Cloud zero
A while back I wrote a blog offering a selection of tips for the large sector of this blog’s readership who were about to take exams. Today is/was A Level results day (I mean, it still is, but if you’ve not collected them by now, you really are playing it cool) and I’m well aware that some of you will either be on cloud nine now, or on about cloud four or even cloud zero. This means a generic blog about exam results is rather a tricky thing to judge.
Still, if you’ve got the grades you wanted, you probably won’t be reading this, you’ll be celebrating or preparing to celebrate. So, well done. And ignore all the stuff about how it’s easy to get A Levels these days. (a) it isn’t, and (b), as I said on Twitter, what are you meant to do: demand harsher marking? In my day (1998) people were already saying GCSEs and A Levels had been devalued, and in 2022 they’ll be saying that exams are easy compared with the ones you took. You’re living in the present, you can only take the exams you’re taking. So, yeah- well done.
If you didn’t get what you wanted, or if you did but you were still barred from the university you wanted by some quirk of fate, some things to consider:
This will sound very patronising, but it is true that you never really know what’s for the best. A friend of mine applied to Cambridge alongside me back in the day and fucked up one of her exams quite badly and didn’t get in. She was gutted. But she went to her reserve choice (Exeter), loved it, ended up staying on and doing a MPhil or something, and was certain she was better off than if she HAD got in. On the other hand I know someone who was desperate to go to Exeter. She DID get the grades and was really delighted. Then she got to Exeter and didn’t much like it and ended up trying to leave early.
I know everyone has a story like this and it’s not much consolation, but worth pondering. If you’re going to your second choice uni, I bet you £5 you’ll like it as much as you would’ve liked your first choice.
And if you’ve not got in at all? Well, another tale: my wife Emily applied to a load of places and was turned down by them all, mysteriously. Then her school discovered there was a misprint on her UCAS form and her predicted grades were wrong. So she’d basically been screwed by an admin error. It was too late to re-apply. She was forced to take a GAP year. It was the best six months of her life. Then she re-applied and went to Cambridge where she met me and we went out for dinner at Garfunkels, had a picnic, got married, had a baby etc. If not for that typing error we probably would never have met.
Again, this will sound very banal if you’ve been unlucky and everyone is consoling you and you wish they would all die, but genuinely, things turn out very differently from the way you expected. If I’ve learned one thing in life it’s that.
And on that note: take it from me, I’m 30, A Levels and GCSEs do NOT matter as much as they seem to. They just don’t. Even if you never go to uni, it won’t matter. Everything I’ve done in my career, I could have done without ever setting foot in a university. Further education is changing, people will be doing more and more alternative qualifications, and many employers will be looking for things other than degrees.
Whatever you feel like at the moment, everything will be fine. Chin up. Or congratulations. Or both. You know.
Posted by Sophie on October 5, 2010
Dear Mark, this is very late, insanely late. Well, it’s not even a month, but still, late. But I just remembered a little something I wrote about exams getting easier. Just here (http://general-ramblings88.blogspot.com/2010/08/coming-to-some-conclusions.html).
Posted by Daniel on August 20, 2010
I was very pleasantly surprised and happy to get AAB and a place at Sheffield, my first choice! And its all (nearly probably) down to your exam tips blog, so thanks!
Posted by Hal on August 20, 2010
One of my teachers (who didn’t like me very much) predicted me a D on my form for ucas – this changed all my options for applications, which was irritating when I went on to get the A that I had expected!
I loved everything about my uni (Lancaster) but had to change course as soon as I got there – and got an entirely different degree from the one on my ucas form….and all the better for it – I work in the field I studied and love my job.
It’ll all work out in the end!
Posted by Paul on August 20, 2010
I wanted to go to Edinburgh, ended up in HW due to my results being correct for both places just in the wrong subjects. Heriot Watt decided they could swap things round a bit and let me in whilst Edinburgh couldn’t and whilst Im sure there will be a fair few Edinburgh students reading the blog, I am so much happier at Heriot Watt (despite me now resitting my 3rd year), in that it’s a more down to earth university and all the staff in my subject actively try to get to know me and know what problems I have, something I don’t think Edinburgh could achieve with its vastly higher intake. My feeling is that “HW”ers are much more down to earth in general and that suited me fine.
