

Depends what he actually means by it. I found the leap from GCSE to A-Level much steeper than the leap from A-Level to Degree. But yeah, if he thinks employees preference A -levels over degrees it’s just a ludicrous statement!!

say advanced maths A level is probably harder than a drama degree

Always the contempt for the humanities by people who have no appreciation for them. All degrees are equally hard. It's just that we find some easier than others because of our own talents and interests.
And A levels arent harder, but they are often more work because of the number of subjects. People used to do 2 or 3. Now they can do 5

I found A levels harder. But as a pp said, upthread, I've got a pretty crap degree.....

I’m doing a degree at a shit university and it’s definitely harder than a-levels.