Pupils trying to get into Oxford and Cambridge will face a battery of entrance tests amid persistent fears that A-levels are failing to identify the brightest candidates.

As pupils flock reluctantly back into school this month, several thousands will be waiting anxiously for the post each morning. This is the time when sixth-formers hear if they have got a place at Cambridge University. For 14,000-odd Oxford candidates, the misery of waiting was over before Christmas, when 1 in 3 interviewees were successful.

Are Oxford and Cambridge still the glittering prizes for students from independent schools? Victoria Neumark reports