A level results day 2026

One mark off the required grade it may be worth sending them the mark breakdown to share how close they were. Consider an urgent review of marks too .At least one Cambridge college recommends this. Best of luck.

Well done to all. For those who have not got what they needed this was us last year and Ds turned down his insurance. He has had a really good and productive gap year. He reapplied with grades in hand and got all 5 offers even one from his first choice last year! He however changed his mind and chose Reading to start next month, so all is not lost.

Just want to offer a virtual hug to everyone out there to all parents and students who are a bit disappointed with how today has gone.
Son has got into second choice with a foundation year but dropped several grades across the board. Sad to see as i know he worked hard but exam technique never his strong suit.
Onwards and upwards.
Just letters on a piece of paper xx

Apparently school are contrasting all the design/textiles grades .

My DS did maths in year 12 and got an A. He resat this year and got it up to an A⭐. He did TMUA but I don't think he gave it the respect it deserved and didn't score the best but I think if your DC really went for it she should be fine.

My DS got an offer from Warwick with a maths resit. So it might be ok. It was for MORSE though not straight maths.

Very stressful here. DS missed his firm AND insurance
A* maths
A further maths
A Physics
C music
He needed an A* in further maths. Now gone through clearing, secured a place at York for maths.

I've never noticed that. It's usually a mix.

But it does tend to be girls, I'll give you that.

Dd. Got a b in her level 3 health and social care . So bloody proud as we didn’t think she would complete not so very long ago !

she got a place at edge hill for nursing but is planning to defer a year / do an apprenticeship instead

im just so bloody pleased that she has a strong level 3 !

Yes 💐 to those still having to go through the stress of disappointing grades. DS grades are always hard fought, and he's never breezed A grades etc. This is probably the first time he'snoy been the one with the worst grades of mistakes if his friends I was looking at the foundation year for DS and thinking if it came to it, it might give him a good grounding to do the degree later. It seems pretty interesting. Hope it all works out in the end for your DC. They are still so young and life is long.

Yes I'm sure I've read somewhere that it's not the same as other resits if it's an A-level taken early in y12 as some schools do with maths. I think they take that into account and if she's predicted to get an A* when she sits it alongside all her other A-levels in y13 then she should have the same shot as everyone else.

Congratulations. Omg don’t envy your bank account that’s a huge outlay especially if only on min loan.

Weird one here:

DD got her firm - and was delighted

Then picked up her grades and has been in bed in floods of tears ever since - didn’t get what she hoped for. She worked her arse off throughout and and thought all the papers had gone really well so doesn’t understand what happened. Now thinks she is ‘stupid and deluded’ (she’s neither)

We've talked it round and round but she won’t be comforted by the fact she got her place (!!) and thinks it will affect job prospects. Jollying her along didn’t go well, so have reverted to acknowledging her feelings of disappointment and sadness. . .

Heartbreaking how hard she is on herself and the catastrophising is a worry

Letting/encouraging her to wallow for a bit then hopefully she’ll still go out tonight and that she will manage to find a bit of perspective as time goes on. . .

We have the same - made worse by her teacher calling me to say he doesn’t know what went wrong and that she got the lowest grade in the class despite being in the top 10% throughout the last year. We’re going for a remark.

keep reminding DD that it doesn’t matter - she’s into her firm choice - the university that she’s wanted to attend for 2 years - and the focus now needs to be on making the most of that opportunity and leaving with a great degree.

I think it’s just a lot of pent up nerves, relieve and frustration coming out in one fell swoop!

Would speaking to school and maybe getting papers help? It may just be one weak answer per paper that’s brought her down.
Hopefully she’ll accept she’s done well and got her offer.
If she’s worried about being the only one with lower grades on the course that will certainly not be case. My dd also said they didn’t discuss grades once they started and it’s only as time gone on people have shared it was clearing for them.

Those are brilliant results and York is an excellent place for maths. Sorry it's been so stressful.

This happened to me - all of forty two years ago!

I always remember my mother being the one to offer the hugs and comfort and my Dad being the one to tell me I was an idiot.

The former approach is definitely the way to go.

I’d get the papers and get ds to look. They can put one in at a time for review. Probably more wiggle on essay subject.
If it’s potentially worth money worth a try (we did it and A* got my dd a £4000 scholarship so worth a bit of faff)

Thank you. Apparently he needs A* and two A's for the scholarship. One of his A's was 3 marks off an A star (Maths) and the B was 5 marks off an A (Physics). So it would need both papers upgrading. He's thinking it might not be worth it but the money would make a big difference!

Astar BB here. DD slightly disappointed as her ideal course wants AAB. However as she's doing an art foundation in September locally and will be applying with known grades we're hopeful the university she wants to go to will take her as she'd be a known quantity. Several friends who lecture/do uni admissions have said this is likely. We'll do the open day again in September and she can talk to the tutors then and find out more.
Well done to all who worked hard and have grades they are pleased with whatever they are.

This happened to me many, many years ago.

I did get in to a university through clearing ; a university that I hadn't even considered when I was riding high. It was hard and I felt humiliated.

It would have been better if I had been expected to do badly. As it was, I had to endure days of, "I can't believe this has happened to you" comments.

October rolled around. I went to the 100th choice university, with a chip on my shoulder. No-body asked me about my A level grades-it was all ancient history and before long, I settled down, had a happy time and did very well.

Since then, I have had a successful career as a journalist and I have never been asked for my A Level grades.

Your daughter's disappointment and shock will fade but, in the meantime, I send you good wishes.

As someone who did a maths degree and got full marks on some A Level papers, I found a maths degree depressingly hard and so I would always encourage someone to reconsider and make sure they definitely want to commit to maths if they don’t get the grades first time. I’m not sure I would have stuck with my degree if it hadn’t been joint honours with a totally different subject.

Miserable here. A, A but B in the one that required A. 2 marks off. So many tears. The uni won't budge. I hate this. Going for remark but it is said OCR eng lit unlikely to move

Thats A star, A star...

DS is in at his first choice uni. Relief all round. Heard him on the phone this morning laughing and chatting to a friend so knew it must be good news. Absolutely tanked his EPQ though but who cares!

So sorry. It's a grim system.