Results day

[wildeabandon]

I got an A in French, and a B in Religious Studies, in both cases a grade lower than I'd expected, and two grades lower than I'd though I had a reasonable chance of in RS.

Because I didn't get an offer in any case, it doesn't actually have much impact (I don't think it will prevent me from getting in to Leuven), and I'm fairly sure that knowing that meant I worked less hard than I otherwise might have done, but it's still a bit disheartening, and I'm feeling rather glum. I've requested copies of the scripts (which you can do for a nominal fee these days, which I don't think was the case back in the day) in the hope that it'll give me some insight into what went wrong.

Comments

[emperor]

Congrats on two good grades, and commiserations that they weren't the grades you were hoping for!

[rmc28]

What Matthew said! And also I hope all goes well with entry to Leuven.

[andrewducker]

I hope the scripts help.

[ludy]

Those are good grades - Congratulations!

Hoping you can be pleased about them even though they aren't quite as good as you wanted (saying this as someone who "only" managed a 2.1 degree)

[sfred]

They sound like really good results in a year when lots of people are getting lower grades than expected. I'm sorry you're disappointed.

[liv]

Ugh, sympathy on the disappointment. I'm glad it doesn't directly interfere with your plans but I really thought you were on top of RS. I agree with others that this has been a weird year for grades; I think there's some deliberate course correction to make up for perceived grade inflation during the pandemic, so everybody's on a fairly mean curve. Still not fun though.

[ewt]

I have also heard that there was some kind of compensation this year for allegedly higher grades during lockdowns. This seems to me like a silly way to run examinations.

[barakta]

I am sorry you are disappointed in your grades today.

I had a rant elseweb today about the fact A-level (and GCSE and other) marks are converted into arbitrary grades each year which are set to some critera which changes to meet desired percentage of grades at each level. Yet the grades number or letter are treated as something that can be compared year on year which isn't fair due to cohort/politics issues. We're comparing variable values as if they're identical, it's unfair and confusing all round.

As others have mentioned there's been additional grade boundary messing since 2020 and England has decided to slam the grades back to 2019 levels whereas Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are tapering more slowly back to pre-2020 grades criteria.

I wonder if you can access the mark scheme for the exams you took as well, see how you scored against that and if there's arbitrary stuff that you were not taught or missed out on that lost you marks or whatever.

I hope whatever happens you are able to get answers that satisfy you without doing your head in too much.

[bella_luugosi]

I'm sorry it wasn't what you were aiming at. I hope the scripts are useful. Xxx

[palmer1984]

Sympathy. I expect I'd have worked less hard without the offer too. Hope the scripts are helpful.

I somehow missed the Leuven decision, but it sounds awesome.