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2021 A/AS Results Day Countdown: today is the day - well done everyone!

Results day is looming and TSR tradition means we have to have a countdown thread for everyone to get to know each other, talk about their hopes/fears and generally relax (as well as sharing advice and information before the big day). We'll update this post with pointers to advice and support soon but for now introduce yourselves :biggrin:

Introduce yourself
1. AS or A level?
2. What subjects?

For Yr 13:
3. What university is your firm/insurance?
4. Which subject?
5. What grades are required?
6. Going to uni this year or taking a gap year?

For everyone:
7. What grades are you predicted?
8. How are you feeling about results day?
9. Anything else to add?

FAQs

RESULTS

When can I collect my results from school/college?

That depends on the arrangements your school/college make and is likely to be different this year - if you don't know the details then ring them up on Monday the 9th (there should be someone in that day) and ask.

How do I collect my results online?

Again, this depends on your exam boards and/or your school/college. If you don't know then ask them directly.

When do unis get our results?

UCAS get the results from the exam boards approximately a week before results day. They spend a day or two matching them to your applications and then send them on to universities either overnight Wednesday or Thursday.
Universities then spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday MANUALLY comparing every offer to the results to decide whether applicants have met their offers or not (and if not whether they can be accepted with lower grades).

I've change my mind about the course/university I want to go to - what do I do?

See this article https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/university/apply/changing-your-mind-about-your-firm-or-insurance-choice

Track on Results Day

When will Track update?

Track will go live AFTER 8:30am on results day. UCAS say 8:30am (and 8am for Advisers) - it used to go live a little earlier, but the embargo time that UCAS and universities work to has been pushed back from 6am to 8:30am this year so it WILL NOT be before 8.30am. The embargo agreement is between UCAS, Universities, SQA and A level Exam Boards - no one is going to risk getting in trouble by releasing information early.

It WON'T go live at midnight.

Once it "goes live" EVERYONE will be able to see any decisions that their universities have sent to UCAS. Just because it's live doesn't mean it will update for everyone. About 100,000 people every year don't get a clear answer from Track first thing on Results Day - they have to collect their results and then ring up their firm/insurance uni.

My Track didn't change - is it worth hitting refresh until it does?
NO - once Track goes live again it then gets re-frozen in that state (because UCAS need to handle everyone and their dog hitting refresh constantly). Track WILL NOT CHANGE between 8am and midday. Hitting refresh just slows things down for everyone else.

Give yourself some good karma - get off Track and go and have a look on UCAS course search, get together your contact numbers for your unis, top your phone up with credit (and charge it) and get your results from school/college.

what will Track show?

It depends how quick your universities are. There's a lot of scenarios. The post below gives an idea of what might show,what that means and what you need to do about that. Use the flowchart at the end of this post as a quick reference :smile:

Track scenarios

Original post by PQ

Ok let's break it down Firm is X, insurance is Y
X -CF, Y-CI - neither has decided ring firm
X-CF, Y-UI - insurance has accepted but firm not decided. Ring firm
X-CF, Y-R - insurance has rejected, firm not decided. Ring firm.
X-UF, Y-CI, firm accepted, insurance not decided. Celebrate.
X-UF, Y-UI, both accepted. You're going to your firm. Celebrate.
X-UF, Y-R, firm accepted, insurance rejected. You're going to your firm. Celebrate.
X-R, Y-CF firm rejected, insurance not deciding. Ring insurance.
X-R, Y-UF firm rejected, insurance accepted. Celebrate
X-R, Y-R both rejected. You're in clearing.
This ignores changed course offers which either university can make. Both universities do their own thing. They don't have time to look what the other is doing.

My Track didn't change! That means I failed!

NO - Universities have to MANUALLY compare every set of results with the offer conditions - even if it's a simple YES or NO for every one of those that means a lot of data input to put in to their database to send through to UCAS.
If Track hasn't changed then that means that either:
a) You've met your offer and your uni knows that and hasn't got round to telling UCAS.
b) You've met your offer and your uni doesn't know that because your results got muddled up so they're waiting to talk to you to check before telling UCAS.
c) You've missed your offer but your uni wants you anyway but hasn't got round to telling UCAS.
d) You've missed your offer but your uni want to make you an offer for a similar but less full course and haven't got round to telling UCAS.
e) You've missed your offer and your uni haven't decided yet whether they can take you or not - they might need to see how many Insurance people they have to take before they know they've got room first.
f) You've missed your offer and your firm uni doesn't want you but hasn't got round to telling UCAS.
In other words - if Track hasn't changed that doesn't give ANY indication as to whether your results are good or bad. In fact in some ways it's good - of those applicants who got a definite answer on results day last year...?....150,000 of them were rejected by both their firm and insurance and placed in Clearing. Being in limbo for a couple of hours is a GOOD thing compared to that.

