CHOOSING A-LEVEL SUBJECT COMBINATION

By Jimmy Kakande

As you prepare for an A-level, consider which subject combinations will best support your desired professional path. Numerous students have enrolled in courses they had not intended to study due to making poor decisions while selecting their A-level subject combinations. For private students, the majority of Ugandan universities demand a minimum of two principle passes. However, when it comes to students who are sponsored by the government, the competition gets fiercer. A student may not be able to enroll in the career course they had in mind if they do not conduct a very rigorous study of the courses they take during the transition from O-level to A-level. To correctly choose a subject combination at A-Level, one has to understand the weighting system and cut-off points that are used by universities to admit students on both government and private sponsorship schemes.

Weighting System

The weighting criteria groups all subjects taken at the Advanced Level of Education into four categories and weighted as follows for purposes of admission to any programme of Undergraduate study in the University.

Subject	Category	Weight
i	Essential	3
ii	Relevant	2
iii	Desirable	1
iv	Others	0.5

The Essential A-Level subjects for University Programmes must be passed with at least a Principal Pass. For a given candidate, not more than three subjects taken at the principal level carries a weight of 3, 2, or 1. Not more than two subjects are designated as “Essential”.

For a given candidate, principal level subjects in excess of the three defined as (i) to (iii) above, are designated as “Others” and carry a weight of 0.5. However, this is not applied given the current subject combinations, where students undertake only three and two subjects at principal and subsidiary levels respectively.

A pass in a subject taken at subsidiary level such as General Paper, Subsidiary Mathematics, or Subsidiary Computer, carries one point.

For a principle subject, a pass ranges from grades 1 to 6. A-score carries 6; B-score carries 5; C-score carries 4; D-score carries 3; E-score carries 2; whereas an O-score carries 1.

In the case of programmes where “Essential” subjects may be three or more, an “Essential set” of subjects is defined. The best-performed two subjects of the essential set are designated as “Essential Subjects” and weighted three. The third best-done subjects from the Essential Set is designated as the “Relevant Subject” and weighted two.

For ‘O’ level grades, Distinctions 1 & 2 carry 0.3 points; Credits 3 to 6 carry 0.2; Passes 7 & 8 carry 0.1 and Fail (9) carry  0.0 weights respectively.
When computing points special programme requirements are also taken into consideration. Female students are added 1.5 points.

Combined Weight: Example

Students; Joanita (Female) and Clinton (Male) both scored A, B &A in Biology, Chemistry & Mathematics respectively. Both scored a credit or better in both subsidiary subjects that is General Paper and Subsidiary Computer. Both intend to pursue Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery for which the essential subjects are Biology and Chemistry. the relevant subject is either Physics or Mathematics. Both students obtained 6 distinctions and 4 credits at O-Level. Their respective combined weight is calculated as follows:

Biology: A(6x3) = 18
Chemistry: B(5x3) = 15
Mathematics: A(6x2) = 12
General Paper: 1 and Subsidiary Computer: 1
O-Level: Distinctions (0.3x6) + Credits (0.2x4) = 2.6
Total: Clinton (18 + 15 + 12 + 1 + 1 + 2.6) = 49.6 points
Total: Joanita (18 + 15 + 12 + 1 + 1 + 2.6 + 1.5) = 51.1 points; 1.5 points have been added to Joanita because she is a female student.

Cut-Off Points

This is the minimum combined value (weight)  of a candidate below which he/she cannot be admitted into the University to pursue a given programme under a given sponsorship scheme that is government scheme or private scheme.

The O-Level weight of a candidate for any programme in the University, is obtained by multiplying the numbers of Distinctions/Credits/Passes, by the relevant weights and adding up for the Distinctions, Credits and passes actually obtained by the candidate.

The A-Level weight, for a given programme, of a candidate is obtained by multiplying each subject grade point by the relevant weighting factor and adding up for all the subjects taken and passed.

The combined weight of a candidate for a given programme, is obtained by adding the O’Level weight to the A-Level weight obtained above.  The best candidate for each programme is the one with the highest combined weight.

Candidates are selected on merit from those who apply for a programme as their first choice plus those who apply for the programme as 2nd, 3rd, 4th choice etc., if they have not been admitted to programmes of their earlier choices.  All choices are considered.

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) through the Public Universities Joint Admissions Board (PUJAB) releases fresh cut-off points every academic year for Academic Programmes under the Government Sponsorship Scheme. Click here to view sample Cut-off points for different programmes offered at Makerere University for different academic years.

Additionally, the academic registrars, of  Universities in turn release fresh cut-off points every academic year for academic programmes under the Private Sponsorship Scheme.