GCE A Levels were introduced in 1952, following a recommendation in the Norwood Report, to serve as matriculation qualifications for higher education and degree courses. Typically students studied three subjects over a two-year period with terminal examinations in each subject at the end of the programme. The specification of the content of the courses was led by higher education via a series of examining boards. Consequently, there was the opportunity to maintain a link between the specification of the content of GCE A Level courses and their assessment, and progression to study at degree level. In the late 1990s control of GCE A Levels passed out of the hands of higher education tutors working with teachers through the examination boards, and fell under a series of regulatory agencies, such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), through which the state could maintain a greater degree of control over the specification and assessment of these qualifications.

The earliest attempts to modularize A Level, and so move away from total reliance on terminal assessment, occurred in the 1980s with teachers in schools and colleges seeking a means to make the A Level curriculum more relevant to their students, to provide increased extrinsic motivation through the setting of shorter-term assessment targets, and a greater use of coursework for assessment purposes. The University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate (UCLES) scheme involved dividing existing qualifications into modules of delivery typically combined with a step-by-step approach to assessment, with examinations taking place at the end of each module. It was formally known as the Peterborough TVEI or 4 Counties scheme.

The Schools Examination and Assessment Council (SEAC) set out the ground rules for the construction of modular examinations in March 1993, in particular, the requirement for external assessment both at the end of the course and at the end of each module in order to maintain the standard of the qualification.