COURSE FACTSHEET
Advanced Level Foundation — Data Handling, Statistics and IT module (for Humanities students) Who is this course for?
Recognised by widest choice of quality universities
The Kings Advanced Level Foundation is based on A-level syllabuses, taught by A-level teachers, assessed against A-levels and moderated by an independent Advisory Board of external examiners. As such, it is one of the most highly academic and successful pathways to leading UK universities.
Kings does not work with a narrow range of university partners. This is because our Advanced Level Foundation is based on, and linked to, A-levels. It is therefore automatically recognised and accepted by the widest choice of universities. Out of the top 25 universities listed in the Times and Sunday Times 2018 rankings, 21 have accepted Kings’ Foundation students.
Key Facts
The Kings Advanced Level Foundation has Pearson assured status, awarded after an annual Pearson audit of quality assurance.
Pearson assured
Start dates: 7 January, 8 April*, 1 July*, 9 September 2019; 6 January, 6 April*, 29 June*, 7 September 2020 (*Extended version) Locations offered: Oxford
London
Bournemouth Brighton
Level: Minimum IELTS 5.5 (standard version); IELTS 4.0 (extended version). Completed 11 – 12 years of schooling. Minimum age: 17 Length: 1 Academic Year (3 terms). Or Extended Advanced Level Foundation of 4 – 7 terms (including 3-term Advanced Level Foundation) Lessons: Average 21 hours per week (plus homework and private study) Class size: 8 – 12 Learning outcomes: à Raise academic qualifications to UK university entrance level à Raise English to university level à Develop learning and self study skills for degree level
Benchmarking against A-Level grades
Advisory Panel Standards for the Programme are set by an external and independent Advisory Board which meets three times each year to ensure best practice, moderate marks where required and hear appeals.
Assessment Paper
Weighting
Term 1 Assessment
30%
Term 2 Assessment
35%
Term 3 Assessment
35%
Typical top 30 university offers to students following the Programme are based on their normal A-level offers. The Programme is benchmarked against A-level grades as follows: Typical A-level offer
Typical Kings Foundation offer
A*A*A*
80%
AAA
75%
AAB
70%
ABB
65%
BBB
60%
CCC
50%
Extended option Students with lower language levels can join an extended programme of 4 – 7 terms (including the 3-term Advanced Level Foundation), from IELTS 4.0. It offers practical content designed to provide a bridge into UK academic life. The main focus is developing suitable language proficiency for the Advanced level Foundation with concentrated IELTS lessons, but as the course is made up of English language classes and some 1:1 or small group study, it has the flexibility to also provide bespoke academic study skills and subject enrichment. The course can also include a Maths GCSE if required.
Advanced Level Foundation
Sept
Jun
Apr
Jan
Sept
Jun
Apr
Jan
Sept
Jun
Pathways
Vacation
Advanced Level Foundation IELTS 4.0
Extended Foundation IELTS 5.0 IELTS 4.5
Extended Foundation Extended Foundation
Top 20 university Top 20 university
Vacation
Advanced Level Foundation
Vacation
Top 20 university
Vacation
Advanced Level Foundation
Vacation
Top 20 university
Advanced Level Foundation
Vacation
Top 20 university
COURSE FACTSHEET
Course structure and content The programme is highly flexible, and able to adapt to the needs and academic aspirations of each student. It does this through a combination of core modules and a series of elective modules which can be combined in different ways to create main subject streams: Main subject streams à Business à Engineering à Life Sciences and Pharmacy à A rchitecture à Media and Communications à Humanities and Social Sciences à Mathematics, Computing and Science
Core modules are: à Communication and Study Skills à Data Handling and Information Technology Elective modules are: à A rt and Design à Biology à Business Studies à Chemistry
à Economics à History à Human Geography à Law à Mathematics à Media à Physics à Psychology à Politics and Government
2018 – 19 Sample academic timeline September
October
November
December
January
February
September starters
10 Sept: term starts Student induction
20 – 28 Oct: half term
University fairs/visits
14 Dec: term ends CSS Assessment 1 (Written) End of term exams
7 Jan: term starts
14 – 17 Feb: half term CSS Assessment 2 (Presentation) University fairs/visits
January starters
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—
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—
7 Jan: term starts Student induction
14 – 17 Feb: half term University fairs/visits
March
April
May
June
July
August
September starters
22 Mar: term ends Assignments* End of term exams
8 April: term starts Assignments*
Assignments*
14 June: term ends CSS Assessment 3 (Listening and Reading exam)
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—
January starters
22 Mar: term ends Assignments* CSS Assessment 1 (Written) End of term exams
8 April: term starts Assignments*
Assignments*
17 – 18 June: 2 day break CSS Assessment 2 (Presentation)
CSS Assessment 3 (Listening and Reading exam)
2 Aug: term ends
*students spend two weeks on each assignment and do three in total — one for each of their ‘elective’ modules. Please note that specific dates are subject to change.
Data Handling, Statistics and IT module (for Humanities students) structure and content Learning outcomes On successful completion of the Data Handling, Statistics and IT module, students should: à be able to structure, store and analyse numerical and non-numerical data à make good use of generic computer packages such as Excel à be able to represent data using a variety of graphical forms à be able to understand numerical data using standard statistical methods à appreciate the application of statistics to modelling real-world situations à understand notions of statistical testing à understand the use of algorithms to solve real-world problems à have a sophisticated understanding of data presented by others. à be able to present a data set to give represent results in a chosen way Term 1 à Computer applications and statistics
à Computer security and good organisation practice à Use of Word to produce well presented academic reports. à Spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel). Entering data and formulae à Useful functions, Formatting and Printing, Graphs à Measures of location and dispersion à Mean, median, mode, range, quartiles, standard deviation à Histograms, cumulative frequency diagrams, box and whisker plots, pie charts and stem and leaf diagrams à Statistical analysis à Use of spreadsheets to analyse data à Random sampling à Critical reading of data presented by others. Term 2 à Developing skills with Excel. (IF function, Vlookup and Form controls.)
à Systematic and stratified random sampling, cluster sampling and questionnaire writing à Probability Trees, Venn diagrams applied to probability à Concept of Algorithms applied to networks: bin-packing, minimum connector, shortest path, nearest neighbour. à Correlation of Data à Product Moment and Spearman’s rank correlation à Regression lines à Critical values for correlations (one tail test), but not the formal vocabulary of hypothesis à Testing Term 3 à Critical path analysis and GANTT diagrams. à Uniform Distribution à Normal Distribution à Study and critical evaluation of a wide range of graphs from the media and academia.
COURSE FACTSHEET
Recommended reading Below is a list of text books normally used on this course. In many cases the textbooks will be supplied by the school, and you may borrow them for the duration of your time at school. However, if you already know what three subjects you want to choose you may prefer to purchase one before you arrive.
1800 08/18
à Edexcel AS and A level Mathematics Statistics and Mechanics Year 1 2017 à Edexcel AS and A level Mathematics Statistics and Mechanics Year 2 2017 à Pearson Edexcel Decision Mathematics 1 D1 published in 2009