My Firm place has confirmed me! That means I passed my A levels!

NO - remember - these things are decided MANUALLY....someone somewhere sits down with a pile of UCAS forms and a list of results and ticks off results against offers.

If your firm has confirmed you - well done! You're in! BUT don't go expecting to see a long line of A grades. Just as a lot of unis can be slow in sending decisions to UCAS, some unis are VERY quick and will not only confirm the people who met their offers but will have confirmed a whole BUNCH of people who missed their grades.

Clearing ARRRRGH!

quick guide to Clearing

Spoiler

See the FAQ for more help.

I did really badly - what do I do now?
The lovely @SarcAndSpark will be putting together a thread with information and advice on remakes/remarks/appeals
There will be threads in the applications, clearing and ucas forum for people planning to take a gap year and reapply and help available in the gap years

Results day stats from previous years:

Spoiler

Results Day Flowchart

pdf version

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 200

PQ

OP

PS Reviewer

21

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

I mean I think I have a fair shot of getting into my insurance but I love my firm uni so much and picked my insurance without really thinking properly. Would you suggest me calling up my firm uni on results day if I do get rejected? I don't think my course is oversubscribed to but there's always that uncertainty.

There's very few situations where you should ring your firm on results day.
Look at the flowchart in the OP for when those are.
If you do need to ring then you aren't ringing to change their mind but to make sure they have all the information they need and ask when they expect to make a decision.

Reply 201

Cote1

20

Original post by PQ

A lot of universities accept applicants with lower grades. Hopefully your daughter is one of these (she can always defer if that's the case and she decides she isn't ready to go to university yet :smile:

)

She hopes so🙂

She will defer if so.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 202

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by Cote1

Hopefully, if you don't get in to your firm choice you will have other choices.

Everyone always has choices whatever happens results day.

leaving school is the start of a new story. People learn, develop & improve. Their are an infinite number of paths to achieving great things.

Reply 203

Cote1

20

Original post by mnot

Everyone always has choices whatever happens results day.

leaving school is the start of a new story. People learn, develop & improve. Their are an infinite number of paths to achieving great things.

Very true.

Reply 204

ineedhelpsohelp

13

Original post by PQ

There's very few situations where you should ring your firm on results day.
Look at the flowchart in the OP for when those are.
If you do need to ring then you aren't ringing to change their mind but to make sure they have all the information they need and ask when they expect to make a decision.

Just checked the flow chart. What exactly does ""conditional" next to your firm" mean? and is this different from getting rejected?

Reply 205

ineedhelpsohelp

13

Original post by mnot

Everyone always has choices whatever happens results day.

leaving school is the start of a new story. People learn, develop & improve. Their are an infinite number of paths to achieving great things.

This is true. But it hurts a lot more when you're unfairly assessed and so unable to show off your full potential. I just hope unis take this into account ):

Reply 206

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

This is true. But it hurts a lot more when you're unfairly assessed and so unable to show off your full potential. I just hope unis take this into account ):

Unis will take into account what they have in front of them. Thats all they can do.

Reply 207

jrb111

7

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

Im so anxious about results day. I don't think I'll be getting into my dream uni purely because of how my college went about on assessing us. Do you think unis will be more lenient this year? What should I do if I don't get in?

I know multiple people in previous years (pre-Covid) who were accepted into their firms, despite missing the grades. Assuming that universities will be more lenient this year, there is still a chance that your firm could accept you if you miss your conditions (especially if your course isn't over-subscribed). Otherwise, if you miss the grades, you could try and get a place at your firm through clearing. I would have a look at their website and read up about their clearing information just in case. Good luck!

Reply 208

hamzih.ata

13

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

This is true. But it hurts a lot more when you're unfairly assessed and so unable to show off your full potential. I just hope unis take this into account ):

Let me tell you from experience, they won't.

Reply 209

Interea

19

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

I mean I think I have a fair shot of getting into my insurance but I love my firm uni so much and picked my insurance without really thinking properly. Would you suggest me calling up my firm uni on results day if I do get rejected? I don't think my course is oversubscribed to but there's always that uncertainty.