Suffice to say I totally agree with Mark. You might not get what you want exactly but usually you find that it can work out even better. In my case I’m still living in Edinburgh and having a ball in a campus just outwith Edinburgh.
Now I’ve got to retake a year however having failed to do anything useful this past year and hope I might understand it better and ask for help more when I need it. We will see.
Posted by Laura on August 20, 2010
As someone the same age as you, Mark, I whole-heartedly agree with everything you said. When I took my GCSEs they were THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER; then my A levels were THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER in order for me to get to uni. When I got to uni I had immense amounts of fun, but the degree itself was pointless and has no impact whatsoever on my life now. The only effect going to university has on my current life is that I met my partner there.
I actually got the grades I wanted and went to my first choice uni but I really needn’t have bothered, career-wise. On the other hand, my sister fucked up her A levels big-time, had to go through clearing to get into uni at all but everything she has done since her degree has been a direct result of going to a university she didn’t initially apply for.
Congrats to everyone who got what they wanted, but don’t be too disheartened if you didn’t x
Posted by Kathryn on August 20, 2010
Well, I got into Cambridge yesterday, so I’m pretty much on cloud 9. Or at least I was, until I got a letter from them telling me how much work I have to do before the course even starts. Now I’m a little scared.
I did once look at my mother’s 1976 A-level maths paper and compare it to the ones I did. They used to teach maths in school at roughly university level. So evidently the exam boards are making it a lot easier for us.
It’s also interesting this year with the new A* thing. It was supposed to help differentiate between all the people who got As, yet quite a lot of the people I know managed to get one this year. Maybe they should go back to making exams harder instead.
Posted by Steph on August 20, 2010
Well here’s my situation!
I need three As to get into Imperial to do Chemistry. This morning I found out I had got AAB, the B being in Chemistry. I worked out all my unit scores and discovered I am ONE MEASLY UMS MARK OFF AN A! I rang Prof Craig @ ICL and asked if he could possibly reconsider and due to their being fully booked, he could not. But he did say that if I got my chemistry papers remarked and got an A he would honour my offer. So it’s fingers crossed that I get the three As and am staying in my beloved London. If not, c’est la vie and I’m going to Birmingham! Either way I am so chuffed at my results. To think I got As in Maths and Biology is crazy!
So overall I would say I am on Cloud 8, Cloud 9 pending…!
Posted by Anonymous on August 20, 2010
I wrote a really long comment in response to this and then decided against posting it, so here is an abridged version:
I’m bricking it because for two of my three A Levels, my best wasn’t good enough and I’m waiting for the university I applied to through clearing today to accept me. And the only reason I’m going to university is because I don’t know what else I could possibly do, so that’s even more frustrating. I’m putting all this pressure on myself for something that isn’t necessarily going to make me happy in the long run. It’s a bit shit, really.
Still, this blog made me feel a fair bit better, so thank you!
Posted by Aislinn on August 20, 2010
Can I sort of add another story about ‘Why A-Levels Aren’t The Be All And End All’? Please and thank-you.
I loved primary school. I loved the first bit of secondary school but that slowly disintegrated into my absolute hatred of it. We were told to pick subjects for both GCSE and A-Level not because we enjoyed them, but because we did well at them. That was the first point where I started going wrong: I loved Art, but wasn’t allowed to study it at GCSE as my teacher didn’t think I’d be able to cope with the workload.
Come my 18th birthday, I had just finished studying two A-Level subjects, one of which I absolutely hated (Politics) but was doing, as recommended, because it ‘fitted in with my other subjects’ and also because, having got a C-grade at GCSE in Science, my school didn’t think it suitable that I learn Psychology. I failed both my A-levels.
