Are there any disadvantages of apply for A/L as a private candidate?

Dear Sir/Madam, I am a 2026 A/L student. Due to personal reasons, I studied outside of school during 2025 and 2026. I have decided not to sit for the 2026 A/L examination because I feel that I am not sufficiently prepared. Instead, I am planning to sit for the 2027 A/L examination as my first attempt. I have been studying well from home and attending online Zoom classes. However, I have some concerns regarding university admission as I will be sitting for the A/L examination as a private candidate. My ambition is to study Medicine and become a doctor, and I hope to enter the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. Could you please clarify the following for me? 1) Can a private A/L candidate qualify for admission to a government university, including the Faculty of Medicine? 2) Are students who apply through schools given priority over private candidates when selecting students for government universities? 3) Will sitting for the A/L examination as a private candidate affect my chances of entering the University of Colombo to study Medicine? I would be very grateful if you could clarify these matters, as they are very important to me and my future studies. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my concerns. I sincerely appreciate your guidance and assistance. Yours faithfully,

මම 2018 උසස් පෙළ විභාගය ලිව්වා. ඒත් මට විද්‍යාපීඨ යෑමට සුදුසුකම් මදි උනා. මට 2026 නැවත වරක් පෞද්ගලික අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ලෙස හෝ උසස් පෙළ විභාගයට පෙනී සිටිය හැකිද? මොනවාද සුදුසුකම්?

If I do my A/Ls as a private candidate will I be able to attend to a university? If so any precautions to work hard

උසස් පෙළ විභාගය පලමු වතාව පෞද්ගලිකව නොලියා දෙවනි වතාව ලියන්න පුලුවන්ද.

2017-2018 වර්ශවල o/l ගනිතය විශයට පෙනී සිටියද අසමත් විය. 2019 වසරේද ගනිතය විශයට පෙනී සිටි නමුදු මේ වන තුරු ප්‍රතිපල නිකුත්ව නොමැත.මා හට 2021 A/L ඉල්ලුම් කල හැකිද?

ආ.පො.ස උ.පෙ (A/L) විභාගයට කාලා විශය දාරාව යටතේ ඉතිහායස,දේශපාලන විද්‍යාව හා බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය යන විශයන් තුන තොරාගෙන විභාගයට පෙනිසිටිය හැකිද.? එම විශයන් තුන යටතේ විභාගයට පෙනීසිට විශ්ව විද්‍යල මට්ටම දක්වා යා හැකිද?

උසස් පෙළ දෙවන වර විෂය ධාරාව මාරු කර පෞද්ගලික අයදුම්කරුවෙක් ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් විමේදී නැවත පාසලකට සම්බන්ධ වී ඇගයීම් සම්පුර්ණ කල යුතුද?

If you are a first shy candidate then it is better sitting for the exam as a school candidate. According to my knowledge the first shy private candidates should leave the school. That will not be a big issue. But at some places you might be asked why did you leave the school before the A/Ls. Moreover if your school is a well recognised one that will be a benefit as well. (your results will be included in the leaving certificate as well)

Only thing is government job & university entrance, they treat as external & internal. Some universities intake after A/L as government candidate. Only they have various facilities. But value is the same.

I am glad to share my view on this issue. I myself, in 1970 sat my AL examination as a private candidate because I was not prepared to spend 2 years attending school to complete my advanced Level. As far as I know, there are no disadvantages in writing the AL as a private candidate. Answer scripts will be marked by the examiners the same way as the answer scripts of school candidates. However, when you are a student of a school, the teachers will make sure that the syllabus is covered well and if you study on your own, you may lack certain knowledge and guidance from an experienced and recognized school teacher. Whether you are a private candidate or a school candidate, you will be tested the same way and marks are awarded the same way. There cannot be any discrimination or prejudice against private candidates and this applies even to selection for university education. You must read the application form carefully to make sure that you are eligible to sit the exam as a private candidate.