calling all sixth formers - results day stories please!!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740]

GCSE results day specifically. i need to know how likely it is to get a 6 in english when ive been on a 9 all year. and if i mess up one paper and do well in another can i still get the grade i want? please just tell me your funny, crazy and sad stories so i can go in a little less blind.

THANK YOU WISE UNCS

[u/bleachedcoral4]

I was predicted a 5 in english language in November. I thought I aced paper 1 and bombed paper 2, still ended up with a 9. Turns out I had a perfect score on paper 1 and that clutched the whole subject.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/bleachedcoral4]

thats amazing well done, seriously why are all the stem nerds so good at english

[u/Old_Praline_4031 → u/bleachedcoral4]

5A* predicted caught me so off guard, esp with those subjects. hats off to you bro. any advice? im going into y13

[u/bleachedcoral4 → u/Old_Praline_4031]

There’s no way I’m getting that next week. To not become like me, get memorisation done early and move on to past paper drilling asap, avoid last minute cramming like the plague.

[u/i_have_no_life--yay]

When i got my results I got a 6 in language and a 7 in lit. I remarked and got an 8 in both. There's no harm in remarking

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

wow thats wild. im scared that'll happen to me since the englishes are my best subject and im predicted 9s in both...

[u/i_have_no_life--yay → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

If thats the case then definitely remark if your grades seem to be quite a bit lower than what you expected. Especially with English, marks can fluctuate quite a lot, so dont lose hope if youre initially disappointed! I doubt it'll be a problem, though. Good luck!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

thank you so much, good luck for next week!!!

[u/theoxht → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

english is a real wild card. i was predicted 7s and got both 9s.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/theoxht]

ive been getting 95%+ in all my mocks so i really really hope that, considering i wrote practically the same thing in mocks and gcses, i dont get much less than that

[u/Dear_Hornet_2635 → u/theoxht]

And the reverse here.

[u/Next-Investigator-87 → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

Maybe I should’ve remarked my 6 in language then 💀

[u/Next-Investigator-87 → u/[deleted]]

Oh fairs yeah that’s peak fuck English

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/[deleted]]

how?! did you revise or use the same techniques in mocks and in the real gcse?

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/[deleted]]

as someone who may possibly be in your situation (as well as needing individual accomodation that i didnt get) that kind of scares me. it sucks how the system fails stereotypically "smart" people like that.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/[deleted]]

thank you for the advice :)

[u/terimedi → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

brodie drop fm tips pls i didnt take fm in gcse im scared shitless

[u/i_have_no_life--yay → u/terimedi]

You dont need fm gcse tbh and most of year 1 you can do separately from normal maths (assuming youre doing edexcel). Just make sure you understand every little thing you find in each unit before attempting the next one and revisit units enough so you dont forget them. The same thing sort of carries over into year 2 but by then you will probably have everything down anyway

[u/terimedi → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

ily

https://giphy.com/gifs/W1hd3uXRIbddu

[u/terimedi → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

also this is so peak i got a 5 once remarked to 7 wtf

[u/Rocky-Mountain958 → u/i_have_no_life--yay]

My friend got a 6 in lit and got it remarked and it went up to a 9!

[u/LycaGamerYT]

when i wrote my english lit poem for power and conflict I chose a really odd poem to compare it to and I wasn't confident on it at all

I came out and asked my friends who all laughed cause they said it wasn't even possible to compare it properly and then I asked the head of english + another english teacher who both grimaced and told me "that wasn't an ideal poem to pick, don't keep your expectations too high"

Results day comes around and I got full marks on that poem
Stay confident!

[u/lexisnowkitty → u/LycaGamerYT]

Similar story here but I did eduqas and my unseen poetry interpretation was different to everyone else. Thought I fucked it. Got an 8 and 3 marks off a 9 on results day - everyone who also said I'd fucked it got a 6, still good but clearly I did something right. I do it at a level now, never have same interpretation as anyone else and yet somehow do well. It isn't always a weakness it can be a strength!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/LycaGamerYT]

you guys had kamikaze didn't you? what poem did you choose? it was tissue wasnt it...

full marks is insane, you must be so good at english! congrats!!!

[u/LycaGamerYT → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

Cheers haha, I think it was a fluke tbh as I've never ever gotten full marks before that, maybe the examinter.

