‘Stay calm’: Portsmouth teacher's 7 tips for A-level students ahead of results day

Portsmouth teacher and National Education Union vice president, Amanda Martin, spoke to The News and gave her top tips on dealing with the stress of results day. Here’s what Amanda had to say.

1 Communication

‘Don’t panic. Talk to people, including your family, to explain your concerns. Speak to teachers and lecturers on the day about what to do next rather than bottling it up and taking things home with you.’

2 You can always resit

‘It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get the grades you want. You can always resit core subjects such as maths and English. Many colleges will allow you to do GCSE resits whilst taking level three qualifications. We’ll probably be working until we are 70 and so one additional year is very little across your working life.’

3 Don’t open results alone

‘Don’t open your results on your own. Go along with friends so you have mutual support.’

4 Open a friend’s results

‘You may even decide to open each others results. If one of your friends has not performed as they hoped then be there to support them.’

5 Don’t feel bad

‘Whatever your results don’t feel bad about them – they have been and gone. Focus on what to do next. If you’ve a party organised then still go out and celebrate having completed your schooling.’

6 Different path

‘If you don’t get the grades to get onto the course you want then consider following a different path. Look at the subjects you have performed best in and research different career paths.

7 There’s always clearing

‘The clearing process can provide exciting opportunities to get onto alternative degree courses.’

Get to university through clearing

The University of Portsmouth is set to play an active role in clearing tomorrow.

Vice-chancellor, professor Graham Galbraith, said: ‘Although many thousands of students will be celebrating success, not everyone will have had the results they were hoping for. Our message to you is no matter how daunting it may feel, if your results weren’t what you’d expected, don’t panic. We welcome anyone interested to call or visit our website and talk through the options.’

The university’s clearing line is 023 9284 8081.