Did Anyone Else Do Badly In Their GCSES?

In 2019, when I was 15 and in high school, I did my GCSES, where I did so badly.
My grades were: 3, 6, 4-4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4
The 3 was in Foundation Maths. This was embarrassing, as it meant I had to re-take it in college. However, my school made me do Higher Maths, despite having NO experience with it before in high school, and I ended with a 4. I wish my high school let me try Higher Maths, because if they did, I probably wouldn't have failed, in the first place.
I got a 5 in GCSE Religious Education, despite being 1 mark off a 6. Yes, best believe, I was peeved. There was also a 12 marker in my test that my teacher did NOT teach.
I got a 4 in GCSE History, despite being 1 mark off a 5, and 12 marks off a 6. There were 2 8 markers in my History exams that my teacher did NOT teach. If I got two 6 out of 8s on those 8 markers in my History exam, then I would have gotten a 6.
I got a 4 in GCSE Drama, I got a 7 in my cousework, but I only wrote about 2 of my question numbers down in my exam, and had forgotten the rest of my question numbers, but I didn't realise, until I got my GCSEs back. I was hoping for a 6 in GCSE Drama, and it sucked when I didn't get it over something that was my own fault.
I got a 4 in GCSE English Literature, because I'm an idiot, it wasn't even that hard, it wasn't my knowledge that was lacking, it was my writing skills for the subject, which sucked hard, but that's my fault, especially because I conflated both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature.
I got a 6 in GCSE English Language, I have no complaints.
I got a 5 in GCSE Photography, no complaints, because I thought I was going to fail it, so I should be glad that I didn't. It was the worst subject I've ever chosen in my whole life.
I got a 4-4 in GCSE Combined Science, I can't really complain as I did Foundation Tier Science, but then again, I was in the low set for Science in Year 10, then I was moved up to the top when I went into Year 11, after I kept consistently kept getting As and Bs, but I wasn't able to keep getting good grades anymore, so I had asked them to move me to Foundation Tier Science instead.
If you haven't done your GCSES yet, use this post as inspiration to do WAY better than me. If anyone has done badly in their GCSES, know that you aren't alone. I wish my GCSES would die, given how bad and inconsistent they are.
Ask any questions you want, I'll be sure to answer them.

In 2019, when I was 15 and in high school, I did my GCSES, where I did so badly.
My grades were: 3, 6, 4-4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4
The 3 was in Foundation Maths. This was embarrassing, as it meant I had to re-take it in college. However, my school made me do Higher Maths, despite having NO experience with it before in high school, and I ended with a 4. I wish my high school let me try Higher Maths, because if they did, I probably wouldn't have failed, in the first place.
I got a 5 in GCSE Religious Education, despite being 1 mark off a 6. Yes, best believe, I was peeved. There was also a 12 marker in my test that my teacher did NOT teach.
I got a 4 in GCSE History, despite being 1 mark off a 5, and 12 marks off a 6. There were 2 8 markers in my History exams that my teacher did NOT teach. If I got two 6 out of 8s on those 8 markers in my History exam, then I would have gotten a 6.
I got a 4 in GCSE Drama, I got a 7 in my cousework, but I only wrote about 2 of my question numbers down in my exam, and had forgotten the rest of my question numbers, but I didn't realise, until I got my GCSEs back. I was hoping for a 6 in GCSE Drama, and it sucked when I didn't get it over something that was my own fault.
I got a 4 in GCSE English Literature, because I'm an idiot, it wasn't even that hard, it wasn't my knowledge that was lacking, it was my writing skills for the subject, which sucked hard, but that's my fault, especially because I conflated both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature.
I got a 6 in GCSE English Language, I have no complaints.
I got a 5 in GCSE Photography, no complaints, because I thought I was going to fail it, so I should be glad that I didn't. It was the worst subject I've ever chosen in my whole life.
I got a 4-4 in GCSE Combined Science, I can't really complain as I did Foundation Tier Science, but then again, I was in the low set for Science in Year 10, then I was moved up to the top when I went into Year 11, after I kept consistently kept getting As and Bs, but I wasn't able to keep getting good grades anymore, so I had asked them to move me to Foundation Tier Science instead.
If you haven't done your GCSES yet, use this post as inspiration to do WAY better than me. If anyone has done badly in their GCSES, know that you aren't alone. I wish my GCSES would die, given how bad and inconsistent they are.
Ask any questions you want, I'll be sure to answer them.