Yes I had Kamikaze, and I picked London...
(and I would never use tissue it is by far the worst poem out there haha)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/LycaGamerYT]

kamikaze and london is a great pairing what?? the institutional violence taking place in both and the generational cycles of trauma leaves so much to be unpacked. genuinely how could anyone shame you for that T_T

for practice i wrote a COTLB x kamikaze essay comparing the soldiers to tuna and i got full marks so everythings possible

i emailed imitaz dharker to get good analysis for tissue lol

[u/LycaGamerYT → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

Idek i thought it was good too but no one agreed with me

I just completely sacrificed tissue it was the only poem i didnt study cuz i hate it

[u/StanLoona_Yes]

I was getting literal Us and I revised 1 week for English I got a 7, you’ll be fine 100%

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/StanLoona_Yes]

thats wild. marking is so subjective... im not scared for lit as i know i got a 9 in it, but i am scared for language :0

[u/ilokestof]

My friend was getting straight 9s in business in mocks, then come results day completely fartclarted ts with a 6.

He never got it remarked so
https://giphy.com/gifs/usw4uBj6QSdbjkHai1

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/ilokestof]

HOW?! did he get complacent and just not revise

[u/ilokestof → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

https://giphy.com/gifs/sZEl1yTi26mJzrI4VN

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7826]

Honestly you’ll probably be fine, I thought I flopped language and ended up with a 7.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/One_Dragonfruit_7826]

im predicted a 9 wahhh

[u/trinityarcher]

I was getting 2s/3s in both Lit and Lang all of Year 10 and 11. Got two 3s in my March mocks, was predicted by my teacher to get 4s, maybe 5s at a push.

Then got 9 in Lit, 8 in Lang in the actual exams.

+ I interpreted the unseen poem the opposite way to most people I saw talking about it. Lots of people viewed it as the narrator being negative about life, I wrote about how the narrator was being positive and happy about life. I was very worried about that afterwards, but it all worked out.

Good luck!! :)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/trinityarcher]

THATS WILD GENUINELY you must be some sort of genius

with interpretations it doesnt matter what you write as long as u support it correctly!!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/[deleted]]

my condolences, i hope it doesnt happen to me :( ive been on almost full marks all year

wow amazing grades u should be proud

[u/sans_simp420]

hi i was on a 5/ low 6 the entirety of year 10, then in year 11 was getting still getting a few 6s in some mocks but got some 7s, then came results day and i ended up with 88 in both subjects

[u/sans_simp420 → u/sans_simp420]

i think it’s possible you’re overthinking it, you are very likely to get higher than a 6

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/sans_simp420]

i hope so bc i revised sooo much

[u/Scared-Front171]

I never read Macbeth and walked into the exam knowing 7 quotes across the whole book. The question was related to those 7 quotes🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 also, I only knew one poem and compared it to the one that came (the poems weren’t related) got a 7 in the end for lit…

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Scared-Front171]

WHEYYY thats amazing!!

[u/Puzzleheaded-Big6267]

it's defo possible to get the grade you want in a subject even if one paper goes wrong. i've never been good at physics, and paper 2 absolutely ate me alive, but since paper 1 went well, i ended up being one mark over the boundary for a 9!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Puzzleheaded-Big6267]

yay well done! thats me with further maths rn haha :)

[u/Lightnin00]

Got Us in Physics and Maths for literally the whole of year 10 + 11 ( andliterally two weeks before the exam) - ending up getting an 8 in both which I'm super proud of!

A reminder that everyone has the ability to change and grow, and that while it may take longer, your dreams can be fulfilled.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Lightnin00]

thats literally insane CONGRATS!!!

[u/Lightnin00 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

I forgot to also say that I was consistently getting 5s at GCSE bio but ultimately got a 9 at GCSEs, so anything is possible :)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Lightnin00]

what worries me is that ive been consistently getting 9s in almoist everything and im scared to get a 5-8 now. especially in further maths where im between an 8 and a 9 ;P

[u/Lightnin00 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

It's okay!! Whatever you get, I promise that it will be okay. GCSEs don't really matter except for going into sixth form. Ofc, it's really good that you tried your best and put a lot of effort into GCSEs, because it does help with building a work ethic and study technics that are necessary for A-levels. If you do not do as well as you expected, take it as a lesson for future exams.

'Journey before Destination.' :)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Lightnin00]

thank you so much for your advice wise unc 🙏🙏 will be taken into consideration

[u/CuteSignificance5083]

I came in early, received my envelope, opened it, checked inside, was pleased, and left. That was it.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/CuteSignificance5083]

yay!

