- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 August 2003 01.52 BST
So many students are securing A grades that it has become virtually impossible to differentiate between tens of thousands of pupils.
Anthony McClaran, acting chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), has called for the introduction of a more sophisticated marking system to help universities choose the most suitable students.
His outspoken critique on the future of A-levels comes after another year of record-breaking results.
Some pupils secured an extraordinary seven grade As and yet were still turned down by their preferred university.
Headmasters warn that if current trends continue, universities will soon be forced to introduce their own entrance tests to differentiate between the brightest applicants.
Critics claim the current grading system has become too 'crude' now that one in five students receives a top grade.
'If these grades could be represented as marks then that would offer a much finer gradation. There is an issue in how do we distinguish between students,' McClaran told The Observer.
Courses that are oversubscribed with high-achieving students are, in particular, posing acute problems for the admissions system.
The proportion of students receiving grade As in last week's results rose 0.9 percentage points to 21.6 per cent. The pass rate again rose in 29 of 31 subjects. In 1970, the figure stood at less than 9 per cent.
McClaran, who announced a record 280,000 A-level students had their university places confirmed on Thursday, is also demanding the introduction of US-style aptitude tests.
These tests, understood to be backed by the Government, measure the potential of students by taking into account factors such as personality and psychological traits.
It comes ahead of this week's announcement of GCSE results with experts predicting a similar pattern of improved results.
However Ministerial efforts to close the gender gap at GCSE are expected to founder this year as girls once again extend their lead over boys.
Another record set of GCSE results for more than 600,000 students will reignite the debate over the worth of the exam. It, too, will lead to renewed calls for gifted students to skip it entirely from some of Britain's most eminent exam academics.
Alan Smithers, professor of education at Liverpool University and adviser to the Commons Education Select Committee, said it was 'appropriate' that certain pupils bypass GCSEs.
He demanded an overhaul of the exam, claiming its currency had been 'devalued' and it was failing to test the brightest students sufficiently. 'They should revalue them. The problem is that the top performers are not able demonstrate what they are really capable of,' he said.
'The long jump pit had to be lengthened after Bob Beaman made his extraordinary jump in the Mexico Olympics,' he added.
However John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said there was no justification for making GCSEs tougher, even though the percentage of entries earning grades of A* to C was expected to rise above 57.9 per cent. But he admitted the A* grade had reduced the cachet of the once-coveted A grade itself.
Dunford, who last week provoked uproar by claiming pupils were opting for easier A-levels to get into university, said there was no evidence some GCSEs were easier than others.
However he felt confident that narrowing the gender gap would ultimately prove achievable, but was a 'long-term' project.
'Ten years ago, underperformance of girls in schools was a problem and that has been turned round,' he pointed out.