Two years later, my artwork has become a hobby I love more than ever and I’ve got a job in a school as a teaching assistant, a job I never thought twice about but enjoy a spectacular amount. This September, I’ll be embarking upon a teaching course on Fridays, so that by the time I’m 24 I’ll be teaching my own class of children. I also take my art on the train with me when I’m going places, and recently have been spotted drawing in London by someone who was ‘looking for an illustrator’ and liked my style. These are all very exciting advances in my life; I’m only twenty and they’re absolutely nothing to do with either GCSEs or A-Levels.
Ta-daa.
(I’ll go away now.)
Posted by Tim on August 19, 2010
Great advice. The main thing is you do what you want to do and not what someone says you should. We need you as PM
Posted by Phill on August 19, 2010
As always, mark, sound advice. A-levels may seem important now but in a few years I doubt they will matter all that much. Mine don’t, which is a good thing as my results weren’t brilliant!
Posted by Misha on August 19, 2010
Oh and as you may have guessed, i’m not out celebrating. 10 hours on a coach does that to you. Plus there are fewer interesting drinking companions here.
I’ll shut up now.
Posted by Misha on August 19, 2010
I’d like both please, the pleasure of having got into my first choice is being tempered by a. being back in fucking Coventry, and b. having technically failed both exams.
Thank god for coursework eh? Apparently I did so appallingly bad at english it was marked as unclassified….
Luckily I can read and write, and I intend to carry on into music/comedy/theatre type stuff so I won’t ever need to analyse the gothic elements of the pardoners tale ever again.
Just for the record, there are none.
Posted by Beth on August 19, 2010
So, I didn’t fail, but I didn’t do amazing either. I’m currently just a bit… “meh” about it all. It doesn’t help that due to lack of transportation I can’t be out celebrating and having fun with my friends. At least now I have nothing more to worry about, which is always nice…
Posted by SamJJ on August 19, 2010
Well done to everyone who got the grades they wanted and to those that didn’t it really isn’t the end of the world!
I did my Alevels 1998 and didn’t really fancy uni but went because I thought it was expected of me. I lasted a term then dropped out, spent a year in Uganda then worked Euro Disney (but those are different stories).
Eventually in 2004 I started a degree at Sussex. I got heaps more from the experience at 25 than I would have at 18. I loved my subject and really wanted to learn.
The traditional route doesn’t work for everyone!
X x
Posted by helen (@iamanicelady) on August 19, 2010
I didn’t get into my first choice of university and I’m still only very slightly bitter. And going to uni is exciting wherever you’re going I think. If any Watsonians are starting in Nottingham, let me know and I could give you a guided tour and introduction to Nottingham. Or I could get you drunk, whichever would be more helpful…
xx
Posted by EmmaT on August 19, 2010
All great advice from everyone on here.
I went to Exeter and had a bloomin’ blast. That was a good few years ago now, but I took a unexpected gap year before Uni (and one after as well) and it was one of the best things I could have done. I gained work experience and also I earnt enough money not to be a pauper when I finally got to Uni.
Since I left Exeter 5 years ago I have not used the subject of my degree in any professional capacity. Basically just used it to answer the orange and green questions in Trivial Pursuit and to stay fit and eat properly.
With all the stories about the exams getting easier, I always wonder what they would say if the exam results deteriorated year on year. Is that what we really want? Sometimes it seems that this may make them happier. Grrr.
Posted by Rachael on August 19, 2010
I totally agree with what you said about people saying that exams keep getting easier, they were saying that when I did mine a few years ago and it sort of took some of the glory out of it (or made you feel even worse if you didn’t do so well). Besides, how can anyone really judge that?
Posted by Megan on August 19, 2010
As I mentioned on Twitter (@blautreacle), I find the exam thing baffling. Ontario is not big on standardized tests, especially subject-specific ones, like the UK is. At least they weren’t in my day (I am very old, perhaps even olde, compared to most of you). In 15 years of schooling, I *might* have had a half-dozen, mostly in Math. (Yes, no ‘s’ here in the colonies.)
University entrances were/are based on marks for course work as well as well-roundedness in terms of school or other activities. Only for very competitive programs (Architecture, for example) were there interviews.
