Anyone else nervous about A level and BTEC results day

[ThatGoldHedgehog]

How are all the Alevel and BTEC results mums holding up? My son applied to UCAS and has to hit high grades in his BTEC. He seems calm and confident. I am nervous but putting on a brave face and staying calm. In the background ive been reading about how Clearing works and getting ready for results day. He wants to live at home so only 2 universities he is considering. First time through this system! Solidarity with other mums navigating this with their teenagers!

Having done this route since level 2, i understand everyones nerves- very normal. dont let results anxiety stop you. ive got next to no GCSEs and now im finishing up on a HTQ in leadership and management. Good luck everyone!

What's the link please - as cannot see Exeter History at BCC.

He doesn't have to reject his firm/insurance offer before considering Clearing. My understanding is that on results day they can phone up different unis and get verbal offers. Then decide on one of the verbal offers they want and only then does he reject his firm/insurance and log his new verbal offer into clearing....so on results morning hes got until 1pm when Clearing opens to phone around and get verbal offers and then once hes secured a verbal offer he can decline his firm/insurance choices and enter the new Clearing offer.

Yes, meant on the day (if that situation arises), not before. It just means, now, his need for doing something on Results day, has gone from 10% to 50% !

Not sure about 1pm though? Where's that from?

Edit - for the above - You can submit your clearing choice from 1pm on the day.

1pm is when you can start to add a course to the Clearing system. You can add a choice anytime after this ...doesn't have to be results day iykwim, can be later over the next few days. You can ring around the different unis anytime on results day and in the next few days if needed but they just dont open the clearing portal on results day until 1pm. I think! 😀

For BTEC students that sat an exam in summer this year, student results day is the same as A Level.

Some students sit their last BTEC exam in January or are doing 100% coursework assessed BTECs (ie no exams), in which case results are issued earlier. There’s no set results day for them.

That does make sense. DC had two exams last year and one in January, so no exam results to wait for.

Oh that is useful information to know. That makes much more sense. Luckily I took the day off, so we just need to get a list of phone numbers etc.
I've been looking up foundation years at DS's first choice in case it all goes horribly wrong and it actually looks not too bad. Obviously it's one more year, but it's things like academic writing, research methods etc, and they can also do a beginners language. I think he'd prefer that to resitting A Levels. Not sure if he's prefer it to his insurance choice. He seems to have gone off it a bit even though I thought it looked like a pretty good course.

This link seems to still work but can no longer be accessed through the main website so may not be completely up to date.

https://vacancies.exeter.ac.uk/clearing/home/?_gl=11uqq6dv_gaMTcwNDYxMjA3Ny4xNzgzNTk0MDA4_ga_D45K1N753JczE3ODM1OTQwMDckbzEkZzAkdDE3ODM1OTQwMTAkajYwJGwwJGgw_gcl_awR0NMLjE3ODM1OTQwMDguQ2owS0NRandqYjNTQmhEZ0FSSXNBTUtpV3poMmUteVB5clo3WmdMWEVOSFFqcl83M1ZwWUoxdVNtanhGdXNVZHJoanRPWndpTVM3eWk2VWFBblgxRUFMd193Y0I._gcl_au*MTQyODkwMDk3NC4xNzgzNTk0MDEw

I would be very surprised if things are very different from last year. 82% got firm and another approx 10% got insurance. Grades were reduced all over the place for all but the very most competitive courses. Universities are (nearly all) desperate for bums on seats and last year that definitely translated into a huge number of students being accepted - or gaining Clearing offers - on grades below, or sometimes well below the tariff. eg, Keele are again in Clearing with nearly everything at DDE, Southampton are again in Clearing with non-Stem at B's and C's.

Keele was one of my choices in the 90's. It was really popular in my year, but I've hardly heard anything about it while looking for DS. My memory of it is a lovely leafy campus in the middle of nowhere, which is not really what DS wants but it's interesting how universities go in and out of fashion over what would be a persons working life. Obviously apart from Oxbridge which I assume always have cache.