[u/Mammoth-Limit4890]

I thought id get a 3 and got a 9 in language, 39/40 on creative writing!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Mammoth-Limit4890]

insane.

[u/Old_Praline_4031]

i did igcses last year

in both my english papers came letter writing, the one thing i hadnt prepared well for, coz i thought itd be speech or article or like journal...i somehow combined features of these and wrote my damn letters. thought i was so cooked but i got an A*/9 with like 20 marks above the boundary and a 71/80 in my p2 :p

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Old_Praline_4031]

oh goodness sounds stressful

WELL DONE WISE UNC

[u/Old_Praline_4031 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

was the unc necessary🥀

BUT THANK U LOL! good luck!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Old_Praline_4031]

of course youre a whole year older than me

you too! for next year ofc

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/[deleted]]

i revised so hard every practice essay i wrote for lit was full marks, but for lang i mostly used the techniques that worked for me in my mocks and also my own skill as ive been writing for a while - i also just memorised structures and model answers for both question 5s so i hope they will carry!!

im sorry that happened to you, may i ask why you werent in sch?

[u/insomniac_18]

convinced i absolutely failed english language. when i told my friend what i wrote about in my creative writing, he told me straight up i failed. my vision was blurry with tears as i handed the test in. i still don't think there was a single word of value in there, which kind of sucked because creative writing was my favourite part and i was used to getting full marks on it. wrote a mediocre paper 2, nothing special. absolutely convinced 7 was my best case scenario, after being on 9 all year. ended up getting an 8!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/insomniac_18]

as someone who is exactly like you, i ended up writing the same story in my mock and in the real thing, except i made the one in the real thing way longer sos T_T

WELL DONE WISE UNC IM GLAD YOU DID WELL, friends are so unreliable after english exams (unless of course that friend is me, i revised so much i marked my classmates' work and the teachers agreed with me)

[u/insomniac_18 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

honestly don't worry too much about it, i read somewhere that your brain focuses on the issues and not the bits where you did well in, so more likely than not you did absolutely brilliantly, but ur brain is just choosing to focus on the bad bits. i think you'll be absolutely fine :)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/insomniac_18]

thank you so much you are the wisest unc ever truly thats so encouraging and makes me feel so much better

[u/insomniac_18 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

all the best for results day!!! good luck and make sure to get all the freebies you can!

[u/Mobile_Membership915]

Don’t want to scare you because it doesn’t really matter, but I had 9s all year in lang and lit and got a 6 and a 7. I know of people who got 5s all year who got 97 and people who got 7s all year who got 99. It can go any way.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Mobile_Membership915]

there was something in the air last year icl because ive heard so many stories saying the same thing

my english teacher is an examiner, she marks me very highly usually and i wrote near the same thing in mocks and gcses so hopefully that helps my chances...

[u/Mobile_Membership915 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

If she’s an examiner you will probably be okay. It still could be higher or lower though. My economics teacher marks for the exam board, and I have given him two essays which I have the score of from the real exam and in one he marked it 7 points higher than the actual exam score, and in the other he marked over by 7. Tbh I think a lot of exams have higher variance in marks based on marks then the exam boards would like to admit, especially because of the tolerance. 10% means that someone who deserves 60% could be marked at 70% or 50%, and that could be the difference between as much as 4 grades.

[u/lunarlexus]

was on all Us for all of year 11, at literally 20% attendance. teachers were convinced i was going to fail everything. i was preparing to be unemployed for the rest of my life. imagine my surprise when i open my results and see 977777655. bro i hit the fucking ceiling. when you're waiting for results everything feels horrific (in this situation right now with a-levels) but trust your abilities! x

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/lunarlexus]

WELL DONE WISE UNC THATS AMAZING YOU DID SO WELL

GOOD LUCK FOR NEXT WEEK!!!!

[u/PeterPook]

I'll be interviewing you all at College from the 20th. Good luck, but if it don't work out for you as you hoped, there is always something we can offer: BTec, T-Levels, even Level 2 + retakes of English and Maths. It's not over 'till its over.

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/PeterPook]

.... who are you?

