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

They were. It was a very different world!

At my red brick university in 1979 the Dean of the Arts Faculty gave an introductory speech to the EnglIsh Department and told us that probably (120 undergrads) one or in good year 2 of us might get Firsts. He was right 2 out of 120 did.

Very different times!

3 As in Maths, French, Latin in early 80s when it was rare. I was looking for something the other day and found the newspaper cutting, there were 5 at my school who got 3As and we were photographed and put in the local paper, they put our full names and the names of the street we lived in, unthinkable today!

Predicted AAB, and got BCE. Felt like a disaster.

Went to a random university through clearing; changed my subject after my first year. Got a BA hons 2:1, then did a postgrad in a different subject. Had a career change a few years later and got an MSc. I’ve had an amazing career, and every bit of all of those experiences has been useful. We learn less from our successes than we do from how we cope with our failures.

Good luck to everyone receiving their results today.

4 A's (English lit, history, biology, German). Officially needed 3 B's for my course ( although needed at least AAB predicted to even get an interview for my course) so was very happy with that.

AAAAA maths, further maths, physics, German and general studies. No A* back in the day. Was way more than I needed for my uni offer and has not really made any impact on my life as my degree is what has taken me to where I am.

Snap! Same grades, same year. Mine were in English, History and French.

B, C, D - History, Eng Lit, Geography in 1991.
Sad really but my results were considered fairly good for a WC kid at a Northern sink estate comp 🤷

What are general studies?

AABB. Got into the uni I wanted but dropped out. I wasn’t ready. Later did OU and got into the MA of my dreams as a result! It’s not the be all and end all.

I said i'd NEVER work in an office. What am i?.. an accountant 😂

A English
A Latin
B French
C General Studies

This was in 1978.

I'm also pretty lazy despite being fairly bright, i just managed to ace my GCSEs with minimal effort, but i knew i'd never get myself through a-levels or a degree. I was motiveated to earn and work in a job actually achieving something real tho. I think that a lot of people are.

The educational system needs to change and give more vocational qualification options for people like this. Get them out there earning and succeeding in professions that don't actually need a degree course to learn.

Even employers are saying this.

AA - English literature and RE.

This was 1985 so I was allowed to only do two A levels, I’d started history but didn’t much like it so I dropped it.

AAAB, before A star's came in. The B in history rankled me, as it's the only one subject I truly put the effort in for. I'm proud of the A in English lit though, I did it in just a year at night school! Weirdly, I didn't find A levels that hard. For me gcse s seemed a lot harder!

DEE, I made no effort and did no work, I was more interested in drinking, and boys, and having a jolly old time.

I’m now COO of 2 small, but successful companies, I could have gone about things in an easier way and got here a lot sooner if only I could have been bothered!

I would say when I was at university it would be

First - A*
2:1 - A
2:2 - B
3rd - C

I think less than 10% got firsts in my subject even though pretty much everyone on the course would have had at least 2As at A level

Would be A*AAAB in today's money in the 3 sciences and maths for A2.

The B was in general studies. I had an instrumental lesson during the class and they gave me the wrong paper to prepare for the exam. Still annoyed about that 21 years later!

What year did A* come in for A levels? We had them for GCSEs but not A levels (1998)

A, and Merit in S level in English; A in History and D in French, 1974. It was the last year before Oxbridge colleges went co-ed, so I refused to apply and went to Bristol, mainly because I knew and liked the city.

1993 (before A stars)
A - English Lit
A - Economics
C - French.

After a disastrous 2 weeks in France in the summer between Lower and Upper Sixth, I fell out of love with French and stopped trying so hard. Had been predicted a fail in Economics so the A was a real FU to the teacher (who I suspect told me I'd fail to give me a kick up the backside)!

My University wanted BBB, and kept me hanging on for nearly a week before they eventually accepted me.

Same! We had a couple of lessons on random subjects that I think were meant to fill the gap in our a levels (I remember doing French!) but it was such pot luck as to what questions you got on the day it seemed like one year you could get an A and the next year you might fail it completely!

A-Biology
A-Chemistry
A-Maths
A-General Studies
A-Further Maths

Went to the wrong university, did the wrong course but it all worked out in the end. I would skip university these days.