A levels set for major toughening up following government review The inquiry, led by university academics and learned societies, calls for a significant reform of 14 subjects, including English literature, history, geography, art, science, computing and business. Under plans in the review, led by Prof Mark E Smith, the vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, English literature A-levels will include fewer set texts - falling from a minimum of 12 to eight - but each work will be studied in more depth. The changes are in addition to other exam reforms, including scrapping first-year AS-levels in their current form and clamping down on resits. From 2015, AS-levels will become stand-alone qualifications - worth half an A-level - and will not count towards the full version. Prof Smith's review found that changes to course specifications were needed because many academics feared that students "lacked some of the general skills essential for undergraduate learning. "These included both specific academic skills such as researching, essay writing and referencing, and the wider skills of problem solving, analysis and critical thinking," it said. The subject-by-subject review - which has been put out to public consultation - reserves some of the biggest changes for history A-levels. Under the plans, students will be required to study topics from a chronological range of 200 years - rather than the 100 years at present - because of concerns that previous courses were "too narrow." The minimum amount of British history will be cut by a fifth - from 25 per cent to 20 per cent - because of the large focus on Britain's past at GCSE and the need to expand teenagers" knowledge of "more than one country." The review also recommends a greater focus on social, historical and regional varieties of English as part of new English language A-levels. The new-style A-levels will be taught from 2015, with the first exams in 2017. The review did not cover maths, further maths and foreign languages, which are seen as the subjects in need of the most significant overhaul.