I've had two children go through pre U. I understand the course is supposed to be more challenging and interesting but couldn't judge that. I think the absence of public exams at the end of year 12 is good - there isn't a lot of time lost to revision and exams so I can believe that more ground is covered in total. My DCs are still going through uni application so can't say if lack of AS results is an issue - I can see that it might be. There is a lot more differentiation for the top grades than with a level so I can see the benefit for the very academic as their results will be distinguishable from straight A* but this is really only relevant for a very few candidates. For others I think the grades are potentially more confusing - my dd tends to give her results in A level equivalent grades as noone understands the pre U. So on balance I don't think I would have chosen for them to do pre U rather than A level but equally I wouldn't have chosen not to do them. The school only offered one exam per subject so they did what was taught. Hope this is the sort of response you were looking for.