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.

@Fringeundecided
Sounds like he has got the life work balance right actually.
No one dies saying I wish I’d got that extra A star. But people do regret lack of relationships and not living.

Ds got 11 x 9 at GCSE. He wasn't overly enthused about doing maths/FM for A level as he's not a natural mathematician and has to work hard at it but he didn't hate it either. He took them because most people with offers for the single science degree at the institutions he wanted to apply to had maths and further maths A levels. It will definitely help with his degree but he's glad he doesn't have to focus on maths any longer.

It's worth looking to see if there are any course stats for the degree your dc is considering. For example at Oxford there are stats that say 92% of successful applicants to this course had this subject combination of A levels (stem). It can help you decide what A levels to pick but people probably do best taking A levels they also enjoy and are good at.

@Osco

Possibly not the most useful info as DD's school has a ridiculous unusual approach to GCSEs, they do loads of them, but over 3 years and take some papers in Y10.

We are in Wales so still letters rather than numbers. Also they get two separate grades for maths here, so in England it would be one less.

She got 11 x Astar, 1 x A, 1 x 8 (WJEC don't do economics lol)

Plus distinction in add maths and Astar in Welsh Bacc.

So Astar at GCSE => Astar at A level in maths and biology

Astar at Alevel psychology but didn't do psychology GCSE

Astar at GCSE French => A at A level. Tbf she was doing it as a 4th A level because she likes French so didn't exactly exert herself, I'm amazed she got an A tbh. She worked v hard for the others though.

I am nowhere near a-levels with my dd yet but just want to cut in and say please please please support your kids and be happy for them no matter what and maybe think carefully about making a big deal out of it even if they've done well.If they've not done well then support them in deciding what to do next and make the connections but don't do anything to make them think you're disappointed.

I can remember my older sister getting AAA and my dad calling everyone he knew to brag. I got ABBB in my a-levels. I worked like crazy to acheive this and was enormously stressed throughout the exam period. However I just couldn't organise myself like my sister could. My dad didn't call a sole to let them know my results and made a point of saying 'he thought he'd let me let them know' I still remember how gut-wrenching that was 20 years later

Any achievements your children make are ultimately their success and not for a parent to brag about or even disclose. It's that sort of shit that makes kids feel so under pressure. Your job is to be the voice of reason and the voice of stability. They're just pieces of paper at the end of the day

Btw I'm a doctor now

She could consider taking a Year Out and reapplying next year with achieved grades. Or go to uni this year if she is happy with her insurance choice, of course.

Anecdotally the universities are making ridiculously high offers but accepting decent normal grades from students. This is the case for Dd and literally all her friends. The universities surely need to reset their offers next year it’s ridiculous. Requiring A*AA for average course at a red brick university 🙄

Yes they do work differently so try not to worry about it (probably impossible!)

Yes just wait it out and the uni will get in touch in the next couple of days

Youcantcallacatspider Absolutely. We were not expecting her to do as well as she did - rubbish mental health for years, hideous boyfriend experiences plus she is partially deaf which does have an impact. We constantly said - whatever happens will be ok, because it will. I would have been happy wherever she ended up and supported her, just like I have the others.

Ds got amazing A level results and went to what would be considered a top university to do Sciences. After a year he was on the verge of a breakdown and left to restart somewhere completely different on a totally different path and ended up with the love of his life and a brilliant job - nowhere near science!!

The main thing is being happy, whatever they do!

AAB here and off to Belfast DC goes to study History

Immensely proud of them, they are autistic and also recently diagnosed with dysgraphia and ADD, dad also died when they were 13.

and on to round two next week with DS

I agree - I was looking at clearing last night and thinking what a con it all is, DD's insurance offer was AAA and it was in clearing at BBB, her third favourite course offered AAA and in clearing at ABB, loads of biology courses were down from AAB to BBC. I wish they were more upfront about what they are looking for, maybe predicted grades would be more realistic then too. Hopefully the new function on UCAS where you can see the typical achieved grades might help.

