A level results day 2024

[Happyface246]

How’s everyone else feeling about results day? I’ve got one at uni already and 2nd dd hoping to go to Kent in September. She seems ok about it at the moment although think that will change as it gets closer. Me I’m so keeping my fingers crossed she gets what she wants, I know there will always be other options but she loved the open day. Going to struggle with this one going though as it has been a real journey to get to where she is.

My eldest is waiting on results - very nervous, keeping busy, trying not to think about it. We're all very superstitious about buying stuff for uni until he knows he's in so it will all be a bit of a mad scramble after the 15th.
There's no reason why he shouldn't get his grades but he's still overthinking. I feel slightly sick if I think about it too much so have my head firmly planted in the sand until the 15th.
Good luck to all.

Slightly stressing here. DD seems quite calm, but has been keeping busy this summer, she had a week in Italy with friends, then spent 2 and half weeks with her bf who lives in the Netherlands. We have lots of days out planned with small nieces and nephews this week for distraction.

We had a glimpse of what it'll be like going into a gang of 4.

She preferred the lifestyle and vibe of campus in Exeters Cornwall campus(bbc) over the academically better Southampton uni(abb), so has her firm and conditional offer sort of backwards. She has no back up plan if she doesn't make Exeter.

Not even looking at buying any uni stuff yet so I don't jinx it.

Does anyone understand how the Btecs work?
My dd has done three and two of them are extended.
She seems to have an understanding of her grades already and says one is a definite and the other two can't go below a merit because of already marked work?
So she's super chilled and went and bought lots of new clothes for uni yesterday meanwhile I'm slowly starting to become very nervous for next week!

@socks1107 I thought DC that did Btecs already knew their results at this stage. I am sure I have read on WIWIKAU on Facebook that some have their places confirmed. Perhaps depends what type? Glad your DD is super chilled though and getting excited about uni.
I am getting stressed and think DS is too. Particularly as he has said that he no longer wants his reserve option so will go into clearing instead if he doesn’t meet his first choice requirements. I mean obviously I don’t want him to do a course for the sake of it but his reserve guarantees accommodation. I am not sure he fully understands how difficult it is to get accommodation at some universities 😬

space99 thank you, I think she knows the rough grade based on coursework and exams already marked. Do they can't go below the merit mark.
I'm glad she's chilled. Two years ago we had GCSE's and a levels so I'm glad this is my last time doing this selfishly!!

I think all kids have a wobble, mine did last month, but once results day is here things will seem clearer for him hopefully

Good luck to all. My DD didn't apply last year (did an Art Foundation course - she'll get her results on the 15th) so it wasn't as pressured but I do remember her face when she looked at results online. She did two grades better than predicted in her hardest subject and was thrilled. She then decided to completely change direction from a creative degree to an academic one and is starting at Durham this year. Applying with grades in hand is much better and less stressful (though there are no guarantees even if your grades are above typical offer).

Fairly relaxed here, as DD will be quite happy with either firm or insurance offer, and is pretty confident of making the latter. It will be good to know which, though.

Good luck to everyone for Thursday!
I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of tips from someone on the other end of things (I’ll be working the confirmation/clearing lines where I work)
Make sure phone is fully charged
make sure they have their ucas number to hand
if they need to have any difficult calls, either do it on speaker with you there to take it all in, or make sure they have pen and paper to make notes
they need their grades for clearing - so if they check UCAS at 8am and it’s bad news, hightail it to school to get the results so they can crack on
Clearing places go faster than you’d think - so get the offer/s ASAP, they can stew on it slightly later in the day

Happy to answer any questions anyone has as well.

Yes feeling a bit nervous here now - although DD2 currently at a festival so not thinking about it. DD1 went to uni last year and DD2 hoping to get into Liverpool this year.

My DD2 is hoping to get into Liverpool too. Fingers crossed for both of them. It’s the only place she wants to go!

Very useful tips @Bunnyannesummers

So you’d recommend UCAS before going into school? Both available here at 8am.

If there are any doubts, or you’ve got a decent journey to school - car park at 8am, hop on UCAS. If great news, celebrate either in school or head home to party. If bad news, into school to get the results and crack on from there.

for students who end up with a redirection at UCAS the name of the game is efficiency to secure a clearing placed, unless their preference is gap year!

Thank @Bunnyannesummers - I think we’ll wait at home for UCAS and then head to school asap. I think DC would rather have a clue before pitching up at the school.

Ok so now I'm starting to get nervous. No UCAS for us as DC applied direct, so we really will have no clue before we go to college for the envelope. Urgh! Might be a long few days. Oddly (thankfully) DC is chilled ATM.

Starting to get anxious. Ds need top grades so not much room for error. The Scottish higher results didn’t seem great this year. Not sure if that is a sign of how A levels will be.
What do we think results will be like this year?

How do others collect there results from school? At DS school, I think they queue and go into the hall one by one. I’ll prob be waiting outside the hall, waiting for his facial expression as he walks out!
I remember mine and I do think it is one of the most stressful days of life (obvs relative of course!), but so much depends on it at that time.

First time for me.

Fairly sure DD1 will not get grades for offer, but does anyone know about how to upload onto UCAs?

Was going through some files yesterday and found a ABRSM Grade 6 cert which is Level 3 so presumably could count towards UCAs points?

How does this work?

@Bunnyannesummers what do you mean check UCAS? So results are online first?

DD has cleared a few days after results to have time for clearing +/- mad dash to visit places.

Check ucas to see if they’ve got into their firm or insurance.
if they haven’t, they need to know their grades to work out what to do next.

We can go to school at 8.30. So we'll check ucas then go straight there.
We've a plan b which will be a foundation year but I'm really hoping not

Thank you for explaining. So from UCAS it’s a yes/no and then the school for the actual grades. I should remember from my other DC, he found out early he’d got in, but he’d already decided not to take the place, so it was an anti-climax.

Timeline for us is UCAS at 8am, email from school with the grades at 8.30am then school open from 9 to get the results on paper and talk to the staff if needed.

My DD’s school email at 8am no in person collect. Her plan is check ucas first then look at school email with grades. I’m hopeful she’s made firm or insurance but will check she has written a plan for clearing when she reappears later from her friend’s house.

Bear in mind that UCAS has a habit of crashing on the day (they have ONE job, etc…) When my DS was waiting for news on his uni place the UCAS web site didn’t come back on line until 8:45am - and his school weren’t emailing out grades until 9:30am. Luckily, he received an email at 8am from the head of admissions at his first choice university to let him know that whilst he’d just missed out on his required grades they would like to offer him a different (but similar) course. So at least we knew he’d got in! As it was, when he finally got his grades through, he declined his firm choice and accepted his insurance (which he was able to do because of the course change)

There seems to be a lot of very high offer courses in clearing: STEM, maths, comp science etc. Is this an unusual year because of visa and economic changes that came after offers were made but are deterring international students? Do we think many near misses will be accepted anyhow?
I’ve a friend whose son with 3 predicted A(star) didn’t get comp science offers from any of his top 3 choices. It would be tough for him if they went into clearing.