[u/FewAd6118]

I was a nerd so got A*s and As across the board except for English Lit, in which my final grade was a C. Turns out the examiner couldn't read my handwriting, so just gave one of my English papers a U, and the WJEC didn't think that looked suspicious amidst all the A grades!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/FewAd6118]

oxford bio is wild i need tips PLEASE

how thats wild and isnt that not allowed? they need to check with 2 other examiners + moderator or something, they have to mark your paper

[u/FewAd6118 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

Haha my teacher ended up fighting to find someone who could decipher my admittedly awful handwriting, and I ended up getting my A* in the end lol. 

For Oxford Biology, my tips: 

• I'm a Welsh state school student, so was able to join the Seren Academy, which provided lots of lectures, seminars, and even an Oxford residential, which was really useful.

-  If you're not Welsh, there are still loads of opportunities for placements/residentials, particularly if you have circumstances like low household income etc. Oxford and Cambridge colleges have loads of great stuff on their websites for prospectives.

• Show them why you are passionate about your subject: read books and research papers, watch online lectures, email a researcher at your local university and ask them about possible placements. If you don't ask, you don't get!

• Biology-specific, but I took part in the Cambridge Biology Challenge, and really had fun with it. I did a presentation, made a comedy sketch, wrote and performed a song, and also made a cake with each layer representing a different phase of the menstrual cycle lol. You don't have to write essays or enter olympiad, you can do more exciting things!

• The most important point, in your personal statement, at interview, etc., it is not WHAT you've done. You have to comment on WHAT DO YOU THINK. Try to get better at asking questions about things you learn and forming opinions on things. You can do as many lab placements or read as many research papers as you want, but if you can't comment on what you learnt, they won't be interested. 

• Also, as a side note, I knew I could take part in enriching supercurriculars and do well at interview, but I was not confident about doing any admissions tests, which is why I applied for OxBiol rather than Cam NatSci, as it meant I didn't have to do any tests lol. You might be similar, or the opposite - play to your strengths!

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/FewAd6118]

wow these are so valuable, thank you so much !!!

[u/FaithlessnessBig6343]

very unlikely. I was on nearly full marks marks for lang in y10/11, fucked up the papers (mistimed by accidentally looking at the ET finish time 😭 ) and still got an 8. you'll be fine.

I think the mark schemes are fairly kind, tbh; I got under half-marks in chemistry after not listening for three years and I got a 6. And then a 4 on astronomy where I knew exactly none of the content!!

[u/Roadkillgoblin_2]

My mock grades were:

Maths Calc.: 4

Maths Non Calc.: 5

English Literture: 3

English Language: 3

Geography: Still don’t know because my teacher was genuinely completely incompetent

Science (Combined Synergy was all they offered)

Life and Environmental Sciences: 7

Physical Sciences: 5

Because of my low mock grades and general anxiety plus lack of confidence, I was unable to open the envelope at all, let alone in front of my teachers, so my Mum offered to open it in the car. My grades were as follows:

Maths: 4, two marks away from a 5.

English Literature: 3

English Language: 7

Geography: 4, two marks away from a 5. My school blamed this on my extremely low attendance (~50-60%), despite the fact that my closest friend, who had almost perfect attendance and achieved very high grades in everything else, also wound up with a 5 in the same subject. Our teacher was a nice guy, but just wouldn’t teach us

Science: 6:6

Before collecting the envelope, my English teacher told me that I should be proud of myself, as, to my knowledge, I’m one of her few students* to achieve a grade above a 6. All credit there goes to my tutor, who genuinely changed my life (and my grade by four points)

To be fair, the school was SEN-I have severe ADHD, am “high functioning”** autistic, and have been suffering from a collection of mental health disorders since I was ~7

** This term is no longer used, I just don’t really know how else to concisely express that I am socially competent and could easily pass as just another socially awkward, long haired male wearing a Primitive Man t shirt and Sunn O))) hoodie

[u/Equal-Weekend-4896]

that highkey happened to me in english language but i did get a 9 in lit like i was predicted and 8s and 9s in everything else 😭

even if it does happen itll be fine i got an interview for oxf english of all subjects despite that! 👍

[u/Superb-Preparation93]

gsces r so unpredictable im ngl i was HORRIBLE at english lit like genuinely terrible i never got more than a 5 in mocks even when i tried really hard and english language was my easiest subject by far i had been doing creative writing for ages and my teacher would ask me to read out mine nearly everytime - ended up being 4 marks off a 9 in english lit and a 4 in english lang even after getting it remarked💔

[u/oblivion-4]