We are in a bit of a dilemma with making a decision. DS wants to do investment banking and has offer from Warwick on Global sustainable development and Nottingham PPE.

its a choice of better or course. As gsd is new any advice from anyone would be appreciated

@Youcantcallacatspider So true.
It really is all relative. My dd was a straight A student and got top grades at A level. We were obviously delighted.
Ds has always had to work harder but he does and he does extremely well too. He was predicted and capable of A star A A but had a bad year with health issues and took very sick about a month before his exams. He had an awful time and was fully expecting to have to resit. He got A B C this morning. We are all delighted. He missed an A in maths by only 3/400 marks.
He got enough for his firm though has decided to defer and have a think.

We couldn’t be more proud of what he achieved in difficult circumstances. Even his part time job (he went back after!) treated his department to a celebratory lunch.

Congratulations to all those who have got what they need and good luck for getting sorted to those who haven’t. It’s tough.

There are stats that will show the likelihood of every grades based on GCSE results in same/feeder subjects if you look for them. Quite eye-opening. And the reason why a lot of Sixth Forms won't let students take certain subjects (especially maths, sciences) if they don't hit a certain level of GCSE.

@FiveGoMadInDorset To Queens? Dd just graduated from Queens and is going back in September. She loves the place. Had an absolute ball. We don’t live that far away.
She lived at home so I don’t know about halls but if you ever have any other questions just pm me.

Other unis can respond early too if they want to, but the Oxbridge student is at no advantage from applying early.

Unis have to manage their applications carefully as it a UCAS stipulation that all students have equal access to getting an offer regardless of whether their application is one of the first or one of the last, as long as they meet the January deadline. They would face a big fine if they "ran out" of spaces as they are bound by the "equal consideration" rule.

.www.ucas.com/events/2025-entry-deadline-all-undergraduate-courses-except-those-15-october-deadline-449916#:~:text=Applications%20for%20all%202025%20entry,received%20by%20this%20time%20equally.

You don't have to apply to your 5 choices all at once, though.

My oldest didn't. Applied to 3 reasonably early in the process, then added 2 more closer to the deadline (because we told him it was sensible to have a full range of options).

He only wanted 1 school/programme, though, and luckily, he got it.

Yes, has got into halls, we love Northern Ireland, godfather lives near Ballymena so has a base there also if needed but thank you, will rack my brains and message you if anything crops up

Echo this advise. My son was a bit dodgy on the predicted grades for what he wanted. He applied to two at first and got a couple of offers quite quickly (on surprisingly achievable grades in one case).

It enabled him to go for broke on the last 3 choices and he ended up with a place that he had ruled out as unachievable when he first started looking into it.

There's definitely some strategy needed to get the best result.

It also means that Oxbridge candidates can use the autumn open days to help them make their other decisions. DD was dithering about other courses and unis so it was useful to wait until after visits in Oct/Nov to add her last two choices.

I'm sure stats on this get published soon after A Level results day (if I remember you can even see ones about which combinations of A Levels get best results).

DD got A star, A, A with 4 9s, 3 7s and 3 lower grades at GCSE
In two of her A Level subjects she had 9 at GCSE.
However, in one subject she had a 7 at GCSE and got an A at A Level.

DD's subjects are English/humanities - I suspect the correlation between GCSE/A Level grades is probably much stronger with STEM subjects.

For investment banking a degree involving maths is ideal.

I would choose PPE over Global Sustainable Development, though Economics on it's own would be even more suitable.

That is blummin brilliant that they accepted then. The power of a phone call. Great news.

This is the first year I can remember for many years where I do not have a relative or a work colleague's child having A level results.

A thought for you all, be it congratulations or a hope that in spite of disappointment things turn out well for your child or children.

Mine was 6 points off a grade A is it worth appealing? I have no idea if it's worth it or how easy (or not!) it is to pick up 6 more points?