You will only receive an offer if your A-Level predicted grades meet our minimum thresholds and are in relevant subjects. Taking an EPQ will not compensate for any shortfall against our minimum A-Level requirements. If successful, we may make you a lower A-Level offer based on your achieved grade in your EPQ.

about 3 hours

With that in mind, 1,000 typed words is about four pages. If you’re asked to submit a paper with single spacing, you will be writing two-and-a-half pages. If you’re using 1.5 spacing, it would be around three pages. An easy way to think of it is that the standard, double-spaced page contains approximately 250 words.

Cambridge Tutors College has launched the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) online for students 16+ years old. Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) aims to prepare students for their studies at University. To introduce them to independent study and research projects.

There’s no set time limit for doing an EPQ, but most students use the summer vacation at the end of Year 12 to do the preliminary research and then complete the project in the early part of Year 13.

Students can tailor their project to fit their individual needs, choices and aspirations with the agreement of their centre. The EPQ is a standalone qualification and is often taken by students to in addition to their A level studies. Around 30,000 students take an EPQ each year.

Higher marks go to students that pick topics they know very little about, and can prove that they learned a lot in their EPQ, that it helped their development. In regards to the third point, sources should make up the bulk of your EPQ.

What will you achieve?

1. Select, develop and refine an appropriate topic area for your project.
2. Find and evaluate appropriate resources and use these to inform and support your project.
3. Manage your time in order to complete the project effectively.
4. Plan and structure a piece of academic writing.

120 hours

This sounds good, but there are a few hidden factors that you might not be aware of. For one, only 17.7 % of students achieved an A* for their EPQ. That means only 17.7% of students earned the maximum of 28 UCAS points for all their hard work. The majority of students earn an A for their EPQ, meaning 24 UCAS points.

EPQs are usually only taken by pupils enrolled in a school or college. They are not generally available to external candidates.

You can do an EPQ on any topic. As long as it does not overlap with the content of your A level studies, and as long as you are able to produce an academic piece of writing about it, you are good to go. Your supervisor can help you to know whether what you wish to write about is appropriate.

How is the EPQ marked? You’ll need to get a grade between A* and E in order to be awarded the EPQ – anything lower than an E means you don’t get the qualification, so it’s slightly different from A-levels in that respect.

popular Extended Project Qualification

As we do not include the EPQ in our conditional offers we would stress that your final A level (or equivalent qualification) grades are most important to your application and you should be careful that any additional independent study does not jeopardise these.

Intermediate (1250-2500 EPQ) Advanced (2500-3750 EPQ) Expert (3750-4250 EPQ) Elite (4250-4750 EPQ)

The benefits of doing an EPQ include: You can include it on your UCAS application, and it could help you meet the conditions of a university place offer, as it’s worth extra points. The opportunity to produce a piece of work that’s truly individual, whether it’s a written research report, event or creative artefact.