Countdown to A level results day - 2023

[HereWeGo2023]

Following on from the A level support thread I thought I would create one for results day.
Hopefully you will all join me for the long nail biting wait and the big day at the end of it!

Can I join?
Ds is my last one to do A levels and (hopefully) head off to uni.
I find it completely impossible to judge how he will have done.
He needs lower than his predicted grades so I'm hoping he'll be fine but not having done true GCSEs makes it all a bit trickier...
I'm sad they aren't going into school to get the results but he's glad as he thinks it would be more stressful.

Dd is checking her results at home, then if she has done well she wants to go into college to see people. And if she hasn't she won't. 😀

DD is going to check UCAS, then go in about 9am to the school.

Fortunate here that CCEA exam board provides a Web portal to view your A'Level results online, so DS doesn't need to go into school.

Last year, after AS levels a lot of their 6th form debriefed at McDonald's over breakfast - not sure what plans are this year

Dds 6th form college email results out to the students on the morning. I'll have to ask dd at what time.
Her sister accessed her emails, broke her heart as she hadnt done as well as she wanted to, then got an email from York uni congratulating her on making her offer for her firm. She had wanted to get 4 x A* and didn't, but still did really well. But her memory is just of disappointment.

Managing their expectations is tricky!

I knew you could ask for a remark, but didn't know about same day remark in some situations.

DS said today that if you were a mark or so off the grade you needed, the school could ask for an emergency same day remark and it goes through the exam board/UCAS/Uni ...so if you think you've just missed an offer by a grade, on the same day it could potentially be remarked, gain the 1 mark needed to get the next grade and still be accepted as you will have actually achieved the offer level. Obviously only occurs in small number of situations, but saved the upset of missing out on a place when you've found out on a later remark, that you actually got what was needed.

Yes logging on to CCEA here too @lastdayatschool

Last year DD logged on to CCEA but her school also insisted on them going in to officially register for U6th and confirm subjects going forward so we did both. This year hopefully it’ll just be a quick check on CCEA and then the decision as to whether to accept firm via UCAS or whether she is confident enough with grades to decline as she awaits CAO offers 2 weeks later. My inclination is to accept via UCAS regardless of grades (even if it’s 3 A* which it won’t be!) as I am super risk averse and I always go to worst case scenario in my head and even though we know the likely grades required for CAO I have the dread of them being weirdly out of sync from previous years this year and DD missing out even with high grades!

@AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough - first timer here. How long do UCAS universities usually give for you to confirm your place ?

@lastdayatschool I actually don’t know - I very much doubt it would be the 2 weeks we’d need! She can accept via UCAS and pull out later, and can even choose accommodation and pay a deposit which would then be refunded if she didn’t go to the Uni, so I think there is nothing to lose by accepting while she waits for CAO offers, but I think it’s a psychological thing - the idea of accepting a place and entering into lots of communication with a Uni she has no intention of going to. But on the other hand, I have the dread of her ending up with no place if she was to reject via UCAS and then somehow not get a CAO offer. (Even though her second choice is also via CAO and is likely to be the lowest grade requirement out of all her options)

You logon to your ucas portal. It will say unconditional if you have been accepted at either firm / insurance, or it will say you are in clearing and provide your clearing number.

Last year , there was confetti on the ucas screen.

Random question (never done this before!), are the actual number of marks for each subject on the results as well? So you’d know if you were close to a grade boundary?

@mrsconradfisher I am interested in this too but my understanding is that unis only get a very basic set of data, the grades. DD’s firm Uni has asked her to get in touch with details of her detailed scores if she narrowly misses out, that makes me assume they can’t see these details. DD’s school have also emphasised they will spend time time on results day with those who missed out and share their grades and the grade boundaries to make it easier to see near misses.

@AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough @lastdayatschool

You don't "accept" your firm offer if you achieve it - this is already done when firmed. But there is the opportunity to decline it - not sure how long for. At least, that was the case in 2020, and I don't think it has changed.

The universities get the breakdown of the scores for each paper

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/results-day/sending-exam-results

• ’And for A levels, we include the unit grades as well as your overall grade.

Your school will also have the breakdown of results if you are close to a grade boundary/want a remark

Thanks @theinnergame. I’ve now found an online document detailing how to reject a UCAS offer. It focuses more on rejecting offers pre-results, but does talk about doing it after results and withdrawing from UCAS altogether. Interestingly it mentioned student finance, but we have put UCD down as university of choice for student finance anyway, so I think it won’t have any impact if DD withdraws from UCAS. I just hope her grades are strong enough and not borderline - the thought of another 2 weeks of uncertainty is awful!

@kackle it says universities receive ‘unit grades’. Schools receive a ‘breakdown of scores’. They’re differentiating between schools and universities. I’m assuming this means that universities get ‘grades’ as in A, B, C etc rather than the raw marks or percentages. I was hoping for the latter as had heard that if a student is close to the grade required they may consider still offering. Now I’m less sure that’s correct.

@AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough

Could you post the link please?

DS still swithering about a gap year, so may need to reject an offer.

Here you go @SabrinaThwaite

@AfingeroffudgeisNOTenough

Thank you!

My DD got a 'We can't wait to welcome you in September' card through the post from her firmed choice this morning. The pressure - it's going to be excruciating if she misses her grades. 12 days to go and it's definitely squeaky bum time here!

@HappySonHappyMum oh crikey! I’m not sure that’s helpful. How does she feel about it all?

@NotDonna She's so invested in going to this Uni, we've been to an Open Day, she's had a whole day interview at the Uni, been for a whole day 'Welcome Day' at the Uni, started doing the written work (handed out at the Welcome Day) that she needs to take with her for induction week, been allocated her room, made friends with people on her course via What's App, been given her timetable for her first week, done her DBS check through the Uni, supplied all her GCSE certificates and ID. Just reading that back makes it seem ridiculous that she's done all this stuff not knowing whether she's made her grades and whether her conditional offer will be confirmed. If she doesn't make this course I don't honestly know how I'm going to pick her up and get her to find some enthusiasm for her insurance offer.

Morning all, we keep getting emails about clearing. If a uni has the course available for clearing does that mean it is not oversubscribed?

Same boat @HappySonHappyMum with DD. She has had three visits to her prospective college, first when she visited for essay competition awards day, then open day then offer holder day. She has uploaded certificates, filled out forms, got WhatsApp group of those doing her subject in ‘her’ college, had a zoom call with her potential future director of studies.

Her insurance Uni is lovely but after all the connections with the Firm know it will be a mental and emotional challenge to picture herself anywhere except her Firm.

Interesting to read about how much contact some unis have made with students. We have had absolutely nothing at all from DD's firm choice...