A Level students- Did you expect the GCSE results you got?

Any subject you truly thought you bullsed up, and ended up with a high mark?
Please tell us any stories (might give some of us in year 11 some hope who are feeling low :frown:

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Reply 1

Helloworld_95

I got an A in Geography when I expected a C, but on the flip side I got a C in Graphics when I expected an A. Otherwise my expectations were exactly correct.

Reply 2

tabby_95

was awful at physics throughout year 10 and 11 and struggled to get above 50 - 60% in the progress tests we did, but by some miracle i got an a* and it was even my best subject!! i got 100 ums in unit 1, 2 and my isa and 90 in unit 3. safe to say my physics teacher was baffled :smile:

dont feel low, at the end of the day its only gcses.. wait until a levels and you will miss gcses!!

Reply 3

mkhan9035

To be fair I got 4A's and 6B's and I was predicted all C's and D's! Obviously I wanted A's and B's and my teachers didn't think I was capable of getting them! Obviously I had the last laugh on results day :wink:

Was so proud of how I did, cause I worked my butt off and when it came to revision I retaught myself the whole syllabus for all the subjects cause my teachers were all awful!

Reply 4

TheDefiniteArticle

I did, pretty much, except for the fact that I didn't expect 100% in maths because I knew I'd got one wrong (I LOVE UMS). If you know the syllabus and have done plenty of past papers you will *know* when you get out of an exam how well you've done.

Reply 5

Becca94

I did not expect to pass english lit at all, my teacher hated me and i hated her so i generally despised the lessons. When she asked me to write her practise essays she gave me D's.. but I came out with a B which i was extremely proud of :biggrin:

Reply 6

Rainingshame

Well it depends really. There the three catogeries i put mine in:
1. Coursework let down my grade but the exams were as high as expected(french, physics, biology)
2. Did better than i expected in exams(English, history)
3. Did as well as expected overall (Geography, Maths, Chemistry)

As of note though my expectations were higher and in terms of exams so were the results. The only subject in which i didn't average an A* over the exams was french and i average an A and got an A overall. I think the ones which it's best to console yourself are essay based ones because they can really swing your way based on silly things at GCSE. This was the case in both English and history as i went from getting low Bs in February on the questions to close to full marks/ actually getting full marks in the real ones. At GCSE all you have to do is make sure you know your stuff and then figure out what the examiner wants from you. I had a friends who started revising for his Business studies exam the night before the exam and he learnt the main points of the specification and a rough overview of the questions to expect and the style need and came out with full UMS.

Reply 7

al_miller

I was predicted mainly Bs but ended up getting As, a few Bs and even A*s!

So make sure you work hard but don't stress.
If anything, enjoy GCSEs because you can get good grades at GCSE without doing much work but at A level you have to work really hard :frown:

Reply 8

RandomMedic

In English language, I had really lost interest. It had never been a strength of mine at secondary school, and when the poems were brought in, I despised every lesson. My life was dominated by the three sciences and I was under a lot of pressure to perform from all teachers, particularly German and History. When it came to the exam, I was shattered. I had already been in two other writing heavy exams and had been in isolation. It was one of the longest days of my life, and I didn't want to do the exam. I thought to myself 'I don't care what I get in this any more. I will just write and hope that the marker enjoys reading it'. When I opened my slip on results day and saw A* I nearly cried. I had not expected it in a million years and was ecstatic. I had accepted in my mind that a low A was as far as my capabilities would take me. So yeah, it does happen. Good luck guys :smile:

