A-level results?

digitalscream

McToot said:

25 years ago for me.  I got into Nottingham with a C and a D (I did get a couple of Bs too, but not for subjects I was going to pursue). 

The two key grades Spanish (C) and English Lit (D) , were rather embarrassing because a) I'm a quarter Spanish and my dad was an English lit teacher.  I'd been predicted A/B for both, so I fucked up in a fairly impressive way. 

Still, I celebrated the day like most of my friends by getting howling pissed. 

I went the other way - I was predicted BBCC, and ended up with AAAD (the D was in Classics, which I didn't take seriously and only did as a bit of relief from maths, further maths and physics). I have absolutely no clue how I fluked it, but I do know that I was 0.5% off a B in further maths.

Unfortunately, it's left my daughter with a real complex - she's convinced I'm disappointed in her grades because she didn't match mine, and I haven't been able to find any way of explaining to her that I'm really not. Might get easier tomorrow, I think...

bertie

John_P said:

Hopefully we won't have too much of the usual media comments about how easy it is compared to the past.

well they've gone down this year - so make what you will  

Phil_aka_Pip

There's a BBC page about not saying the wrong thing to your children about A level grades. I'm sure you will find it if you're that bothered to look

VimFuego

not really on topic, but results day always makes me feel really sorry for the younger generation. Blind ade's point about the results he achieved got him into uni with no problem is quite indicative (to me anyways). The pressure on 6th formers must be huge, To stand out now, not only do you have to get huge grades, you also have to have a CV chock full of extra curricular activities. Then, you get saddled with massive debts even before you've left uni. And after you graduate you still have to find the income somehow to be able to afford the mortgage in this massively hyper inflated housing market. Scary stuff, we're creating a generation for whom lifelong slavery is the norm.

Grumpyrocker

I got mine 20 years ago. I did quite well as it turned out, better than I was expecting. I chose one of the lower university offers because I didn't think I'd make the higher one. As it turned out I went to the better university - certainly in terms of my subject. I got two A, a B and a D if I remember correctly. One of was Politics, the D History - always thought that was odd. Neither seemed harder than the other. I don't think my work the exams was different for each, yet the scores were very different. I put down my - for me - success down to not giving a shit at all. My mum had recently died and I felt no A level stress at all, I was too busy missing my mum.

stickyfiddle

holnrew said:

stickyfiddle said:

Only 10 years since mine but my god does it make me feel old!

Did you do them when you were 18? That would make us around the same age.

I thought you were older than that, and I think I'm younger than I am.

I did, and it does, assuming you're currently 28!

boogieman

40 years ago for me. I did dismally...just the one pass (English Lit) out of 3 taken. That got me into teacher training, which I hated. I got kicked out of college after 18 months anyway.

I really should have left school at 16 and got a trade or an apprenticeship but my old school was a grammar school and they frowned on nasty rough people who did that sort of thing. Took me until I was 35 to find a job I actually liked.

holnrew

stickyfiddle said:

holnrew said:

stickyfiddle said:

Only 10 years since mine but my god does it make me feel old!

Did you do them when you were 18? That would make us around the same age.

I thought you were older than that, and I think I'm younger than I am.

I did, and it does, assuming you're currently 28!

28 for exactly one month. But you're so grown up!

viz

@brh I did awfully at A levels, but scraped into my final choice at Uni - turned out to be a perfectly ok decision, and it hasn't mattered in the long-term, not a jot. Best foot forward - good luck at university!

viz

@bucket I meant! der

digitalscream

Phil_aka_Pip said:

There's a BBC page about not saying the wrong thing to your children about A level grades. I'm sure you will find it if you're that bothered to look

I appreciate that you found it, but...I'd kinda hope that I know my daughter better than the BBC does

She's happier now. I've found that the best approach is to give her time to get things sorted in her head before even getting remotely annoyed or frustrated. I seem to remember that my parents had a much easier time with 3 boys (and a girl who took her behavioural cues from her older brothers).

ICBM

28 years ago for me. An A (Physics), two Bs (Chemistry, Maths) and an E (Further Maths, which I never really wanted to take in the first place). Without that I might have got three As... on the other hand the E was nice as it made me feel less of an alien when comparing to less geeky friends who had no As or Bs at all.

But very scary, this means that stickyfiddle and holnrew were born just when I was leaving school .

monquixote

digitalscream said:

My daughter got hers...much stress this morning, followed by much relief and breathing again.

It seems quite a few of her friends didn't make their offer grades, though

I had you down as too youthful to have a kid doing A-Levels. 

frictionfraction

My daughter got hers today and is heading off to Newcastle UNI Also need to find the a new drummer for the band she has been filing the seat for the past couple of years... 3 old farts with a 17 year old girl drummer playing heavy(ish)rock is certainly a sight to behold and has been a real selling point for the band... It has been really funny watching punters faces as they realise who is playing the drums... Plus as a dad it has been great finding something I can do with my daughter even if it now ends in a month or so...

ArchtopDave

My daughter got some very decent AS Results today. She doesn't know yet, as she's currently helping on a wildlife research project in the Kruger National Park and won't be back home till Saturday next week.

I was at Uni something of a while ago - latter half of the 60's.

digitalscream

monquixote said:

I had you down as too youthful to have a kid doing A-Levels. 

I couldn't decide between LOL, Wow! or Wisdom for that.

But thank you anyway

Antique_Guitars

I didn't do A-Levels I did a B. Tech National Diploma in General Engineering, got a mixture of merits, distinctions and passes if I remeber correctly. It was a farse anyway as you could just keep re-doing stuff until you got all distinctions, I could'nt be bothered to though. Got me a job and then later down the line got me on the Degree that I finished last year and now the MA that I am about to finish in 2 weeks hopefully.

Picked up some city and guilds AutoCAD stuff along the way as well.

Antique_Guitars

digitalscream said:

monquixote said:

I had you down as too youthful to have a kid doing A-Levels. 

I couldn't decide between LOL, Wow! or Wisdom for that.

But thank you anyway

Really? I thoght he would have great grand kids doing A-Levels

monquixote

Antique_Guitars said:

Really? I thoght he would have great grand kids doing A-Levels

You know Lee can give you a million facepalms with one line of SQL right?

digitalscream

monquixote said:

Antique_Guitars said:

Really? I thoght he would have great grand kids doing A-Levels

You know Lee can give you a million facepalms with one line of SQL right?

Sorely tempting, but I'm behaving myself.

Also, I've just had a curry, so I'm in a good mood. I'll see how I feel about it in the morning