DLD College’s Guide to GCSE Results Day

It’s been a long glorious summer. You’ve had some much deserved time off, catching up with family and friends, and probably tried your very hardest to forget about what’s coming Thursday: GCSE Results Day.

No matter how much you revised, or how well you think you did at the time. You are bound to be nervous. It’s only natural. All of your friends and classmates will feel exactly the same.

It’s important to be prepared on GCSE Results Day, for every eventuality. It is stressful at the best of times, so being prepared will lighten the load. Here’s a few things you should remember to do, and some things you should take with you.

• Mobile phone. Make sure you charge it the night before. When you get your grades you’ll probably want to call someone.

• A notepad and pen. You might need to make some notes.

• A bottle of water. You don’t want to get dehydrated during the day.

• A positive mental attitude. Even if things don’t go your way, it’s not the end of the world, and there are plenty of options available to you.

Alright, now you’re all packed and ready to go, here’s a look at what might happen to you on GCSE Results Day

Your GCSE Results Are Brilliant

Fantastic. You really deserve them. You probably feel pretty great inside. Call your family and friends and let them know how amazing you are. Bask in the glory.

Once you’ve done all of that, you have several options available to you. The most obvious one is to go straight on and study A-Levels. Or you might want to think about a BTEC course if you are looking for a more practical, real world approach to learning. If you did well, but found the studying extremely hard and don’t think that further academic qualifications are for you, then you might like to try something more vocational.

Regardless of what you chose, think carefully about what you want to do. Talk to your parents, and your teachers. Do not be afraid to ask for advice.

Your GCSE Results Are Not Quite As Good As You Were Hoping For

You open your envelope and to your surprise, some of your results are good, but some of them are very disappointing. First up, don’t panic. There are plenty of options for you here.

Firstly speak with a teacher or, if there is one present, an exam officer. Ask them to request a copy of your marked paper to check and see if an enquiry about results (EAR) is appropriate.

Check your UMS Score and measure it against AQA‘s UMS Grade Boundaries. If you missed a higher grade by just a few marks, or any of your results seem unusually low, ask a teacher or the exam officer to get a review of marking or moderation, or ask for a remark. It is important that you do this straight away after receiving your results, as there is a deadline.

If all of that fails, then you can always resit some or all of your exams.

Resits might not be necessary though. If you have done badly in an exam that you are not particularly interested in, or wasn’t a core subject like English, Maths or a Science, then you might not have to worry about doing any resits. Speak to your teachers or if you were planning on changing schools, the new school or sixth form college you want to go to. You might find that they don’t require you to have that particular subject to get on their A level programme.

Your GCSE results were terrible

No one wants to think about this eventuality, and it’s important not to panic or get upset. Whatever happens, you still have options open to you.

GCSEs are very much a gateway point in terms of decision making. If you found the going exceptionally tough, and you didn’t respond well to classes and studying, then perhaps that kind of education is not for you. Not everyone is suited to life in a classroom.

You might be more practically suited, or be better at things that you don’t study at GCSE or A Level. If this is the case you might find that BTEC or a more vocational course is for you.

Good luck!