Is it wrong to be disappointed with "good" grades?

Hello everyone;

I'm at quite the dilemma. So, as a lot of other people have, I attended my Sixth Form enrolment today and I realised, after speaking to the interviewer, how more and more annoyed I am becoming at my GCSE results.

You see, I strived for a bunch of very good grades. What I achieved are grades I'm not at all happy with. My grades are:

4A*
4A
7B
2C
Pass in Music BTEC

I'm not happy at all with these, when comparing my grades to multiple other people. However, many people have told me how stupid it is of me to be annoyed about these.

So am I being plain arrogant? Am I overthinking?

Reply 1

Trapz99

Yes it's fine to be disappointed. You are the only one you should compare yourself to. If you don't feel that you've met what you're capable of, then it's fine to be disappointed.

Reply 2

Kryptonian

Compare yourself to me if you're disappointed. I got 3 GCSEs! :smile:

Reply 3

Pentaquark

It is absolutely fine. Everyone has their own standards.

Reply 4

AnnaRainbows

Congratulations on those results! While you may think they're bad, they're actually pretty impressive :smile:

considering some people drop out of GCSEs... well done!

And no it's not a bad thing you're upset, that shows you care and aim high, so hopefully you manage to get even better grades at A level, good luck!

Reply 5

TeenPolyglot

Original post by Trapz99

Yes it's fine to be disappointed. You are the only one you should compare yourself to. If you don't feel that you've met what you're capable of, then it's fine to be disappointed.

Thank you. I find that my problem is I compare myself to too many people. There are some people who get 10 A* and 4 A and I am jealous of them, especially considering I know I'm fully capable of doing that too. That's what annoys me most, is that I'm perfectly capable of better grades.

Reply 6

Pinkberry_y

A* = winning
Everything else = losing

Reply 7

TeenPolyglot

Original post by Kryptonian

Compare yourself to me if you're disappointed. I got 3 GCSEs! :smile:

Makes me feel a bit better :wink:

Reply 8

TeenPolyglot

Original post by Pinkberry_y

A* = winning
Everything else = losing

That's how I see it unfortunately.

I know it's absurd to think I could've got 17A*, but it's always possible. That's the problem I have...

Reply 9

jamesj477

maybe its because you did 17 gcses wtf lol

Reply 10

cpaige21

There is always people in the world who have done better than you. You will never be the best at everything. I wish people would stop comparing their grades to other people's. Be proud and happy of what you have achieved! They are good results.

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Reply 11

Samii123

Wtf! 17 GCSEs! That's almost double than what my school offers!! You should be grateful that you had the chance to do as many GCSEs as you did. I would have liked to do another 3 or 4 personally.

Reply 12

TeenPolyglot

Original post by Samii123

Wtf! 17 GCSEs! That's almost double than what my school offers!! You should be grateful that you had the chance to do as many GCSEs as you did. I would have liked to do another 3 or 4 personally.

Most people in my school do 10-14 but, long story short, I did 3 extra.

Reply 13

2799630

lol what were those 17 subjects?

Reply 14

Carmenh

First of all, congratulations! Those are really good grades. Secondly, I'm glad I'm not the only one.. The grades I got are far better than I ever expected. I was really expecting a mix of Bs, Cs and maybe even some Ds, but I ended up doing quite a lot better than that. At first I was so excited, and don't get me wrong, I'm still relieved, but it's like you said- I'm starting to get annoyed that I didn't do even better. Now I realise that I could probably only be completely satisfied with all A*s, and it's probably the same with you. I am a perfectionist, and I'm not going to act like it's a bad thing. Everyone should strive for the best. So- you should be proud of your results, but it's not bad wanting to do better, and you'll have plenty of time in life to do just that :smile:

Reply 15

gdunne42

Original post by TeenPolyglot

It's fine to set ambitious goals and be disappointed if you don't achieve them.
It's ok to be disappointed if know you could have done better if you had done things differently
Comparing yourself to other people and telling yourself " if they can succeed so can I" can inspire you to raise your performance.
But
It's silly to be unhappy that other people do better than you, that is a recipe for a lifetime of unhappiness, celebrate your achievements and look for ways to keep improving.

Be aware that people with great results who go on about how dreadful they are can be really annoying to others who would be delighted with anything even close to the same grades.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 16

TeenPolyglot

Original post by meridian0

lol what were those 17 subjects?

English Language
English Literature
French
AS French
Latin
Mathematics
Use of Maths [Finance; Core; Shape and Space]
Physics
Biology
Chemistry
Geography
Sociology
Drama
General Studies
IT User Skills [more like an accreditation to be honest]
Music BTEC

Reply 17

sciencestudent19

Original post by TeenPolyglot

I'm in the same boat as you. I got 'good' GCSE grades but I'm slightly annoyed as I did work hard, especially for some subjects that I wanted to do better in. Those are a very impressive set of GCSE results and I'm sure you'll look back in the future and eventually be happy with them, not many people achieve at that level!

Reply 18

OwlOfFire

It's fine to be disappointed. I think unless we get straight A*s, with full UMS marks then you are perfectly in your right to feel disappointed. Sometimes when I read up about people's 11 A*s or 13 A*s etc I feel disappointed with myself. Try not to compare yourself with others.