What to say....?

My son found out first thing that he'd got into his Firm. Phew!

But his results have been difficult for him...he dropped one grade and two on his school predictions but it was how that has come as a punch in the stomach to him. He's pleasantly surprised by his Chemistry grade which he thought might be the worst... but the drop was in Geography, which is closest to his degree subject (Planning). He was confident of an A and got C, with Ds in both A2 papers.

His teacher said that as he'd got his place, and the results were not borderline, he's probably best just taking it on the chin. The results were out of line with his classmates, and the teacher reckons that he maybe went off piste, and repeated what he said at parents evening before the exams that he feels my son is working at university level rather than tailoring himself to mark schemes, which is sort of consoling. I did (at his request) do a lot of testing with him and I am perhaps not quite as shocked as him, he may have been a bit over confident, but of course it can be harder to tell in essay subjects. I also think that handwriting may have been an issue as it was raised across all his subjects as a concern.

But I can tell that it has really taken the shine off things for him and knocked his confidence. There's a bit of bullish "Doesn't matter" bravado but I am his Mum and I know it matters to *him*

I know, having received an unexpectedly bad result in one A level and still got in that it may still rankle decades down the line... my parents didn't say the right things at the time so... assuming it is possible at all (which it may not be). Any bright ideas?

Looking at booking a family holiday, going shopping for 'stuff' as soon as accommodation offer is in, maybe celebratory lunch. Turns out he's already spent all the money he was supposed to be saving to do something himself :-(

My son found out first thing that he'd got into his Firm. Phew!

But his results have been difficult for him...he dropped one grade and two on his school predictions but it was how that has come as a punch in the stomach to him. He's pleasantly surprised by his Chemistry grade which he thought might be the worst... but the drop was in Geography, which is closest to his degree subject (Planning). He was confident of an A and got C, with Ds in both A2 papers.

His teacher said that as he'd got his place, and the results were not borderline, he's probably best just taking it on the chin. The results were out of line with his classmates, and the teacher reckons that he maybe went off piste, and repeated what he said at parents evening before the exams that he feels my son is working at university level rather than tailoring himself to mark schemes, which is sort of consoling. I did (at his request) do a lot of testing with him and I am perhaps not quite as shocked as him, he may have been a bit over confident, but of course it can be harder to tell in essay subjects. I also think that handwriting may have been an issue as it was raised across all his subjects as a concern.

But I can tell that it has really taken the shine off things for him and knocked his confidence. There's a bit of bullish "Doesn't matter" bravado but I am his Mum and I know it matters to *him*

I know, having received an unexpectedly bad result in one A level and still got in that it may still rankle decades down the line... my parents didn't say the right things at the time so... assuming it is possible at all (which it may not be). Any bright ideas?

Looking at booking a family holiday, going shopping for 'stuff' as soon as accommodation offer is in, maybe celebratory lunch. Turns out he's already spent all the money he was supposed to be saving to do something himself :-(