To have issues about my A level grades from 25 years ago...

[Beckidewinter]

This is a non-problem: tiniest violin territory, really, and I'm only posting out of curiosity to see if anyone has advice or can empathise. I have never confessed this to anyone...

I took my A levels 25 years ago and was totally and utterly devastated when I got BBB rather than the AAA I was predicted. I wept for two weeks. The consequences were nil. My parents were delighted (they were/are of the 'whatever makes you happy, darling' school of parenting), I was accepted into my first choice of University, did well and now have an MSc and PhD. Why then do I feel a sense of failure and, yes, embarrassment at this time of year, every year when the press are full of stories of success. Why on earth would it bother me and make me feel a bit sad and queasy in 2020? It's silly, irrational and more than a bit pathetic.

Most tragically (and secretly) of all, I find myself comparing my marks to those of famous people for solace "well, David Miliband got 3 Bs and he seems pretty bright..."

To be clear, like many people in their 40s, I have experienced real loss and grief and other painful life stuff, so you'd think I would have acquired perspective or wisdom or something, but alas, no and this just keeps biting for some reason ...Does anyone relate or care to psycho-analyse, or is it a loud chorus of YABVU?

I am 46 and still annoyed I got a B in my maths GCSE when I was a whizz at maths and always top of the class. Sometimes I think about re-taking it for the hell of it. I probably won’t ever be bothered though. It doesn’t matter at all, but it is annoying so I hear you.

I got CCN back in 1990. N is a fail but means I came within 5% of passing. I should have got my papers reviewed but my Mum advised me not to in case it went down to a U. Seems ridiculous advice now!

I really struggled with the subject I got the N in. I was completely lost by the first half term of the lower sixth but couldn't get anyone to help. I spent all my time on that subject which brought my other two subjects down from A to C. The highest anyone got at my school in my failed subject was a C, a third of the year failed it.

I'd always been a high achieving student until A levels. My parents wouldn't let me have a year to retake. I had to go through clearing to go to a Poly to do a course I didn't enjoy. I don't feel I've ever recovered my confidence from it.

I feel really miserable around the time of A level results as it brings it all back.

@lonelyfemale

I got 2 Ns and a U, years ago a recruiter asked what the N was for, I said Nearly/Not quite and she laughed and got me the job anyway!

This is the first time I've heard of someone else getting an N! I always says it stands for "Nearly ..."

I was bright and capable but I fannied about, skipped classes and put in no effort. I left at 17 with ABFF in my Highers and spent the next few years working in crappy temp jobs.

I then found a job I liked and they put me through an evening course at college, which got me onto a top-up degree programme. I went on to an MSc (full time while working full time - would not recommend! ) and now I’m doing a full-time PhD.

I don’t regret my school results because I wouldn’t have ended up where I am now. If I’d gone to uni straight from school I’d have studied French and English. As it is, I have a BA and MSc in Business and my PhD topic is highly relevant to the career I spent a decade years building.

I (still) hate applying for jobs and admitting my grades.

I have never been asked what subjects I have A levels in, let alone the grades. They've been supplanted by higher qualifications.

Back in the day a BBB was really good. Not many people got A grades in the olden days.

I feel similar. I got mostly Bs and a few Cs for my GCSEs, back in the day. A* grades didn't exist then. I always think my grades sound a bit shit. Indeed, my daughter expressed a similar emotion when she asked me a few months back. However, when I said that by today's standard, that would be mostly 8s and a few 7s, she was really impressed. In fact she said I should only tell people the modem equivalents.

I took an S level in Biology but had no idea what it was. I recently Googled it and realised that I was considered pretty good at Biology. A levels were just a means to an end in my case, I needed three Cs to get into dentistry, I got ABC and S level. I am still asked if I was a failed medic, no, I never wanted to be a doctor even though I had better grades than many of the medics I knew, but many people just couldn’t/can’t understand why I chose dentistry over medicine.
I had a good work/life balance, didn’t have to specialise, was able to work part time while family was growing up and after 30years I still enjoy my job.
However, I do still wonder whether I should have actually chosen a pure science career, I think I would have really enjoyed research career in biology but I would have had a very different life.

I’d forgotten S Levels. I have one in Economics. IIRC the S stood for special and was a one off paper sat at the end of A levels.

Unless there is a specific grade request, there is no need to mention grades at all. I also don't list all the other subjects. I always say x including english, mathematics and sciences.

You are making me feel better. I always feel slightly inferior when talking to current medical students who have dizzying number of A/A* results.

My own 25 yr old crop was AAB at A-level and AA for the two Highers I did.
Which typing it out really isn't that bad.

I don't think I've ever recovered from being told I wasn't oxbridge material!

Did none of you ever think "huh, I hated school, but I'll show them". And I did.

Makes me worry for mine though: DS 44IB points, DD 3A* dropping 5 UMS points. I hope to goodness they don't fizz out like a damp squib from nothing to prove and no hunger because of all they have.

