Today many students and their loved ones will be receiving the highly-anticipated exam results which will determine their next steps. But what do you do if the grades hoped for are not attained?
In this article, Chartered Psychologist, lecturer and admissions tutor at Coventry University, Dr Rachael Molitor offers advice on how students can manage disappointment.
Understanding where feelings come from
When students don’t achieve their desired A-Level or T-Level grades and university offers, it’s natural to experience disappointment. This can stem from various factors as students have invested significant time and effort into achieving certain grades, and not meeting these expectations can be disheartening and students can feel they have let themselves down.
Dr Molitor has her own personal experience of disappointment as she didn’t receive the A-level results she had hoped. She felt disappointed, not only in herself but also that she had let down her parents.
After receiving her results, Dr Molitor took a gap year to take a look at her options and decide her career path. She is now a chartered psychologist with a distinction in her masters and a PhD in the area.
Here is Dr Molitor’s expert advice.
Shifting your perspective
While we might not have much influence over the situation that led to disappointment, we do have control over our thoughts and responses to that situation.
Continuously dwelling on disappointment isn’t helpful. It’s okay to feel sad, frustrated or annoyed by the situation for a while, but it’s crucial to address the disappointment in a way that helps us learn from it or emerge from it as a stronger and more well-rounded individual.
Taking charge of your thoughts
Preparing for what comes next can restore a sense of control in your life, which might have felt temporarily shaken. Keeping a positive mindset is especially important during this process and recognising that the challenges we’ve faced in the past contribute to our understanding of success.
Embracing opportunity
One example of how to shift disappointment into opportunity is to reframe the narrative of Clearing. It is not a failure to achieve what you originally set out to do. This misconception leads people to believe that they are not good enough and leads to disappointment and feelings of stress and anxiety about what the future holds.
We are all allowed to be disappointed about a grade lower than we were expecting, it’s how we deal with it that matters. Clearing is a chance to explore new options and a new direction you may have not originally considered.
If you felt you did your best in your exams, or as well as you could do given the exams, factors and confounding variables, then there is no reason to be disappointed in your grades, as they were the grades you have achieved with the hard work and determination you put in months before.
Create a path for your future
You have your grades and those are what you have now to work with. Taking ownership of your grades can help to make a path for yourself, drive you forwards, not backwards, to your next adventure. Being realistic about the universities and courses you wish to take, where you’d like to go and what you’d like to use your degree for, can help to carve out a path for your next direction and choice for university.
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