Exam results stress: a student's guide

Waiting for exam results day can be a little bit stressful. So we want to help reduce the exam results stress with this handy guide. Here you’ll learn when exam results day 2023 is for your GCSE exams, what you can do about exam results day anxiety and what’s next after your exams. 

Exam results day 2024

According to Tes, GCSE exam results day will be the Thursday 22nd August 2024.

Are you worried about your exam results?

Everyone experiences a little bit of exam results anxiety and stress in the run-up to the results day, it’s to be expected. But if you’re experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety, and if that’s taking away the enjoyment of other things outside school then it’s okay to ask for help. Your wellbeing is the most important thing.

If you are worried about your exam results you can speak to your parents, carers or your teacher. They can reassure you, remind you of how much work you put into the exams and that everything will be alright.  If you are really worried and want to talk to professionals, Childline is available to help children struggling with high levels of exam stress. 

Can I find out more about my exam results?

You’re allowed to request any information held about you – this is because of something called GDPR law. That means that you, or your parents or guardian, are allowed to ask for certain about your exam results either from your school or exam board. Once the exam results are released you can request: 

• Your grade, which will be useful if you ever need it in an official document in future

• Comments and assessments that have been written by the examiner

• Written comments or emails on your grade or performance

• Records of your past performance, including mock exam results and assignments.

You can find out more about GDPR and how it relates to your exam results on their website. 

What to do if you are unhappy with your exam results

It can be difficult to come to terms with exam results that aren’t quite what you were expecting. Particularly if you’ve put a lot of pressure on yourself. Although it may feel like it at the time, not quite getting the results you wanted isn’t the end of the world, and there are some options available to you. 

If you’re not happy with your exam results you can try talking to someone you trust about your grades. That could be your teacher, parent or guardian. They can reassure you about your grades, or you could ask your teacher about getting the exam re-marked. This is possible in some exceptional cases, where it’s likely that your exam paper being re-marked could push your grade up. 

It isn’t always possible to get an exam re-marked if your teacher or examiner doesn’t see it pushing you up a grade boundary. In that case, remind yourself that you’ve got through your exams. Look through your results and recognise where you’ve done really well, focus on those achievements. Everyone excels in different areas, so don’t compare yourself to anyone else’s results. 

Taking the exam again

If you’re really unhappy with your exam results, according to the government’s National Careers Service, you should be able to re-sit most exams in the following year. These re-sits are usually free. However, if you attended a private or independent school they may not be, so speak to your teacher to find out more. 

For GCSE English and maths exams, you have the option to re-sit them sooner in the autumn of the same year. This can be done while you’re in college or sixth form, so you won’t be held back from further education.  Be sure to have a good think before trying to arrange to re-sit your exams, and whether or not you believe you’d be able to push your grades up or not. Even if you don’t choose to re-sit your exams, there will still be plenty of options for your education or training once you finish school. 

How to tell your parents or guardians about your exam results

If you are worried about your exam results, telling your parents or guardians can feel a little difficult. But talking to them about your results and perhaps their experiences with exam results can really help. 

Your parents or guardian are there to support you, no matter how you performed in your exams. But, if you’re worried about telling them right away or feel nervous, that’s okay. It can help to:

• Ask your parents or guardians if you can tell them later when you feel ready to share your results

• Alternatively, it might feel better to tell them straight away so you don’t dwell on it

• Practise what you want to say about the results when you tell them

• Ask if a friend or teacher can be there with you when you show them the results

• Ask if they can look through the results in another room rather than in front of you. 

Of course they may be pleasantly surprised by the results, even if you feel like you didn’t do as well as you’d hoped. They may point out where you’ve done really well and remind you of what you’re good at. 

Recovering from exam results disappointment

Sometimes all the build up of stress in preparing for the exams, doing the exams and then waiting for exam results can lead to a bit of disappointment, even if you did well. First off, it’s okay to feel a little bit underwhelmed after all that built up pressure. So it’s good to come up with some ways to recover from exam result disappointment, even if you did well

.

Take a break, you’ve earned it

After spending so long preparing for your exams, doing all of that revision and doing all of the exams, you’ve earned a little bit of time to rest. Take a few days to just relax, don’t think about school, or what you’ll do next if you’ve just finished your GCSEs. Just spend a few days unwinding.

Do something you enjoy to keep your mind off things

Make some time to see friends, or get out and enjoy some fresh air and exercise. Or stay indoors if you prefer, watch films, do crafts or play video games. Just do something that makes you happy and helps take your mind off everything else. 

Remind yourself of how far you’ve come

Regardless of how you did in the exams, think about how far you’ve come since you started school. You’ve done amazing things and made it through! You got to the other side of your exams! Make a list of the things you’ve done in your exams or throughout all of your time in school that you’re proud of to help put things into perspective and to remind you that you’ll do more things in the future to be proud of. 

Talk to someone about how you’re feeling

If you’re feeling a bit low after your exams and getting your exam results, talk to someone about it. You can talk to your teacher or your parents or guardians if they’ve seen the results. Or you could talk to your friends. Anyone that you trust to listen to you about how you’re feeling, don’t sit in silence and let it get to you.

Make a little time to figure out what you want to do next

Once you’ve had a few days to unwind, it might help to think about what you’re going to do from here. You’ve got plenty of options available like getting into an apprenticeship or going on to college or sixth form.  Talk to your parents or guardians to see if they can help you figure out a plan of what to do next.

Preparing for exams with Explore Learning

Waiting for exam results can be stressful, especially if you feel like you’ve not prepared for the exams. That’s where Explore Learning can come in. 

Our expert tutors are here to help you prepare for your GCSE maths exams so you can go in feeling confident and ready to do your best. And good preparation for exams can really help take the stress out of waiting for results day. 

Why not talk to your parents about tuition to see if it could help you prepare for your exams?