results day anxiety strategy

Many of the private candidates do not have the advice and guidance that school exam candidates have access to.

Here is some tips.

Hat tip for the Ofqual blog to alerting us to some suitable advice.

Exams themselves are often considered on their own. Rather than all the preparing, revising and result anxiety that comes with the exmas.

We rarely remember that results day itself can be just as worrying. Especially as results are different to what is expected.

What if my exam grades aren’t accurate?

Some exam candidates felt their teachers might not know them well enough to give them a grade. While might even mix them up with someone else in the class. Others worried that teachers might be biased towards different exam candidates.

Exam grades might be put into the various system wrong. E.g. A fat finger event

Will future employers, or universities treat my grades differently?

With grades being awarded differently, exam candidares worry around grades being seen differently by others in the future. I.e. Grade inflation or worse exam results seen as ‘fake grades’. While everyone is in this situation. They know that the world was very different and you will not be treated differently becuase of how the exam grades were awareded.

What if I don’t get the results I wanted? Students we have spoken to have told us that their main worry was that they wouldn’t get the results they hoped for and what this might mean for their next steps. It is not the end of the World. While it might well be upsetting, disappointing or embarrassing. There are always a way forward .

Planning ahead for these scenercios will give you a plan of action . These include:

re-sits for A levels especially. Whether this at the school, college or centre that you sat exams. Find out early on before the exam results .

look at options for alternative options or degree courses.

Do some research into options available through local colleges, and look at the UCAS information on apprenticeships

You should take one step at a time.

Things will change – they always do – so sometimes it’s actually good not to make long-term academic plans too definite as this can increase anxiety and drive you into less flexibility when the real opportunity arises.

What will I tell other people if I don’t get the results I wanted?

it can be useful to share the different plans for the differnt outcoems with the people around you. This helps everyone too as they are all in the same boat. Illistrating the various options often shines a light for other people in the same boat.

time to adjust. What ever the result which is different from what is expected. One needs to take time to let it sink it.

it doesn’t happen overnight.

How can I cope with feeling worried about my exams grades? Simple know it is normal.

Your exam results are important. But not the end of the world.

Sometimes, we get scared or worried about how the future might, or should, have turned out – psychologists call this ‘ruminating’.

Everybody ruminates a bit however, if we do this too much, it can be unhelpful. Thinking through realistic plans for different possibilities can help with this.

One must remember You are not the sum of your exam grades. Merely they are a They are just a snapshot in time of how you were doing in certain exam subjects . It do does not change who you are, or who or what you will be in the future.

Our well being is totally seperate from the person who we are.

That way, we can take charge of a situation, good or bad, without taking setbacks too much to heart. Connecting with others who are going through the same thing.

It can help to talk to other exam candidates / friends to find out how they are cominhg. Sharing is caring in this instance!

Breathing. At very stressful times of life, some people find it helpful to use various breathing techniques to reduce physical symptoms of stress and to feel a little calmer.

You could try ‘four square breathing’. Deliberately breathing in a slow pattern:

breathe in slowly for 4 seconds hold the breath for 4 seconds breathe out slowly for 4 seconds hold lungs empty for 4 seconds