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?

It’s all abit relevant...had a dysfunctional childhood...catholic school...left with pathetic grades...college for ‘business studies’ (crap careers advice) worked my socks off and just constantly went on proving myself....now in a great job which I really enjoy..just power through 😊

I got a BBB about 35 years ago. It was than I had hoped but good enough to do the course I wanted to do. I have a degree, PhD and other qualifications and it wouldn't cross my mind to put the grades on my CV anyway. I haven't given it much thought over the years. I think you need to move on OP!

Right, so coursework was still an element for most English Lit exam boards until 2017. So, ok, 'since' 1998 'until' 2017.

I got ACC at A levels 40 years ago - bearing in mind I got 10 O levels 6 of which were grade A - I wasn’t devastated although was hoping for ABC!
I had offers from all of my UCAS establishments and got into my first choice
I don’t understand how 40% plus can be A or A*

*irrelevant !

@Hepcat75

Right, so coursework was still an element for most English Lit exam boards until 2017. So, ok, 'since' 1998 'until' 2017.

I wasn’t being an arse (I don’t think).

Just thought you might/might not be interested to know that that couldn’t happen any more.

I didn't think you were being an arse; apologies if I seemed shitty. I was just sort of mentally checking I wasn't going mad and they did away with coursework In '99 or something. I really must stop thinking about it as it is bloody silly, really, isn't it? I'm sure there's some sort of 'mania' or 'pathy' for people who can't get over trivial events or imagined slights in their past . . . 😂😂😂😂😂

I got a C in French A level despite being a really top student at O level.

Which was probably because I was in a class of 3 students and the other 2 rarely turned up. At which point, the teachers would decide to abandon the lesson.

I remember walking to one girls house and begging her to get out of bed and come to school so I could have my lesson.

This is really bad isn’t it?

I think after 25 years, A level grades don't matter. You can prove your worth with experience instead.
If it makes you feel better, I got D's in Music, and Music Performance, having already secured a place at the Royal College of Music on the Performers course. I was a bit naughty after I'd been offered my place there and didn't really do much work. I can't even remember doing a performance for my Music Performance A level

I was expected to pass the 11 plus with flying colours by my form teacher. However I suffered a traumatic event a few weeks before and did not do as well as expected. In those days you had to pass each of 3 papers and I failed maths by 3%. Two years later they altered the system so that students like me who were good at English and general knowledge could pass on aggregate.

I ended up at a secondary modern school instead of the grammar school I had hoped for. Looking back I did better at being one of the brightest kids in the school. I had a lot of support from my form teachers and headmaster and went into a profession.

Later I stepped off the career ladder, went back into education and obtained a 1st class degree, Masters and Doctorate.

Needless to say having obtained all these qualifications my schooling did not even appear on my CV when I applied for jobs. No one was interested in what I did before university. But failing the 11 plus all those years ago still niggles me. I understand your feeling.

I did my A levels 50 years ago and all I can say is that the exams and the syllabuses have both really changed. Without wishing to be insulting, both have simplified a great deal, and I don't think you can compare today's results with those obtained by pupils in the past.

I don't think this is just a case of 'it was much harder in my time' - I still have my 'O' and 'A' level text books (at least for science subjects and maths) and my DC, all very bright and at good schools, were unable to understand a lot of the material at the relevant levels.

One DC who went on to do Natural Sciences at University felt that much of the then A level work would be University level now.

When I did my A levels, 'A' grades were very few and those who attained them were regarded as brilliant.

I have also seen research showing that A level grades are actually now a poor predictor of performance at university.

In any case, once you have a higher qualification, school level exams become irrelevant.

YANBU

I too get those feelings swelling up when reading about how fantastically amazing sixth former exam results are each year (obviously this year v different)

It's amazing how over 20 years later it still gives me a pang of emotion and takes me back to being 18 again!

It's not about the A levels. You worked really hard for something and expected great results, and instead were disappointed. Someone branded your hard work as less worthwhile than what you thought it was. This happened to you at a young and pivotal age.

Your feelings are around self worth and rejection. This is why it still bothers you after all of this time.

It's just a reflection of how upset you were at the time- the occasion of it being A-level results day/season brings it all back.

If you're saying you still feel embarrassed by it, I would say that having a PhD supplants it, it means you're far more academic than the average person.

Like, I dropped some GCSEs as I wasn't motivated at the time, but I got a 1st from a good university back when that maybe meant a bit more than it does now IDK. So I don't feel thick just because I only sat 7 GCSEs.

@Beckidewinter Can you think of any reason why you didn't get the grades you expected? Like, mental health, boyfriend trouble, family issues, etc? Maybe attributing it to something might help you forgive yourself?

But seriously, I would just say to yourself that you have a PhD. That puts you in the top 1.4% of the population academically.

I got AAAAB at A level to everyone’s astonishment. It was 44 years ago now. In my O levels I had mostly Bs and it gave me the kick up the bum I needed to work really hard.

My school had very actively dissuaded me from applying to any ‘good’ universities but luckily I’d ignored them. I think I was predicted BBCCD or similar.

Mine was an ex secondary modern so they laughed at any of us that had ideas above our station.

