Am I entitled to be disappointed with last year's GCSE results

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I'm still kind of disappointed now, a whole year later. I did OK. I wanted to do AMAZING.

I got my AS level results the other day. They were mediocre (BBC + an E in a subject I'm dropping). But these are A levels. They are much harder, I'm ok with not doing that well at them. I had low expectations, especially knowing I lacked motivation this year, and had been going through some sh*t.

However at GCSE I expected to get at least 6 A*s. Instead I got 4 A*s, 4 As, 2 Bs and a C. I was really pissed off with myself. GCSEs are known to be quite easy (at least they were when I did them) and I worked really, really hard for them. I feel like I deserved more A*s, but the year I took them in they'd made A*s harder to obtain, which I think is why I didn't achieve what I thought I was on track to achieve.

My whole family was over the moon with what I got. But I couldn't be happy. I ended up self harming in secret, was obviously depressed with what I got and my family picked up on it. My dad told me I was selfish for not letting them be happy for me and threatened me with violence for not pretending to be happy about my result around relatives, resulting in a huge ugly family argument. I was already depressed that summer but those results really made it worse.
I posted on here a year ago about them and got called a c**t for being disappointed with them. I was shocked as this is TSR, where most people seem to get like at least 8 or more A*s in their GCSEs. I thought people would be sympathetic.

So was I being unreasonable?

Not being unreasonable at all mate. Everyone has their own standards, you have every right to feel however you want. I was in same situation - got dece GCSEs that loads of people would love to have got (and family were pleased), but they didn't meet my personal standards. So I was a bit disappointed and people didn't seem to understand.

Happened too with A-Levels (not AS really). Some subjects I was pleased with and some I was disappointed with.

Same happened again post first-year of Uni. I personally expected higher marks in 2 of my modules (and expected a lower mark in my other module). Overall did get a 1st which ofc I'm pleased with; but was a bit disappointed that my results didn't seem to reflect my personal goals/ efforts (i.e. primarily in the 2 modules I underscored in).

Don't worry about feeling like you do, but try your best to focus on the good stuff rather than the bad - or you will begin to feel depressed like you say. Understand they are good grades (objectively), but with the caveat that they subjectively don't meet your standards. Focus on the good vibes and improve on the bad and you'll be golden. Don't worry too much bud. Well done.

Reply 21

Dom2375

If you self harmed over those GCSEs you would probably have killed yourself over my GCSEs (4Bs 6Cs)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 22

Pinkberry_y

I suggest you take your mind off the GCSEs pronto and focus on your a levels, if I were you I'd be more worried and unhappy about those AS results than your GCSE ones. Universities care a lot more about your A levels, so what if they're hard? That does not mean you lower your standards and accept you'll get a low mark

Reply 23

Historian1889

Ok, I have had enough of this absolute rubbish! You people need to understand that GCSE qualifications do not reflect any skills or intelligence whatsoever and are a very poor measure of intellect. It is understandable that you would like to acquire the grades required in order to be accepted into a good university and do the courses you want however the way in which you are going about it and crying over a difference of an A and A* at this level is pathetic to say the least. Get off your private school high horse and come to the rest of our level where we try very hard to achieve grades and then there are the likes of you who have no level of appreciation. I can see that there are problems you have gotten into are caused by your blatant desire to think you are better than everyone else. If you went to university and got a 1st I would have respect for you but still no need to brag about it in the way you do. University requires skills that cannot be shown in school/college and you need to be innovative, interested and genuinely good at what you do.

Reply 24

imettemi

Yes, of course youre allowed to be disapointed. They werent the grades you were expecting and on top of that, you got into a family argument about how THEY feel, not caring at all about you. You even self harmed (i hope to God youre not lying about this because its a disgusting thing to lie about) and fell into depression.

But is it really worth it? Does comparing yourself to others improve your grades? Are you honestly going to still be disappointed when youre earning 5 figures?

No

GCSEs really arent that deep. Its A levels everyone looks at (unless youre going into medicine. Dont do it if youre fam is forcing you to do it btw, unless you want to)

So overall, yes, you are allowed to be disappointed. My GCSE results are coming out on Thursday and id be pissed off if i get a C. Have a 30 minute pity party where you can let yourself go and be as disappointed and angry and upset about the missing 2 A*s.
Then pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving. You cant change the past so dont let it affect the future

Besides, not everything in life is exactly how you want it. You just have to accept what youre given and get make best of it

Reply 25

Bulletzone

Original post by imettemi

^^^^ this

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 26

Starlight2000

I'm sorry you're not happy but what I would recommend is that you work really hard for the second part of your a levels so you can turn things around. To be honest, in a couple of years- if you continue to work hard enough- the mistakes you may have made at gcse will not really be much more than a distant memory and will bearly affect your chances of you getting into a uni of your choice. Most courses at uni, as far as I'm aware, only actually want good maths and english gcse results and the rest become letters on a piece of paper as long as you show that you have been able pick yourself up- employers want to see your determination in improving yourself and how you can cope with not always getting what you're expecting.So, don't let ( i personally wouldn't consider them bad at all!) your previous mistakes take a toll on your future goals