At my 6th Form College we all had to take General Studies - to this day I don’t understand why. Anyway, I got all A’s in my A levels apart from a C in General Studies. I felt like the exam had gone really well, and was shocked as I’d never got anything less than a B before. I am convinced I got someone else’s results. My uni offer was not affected as they didn’t accept General Studies - again, why did we have to take it??? - and I got my 1st choice uni. But years later, with a degree and a PGCE behind me, I’m still a bit puzzled by it!

Well there's something off on the grading isn't there? Or there's something in the water over the past generation to increase everyone's IQ.

I'm in law, very senior role. My older colleagues and I see CVs off kids with A* and masters degrees in law. Hardly anyone did a masters in my day. Don't know why they do, it rarely creates any advantage as a lawyer.

Actually I don't look for the higher grades when employing, as long as they've got a brain I want more personality and someone who'll fit in my team and who is confident to attend court hearings.

I stuffed my a-levels up totally due to too much partying(think total fail territory) I scraped onto a crap course at chosen uni then drop out in middle first year due to parent having health problems. I begged uni to take me back on a different, much more academic
degree. Luckily they did, got great 2:1. I still never tell people my a level grades

This reminds me of a friend at GCSE who on results day said she really wish they didnt do A☆ as they made her A's look bad .

Did none of you ever think "huh, I hated school, but I'll show them". And I did.

My thoughts were more along the lines of "I hate this school and my parents and this shitty town and everyone in it and the only way out is going to be university so I'm going to work as hard as I can."

Nothing like a bit of hatred to motivate you.

Of course 12 years later I moved back there and thoroughly enjoyed living in it.

Entschuldigung

I got an N, and I never really knew (or cared) what it actually meant. So thank you for explaining! That was in 1988.

I think I its unfair for young adults to have to take these exams at the age they do ... and then their whole working lives can be dictated/shaped by the grades they got

I'm sort of proud of my marks because I didn't try at all but they're still quite good.

I got a 3rd at university which rankles though (I had health problems which the university refused to take into consideration.)

@JaJaDingDong, BBB was good in the past and is still good today. A lot of bright, capable and hard working students would be very pleased with those grades. Of course it would be a disappointing set of results if you’d been predicted three A*s, but most people aren’t. You have to work hard for a B.

I actually understand OP. I got AABB twenty years ago which is what I needed for my first choice so I was happy. However I was just a few marks off AAAB and wished I had asked for a remark but I didn't know you could. I worked so hard and it's more of a reflection of that.

I think the problem is the unaccountability of the results.

You don't get to discuss the results with the marker, you don't get to see your paper again to check you didn't misnumber or similar error, you don't get to ask where you went wrong and you don't get to see what you did that lost you marks that your fellow class mates somehow knew how to get right.

So the 'unfairness' is felt more strongly than just disappointment and the feeling remains.

20 years ago I got 3 C's. I was predicted AAC. I was so devastated I resat one and took another a-level in Law in 1 year. I got two A's and Law is now my job!

Also A-levels meant something back then. Peer compared and only top 10% that year compared to all entrants got A's and distribution down the curve. Now it seems as long as you get 'the right mark' you get an A and everyone expects, and gets one. A 'C' seems to be the definition of failure. Totally normal during the nineties.

I'm most depressed about the errant Dog I got for my GCSE CDT in a sea of A's and B's for my other subjects. The truth of it was I was the only female in class and was mercilessly sexually assaulted by the boys before class started but also during as the teacher thought it hilarious. He also used to take the piss out of me as the only female.

Back then (1991) it was just par for the course for a woman and complaining would have made me a pariah. Makes me fucking angry now though.

I personally think the best way of handling it is to reframe your thoughts around it. At the moment you're in a no win thought pattern along the lines of I've let myself down, those grades were unfair or messed up my academic record etc

Why not turn it on its head and say, havent you come a long way since then? The growth you've shown is remarkable, youve shown commitment and tenacity in pressing ahead with your learning, and with that experience just think what a comfort your story is to a kid today who is wondering the same as you used to! This is a much more positive narrative and sets you up for more positivity to come your way.

I have often found myself feeling life hasnt treated me fairly, but as I've got older I think its been valuable as I've been able to use that to comfort others.

@HoldMyLobster

Just found another Mumsnet thread about 16+ exams. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/278497-joint-cse-and-o-level-exams-desperately-need-info-on

The first GCSEs were 1988, but I took 16+ exams in 1984 or 1985. I also did an A/O level - I wonder if those are still around?

I did a single 16+ exam in 1982 - I think school was trying it out, we all had to do it just for that one subject, and I did both O level and CSE for French? I remember that I got an O level grade A and a CSE Grade 1 awarded for it. Also did an A/O that year in maths, as I had taken the O level the previous year - it was just harder maths than the O level.

Between 1965 and 1985 O level grades were norm referenced, so only the top 10% were awarded an A. Not sure if they did the same for A levels (although the attached extract suggests A levels were norm referenced up until 1982) but up until the mid 1980s only 10% of grades were an A.