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?

Sorry, replying to a question up thread and don't know how to quote. I have to put them on applications for work. Most teaching applications are largely the same and always ask for specific grades.

I got a C and 2 Es at a level. The girl in my class who got 3 Bs was the clever girl.

Then again, you could get 2 Es and get into oxbridge in those days. (If you'd passed the exam and interview)

For a long time I felt sad about my rubbish grades, wondered if had undiagnosed learning difficulties, my dc have SEN. But I've just about got over it now at 52!

I am also embarrassed about my A Levels but I came from a poor background where I was discouraged from applying to university and even now 20 years on my parents like to suggest I am not suited to my profession.

BBB was a very strong result back then.

@Serin i think you're dead on- it's a whole self-worth thing... @Aquamarine1029 yes indeed!

I'm still really disappointed by my GCSEs because I was ill when I was in fourth and fifth year and missed loads of school. They're not terrible results, but only 5 As and I've only got 8 passes. And if I hadn't been ill I would have expected to get As in everything.

I'm in my mid 40s now and have never had a job application form where I haven't had to provide my GCSE grades, and it grates every time!

I am a similar age to you and I did much better at A level than predicted (2 grades higher on average, so Bs instead of Ds) . I am still slightly annoyed that I only applied for universities with low entry criteria, and that no one suggested to me that I should apply to a better university through clearing when my grades came out. I had a great time at university and I am happy with life in general, but this still annoys me when I think about it. So YANBU.

Oh gosh. Two things to say about this:

1. A levels results day is a day of disappointment for most people. Three quarters of UCAS predicted grades are missed by the student. Just because a teacher writes it down on a uni application form, doesn't make it the most likely grade the kid will achieve. (Those kids complaining they got worse results this year? Most would have in a normal year.)
2. Exams are pretty unreliable measures of attainment. Just because you didn't get an A, doesn't mean you weren't capable of it with a different exam paper or examiner.

I got BBB at A level too, a few years earlier than OP. I was hoping for better, but tbh, unless you wanted Oxbridge or to do certain specialist subjects like veterinary science, those Bs would have got you in anywhere.

Funnily enough I had similar conversation earlier.

I got all B's in gcse. Back when A was the highest that was good.

Nowadays it's would be all 5/6's.

Just doesn't seem as 'good'.

Do people give their A level/Higher results on job applications if they have a degree and even higher qualifications? I'm not clear why they would matter. I never have.

I can't empathise. You have a PHD, a degree and a job you love. Who cares about an exam you dud 30 years ago,?

No. I'm still bloody livid about my English grade, 20 years on. Four classes; three did a significant coursework element (25%, I think) on a piss easy book, arresting but ultimately lightweight, about which one can find about fifty study guides. They were allowed to revise and improve per tutor suggestions umpteen times before final submission. No-one got less than 15/20 and most got 18/19. Our class had to do an exam on the most tedious frigging C.18th novella (think certain parallels with 2020) barely one word of which I can remember today. They all got at least one grade higher than their predictions, and we all got at least one grade lower. It imperilled my friend's Uni place and the school had to really go into bat for her. Good of them. In spite of a blistering answer to my Tennessee Williams question, I got a B. I wish now I'd had it re-marked. I know if we were really good we could have got an A anyway, but the disparity in the two groups was extraordinary. A lot of parents complained and were told 'Someone had to be the guinea pigs'. Nope. They should have tried it out with the whole year or not at all. Needless to say they haven't done a syllabus which didn't include the coursework element, since.

I know I should get over it. I can't 😂

@midsomermurderess

Do people give their A level/Higher results on job applications if they have a degree and even higher qualifications? I'm not clear why they would matter. I never have.

But if they ask for them and you don't fill them in you'll never get through shortlisting.

I've never had an application form that didn't ask for them.

You're not alone OP. I hate admitting that I got a B in Biology A Level so "only" achieved AAB. Right or wrong, I still can't help feeng disappointed and embarrassed about it.

