A level results day 2026

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.

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.

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. . .

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. . .

DS very unhappy here. He missed out on Bath by 1% on his Chemistry. We’re going for a review but it’s too late now I think. Got his insurance offer which, despite the offer being the same as Bath, we’re happy to take him.

Well done to everyone who got what they wanted and big hugs to those that didn’t. X

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!

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

I’d encourage him to get papers and see. If he thinks there may be marks you can do one paper at a time (as marks can go down)
My DD’s school was paper form and cash to office so once dd had checked papers and said yes I’ll try paper 3 then paper 1 or whatever she signed forms Bd it was me popping into office a few times to sort it.
It’s got her a £4000 scholarship so was well worth a bit off faff. You get money back if mark goes up too.

Wow just wow
She is not even my dd and I am proud of her .
Shows the importance of resilience

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!

It’s so tough. Those are amazing results. Are school helping with a priority remark.

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.

After her first week of uni no one will ask her ever again what grades she got. Her end goal was the uni that she’s been accepted for - she’ll realise that soon enough xxxx

Would he be able to do a different course at the same place and then see if he wants to swap/ do optional modules in year 2?

Firm choice confirmed at Bath for Aerospace Engineering - he got A star in maths and As in physics comp sci and further maths. 3 marks off an A star in physics but won't bother with a review.

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn we have an email from Bath with a bit in it about re marks
It says if you get it re marked and the grade changes - by 1st sept - then they will still admit. After sept 1st it may be for the following year. If you pm me your email address I will find it and send you a screen shot!!

Ds got the grades he needed just not in the order he expected! Happy bunny though and off to UoM to do Politics and Philosophy.

We’re finally out the other side of schooling after 23 odd years with the 4 of them, hooray and where’s my medal/gin 😁

This cohort has had such a challenging school career, what an amazingly resilient bunch!

Ah feck it. Dd didn't get what she wanted. Was offered a different course at her insurance but it's not what she wanted to do. Gap year planned anyway so not throwing her through clearing

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. . .