So 6 years ago, you got pretty bad gcse grades and now you are posting to make excuses? Even if you are trying to make people feel better, everyone got their results half a year ago and it is still half a year until this year gets their results.
Anyways, I don't mean to be harsh 😅 What are you up to these days?

I'm not making excuses. What I said was true, and I would even say the same thing back then too, but I just didn't, at the time. I graduated from university with an undergraduate degree in 2024, and I am currently job hunting and trying to learn some new skills.

What are you doing now in life and would you say your gcse results have had an impact at all getting to the path you are now on career/education wise?

I'm not massively sure what your point is.
You passed all but 1 of your subjects, which you then later passed via a re-sit. You then went to college, and then went to uni, and now have a degree.
So far I'm not necessarily seeing anything dramatic here. You can't really be used as an inspiration for awesome GCSE grades, but nor did you fail miserably so you're not some sort of example of "there, but for the grace of God, go I" figure either.

I definitely see your point. However, I never claimed that my grades are awesome whatsoever and I would never do that. I think my point is, don't be like me! I think my grades are horrendous and I would hope people would use me, as an example, to aspire to be better than me, where they will hopefully take their studies more seriously, as a result.

Lol, my standard grades were awful If I remember right...
Graphic Communication - 2 Credit
English - 3 General
Maths 4 - General
Physics 4 - General
French 5 - Foundation
Geography - 5 Foundation
Art & Design -7 Foundation/damn near a fail, but was mostly as teacher hated me.
I was semi autistic/adhd-y and just didn't care, the v definition of 'has potential but doesn't engage'. I was out of school a lot for 3rd and 4th year and was predicted to not be able to sit my exams at all (the school tried to stop me but were overruled) so I always took it as a bit of grim pride that I still got what I did.
I tried going to college a few times but ditto I was just mucking about and directionless, thankfully this was around 2000 and it was amazing how many decent jobs you could talk yourself into, I took a few temp jobs and ended up being a manager for a phone company for a year or so before a solid decade of messing about and indulging myself. (I left the phone company because the process of being groomed for senior management was disgusting, and I would far rather be at music festivals, meeting women and playing video games)
I went back to college and then uni in my 30s and it's deffo one of the best choices I've ever made and stuck to. It was nice to be told as a mature student my school qualifications didn't really matter and as soon as I got even my first college City & Guilds Diploma I knew my crappy school grades simply would never matter again.

Except your grades aren't horrendous. You passed everything - even the maths after a re-sit.
Do you know what percentage of people in this country don't pass their GCSEs? Lots! Lots and lots!
I've known people with straight A*s all the way across the board who have ended up with no job at all. I've also known people who didn't pass a single GCSE who have ended up with extremely well paid jobs.
Ultimately even if people don't pass their GCSEs, there's more than one path through life. However yes of course it's good to be encouraging. If people can get good grades, then they'd be foolish not to study hard to get them because that's a bit of a wasted opportunity otherwise. But I certainly wouldn't say that passing all your GCSEs was as absolutely dire as you make it out to be.

My grades were truly horrible, and other people would agree that they were bad grades too. I definitely felt bad about them and it didn't help that other people made me feel bad about them too, even @stilllearning123 said they were bad!

Bad grades would be ones that didn't pass.
You do realise you're on TSR, right? The demographic of the majority of TSR users are people who are studious and who are aiming for straight 9s.
TSR is not reflective of the actual real world, where just over 40% of people fail GSCE Maths and just under 40% of people fail GCSE English.

To me, it makes NO difference. Bad grades can be subjective. I hate my grades and the vast majority of the population would say they are bad, outside of TSR.

Can I ask someone to please delete this thread? I regret making it in the first place. Thanks!

Sorry, didn't mean to belittle what you got!
What's done is done and you've done good, motivating those to work harder in their gcses, using yourself as a bad example when they really weren't that bad.

They were pretty bad, though, so I can't blame you for saying they were bad. Even 16 year old me was disappointed, and I still hold that disappointment with me, as an adult.


In my life, I'm trying to find something that makes me smart, useful or attractive and I have absolutely nothing.

You have a degree.