A-level students face more tests and less coursework than their peers overseas, the head of the exams regulator has suggested.
The current qualification system is "quite examination-based" according to Glenys Stacey, chief executive of Ofqual.
Her comments came as an exam board chief warned that to only focus on academic qualifications in schools risks leaving a "system of mass failure".
Ofqual has been conducting research which compares A-levels with similar qualifications in countries including Australia, the US, Canada, Denmark, Finland, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Presenting the preliminary findings at a Westminster Education Forum in central London, Ms Stacey said: "We found on the whole, for example, that compared to other assessment mechanisms around the world, our A-levels have less coursework and more external assessment, so we are quite examination-based.
"There appears to be fewer multiple-choice style questions in our A-level papers. So, we are finding across the world a greater range of assessments, but where examination is prevalent there is a larger reliance on multiple choice, but the multiple choice is quite sophisticated.
"Generally speaking, A-level specifications have come across as strong in terms of the depth and breadth of the courses of study, and you'll understand there are wider cultural and context dimensions to that."
She added that there may be aspects of international qualifications that England can learn from, such as the use of extended essays and pupils doing independent research.
Speaking at the same event, Mark Dawe, chief executive of the OCR exam board, said that vocational qualifications are "really important", and he also warned that pupils should not be forced into taking the academic subjects that make up the new English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
"Vocational qualifications are really important, again, coming from a college principal background, if we drive this academic route and nothing else then we're going to be left with a system of mass failure," he said. "Vocational has to be addressed as well."