Even if you do miss your firm choice, it's not the end of the world (no matter how it feels on the day!). You've got so many options, be that your insurance choice, clearing, a gap year to resit and reapply, or countless other things.

My sister was in a similar position to you a few years ago now, results day was really tough on her because she loved her firm and hadn't really considered properly how it would feel to miss it. She'd thought she might after a particularly bad exam, but I don't think she'd actually given up hope yet, so to see that Track update definitely wasn't easy. Our focus on the day was celebrating her results, which were still very very good, and not dwelling on unis yet.

She spent the rest of the summer researching her insurance choice, and threw herself into life there once she started (volunteering, putting top effort into every assignment, joining societies, doing a term abroad, going to the gym) - essentially if it was on offer, she did it. She graduated with a first last summer, having met amazing friends and had all sorts of experiences she wouldn't have been able to have at her firm choice, so things definitely worked out in the end! :biggrin:

The fact is there's no way to know which uni would be best in reality, since in most cases you only experience the one and all have their pros and cons, so just focus on where you are and by the end you'll recognise all the good things you'd have missed by not ending up there.

Best of luck for next week :h:

I hope you do get into your firm choice, but hopefully I've managed to get my point across that you can have a great time anywhere if you just make the most of it!

Reply 210

Cote1

20

I agree - you don't know where you are going to be happiest. To a large degree, you get out of university what you put into it.

Reply 211

replaythat

13

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

Im so anxious about results day. I don't think I'll be getting into my dream uni purely because of how my college went about on assessing us. Do you think unis will be more lenient this year? What should I do if I don't get in?

ahhh same

Reply 212

frenchie_

16

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

Im so anxious about results day. I don't think I'll be getting into my dream uni purely because of how my college went about on assessing us. Do you think unis will be more lenient this year? What should I do if I don't get in?

what's ur dream uni?

Reply 213

PQ

OP

PS Reviewer

21

Original post by ineedhelpsohelp

Just checked the flow chart. What exactly does ""conditional" next to your firm" mean? and is this different from getting rejected?

It means that your firm choice either hadn't made a decision or hasn't sent that decision to UCAS by results day.
That can be for a whole range of reasons which is why it's important to ring if that is what Track shows to find out if they've decided and if not when they will decide (and if they need more information from you)

Reply 214

starrystudy

15

I’m so scared I won’t get the A*AA grades I need to get into uni😭 can’t stop overthinking how badly my final exams went as well ahh

Reply 215

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by starrystudy

I’m so scared I won’t get the A*AA grades I need to get into uni😭 can’t stop overthinking how badly my final exams went as well ahh

Good luck!
Whatever happens you will be fine.

The key is whatever & wherever you move onto after school stay self-motivated & work hard.

Reply 216

PQ

OP

PS Reviewer

21

UCAS have worked their little socks off and matched the exam results to applications in record time.

They’re now available to universities.

So no delays or late nights. Universities will be getting busy from tomorrow morning and hopefully as many decisions as possible will be sorted and sent to UCAS before Track is unfrozen on Tuesday

Reply 217

replaythat

13

Original post by PQ

UCAS have worked their little socks off and matched the exam results to applications in record time.

They’re now available to universities.

So no delays or late nights. Universities will be getting busy from tomorrow morning and hopefully as many decisions as possible will be sorted and sent to UCAS before Track is unfrozen on Tuesday

AHHHH this is kinda scary to read :l Thanks for updating us

Reply 218

5hyl33n

Volunteer Team

21

Original post by PQ

UCAS have worked their little socks off and matched the exam results to applications in record time.

They’re now available to universities.

So no delays or late nights. Universities will be getting busy from tomorrow morning and hopefully as many decisions as possible will be sorted and sent to UCAS before Track is unfrozen on Tuesday

Thanks for the update! :smile:

Reply 219

yippy-yikes

17

Original post by PQ

UCAS have worked their little socks off and matched the exam results to applications in record time.

They’re now available to universities.

So no delays or late nights. Universities will be getting busy from tomorrow morning and hopefully as many decisions as possible will be sorted and sent to UCAS before Track is unfrozen on Tuesday

Yes, thank you for the update! I'm going to distract myself in the meantime :emog:

2021 A/AS Results Day Countdown: today is the day - well done everyone!

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