Students 'buying tailor-made essays'

A-level students are buying tailor-made essays to submit as exam coursework from a company that claims to provide them with "guaranteed'' top-grade answers written by university undergraduates.

The company, A-level Coursework UK, charges £200 for a 2,000-word essay written to grade A standard and half the amount for a B-grade piece of work.

Each essay is written to the specifications set by the sixth-former ordering it, making it virtually impossible for an exam board to detect the fraud if the student tries to pass the work off as their own.

With the deadline for the submission of coursework for this year's A-levels only two months away, the company says that it is processing hundreds of orders made through its 24-hour service.

Joe Hudson, a sales executive with the company, which began operating on the Internet in September, said: "We have been busy since we set up and have supplied more than 3,000 essays."

The company could not prevent students passing the work off as their own, but Hudson said it insisted that youngsters were warned to check their school's guidelines about how such essays should be used.

"Like anything that can legitimately be of benefit, such as books and information from the Internet, these things can also be used illegally," he said.

"The system can be abused but I think the vast majority of young people that use us are honest." However, he admitted that some sixth-formers who had ordered Coursework had been planning to submit it as part of their A-level coursework and had asked: "What do you mean I can't hand it in?"

When they were told the rules. Coursework is required in nearly all A-levels and counts for between 20 and 60 per cent of the marks, depending on the subject.

With the number of pupils achieving top grades rising to one in four and increased demand for straight as from leading universities, a good Coursework score can mean the difference between winning or failing to gain a place.

The company boasts that essays bought from it will be "unique" pieces of work written to each student's requirements. It states that the essays will not be resold to other students for at least three years or placed on any essay database, ensuring that the pupil has "a vital individual edge over the academic competition''.

The company also claims to be the only provider in britain to guarantee A- or B-grade coursework. If the work fails to meet the quality promise, the company says that it will provide an improved piece free of charge.