For a long time, I did regret not being able to go to the university of my choice (Trent in Peterborough (the Ontario one)), but that was due to financial restraints more than anything else (single parent family, needing to eat, etc.) So I went to university in the city where I grew up (and where I live now) and did my postgrad at Brum. (So I still got to truly experience the very broke student thing, a few years later than everyone else – the pound was at an all-time high vs. the Canadian dollar. I lived off credit for three months when my loan didn’t come through for three months. Financial recovery took years. I’d still do it again.)
Even though I ‘only’ manage a movie theatre (but a nice, well regarded/respected one), I think things worked out pretty well. You have to make the best with whatever life gives you, right?
(Sorry about the ramble. I’m avoiding some non-pressing data entry.)
Posted by Ivan (@ivanbrett) on August 19, 2010
I think it’s so unhelpful how important the teachers/lecturers make exam results out to be. Every university offers a good education, and in the end your marks won’t make a piece of difference. The main reason the exams are so important is for the own school/college’s league tables, which makes it silly anyway.
Now that I’m out of exams forever I am allowed to stick out my tongue and blow then a big fat raspberry for making me think they were important all the time. It wasn’t!
Posted by Linsey on August 19, 2010
I was really happy with my results (AABC – apologies for the crassness of putting my grades, but it feels so good to write them!) and am stunned that soon I’ll be starting a period of my life in Leeds, a city I really love.
Your stories are very inspiring, I had come to terms with the ‘everything happens for a reason’ consolodation and had it ready and loaded when I checked UCAS this morning. I do still believe it to be true.
Of course the most important thing is that I’ve ticked off another TYSIC by getting into Uni! Yay!
Posted by Lydia on August 19, 2010
I got my AS results today and I’m still in complete shock over them. My gran died after my first day of exams and I was in a bit of a mess after that and I thought that I had screwed them all up, but today my results were somehow okay. I got AABC which is more than I would ever have expected. I’m being told I’m not allowed to be pessimistic in year thirteen, but I would imagine within two weeks of being back at college I will have convinced myself that there is no way I will ever be clever enough to go to university.
I’m glad you mentioned all the stupid news reports about exams being easy. They make me so angry. I want to force all the stupid, clueless people who said anything to take A levels just so they could realise how hard and scary and intense it really is. It’s not that the exams are getting easier, it’s just that everyone, both teachers and students, work really bloody hard!
Posted by lisan66 on August 19, 2010
I got my leaving cert results yesterday, which is pretty much the same thing. I’m not thrilled with my results, but I still went out last night and am being brought for dinner tonight with my family. I dunno if British people have their college places yet(irish people have to wait until Monday), but if not, best of luck. If so, I hope you’re happy with what you got!!
That was a nice blog. It made me happy, so thank you!!
Posted by Michael King on August 19, 2010
Got A*ABBC (Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, General Studies and Religious Studies respectively). Was lower than what I was predicted, but I’ve no right to be disappointed with that result, as I still got into my first choice university. In five weeks I’ll be packing my bags and going to the University of Southampton to study Mathematics (no one cam claim I’m not doing what I do best, eh?), and for this I am extremely grateful. An Internet friend of mine from Finland, who by some cruel twist of fate is visiting me at the moment, got no offers when she applied for the University of Helsinki for the next year, and another friend of mine found out today that he had missed out on a place by a single mark.
Life can be cruel, so if you did well today, be extremely happy with what you’ve achieved over the last couple of years and count your blessings. If you didn’t get what you wanted, then try to keep your wits and evaluate the options. Remarks are only viable if you’re one or two marks from a grade boundary, and retakes are a good idea if you’re prepared to put in the extra work over the next year. Gap years are great if you’re prepared to wait for another place to come, and let me say one thing. I’ve never met anyone who has regretted taking a gap year.
(As an aside, I really should comment on your blog more Mr. Watson. I read every day through RSS though! That counts for something, right…?)
Posted by Rachel/Pandora on August 19, 2010
I was rejected at interview from what was originally my first choice university, and thought for a while that my life was over. Then went for the next best option and fell in love with the campus, course and city very quickly. It was heartbroking to leave when I graduated this Summer. I think things work out for the best, in the end, so congratulations and well done etc. to all those receiving results today. You’ll be fine! x