A Level Results Day - keep a cool head: Michael Doherty, Head of Careers

The third Thursday in August is awaited with a mixture of eager anticipation and apprehensive dread by all Sixth Form students – A Level Results Day.

It is very important to keep a cool head and make rational decisions on a day of such frenetic activity.  Here are a few points to keep in mind:

DO’s

·         1. Have access to the internet and a phone on the day

·         2.Ensure you have your UCAS ID Number and access codes easily accessible

·         3.Check your results as early as possible to enable you to act quickly if necessary

·         4. Constantly check UCAS Track – sometimes, even if you haven’t achieved your offer grades, you can receive a place from your Firm Choice or Insurance Choice

·         5. Ensure you have signed up to the UCAS Clearing contact list so universities can contact you if you are in Clearing

If you have achieved the grades for your CF offer, confirm acceptance via UCAS Track and find out whether any further information is required.   If you are in the fortunate position to exceed your expectations and grades, you can put yourself forward for ‘Adjustment’ and contact other universities to ask about possible places available.  You have 5 days to find an alternative acceptable offer.  You might achieve the grades for your insurance offer, in which case you can either confirm acceptance via UCAS Track or, if you are having second thoughts, consider a Gap Year and reapply or find a similar course at a preferred university through Clearing.  Finally, if you don’t achieve the required grades for either offer but are still keen to go to university, you can apply through Clearing and then await confirmation via UCAS Track.  

DON’Ts 
 1. Delay – Start early and if you have no offers, act quickly to identify alternative options

·         2. Make arrangements or organise to work on the day – you may need time to resolve problems

·         3. Request a marks review of your papers without checking the grade boundaries and with your HoD first

·         4. Rush into hasty decisions and commit yourself to an option that you are not totally sure about

·         5. Ignore the help that is available at school: The Careers Department via phone or email, The Exams Officer via phone or email or Heads of Department via email

Finally, remember that deciding on a university course is a big decision so it is important that you don’t panic if you don’t get the grades you need and think clearly about whether that particular university or course is going to be right for you.

Exam Results: Keeping a Sense of Perspective - Hannah Ryan, Head of Support for Learning

As GCSE and A Level results loom for our Fifth and Sixth Form pupils, a mixture of emotions will inevitably arise.  

A sense of growing tension is natural, so it’s worth keeping busy the day before - plan a cinema trip; catch up with friends; go to the gym - as this helps distract us from unhelpful thinking patterns such as catastrophizing (‘It will be a complete disaster if I don’t get the grades’) and fortune-telling (‘Everyone will think I’m a complete failure if I don’t get As’).

On the big day, hopefully tension will be replaced by elation, and relief will take over as those well-earned grades have been achieved. However, a feeling of anti-climax is more common than you might think.  Despite achieving the required grades, a pupil found it difficult not to dwell on the one result that was not what had been hoped for or expected by the pupil and parents alike. Another pupil was way off his predicted grades, and had to completely reconsider his options. In both these cases, a sense of perspective was required and both pupils were lucky to have friends and family, and support from school staff, who helped them to see that one set of results was not going to stop them achieving their goals, even if these had to be redefined – and they didn’t.  So it’s worth forearming yourself against unhelpful thinking (and unhelpful people) and having a clear, reasoned plan of action in place before the day arrives, just in case of disappointment.

On a final note, before diving into your social media be sensitive to your own state of mind, and that of your friends (remember, others may also be nursing their own private disappointments), and take a moment to stop, pause and acknowledge your wider strengths and achievements – whatever the outcome of the exams. These results do not define you, and while there may be a need to get creative and consider other routes, they should not deter you from your personal dreams and goals.

Hannah Ryan - Head of Support for Learning