Hmm thinking about it, it was 34 years ago. Maths was my B grade perhaps not surprisingly :-)

I haven’t got a clue what my GCSE results were. I’ve never had to give them. My A level results were borderline, but enough to get me into a good university and then I did a masters at a good university too, so I don’t really worry about it. They say that education is wasted on the young! I would still like to do a PhD one day!

I'm really surprised thst you say that TheNighthawk as my experience is the polar opposite, though I only did my A levels 36 years ago, not 50. My children have covered things at school that I didn't do until I was at University. And I did a sought after course at what is now an RG University, so that's not because I was somewhere second rate. So many things that were new and cutting edge in the 80s are very ordinary now - genetic engineering for example. I remember learning about synthetic human insulin when I was probably in my second year as an undergraduate and it was just coming into production, but that was covered in Biology GCSE by my children. My son is doing statistics in his A level maths syllabus that I remember from my first year at University, though to be fair I didn't do A level Maths so it might have been on the syllabus then. Its probably true that some things are covered in less detail now but I think there's greater breadth in the sciences at least. But there has to be of course as there is a lot more to know nowadays. My DH did computer science in the 80s and my son is currently doing it as another of his A levels. I don't think anyone could seriously suggest that my son is learning less than his father did! I think there is less rote learning than when I was at school but more critical thinking. My children have a far better understanding of research methods than I did at their age for example, and are expected to assess the quality of sources, whereas I just regurgitated what was in the text books. That's probably true of other subjects too. For example my DD did history and even at GCSE, never mind A level, there was a lot more debate and questioning of the relevance and impact of historical events. All I remember was learning lists of dates and the "approved" interpretation of events, but my DD had to look at events from multiple different perspectives, and give and justify her own opinions.
I think things are very different and absolutely agree that a lot more pupils get the highest grades now. I was interviewed by our local paper after both my O levels and A levels as it was considered very unusual for anyone to get As for everything then - probably only one person every few years from my state comprehensive - but nowadays there seem to be dozens in my children's (admittedly very good) state school every year. But then again, the requirments for University entry have gone up too, so maybe its not that different? My brother got onto an Engineering degree at a fairly prestigious University with CCD and BBB was the standard offer for medicine at the time, but that wouldn't get you far nowadays.
So yes, things have changed. But I don't think things have been drastically dumbed down. Possibly there was a time in the not too distant past when that was the case though. My husband has a much younger sibling who was allowed to take the set texts into English Lit exams, had equations printed in the front of maths papers and got most of the marks from coursework anyway. I remember raising an eyebrow or two about that kind of thing at the time. But that's all in the past. No coursework to speak of nowadays and my observations of the exams my children have done in the last few years is that they are pretty tough actually.

AAB here, and 30 years on I don’t consider those particularly good because:

• I got a B
• they’re not science and maths, so easy subjects
• I only did 3, not 4 which would have been OK or 5 which would have been good
• I never got a special letter to say my A was top whatever centile (such a thing may not exist, but I had it in my head that it does

Of course, the real reason I think I didn’t do well, is I had the parents who would say, “98%? What did you get wrong?” - and mean it. Better too high standards for me than too low, and I think it was bad parenting from a good place - but it left its mark and I’ve never felt proud of my results.

Oh I completely understand! I got AABB 35 years ago and was so disappointed, as I'd hoped for all As! I still had one of the highest sets of results in my grammar school, and won 3 subject prizes and an award for high achievement. One of my contemporaries got into Oxbridge with AAB - I hadn't even considered applying. To rub salt into the wound, another contemporary - who had worked her socks off, to be fair - got AAAB, and I knew I was the more intelligent of the two of us!!

Worse was to come though when I socialised my way through 4 years at what is now a Russell Group uni, and found myself with a 2ii. I will never forgive myself for that one! The exams were actually barbaric - 6 x 3 hour papers Monday - Saturday in one subject, and then similar in the other. There would be an outcry if students were put through that now!

I've since done a couple of postgrad diplomas where I did really well, and my MSc where I got the equivalent of a 1st and that did help. It's also been put into perspective as my kids haven't gained nearly the grades I did, yet are still successful. All of these things really are a means to an end.

I got AAB twenty five years ago, and decided to follow my drip of a boyfriend to a local poly. That for sure is my biggest life regret. At least you went to your first choice institution.

And to add, I only had half the classes for 2 of my A level subjects because they clashed. I got an A in one and a B in the other. The school wrote to the exam board on behalf of another student, but they didn'tdo that for me....

OP, your post sounds so familiar. I got my A levels 21 years ago, BBB, but gutted to have missed AAB. It made no difference, I still went to my first choice university. But i bumped into my Head of Sixth form when I was home for Christmas and he started waxing lyrical about how close I'd been to those As and he was surprised I didn't appeal! I was gobsmacked, didn't have a clue that we could have. I really can't think about it too much because it still makes me feel sad - I've never worked as hard for anything as I did for my A-levels.

Sorry but there so has been grade inflation. I got ABC and was thrilled (though dropped a grade the C should have been a B oops) then a 2 1 I was one of top of class In my comp only the incredibly intelligent Oxbridge bound one or two got all As yet now so many do...am 45 so was a while ago!

In those days with BBB the world would have been your oyster...I had similar (Scotland) and pretty much the only courses I couldn’t get on were medicine and veterinary medicine. Changed days!! Don’t be embarrassed.