Yep absolutely terrified. DS is very blasé about it and seems sure it’ll all be fine. Just so want it all to be ok for him.

DD has a place for medicine so need AAA. She should get that (she's predicted A* for some subjects) but we're both still anxious because her firmed Uni says they will not take anyone who doesn't get AAA whereas I know some other medicine courses accept a dropped grade so it all depends on how the rest of the cohort did. Her insurance is a non-medicine course that requires AAB which I'm sure she'll get but she's now saying if she doesn't get the grades for medicine she wants to resit which would mean repeating the UCAT which is a scary thought. We talked through her options a while ago but are trying to forget about it for now.

Good luck to you and your son for Thursday. Its such a worry until then

I hope that all goes well for your DD and you. Kudos to her for going for Medicine and aiming high with her grades. Getting through UCAT, interviews and getting offers is already an amazing achievement. I hope she gets through the next hurdle of results day.

I can totally relate!

A bit nervous here. DD has to get a Merit in her UAL Extended Diploma, for both her firm and her insurance, so if she doesn't then they are both gone, unless they drop grades.

When I spoke to one Uni to ask if extra UCAS points counted (they don't in her case), they told me that the Uni had predicted a Merit, so fingers crossed.

Plan B. is to see what other courses are in clearing, and see if any accept a lower grade, although we had to discount a lot originally due to accommodation costs and distance or location etc. She also has to audition for most, which adds on extra time and costs.

Plan C would be to do another year at college to try and get the Merit.

It is so frustrating waiting. We have booked the Uni accommodation, and she has met up with one of her flatmates. I haven't bought a thing as don't want to tempt fate and have no storage room here.

Good luck to everyone who is waiting.

I am bricking it. DD predicted 4 A star and needs 2 specific A star and an A in one of the other 2 for her dream uni. She is bright and works incredibly hard but is not good at managing exam stress so a couple of the papers didn’t go as well as she’d hoped and the grade boundaries for one of the A* subjects are always fiercely high so it really isn’t a done deal. We are on hols in a different time zone but she says there’s no way she hasn’t got the grades for her back up place (phew) which is also a good choice so she’s not planning on getting up early to get the grades etc. I think I will be lying awake panicking until she wakes up! If she doesn’t get in she will be devastated. I know her life will be fine but in the moment it will be awful. Glad to see some stories of others in similar positions!

Sounds like your daughter is a high flyer and I hope she gets her grades and her choice of course. I hope you can all enjoy your time abroad and celebrate her achievements. Good luck for Thursday!

@NicolaMarlowsMerlin my DD is predicted 3Astar and I am now really wishing she wasn’t.

She only actually needs AAB, and because we are in NI, and therefore her AS last year count for 40% and they are already in the bag, she could actually get BBC this year and still come out with the grades she needs for her chosen course. (Durham - top in the country for her chosen subject, so she isn’t underselling herself in any way by only needed AAB)

She has worked incredibly hard and has been so consistent throughout the 2 years of study, but thinks she messed up one of her papers in the subject that should have been her most reliable Astar. Humanities are incredibly hard to predict Astars, and I feel awful saying it, because I know she doesn’t NEED the top grades for her course, and missing out on the stars still means she’s done incredibly well, but if she doesn’t get at least 1 Astar, I know how disappointed she’ll be. She’d be gutted with AAA.

I cannot say this in real life, and I KNOW that AAA is excellent, but for her it will feel like she’s failed at the final hurdle, even though she will def get into her chosen course.

I’m in the bricking it camp too. Hoping that the rumoured lower acceptance marks that The Times was harping on about yesterday works in my DS’s favour - but I doubt it given the courses and rankings he has offers for. He needs 2Astar+A for first choice and AAA for insurance. Am now thinking we should have found a course he liked for CCC-BBB grades.

Yes, fretting a bit here. DD has not applied for university yet, she's having a gap year and will apply with known grades. The course she has her eye on wants AAB this year which feels a big ask.....

SO much this thank you! Things you can’t say out loud but can say on mumsnet…what a relief. Best of luck to your DD and good to hear she can get where she’s going even if the actual grades are disappointing.