International AS/A Levels (IAL)
The International AS/A Levels (IAL) are British certficates, recognised worldwide, that allow students become accepted in many top universities around the globe.
They are available for non British students and are fully aligned with the British educational system, as they are similar to the UK GCE AS & A Levels. Nevertheless, they are accepted by numerous universities outside Britain too (USA, Italy, The Netherlands, Australia etc. – see the full list here).
Typically, IALs are targeted to students that have previously taken the iGCSE exams; this is not a pre-requirement, though. All possible international candidates are free to take the IAL exams at any age and without any further restrictions, even if they simultaneously follow a different educational system (e.g. greek school, IB).
To get an offer from a university, it is usually required to have full IAL certificates for 2-3 different courses. Obviously, every institution sets certain conditions on the courses and the corresponding grades needed to offer you a place to their programmes.
The main advantage of choosing IAL is that it offers all candidates extreme flexibility. IALs have a modular structure – every course is divided into several modules. Candidates are free to choose the number of courses and whether or not they will get a partial cerificate (AS – 3 modules) or a full certificate (A-Level – 6 modules). Furthermore, everyone is allowed to retake the exam for any module in order to improve their grades.
IAL exams take place 3 times per year (in January, June and October). Before each exam period, all candidates can decide freely the modules they wish to be examined for. In Greece, students are allowed to choose between 2 different paths.
The first is the conventional path; students must drop out of the greek schools and enroll in a private school that teaches IAL courses. In this case, the disadvantage is that students miss out on the chance to receive a greek diploma and they are enforced to follow the educational plan of the school they attend.
The second path is much more flexible, since it gives students the freedom to take the IAL exams as private candidates in one of many exam centers available in Greece. In this case students are allowed to keep on following any other educational system and, at the same time, take the IAL exams on as many modules/courses they wish. Moreover, students can define, in agreement with their teachers, the exact preparation and examination timeplan that suits their needs.