how to manage anxiety on the lead up to results day
i am almost finished my a levels, and that means i have to face the (most likely terrible) results i get. everytime i think about it i get anxious, and start panicking. i am worried i am going to be like this for the whole summer. i have struggled with bad anxiety since the start of covid like many people, and so the idea of failing has me too anxious. people just say to me, its ok, there nothing you can do to change it. but that means nothing, thats the issue, these arent just mocks, i cant go back and try again. this is it, this is whether i will be able to get a degree and do the job i want. and everytime i come out of a bad exam, it just hits me that this is it. i don't know how to deal with this as it is making my depression worse and i cant have fun or get excited to be finished with school, i dont know how i am going to cope. does anyone know how i can help my anxiety and try to have a good summer?
Original post by beefreya
i am almost finished my a levels, and that means i have to face the (most likely terrible) results i get. everytime i think about it i get anxious, and start panicking. i am worried i am going to be like this for the whole summer. i have struggled with bad anxiety since the start of covid like many people, and so the idea of failing has me too anxious. people just say to me, its ok, there nothing you can do to change it. but that means nothing, thats the issue, these arent just mocks, i cant go back and try again. this is it, this is whether i will be able to get a degree and do the job i want. and everytime i come out of a bad exam, it just hits me that this is it. i don't know how to deal with this as it is making my depression worse and i cant have fun or get excited to be finished with school, i dont know how i am going to cope. does anyone know how i can help my anxiety and try to have a good summer?
what i will tell you is different. just because you might get bad grades doesnt mean you wont go to uni, get a job or be successful. you could repeat the year, or try your luck with uni and apply to hopefully get accepted. if you have any talents or skills even better for you because you can use them to ur advantage in many fields, especially with making money. find your definition of success, act on it and achieve it.
and 1 more thing, dont think too much about ur a levels, i know its hard not to but try to distract yourself iwth other activities and meditate as well. hang out with friends or do some hobbies. have a great rest of the year and i hope u do well
Original post by beefreya
i am almost finished my a levels, and that means i have to face the (most likely terrible) results i get. everytime i think about it i get anxious, and start panicking. i am worried i am going to be like this for the whole summer. i have struggled with bad anxiety since the start of covid like many people, and so the idea of failing has me too anxious. people just say to me, its ok, there nothing you can do to change it. but that means nothing, thats the issue, these arent just mocks, i cant go back and try again. this is it, this is whether i will be able to get a degree and do the job i want. and everytime i come out of a bad exam, it just hits me that this is it. i don't know how to deal with this as it is making my depression worse and i cant have fun or get excited to be finished with school, i dont know how i am going to cope. does anyone know how i can help my anxiety and try to have a good summer?
Original post by beefreya
i am almost finished my a levels, and that means i have to face the (most likely terrible) results i get. everytime i think about it i get anxious, and start panicking. i am worried i am going to be like this for the whole summer. i have struggled with bad anxiety since the start of covid like many people, and so the idea of failing has me too anxious. people just say to me, its ok, there nothing you can do to change it. but that means nothing, thats the issue, these arent just mocks, i cant go back and try again. this is it, this is whether i will be able to get a degree and do the job i want. and everytime i come out of a bad exam, it just hits me that this is it. i don't know how to deal with this as it is making my depression worse and i cant have fun or get excited to be finished with school, i dont know how i am going to cope. does anyone know how i can help my anxiety and try to have a good summer?
Hi @beefreya
When I'm feeling anxious about things like waiting for results, I find the best thing to calm my worries is to be forward thinking and to have a plan. I write down what will happen and what I'll do if I get the results I want, like 'I can go to university', 'I can add these to my CV', 'this means I can start preparing for uni'. But it's also important to at least think about what you might do if I don't get the grades I want, like 'can I still study my uni course?', 'call the university to see if I can still be accepted', 'look at clearing', 'is there another course I like too?'.
I think a lot of anxiety around results day comes from fearing the unknown and worrying about the future, so I find having a rough plan of what could happen helps reassure me that no matter what grades I get, I am going to be okay and this isn't just it, and there is so much more to work for and to look forward to.
I understand that these worries won't just disappear, but another thing I did when I was sitting my A Levels, was to start planning a few things for the summer. Maybe arrange some activities with friends, or look at some places you'd like to visit. I looked at some part time work to keep me busy, or even planned small things like what books I was going to read, or some food I hadn't had in a long time. This helped me to have things to look forward to after exams. Maybe something like this can help motivate you through your last few exams.
I hope this helps, and try your best on your last few exams. No matter the outcome on results day, just remember that there is still something to look forward to and your results don't define you or your success.
Best of luck
Emily
Student Ambassador at BCU
Hiya,
I’ve just sat my alevels too and i feel the exact same way as you, but the thing that makes me feel a bit better is that there’s heaps of different routes to jobs available to us now and there will always be a way and by the sounds of it you really want your dream job and there will be a way and i have a mate who didn’t do aswell as she hoped in her alevels and kicked herself for it but went through the clearing process and still ended up in uni and got the job she wanted as a nurse so no matter what happens it’s not the end and you shouldn’t give up on yourself, because the likelihood is with your anxiety around the area you could be doubting yourself when you’ve actually done better than you think which i know you’ve probably heard a lot already. And this time is for relaxation so try focus on doing things that you enjoy that you may have not being able to invest as much time in during exam period, i know for me that’s my love for art so that’s what i’ll be doing and try and meet up with friends aswell rather than staying at home and worrying all day because you need distractions, i know this is all cliche advice but it’s true you need to invest some time in taking care of yourself and enjoying the time you have off for the summer
and it might be worth discussing next steps with someone at your sixth form/college and getting some advice on what to do next if things don’t go how you’ve planned because obviously they know quite a bit about this stuff x
I’ve just sat my alevels too and i feel the exact same way as you, but the thing that makes me feel a bit better is that there’s heaps of different routes to jobs available to us now and there will always be a way and by the sounds of it you really want your dream job and there will be a way and i have a mate who didn’t do aswell as she hoped in her alevels and kicked herself for it but went through the clearing process and still ended up in uni and got the job she wanted as a nurse so no matter what happens it’s not the end and you shouldn’t give up on yourself, because the likelihood is with your anxiety around the area you could be doubting yourself when you’ve actually done better than you think which i know you’ve probably heard a lot already. And this time is for relaxation so try focus on doing things that you enjoy that you may have not being able to invest as much time in during exam period, i know for me that’s my love for art so that’s what i’ll be doing and try and meet up with friends aswell rather than staying at home and worrying all day because you need distractions, i know this is all cliche advice but it’s true you need to invest some time in taking care of yourself and enjoying the time you have off for the summer
and it might be worth discussing next steps with someone at your sixth form/college and getting some advice on what to do next if things don’t go how you’ve planned because obviously they know quite a bit about this stuff x
