Immediate actions

If you didn’t get the GCSE results you were hoping for, don't panic yourself! You have lots of options and this can be a useful turning point in your education.

Make sure to speak to your parent/carer, you may think they will be disappointed too, but they are there to help and support you in making the right next step. With their help: 

• It’s worth phoning your first choice of sixth form or college to check whether they can be flexible about their entry requirements. They may agree to you retaking a GCSE while studying for your A levels or BTECs, especially if the grade you achieved was a near miss. If you can, make this call yourself, not your parent/carer, as this will demonstrate your initiative and maturity.
• If not, you could contact your second-option schools/colleges.
• You could retake one or more of your exams later in the year to try to improve your grades.
• You could look at other course options with lower entry requirements, or think about doing an alternative qualification or an apprenticeship. If you missed a grade very narrowly, or did much worse in a subject than predicted, you could talk to a teacher about making an enquiry to the exam board. The school can ask the exam board to check whether there has been an administrative error and to ensure the paper was marked correctly.

What to do next

Even if your exam results get checked by the exam board, there is no guarantee that this will improve your grade - this is okay too. You may still be able to go on and get strong results at your next stage in education, and this experience in their GCSE's will prepare you for that next stage. 

Consider the factors which may have impacted your results, this could be due to a variety of factors:

• Exam stress
• Not understanding questions on an exam paper
• Little revision or exam preparation 
• Strength in other subjects 
• Inaccurate grade predictions