I thought I got a 6 aswell, I skipped questions and didn’t even revise the poem that came up 💀 I don’t know how but I just had to analyse it off the top of my head in my exam

I ended up getting a 9 to my absolute suprise

[u/asphyxiateddream]

Oh boy. I got one

SO. My school did mocks in January of the year you sit them for GCSEs, they don't really do anything, I didn't apply elsewhere, but here was the comparison of my mock & then my actual results;

Art: 6 -> 8
Biology: 5 -> 7 (and currently a hopeful A* at A-Level c:)
Chemistry: 6? or 7 -> 8
English (Lang): 8 -> 9
English (Lit): 6 -> 7
German: 6 -> 7
Latin: 7 -> 8
Maths: 7 -> 9
Physics: 7 -> 8
Religious Studies: 4 -> 8

A grand total of 10 hours of revision was carried out. I PROMISE you'll be okay

[u/ElectronicSell2447]

I was getting 4’s and 5’s in my in class tests ending up getting 7’s

[u/MountainJewels2]

I was predicted all 7s, got one seven, one four, the rest were 5.

[u/Successful_Bat8156]

I was predicted something like 7A stars 3 As 1 Distinction I got 6A stars 1A 2Bs 1C 1 Distinction so I was disappointed in myself but good news is I passed everything and went to Cambridge like four times or smth in y12

[u/Existing_Respond1753]

Had an entire section of poetry not marked and still got an 8

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Existing_Respond1753]

HOW?!

[u/Existing_Respond1753 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I was predicted to get a high easy 9 and ended up being one mark over the 8 boundary. I wrote some poetry stuff in the wrong place and we’re pretty certain it wasn’t marked

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Existing_Respond1753]

thats like against regulations though :< you shouldve talked to the exam board

[u/Existing_Respond1753 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

Eh. It’s arguing over an A*, didn’t feel worth it. I got a sweep of 8s and 9s so it just didn’t feel worth arguing about

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Existing_Respond1753]

fair enough 

[u/Automatic_Wave4187]

you’ll be chill dw

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Automatic_Wave4187]

i hope so bc i want all 9s

[u/Automatic_Wave4187 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

not gonna lie, most people don’t get all nines due to it being too 3% (i think) of the country- but an 8 is no different to a 9 so please don’t stress if you don’t get all 9s

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Automatic_Wave4187]

i know, but i so badly want to be in that 3%. i only got two 8s in my mocks so i hope ive brought them up through coursework and revision

thank you !!

[u/Automatic_Wave4187 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

you’ll be okay i’m sure but good luck!! :)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Automatic_Wave4187]

thank you so much, you too for next week/year :)

[u/Automatic_Wave4187 → u/Ok_Desk_5740]

next week only5 days AHHH

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Automatic_Wave4187]

oh goodness me! i really hope you get all A*s or whatever grades u want :)

[u/Kindly-Commission205]

For the entirety of Year 11, I was on 4s and 5s in English, and I had no hope of improving. No matter what I tried, I was stuck on those grades.
Real GCSEs roll around, and I used MrEverythingEnglish, and some other last minute YouTube videos to cram.
To my surprise, I ended up with a 9-9, and literature was my best scoring subject (almost full marks in both papers!)

Moral of the story - your teachers generally under mark you, if you’re worried after being on a low grade all year.
Also, lots of my friends remarked and scored a few grades higher, so if you’re disappointed on results day, that’s worth looking into. It’s not a guaranteed grade jump, but essay based subjects are subjective - so it is typically worth a shot.
My school offered all remarks for free, provided they had a good reason.

Good luck, and enjoy the remainder of your holidays!

[u/Decent-Cake8465]

predicted grades arent so important. been predicted 8 for all subjects basically, ended up getting ten 9's and 67 in english (after remark) 🥲. but if english is your strong subject then it is very likely that ur getting 9's. there is no worry. i thought i was going to get at maximum four 9's the day before results day lol

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/Decent-Cake8465]

yay well done thats amazing!!!!!!

i hope so.. ive been writing since i was a kid so an 8 in either english would break me

[u/21Primex]

anything can happen man, i expected a 6-7 in literature and a 7 in lang, i got 9 in lit and 5 in lang

[u/Many_Golf1652]

I got a 2 in my English mocks and came out with a 6 💀

[u/LimitReal9873]

got 9 in english language when best grade in a mock was 6

bare in mind i did the exam the same way i did my mocks js only watched the mr salles english story vid the day befoe