A guide to results day: Students

Editor's note: This post was originally released in August 2023 and has been updated to make it relevant for students receiving their 2024 exam results.

It’s a big moment! You have studied for and sat your A-levels or GCSEs and the day that you thought would never come is almost here. Results days are stressful for young people. In my experience, they are stressful in most cases because of a lack of control. Everything that influences your results has been concluded. Revision, exam answers and essay writing are in the past and all that remains is to receive that envelope of letters and numbers.

For many young people, results day is the first of their “next steps” and the results they acquire will dictate what courses or degrees they go on to study. Again, this will cause a great deal of thought and even the most confident of young people will be feeling tense with this on the horizon.

With these points in mind, I have decided to write this post to support young people and their parents on results day. My guidance is general but it is also from experience. I have had the privilege of working in six different schools and colleges in the UK over a 20-year career and have also been a senior school leader and Head of Sixth Form. For these reasons, I have seen the highs and lows of results days and I aim to share these experiences with you.

Jump to links

1. Be there in person (if at all possible).
2. Allow your family to share your experience.
3. Speak to your teachers.
4. Read the small print.
5. Identify where support is available.
6. Don’t make any snap judgement's and, where necessary, be persistent.
7. Avoid blaming external factors for perceived failure.
8. Use internal unstable attributions for success.
9. Support your friends.
10. Celebrate!

 1. Be there in person (if at all possible) 

If you are able to, please do attend your school/college on results day. Being there in person is an important part of your progression and gives you the opportunity to honour what has gone before and begin to make preparations for what is to come. Whilst some individuals may prefer to get their results online, this lacks the opportunity to speak to your teachers, where relevant say thank you and share your joy or disappointment with your friends.

In my experience, students like attending results day with their friends. There is a camaraderie going on and the tension can lead to some really memorable moments. 

I have had many students who view their results online in the morning and then attend the school/college simply to be social. This is probably a good way to do things, especially if you feel very nervous, but I would encourage young people to accept the jeopardy of the scenario and receive the results in person. Even if results have gone badly, there will be people there to answer questions and to support you. Allow those people that opportunity and you can begin to move forwards.

  2. Allow your family to share your experience.  

I don’t know if you have noticed but many teenagers are a bit embarrassed by their parents/guardians. At the time of writing this post, I have a daughter in Year 13 and another in Year 1 of university and I am fully aware that they don’t want me there for every experience. However, results day is important and I urge you to allow your parents/guardians to experience it with you.

Some parents/guardians will thrive in this situation. They will step back and allow you to take the lead and they’ll do their best to be in the background but, having experienced tens of results days, this is not always the case. Some parents/guardians will not be able to cope with the pressure and it will seep out of them. For this reason, tell your parents/guardians what your expectation of them is before you go in. If you want them to drive you there and sit in the car, that is up to you. If you want them there but in the background, tell them. They will respect your position. But, please, do include your parents/guardians. Should you have children in the future, you’ll find yourself in the same boat. They are living through you on days like this, so allow them in, just enough.

  3. Speak to your teachers.  

Depending on how many subjects you are receiving results for, you may see a whole series of your teachers on results day. If possible, try to speak to them. My advice is to ask them how they are and how their summer is going. Your relationship with them is now different and they'll appreciate you asking. Trying to honour their hard work in the preceding years and thank them if this is relevant. You might even choose to remind them of funny moments or the things you are grateful for. Even in cases where your relationship has been difficult, try to make the (probably) final interaction positive. You’ll feel good for doing this and for clearing away any residue of negativity. 

When you speak with your teachers, keep things short. Results day is not the time for long conversations and remember that your teacher may have to speak with hundreds of students in one morning. Make the interaction short and positive.

  4. Read the small print.  

Although it might not seem like it, results day is more than just receiving a bunch of numbers and letters in the form of grades. You are likely to also receive documentation about your unit performances and about how to seek support if you need it. Make sure you read this! If you are too excited or upset, pass this documentation to a parent/guardian who can read through it for you. The important thing is that this information contains crucial information and any and all of the following could be contained in your envelope:

• Subject results
• Unit results
• Next-step information
• Entry requirements for courses
• How to query a result
• What to do if you believe an error has occurred

So, let’s take unit results as an example. You may be a GCSE student having studied French and getting a grade 6 but it could also be that your speaking exam result was much lower than your writing and listening exams. This is useful to know, especially if you are considering studying French at A-level. Take note of these individual unit performances, as they can inform next-step choices and actions.

  5. Identify where support is available.  

The envelope that you receive will almost certainly contain information about what to do if you need support. Read this carefully and ask a family member to do the same. Simply grabbing the nearest teacher might not get you the information you need.

