Direct access with Cambridge International A Levels

Given that university places in Spain are awarded in July and the results of Cambridge International AS & A-Level exams are released in August, Cambridge International provides ‘predicted grades’ for UNED. Predicted grades are submitted by schools, based on the student’s coursework and, where applicable, previous mock tests or results from previous Cambridge qualifications (e.g. Cambridge IGCSE, or International AS Levels). With these predictions, UNED issues the Provisional Accreditations that enable pre-registration at public or private universities. This accreditation will be modified in September, after the final results have been released by Cambridge International.

Direct Access Stage 1: Access Qualification

A Level students accredit their University Access Qualification by means of the Access Accreditation issued by the UNED for the A Levels studied.

The A Level scores are converted to UCAS points which, in turn, will be transformed into the scores of the Spanish system using an equivalence table. A maximum of 4 AS/A Levels and a minimum of 3 A Levels will be considered for Access Accreditation.

The table below is based on the calculation formula you can find on UNEDasiss.

Direct Access Stage 2: The optional stage

Students may obtain up to four more points, which will be added to the Access Qualification. To do this, students can take the PCE and/or apply for further A-Level subject recognition.

• Specific Competency Exams (Pruebas de Competencias Especificas, PCE) - These exams are based on the final two years of work covered in the Spanish Bachillerato. Although there is some overlap with subject content at A Level, there are also significant differences, and the subjects are, of course, in Spanish. The scores obtained will be weighted 0.1 or 0.2 depending on how relevant they are to the degree you would like to study. For example, Chemistry is worth 0.2 for a Medicine degree, whereas for a History degree it might be worth 0.1. It’s important therefore to choose the right PCE subjects for your university course. The Weighting Grid is published by the universities each year.
• Request for further A Level subject recognition - In this way, the results of up to two A Level subjects – regardless of whether they have been used for the Access Qualification and converted on the 10-point scale for Access – will also be weighted and scored on four points. This is only possible if:
  • UNED has recognised these subjects as equivalent to the corresponding subjects in the Spanish education system, and
  • the subjects are accepted by the university in the optional phase, as indicated by the university’s weighting tables.

Students may choose both ways, so you can take the PCE and request recognition of your A-Level subjects too. The system will always choose the results that give you a higher score.

The disadvantage of requesting the recognition of A-Level subjects, instead of taking the PCE, is that the Admission Score will be based on predicted grades at this stage, while the PCE exams will be counted as final results. In September, with the final A-Level results released, UNED may modify the accreditation, and universities may therefore also revise the study place offer they made in July.

The A-Level subjects currently recognised as equivalent to Pruebas de Competencias Específicas (PCE) are:

• Art and Design (AS and AL) – Diseño
• Art, Craft and Design (AS and AL) - Diseño
• Biology (AL) - Biología
• Business (AL) - Economía de la Empresa
• Chemistry (AL) - Química
• French (AS and AL) - Francés
• Further Mathematics (AS and AL) - Matemáticas II
• Geography (AL) - Geografía
• Mathematics (AL) - Matemáticas II
• Mathematics (AL) - Matemáticas Aplicadas a las Ciencias Sociales II
• Physics (AL) - Física 

Please check the list on unedasiss