@Hepcat75

Needless to say they haven't done a syllabus which didn't include the coursework element, since.

GCSEs and A-levels don’t have a coursework element any more, do they?

@ILoveAnOwl

I (still) hate applying for jobs and admitting my grades. I'm really cross with myself (still) for not taking it seriously and not working harder. I'm (still) cross with my parents for not encouraging me to work harder.

Can assure you I did around 10 exams for my A levels in 2013.

I'm still bitter about my GCSEs, predicted 11 A/A* didn't bother to revise and focused on extracurricular as I thought I'd fly through them, turns out Im awful at taking exams and got 6 Bs and 5Cs it's obviously my own fault but frustrating nonetheless.

I think you need to get over yourself - sorry.
I got BCC in 1978 and got into a respectable uni but dropped out after a term.

Subsequently I took prof quals and upgraded them to a Masters in my 40s.

It's the experience that comes after that matters - nobody has given a fig about my exam grades.

I got a CC and a U
I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. I knew I wasn’t going to uni as my parents wouldn’t support me.
I’m sorry it still affects you OP but try and focus on where you are now

I took Maths A level, predicted A the whole way through, back when there were no A*. There was one bit I struggled with, think it was weight/mass, something physics related, and I thought I'd be ok as long as it didn't form a major part of the exam (no coursework). I was too shy back then to ask the teacher for extra help.

Anyway, exam day and this bloody part of the exam was worth 10 marks. Fluffed it. Got a B. Was gutted, still am.

Didn't make a difference to my choice of higher education or career, parents were proud as neither of them got past CSEs.

But if I could have my time again I'd ask for help, or resit the sodding exam and get that A.

And I don't put results on my CV now but when I did, almost everyone would go "B for Maths A level, wow, that's amazing".

@HelloDulling Oh cripes. I have no idea. I saw my old teacher in a West Hampstead wine bar a few years ago and she admitted the school had dropped a bollock and had 'not made that mistake again'. So they were definitely still doing coursework then. I didn't know they'd dispensed with it these days. How long ago? It can't have been that long - I looked over my nephew's essays recently-ish.

I was such a swot until I got to year 12. My parents were splitting up and I suddenly had alot of freedom. I did the bare minimum study in years 12 and 13 and had to resit my A Levels. But, looking back, 6th form was one of the best times of my life and don't regret it for a second. In Uni, U spent far too much time socialising and playing a sport I loved. Still got a degree, still got a good job at the end of it. But, had a great time too!

The disappointment was obviously a life lesson for you that gave you a big kick up the arse to do better and achieve more (hence why you remember it so vividly).

I got AAC the C in English Lit 21 years ago! On Alevel day I think to myself I really should have got 3 As I got a B in general studies and a C in an A/S to I don't know why I did so much - I would have succeeded and got 3 As - honestly i wasn't even a swot and in those days I just seemed to retain knowledge and knew how to do exams -

After the AAC I got a 2::2 a red brick law degree ever since then don't think I've ever thought I'm bright. In hindsight I could have appealed by 2:2 but a prefessor told me not to because I wouldn't get to graduate with my friends!! - I'm a child of immigrants - first gen to uni - BAME etc it counted for nothing back then - my dad was a big drinker and it messed up my time at uni - I'm kind of tired of what ifs now - but I still feel pain about my C and my 2(ii) esp as with degree it was so close but I never told anyone about my shit going on at home - and I was about 2.5% off a 2(I) even with my C I wasn't far off a B.

25 years a degree masters & industry qualifications later, I still feel the need to qualify my AACD at A-Level with well the D was actually only an A/S Level and it was Further Maths and we didn't get any additional class time to cover the syllabus and even though no one gives a shiny shit except me.
Why can't I be hella proud of my good grades a d not focus on the poor one?
I think it is because exam results are a truly formative experience at a key time in our life journey. And we feel that experience like it only just happened.
YADNBU