B. Read and translate the text. 65% of British secondary school graduates finish their formal education at the age of 17 or 18

65% of British secondary school graduates finish their formal education at the age of 17 or 18. The students who go on to college are very well prepared to do so. During the last two years of high school they specialize in college preparatory courses and then they take special national examinations (“A-level” exams or “Scottish leaving examinations”) in order to qualify to compete for admission to a university program. It is during this process of studying for their end-of-high-school examinations that most British students acquire the breadth of academic knowledge. By the time they get to university level, most British students are prepared to concentrate on a particular subject, and they are expected to do so. In the UK, students are admitted not to a university as a whole but to a specific course of study within it.

Admittance to universities. Good А-level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get а place at a University. However, good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews. For all British citizens а place at а university brings with it а grant from their local education authority. Grants and loans are intended to create opportunities for equality in education. Grants are paid by the LEA on the basis of parental income.

Students are not supposed to take a job during the term. However, nowadays the government encourages the system of loans. That’s why quite a lot of students can’t afford to live in college and many of them are forced to do a part-time job, but this reduces the traditionally high quality of British university education.

The academic year in Britain’s universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education is divided into three terms, which usually run from the
beginning of October to the middle of December, from the middle of January
to the end of March, and from the middle of April to the end of June or the
beginning of July. The British University year is divided into three terms, roughly
eight to ten weeks each. The terms are crowded with activity and the
vacations between the terms.

Degrees. After three years of study а university graduate will leave with the
Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine, etc. Later he
may continue to take а Master’s Degree and then а Doctor’s Degree. Research
is an important feature of university work.