A Level Results Day

The reason I haven’t posted in ages is because I was waiting to do a blog about my results day which was on the 13th August. BUT, as some of you may know, the results day in the UK was a shambles and I have been battling since then to try and get the grades I deserve. It hasn’t gone entirely how I wanted it to go but I GOT INTO UNI- which is the main thing right? So this is the A Level Results Day story...

The Night Before Doomsday-

Pretty much the whole of the UK was a jittery mess before the official day and if you said you slept solid all night then you’re either a liar or a student robot. We were told that our grades would be determined by our teachers sending off predicted grades (also known as CAGs) to the exam board who would then put them into an algorithm. The teachers were told to RANK all the students they teach. E.G. if there are 60 kids taking the same subject as you in your collage then you would be ranked 1-60 with 1 being the highest and 60 being the lowest. THE CATCH- despite the intelligence of your students, only one student is allowed per ranked number AND the amount of top grades you are allowed to give out was based on your colleges passed performances meaning public colleges (like mine) were at a HUGE disadvantage as private schools will forever and always get the top grades.

As well as this, the exam board took these ranked student grades and not only compared them to other collages (public and private) but put them into an ALGORITHM. An algorithm is a set of calculations (a bunch of probabilities) decided by a COMPUTER. So essentially a bunch of names and numbers got put into a hard drive and they clicked ’Go’ and the computer was like ‘An A here, a U there, a B here’ and was giving out random letters, and the only students who benefited were the ones from private schools!!! Suspish...

However, Gavin Williamson (the Secretary of State for Education) announced that if your mock exam grades are higher than your official results you can appeal to get them- this was great for me as I got A*AA in my mocks. BUT...Is it just me or does it sound like good ol‘ Gavin had doubts about his methods before results day had commenced- its like he knew people would suffer and he tried to cover his own back before all disaster stuck. If you were so confident about the algorithm then why would you offer an alternative less than 24hours before results day?

A Level Results Day- Dun Dun DUNNNNNN

We were to receive said results via EMAIL at 8am on the Thursday morning. My email came through at about 8:10am and I got A in Drama, B in English Literature and B in Art, Craft and Design- NOT what I was hoping for. I was checking social media and it was very odd that literally no one was posting there results online- I had a feeling something was up. But because my grades were lower than I thought I had to check UCAS (the website you apply for universities) to see if I had actually gotten in. BUT UCAS WAS DOWN FOR AN HOUR. From 8-9am the whole of the UK couldn’t see if they had actually made it into uni. It was so stressful- I was messaging my friends, refreshing Twitter and FaceBook and everyone was panicking. Whilst all of this was going on unknowingly to me, my mum was downstairs watching the news and panicking as she saw (before me) that this algorithm had messed everyone‘s grades up and at this point I still hadn’t told her my grades because I couldn’t even get on to UCAS Track!!! After an hour of trying I finally logged in without it crashing and the first page said “CONFIRMED PLACE AT UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE”- massive PHEW!

I was originally upset with my results as I had missed out on a potential scholarship, but then I remembered that I could appeal for my mock exam results. So I filled out the form for my collage at 10am and there was that many appeals I didn’t get a call till 2pm!!!

Now here are some crazy stats- It turns out that in the first 24 hours of the UK receiving there results- there was over 280,000 appeals!!!

39.1% of pupils’ grade in England were downgraded by one grade from the mark issued by there teacher, a further 3.3% dropped by two grades and 0.2% were dropped by three grades!

The proportion of private school students receiving A and A* was more than twice as high as the proportion of students at public/comprehensive schools. Social inequality or what?!?!

I then got further forms emailed to me where I had to explain why I was appealing For my mocks and I sent it off.

On results day, Gavin Williamson announced on live television that the algorithm was to stay and the results you got are the ones you are stuck with unless you appeal.

The next 4 days ish-

I received NOTHING- no emails, calls, forms. I was left waiting to see if they were to give me my mocks which the government PROMISED to give if your were legible for them.

Turns out they had different plans...

17th August-

Gavin Williamson (who was certain that his algorithm was to stay for good) decided to change his mind once again! We were informed that if we were not happy about our official results then were only allowed to change them using out CAGs if these were higher. However, unfortunately for me, my mocks were the higher results out of all so I was ultimately sill downgraded in two subjects. Apparently we cannot apply for our mock results anymore as these were taken into consideration when deciding our CAGS- again, unfortunately for me, as I attend a public college the tutors were limited to the amount of high grades they could give out. For Example, in English Literature I was ranked 5 out of the whole college for my year group and only received a B despite getting consistent A’s and A*’s for the last half of the year. In Drama I was ranked number 1 and still only received an A despite position 1 being equivalent to an A*. If this doesn’t sum up social inequality in the 21st century then I don‘t know what else does.

My Final Results: