A Levels

[Matt N]

You've achieved an A* A Level grade @Matt N and you're dwelling on the C you got (in maths no less)? You're clearly academically very gifted, where's the usual over optimism mate? Not being one of the educated classes myself (I left school at 16 having failed everything) I could only dream of such a thing.

Trust me, you'll forget your GCSE and A Level results when you're older. You've already got a University place so there's nothing else you need to worry about. Secondary education is only a key to A levels, A levels are only a key to uni. Employers care about your degree, nothing else.

I might be an optimist, but I’ll admit I’m also somewhat of a worrier and have a tendency to dwell on things a bit.

I know it seems silly that I’m catastrophising over a C, which is by no means a terrible grade, but I’ve always felt a lot of pressure from the school to achieve highly, so I worry I’ve let people down.

My family have never really pressured me at all, and have always been very supportive of whatever grades I’ve gotten, but whenever I was in classes, Cs were always referred to as grades we “shouldn’t be aspiring for” (I seem to remember “I want nothing less than Bs & As in this mock” coming up in many of my classes towards the end), and I was one of those students who had teachers telling me I should be aiming for “all As & A*s” and be shooting for a place in Oxbridge or at very least a Russell Group university (numerous teachers frowned upon me choosing to go to uni in Cheltenham for this very reason, because as much as I’ve always been hugely enamoured with the University of Gloucestershire whenever I’ve been to the campus or read about the course, and definitely feel it’s the right choice for me as a person, it isn’t a particularly prestigious or internationally acclaimed uni, so some of my teachers weren’t especially impressed).

Even though I know I’m nothing particularly special academically, I had some teachers who made me out to be some kind of academic prodigy and predicted me to get all As or whatever, and even though I know I’m not that, I always worried about disappointing them, because they did so much for me and were always so supportive of my academic career right through school. They were amazing to me and I feel like I’m doing them a disservice by not getting the top grades they hoped for.

Personally, I always found Maths a really difficult A Level, and while I’m disappointed that I got a C, as I was hoping for at least a B if not an A, I’m not hugely surprised deep down; the Year 2 material in particular was extremely difficult and had some concepts I really struggled with (I shudder thinking about the difficulty of some of the differentiation and integration we tackled in Year 2…), and the exams didn’t go the best in spite of me revising very hard for them. In hindsight, I’m not sure if Maths and Physics were A Levels best suited to me, as I found both pretty difficult in their own separate ways; they certainly didn’t come naturally to me, and were certainly somewhat of an uphill struggle.

I must admit that I’m relieved to have gotten an A* in my degree subject, though; makes me even more certain that I made the right choice by doing Computer Science in university!

 

[JAperson]

I’ll admit I’m also somewhat of a worrier and have a tendency to dwell on things a bit.

I'm the same in this regard. I tend to overthink and to dwell and often find big defining decision and tasks really hard as I just can't stop thinking about it. Overthinking is the main reason for worrying and I would predict you are overthinking your C grade a little bit.

henever I was in classes, Cs were always referred to as grades we “shouldn’t be aspiring for” (I seem to remember “I want nothing less than Bs & As in this mock”

They say this as they want you to be aiming higher. It's like if you are aiming for a C you may try less hard and even end up with a lower grade because of it. C is a really good grade and something I definitely couldn't do at A level.

I always found Maths a really difficult A Level,

I found it difficult at GCSE so you've done better than me.

 

[Matt N]

Congrats Matt! If it's any interest to you I had a friend who also got her results and found her maths result to be less than she expected too, and she has a feeling this is because of a lot of cheating taking place this year and messing with the boundaries. However, that being said, a C is not a bad mark at all and you should be very proud! Plus I'm so glad for you that all your lectures are face to face because being fully online was not enjoyable at all. Best of luck in uni!

Thanks for the kind message @Heidi, and sorry for the late reply!

I was hoping for a higher grade in Maths, but in all honesty, I think it’s just that I found it a rather difficult A Level; in hindsight, it perhaps wasn’t best suited to me.

 

[WillPS]

You don't owe anything to anybody. Shame on whoever implied otherwise for making you feel so.

School, college and university are services you are entitled to, don't ever start thinking your education is something you owe people/an organisation/society for (except the Student Loans Company, sadly).