RESULTS DAY ????? What happens

ALEVEL 2024 Students, Do you know exactly how Results day will pan out, like what we do, how it will go, how do we gain access them etc. I know its silly to ask such a simple question, but i really want to be prepared. any info big or small wld be amazing pls

ALEVEL 2024 Students, Do you know exactly how Results day will pan out, like what we do, how it will go, how do we gain access them etc. I know its silly to ask such a simple question, but i really want to be prepared. any info big or small wld be amazing pls

What have you been told to do by your school / 6th Form? You normally go in and collect the results slip on the day and if you can't make it some will post the results to you the day after. Some also put them online for you to access from home. If you have applied to Uni, then UCAS update the results on that morning so you can normally check on Track to see if your place has been confirmed or not.

ALEVEL 2024 Students, Do you know exactly how Results day will pan out, like what we do, how it will go, how do we gain access them etc. I know its silly to ask such a simple question, but i really want to be prepared. any info big or small wld be amazing pls

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 You can watch a count down clock here: https://countingdownto.com/?c=5658819

Introduce yourself
1. AS or A level? (Or BTEC or other qualification with a 15 August Results day)
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 - if you don't know the details then ring them up on Wednesday the 16th (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 Friday/Saturday. Universities then spend Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 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 NOTE: the deadline for reply swaps is 21 July and NOT the 30 June as stated in that article!

UCAS Hub on Results Day

When will UCAS update?
UCAS will go live AFTER 8am on results day. UCAS say 8am - 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 8am this year so it WILL NOT be before 8am. The embargo agreement is between UCAS, Universities 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 UCAS first thing on Results Day - they have to collect their results and then ring up their firm/insurance uni.

My UCAS didn't change - is it worth hitting refresh until it does?
NO - once UCAS goes live again it then gets re-frozen in that state (because UCAS need to handle everyone and their dog hitting refresh constantly). UCAS WILL NOT CHANGE between 8am and midday. Hitting refresh just slows things down for everyone else. Your university MIGHT have sent you a message through the UCAS Hub saying why your application hasn't been updated. This is new for 2023 and we haven't had any previews about how that will look or where to find it but it's worth clicking into your application to see if there's any more details there. Give yourself some good karma - get off UCAS hub and go and have a look on the 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 UCAS 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 UCAS are supposed to be improving the layout and information on the UCAS Hub on results day for 2023 - but they haven't released any screenshots about what that will look like
UCAS Hub scenarios


My UCAS 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 UCAS 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 UCAS 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!

See the FAQ for more help.

I did really badly - what do I do now?
There will be a thread with information and advice on remakes/remarks/appeals There will be threads in the Gap years forum for people planning to take a gap year and reapply and help available in the Applications, Clearing and UCAS

Results day stats from previous years

On results day in 2022 :
56% of applicants were unconditional with their FIRM
4% were unconditional with their INSURANCE
1% of applicants were already unconditional with a clearing choice (Scottish/IB/reapplicants who had their results)
14% of applicants were in limbo waiting for a decision from either their firm or insurance.
24% were in clearing (either because they had no offers initially, didn't accept an offer initially or both their firm and insurance had rejected them).*

By the end of Clearing last year:
59% of applicants were unconditional with their FIRM
5% were unconditional with their INSURANCE
9% were unconditional with a CLEARING choice
3% were still in limbo (these are usually international students who don't bother sending through their results or cancelling their applications)
25% were still in clearing (because they decided to take a gap year or are international and had a place in a university in another country).

*So about half the limbo UCAS people end up with their Firm, about half find a place through clearing and a smidge end up with their insurance.*



Results Day Flowchart


pdf version

Hi thank you for your reply, we have been told to access them via online, on the date but not much has been released on that regard

Hi there,
Once you have your grades from your school you'll be able to log onto UCAS and everything will be updated! The UCAS platform will assist you in accepting or declining your university offers!
Wishing you the best of luck!