MARLBOROUGH mum Ashley Oakshott is celebrating achieving an A grade in her French A-level 20 years after getting a C at school .

Responding to critics who have claimed modern A-levels are comparatively easy, Mrs Oakshott said her year of studying at Swindon College was tougher and more challenging than it was back in the early 1980s.

Twenty years ago Mrs Oakshott, 38, took three A-level subjects over

two years instead of one over 12 months. But, she said there was no comparison between the French A-level of 2004 and the exam she sat in 1984.

Mrs Oakshott, who has a 20-month-old son and works part time in human resourses, said: "Back then you tended to cram like mad before an exam. There's more course work involved now. We were given some really tough assignments.

"Mine were the French health service and the French energy policy.

I had to immerse myself in French culture and French current affairs."

Mrs Oakshott said she decided to re-take the exam after reading about the course in college literature.

Meanwhile Joey Skeaping, a pupil of St John's School, Marlborough, has also cause to celebrate. He achieved one of the country's top five passes in A-level English notching up 598 marks out of a possible 600.