Oh and also: chemistry. My teacher was VERY bad. He would go off on rants about things we didn't need to know, and by the end of the year, none of us knew everything. Thanks to the help of my biology teacher, we crammed for hours the day before. I cried, she cried and I went home and crammed like I'd never crammed before. After getting out, and (nearly) my entire class going to shout at him, I felt hopeless. I got 100% in that exam.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

iwonder<3

To be honest I got my predicted grades in most subjects which were A's and B's. English language was my only subject that went terrible because I got a C overall, with an A in my coursework, I dread to think what the exam went like!( I was predicted an A in English Language). But the weird thing is, I got an A in English literature, and now studying it at A level, and still love it. I thought my RE exam went terrible, and came out with an A, which surprised me! Until results day, I dont think you can tell what you have got. I think it's a bit different in A levels because the answers are more definite, so you are able to tell how they went roughly. I just wish I studied and revised for gcse's because I know I could have done so much better, considering how much revision I have to do now! (A levels= biology, psychology and English lit) :smile:

Reply 10

justneedhelp

Based on my mocks i was expected 5Bs, 4Cs, 2Ds, 1 E and 1 F For GCSEs!! Out came results in August and i ended up with 7A*s and the rest As... Moral of the story; teachers always mark harshly and hardly ever have confidence on kids they "don't like" :L Examiners are always more lenient with marks especially for Gcses! So there is still hope for everyone who is feeling low :biggrin:

Tbh, in the actual exam, a lot of information you though you didn't know gets triggered as it's in your subconscious anyway so you end up doing well because of your own accord :smile:

Good luck to everyone with their results! :smile:

Reply 11

Coke1

Original post by iwonder<3

An A on coursework and a C overall? Wow! Are you sure that your coursework wasn't moderated down?

Reply 12

lil-mazie

My brother got really **** GCSEs but ended up getting A*AAB he was pretty shocked, I'm going in the same direction my GCSEs seem like they are going to be pretty crappy hopefully I turn it around A-levels

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 13

breakeven

I was a crap student in school and although I never get lower than a C, I could have done a lot better! I got C/B for all subjects.

Turned it around in college, got ABB in my January exams and I think I did good on the ones last month, proves really that GCSE results aren't the be all and end all.

Reply 14

username969647

Like many people, I utterly loathed Maths. I thought the same thoughts as many- "what's the point, when am I gonna use this in real life" blah blah blah (especially when it came to equations.) I did pretty badly in Year 10 (getting 47/48%) and then I got an A last August. I thought OH MY GOD EDEXCEL WTF??? But i was so happy :biggrin:

also when i improved my RS grade from a D to an A :tongue:

Reply 15

tdkr

got 2As 4Bs 4Cs 1D at GCSE, now i got offers from Russell Group/Red Brick unis in Law asking for AAA/A*AB at A Level. GCSE's don't prove **** unless you're going for oxbridge imo. Ace your AS Levels so that you get high A Level predictions, do as many 'unique' activities as possible so that your personal statement is the best and you'll be fine.

Reply 16

Origami Bullets

I expected a greater distribution in my grades - more A* and B, with a possible C, but in the end I got 1A* 8A 1B.

Given that I had done absolutely no work on chemistry in Y11, I was expecting a B/C in that, and got an A. On the flip side, I thought I'd get A* in Geography and Physics, but only got an A in both.

Reply 17

08batee

Well I was predicted 2 As and 10 Bs, and got 9 A*s and 3 As much to my utter shock. Was also expecting to get an D in English, but ended up with an A. So miracles can happen :tongue:

Reply 18

Elzie

I was very ill when I did my GCSEs so I had a doctors note. But the deputy head told me to sit the exams just for the experience and they wouldn't send off the papers. So I the exams, and what did they do? They sent off the papers! I was absolutely positive that I was going to fail and not get into sixth form since I hardly did any revision. But, come results day, I actually had pretty decent results! Not what I was expecting, obviously! But I came out with 2*s and 8As 2Bs!

So, seriously don't worry about it! If I managed to scrape through, somehow someway, you'll be absolutely fine!! GOOD LUCK!!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19

Ellie_May :)

I thought i would screw up maths, but ended up with a B in GCSE. However, i think this was because we had lots of modular exams rather than one big final one, which really helped me get through it step by step.
Other than that, everything went pretty much as expected, as i knew how much work i had put into getting those grades.
I ended up with a distinction*, 5A's and 3B's :smile: