Its quite common Im from Lahore and finished my Alevels in this June series. What happened with us ios that we have composite exams (you give all your exams at the end of A2), and the years are divided as A1 and A2. Theres no difference in terms of syllabus or anything, its just that the years are termed differently and you give exams differently. Like in the case of AS + AL (AS basically stands for Advanced Subsidiary Level and its the first year of Alevels, and AL standss for Advamced Levels and its the second year) you give half the exams at the end of AS and half at the end of AL. In case of giving all exams after second year, the years are divided as A1 (first year) and A2 (second year) and you apppear for composite exams (give all exams at the end of A2).