Once you have read the support documentation, it is likely that you will need to contact the exams office at your school/college. Ensure that you have the email address and phone number. Calling the exams office on results day may not get you very far, as the same people who answer those calls are the ones distributing results, but an email with a well thought-out subject line will be positive. Consider making the subject line something like:

“John Smith 11F - Urgent query - Action required”

This subject line is clear and sets out your expectation without being pushy or negative. It is likely that the response you receive will be fairly general and will tell you that they are looking into it. This is normal.

If your query has a genuine time pressure, call the exams office and ask for support. Remember, that the more polite and friendly you are, the quicker the action is likely to be taken. Try hard to avoid sharing frustration and anger. This is unlikely to move things forward.

  6. Don’t make any snap judgements and, where necessary, be persistent.  

It is likely that your results will affect your opinions about your future studies. It is rare that a student receives exactly the results they expected, so be prepared for a few surprises. It’s very important that you don’t jump rashly into changing or altering your plans. Assuming that time is on your side, allow your results to sit in your mind for a few days before you abandon your previous plans.

Furthermore, your results might mean that you need to be persistent. Let’s take an example. Let’s say that you are a GCSE student and you want to study biology, chemistry and PE at A-level. Perhaps your results for studying PE are good but you performed lower than you anticipated in combined science. Even if you have not met the entry requirements for A-level biology and chemistry, you are within your rights to discuss your enrolment with the A-level teachers and try to persuade them that you are a good bet for those courses. If you truly believe that you can do it, be persistent and be willing to argue your case. Teachers value young people who are determined and believe in themselves and a good teacher will always take additional factors into account when enrolling or not enrolling someone onto a course. Now, this does not necessarily mean that you will be enrolled but you should definitely give it your best shot.

  7. Avoid blaming external factors for perceived failure.  

This is probably the toughest piece of advice for me to give you. The truth is though that your exam results do reflect what you wrote, drew or calculated in those exams in May and June. Therefore, you should be very slow to blame factors outside of your control for any perceived failures. 

In the vast majority of cases, exam results generally represent a student’s efforts. Yes, there are exceptions but, in the main, my point is a fair one. More importantly though, if we attribute under-performance to external factors like the quality of the exam paper or equivalent, we are removing the opportunity for us to control our future by making changes that have an impact. How the exam paper was worded is not in your control. But reflecting on learning methodology, revision systems and time is. You can change these things going forward and your exam results provide you with feedback as to whether this is necessary. In other words, they are in your control.

  8. Use internal unstable attributions for success.  

Some or all of your results will please you on results day. Let’s say that you scored a killer set of GCSE results. The tendency is for us to puff our chests out and enjoy that glow of “being smart”. I completely understand this and it is totally normal. The thing is though, this is probably not why you succeeded. You succeeded because of what you did. High performing students do all of the following:

• Developed an ongoing learning methodology.
• Developed an excellent series of revision resources.
• Began revising early.
• Spent more time revising.
• Practised past-paper questions and worked with mark schemes.

In almost all cases, this is why students succeed. By recognising this, we are placing success in our own hands: “I succeed because I take actions A, B, C and D.” This is empowering. 

Let’s look at the alternative route: “I succeed because I’m smart.” What happens when you study or work at a level where the challenge is greater than your “smartness” can easily cope with? In this case, the only thing you can do is apply the bullet points above. So, start that right now. To be clear: your success in the past and the future is based on your actions and hard work. It is controllable. No matter how smart or “unsmart” you are, this is consistently true.

  9. Support your friends.  

Amongst other things, results day is a time of caginess and rumours. You are likely to hear about friends who are struggling. Try to support them. If you can, ask them open questions. Whilst I am not cool enough to tell you how to word these questions as a teenager, consider asking the following:

• “Hey, [name]. You good?”
• “Give me a shout if you fancy a chat.”
• “I’m around for the next few days. Let me know if you want to meet up.”

In all of these cases, you are letting your friend know that you care and that you are available. They will appreciate this. 

You should also be cautious what you post to social media. Whilst you should definitely celebrate positive results, be mindful that others will be suffering. Posting photos of your ten grade 9s at GCSE might not be appreciated. Instead, consider using social media to make yourself available to others. 

  10.Celebrate!  

Now, I’m not able to tell you what I did on my GCSE and A-level results day, as it would be inappropriate, but I do want to say that there are only a handful of occasions in life where a celebration is more relevant than on GCSE or A-level results day. You need to have fun and blow off some steam. Do it! Obviously, do it safely and respectfully but ensure you mark this moment in your life. You deserve it.

If possible, include your parents/guardians for a small portion of the celebration. Whilst I don’t encourage you to take your mum clubbing, it would be nice to -perhaps- have dinner with them and spend some time talking. You may well be leaning very heavily on your family in the coming days, especially if you are moving to uni or going through clearing. Make your family part of your experience… and then ditch them and have some fun with friends ;)

Thank you for reading the post. I have enjoyed writing it and I hope there are some useful ideas for students and parents. 

I would be grateful if you could leave a comment below.

Have a great day.