What did you get for your A Levels (if you did them)? (Trigger warning - a levels 💐🫂)

C in history, c in English and a D in sociology which was self taught. Did get into my first choice uni but really no idea how. It was not a prestigious one however!

PTSD is a serious mental condition. You don’t get ‘mild’ PTSD. And you certainly don’t get it from not getting exam grades. Please don’t belittle it.

French A English literature B and German B (pre stars)
i must have been delighted - that
was an accurate description of my level.

but Pretty much my only memory is calling my German tutor, which I had because the school was rubbish in it. I told her and the only thing she said was it was a shame it wasn’t an A. I think I just said it was what I needed for university and gave the handset to my mother and started crying. I was so sorry I’d disappointed her.

A, A, A, A. Biology, Chemistry, German, Mathematics. Late 90s. On to Cambridge but not particularly successful professionally.

AAB in the days before A* existed. I was so bloody delighted because that was exactly what I needed to get into my first choice university and I'd been predicted lower because I had to move schools halfway through the sixth form and had to learn a new curriculum for all three subjects. It was so stressful - I too feel triggered to think of results day!

For anyone who regrets not getting better grades, or who is supporting people who feel disappointed, I never even sat A levels and I crashed out of school before I did any 'O' levels/CSEs (this was in the mid seventies). Yet, I returned to education via the Access route and gained a first class degree, a masters and a PhD.

I did exactly the same ones OP, I actually can’t remember what I was predicted but I needed 300 points and I got ABC which was what i needed for the uni I wanted so I’ve never given it a second thought tbh, I was absolutely capable of more but sixth was the time of my life, when I was finally given some freedom so I lived to the max! What did you end up doing with those subjects?

Yeah, i get it. It sounds like a good idea, it gives you a not si academic option so that more people can get an a-level. It's a bit like making everyone do a public service NVQ is a good idea.. but in reality it's not so practical.

AAAD 🤣

The D was in general studies which I was forced to do and hated.

No such thing as A star - which I don’t get anyway - wtf is better than an A?!!

I got As in English Lit, French and Politics (had the A* existed when I sat them, I’d have got one in the first two but not in Politics based on UMS). I also got an A in History AS level and a Distinction in AE level English.

A History of Art
C Art
D English

Didn't make uni offer but was allowed in anyway.

No-one has asked me about exam results in at least 30 years. They are a foot in the door for certain things but do not and should not dictate your life.

I don't regret uni (I read history) but I would have been better suited to a more creative hands on job so would love to see more non academic routes and opportunities opened to kids.

After a career in financial services I now work for myself doing something I was useless at when at school.

D in Biology
E in Math
E in English lit
E in General Studies

I also managed to get myself pregnant during lower 6th form and had the baby early in upper 6th form. I still wonder what grades I would have got if I hadn't had a baby halfway through.

Yes, some people would have had some lessons to prepare for it, but most students who were already doing essay subjects could get through it sight unseen, and it really didn't matter if you got a bad grade in it! A shame, it was a good idea, but it just ended up giving an extra (pointless) A-level to people who were already good at writing and thinking.

I got C Performing Arts, D General Studies, E Biology and N French.

Total disaster.

Actually, I'd make a case for General Studies (the paper I did) being the most important test of my education.

It was a Joint Matriculation Board General Studies paper from the 70s. There was no specific teaching for it - you just went in and showed what you could, or couldn't do, after your secondary school education.

The paper required you to:

• Do some maths (O level standard)
• Translate from one language (German, French, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Greek) a good A4 length piece.
• Write one or more essays on a general theme. I remember I chose something like 'The 19th Century ended in 1914 - discuss'.

I really enjoyed that paper, I think it probably played more into Arts/Humanities knowledge but I do think everyone who leaves school having got as far as A levels should be able to do maths to a reasonable standard and know at least one foreign language to GCSE.

I know there were other types of Gen Studies, and some actually had a taught syllabus. They are probably not very rigorous, but the JMB one was challenging and the fact that you couldn't be specifically taught for it - it was about broader things - was important.

Sounds interesting. Did students stop taking it seriously and focus on their other subjects?

A A B in 1989. My brother got AAAA the following year, the show-off.

4 As in the mid-80s, including coming very high up in the maths A level, resulting in a green piece of paper with Highly Commended written on it. The person who came top got £25.

Predicted 3 As ( pre * days), lost a parent
suddenly the week before 1st exam, did exams anyway and got 3 B’s.
Genuinely don’t remember a thing about the exams, not being there, not sitting them, nothing. Was dazed and fully expected to fail and re-sit.
The Bs were enough to still go on my chosen course at Uni and as then1st to uni in the family everyone was very happy…

The exam boards got rid of it ages ago! It was a "general-knowledge and thinking/writing skills" paper, where you had questions testing vocabulary and logic, and then had to write some random essays on odd topics. A lot of schools used to enter everyone for it to boost their exam stats, and uni offers would normally say "excluding General Studies."

AAD then possibly a B in general studies, can’t actually remember. The D was chemistry, I got an A on one paper and an F on the other. I remember sitting in that exam guessing the answers as I just didn’t get it.

I was always going to take a year out and it was the best thing ever. No stress over that D and I applied the next year with my grades, 3 universities accepted me, 3 rejected me and I just chose my favourite. More importantly that extra year really gave me a chance to think about what course I wanted to do and it was right for me. So anyone who doesn’t quite get what they need, all really isn’t lost.

BBB
Went on to do a masters degree but still remember the effort required,the pressure I put myself under and the stress of my A-levels!

I got an N too! (I say it stands for, "not a lot" 🤣). That was for Psychology.. I only revised what I thought would be on the exam... but thought wrong. Luckily, the uni course I wanted was undersubscribed that year, so I got in with a B & C in my other subjects. (They'd originally wanted BBC).

I did history and social biology. I didn't actually ever find out the results (I was working outside the area – this was 1981 when you could only collect from the school). So obviously I must have A's. 😂