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Original poster

I just need to vent - GCSE results lower than expected

31 replies

historiccastles · 26/08/2024 16:04

I feel like I've let my daughter down.

She got her GCSE results on Thursday and while they were objectively good results, they were lower than she had been predicted. She still got into her sixth form of choice to do 3 A levels but she had to change one of her options as she didn't get the grades for it. Based on the grades, I'm not sure her preferred universities are going to be an option as they mostly wants 3 As at A Level and this is feeling less likely.

She seems fine with the results. She's a very level headed young lady. I know she'll find her path. I know it's more important she's happy and healthy than what grades she gets. But I still feel responsible because I was completely taken aback and now I am second guessing all my parenting decisions. If I'd done x or y differently, would she have been better supported and have met her predictions?

Everyone was telling me she'd be fine, she'd sail through with mostly 7-9s and the odd 6, but she didn't. I just don't know what happened. I feel like I dropped the ball and my daughter is the one who is affected.

OP posts:
Hummock · 26/08/2024 16:36

Please just be happy that DD did her best and passed all her GCSEs and still has a good chance of doing well at A level. The best way to support her with A level is to let her carry on working hard as she is already doing and I wouldn't put pressure on her to get certain grades for a particular institution. Next summer take her to open days (if she wants to go to uni) and and encourage her to apply to unis with a range of entry requirements.

The only thing I would be frustrated with is the college telling her she has to change one of her choices. What subject was it and what did she get? What is their rationale?

tothelefttotheleft · 26/08/2024 16:35

GCSEs are just a stepping stone.

This experience may have taught her something. She may come into her own for her A levels.

pizzaHeart · 26/08/2024 16:23

It could be, yes, but could be still the same. It’s natural to second guessing yourself in this situation and I’m all for looking back and learning from experience but not too much, at the end of the day it was her exam and it’s how she managed it.
She’s got good grades to continue to sixth form it’s something to celebrate and to be proud of.

DreamW3aver · 26/08/2024 16:20

The A levels are now nearly 2 years away, she needs to see them as a new challenge, forgwt the results and knuckle down o. Her chooaen subjects

And maybe ignore what "everyone" says her results will be

trickortrickier · 26/08/2024 16:17

You just need some perspective. Firstly, they were her exams, not yours. Your DD is showing some admirable resilience. I've no doubt she was disappointed for herself and for you. However, she has re-focused, talked to the sixth form and found a way forward without any drama. I'd be very proud of her. It is about her at the end of the day, not you.

NyeRobey · 26/08/2024 16:15

How can she already have preferred universities? Unless she is doing the typical Oxbridge/ Durham/ Bristol /Exeter thing of the able Southern middle classes? I assume she can't have visited any of the universities yet?

These things have a way of working themselves out. She'll find a uni course that suits. She will be ok, you know.

My own bright son had a mental breakdown at sixth form and now aged 23 he is just starting to emerge from his bedroom with his carer. He didn't go to uni at all as he was too unwell and he now gets high level pip as his only income. However he is alive, and happy, and there were times I thought he wouldn't be.

There are things to stress about and worry about in parenting. That your daughter may not get into a "3 As at A level" university really, truly, honestly isn't one of them.

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