STUDENTS will have to go back to basics when they study AS-levels in future.

The Government has announced plans for a new maths course which will require sixth-formers to return to material they studied for GCSE. It follows protests that the current version of the AS-Level course is too hard.

The shake-up means students will be allowed fewer opportunities to use calculators in exams, while there will be less emphasis on applying maths to real-life situations and more on "pure" aspects of the subject.

Details of the revised course were published by exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which was forced to act after the number of students who did the full maths A-Level slumped by 12,000 while university applications dropped 10 per cent.

Algebra covered at GCSE is being included in the revised courses, due in schools in September 2004, because students who do the intermediate tier spend little time covering that aspect of the subject.

Calculators will be banned in one pure maths paper, but there will be greater scope for the use of formulae sheets.

Universities complain that school leavers arrive without the necessary knowledge of pure, as opposed to applied, maths. Two-thirds of the qualification will now be made up of theoretical maths and students will only be able to choose between maths and further maths.

Whole AS-Levels in pure maths, applied maths or discrete maths will no longer be available.