IB Results Day!
Hello everyone! Hope all your summers are going well so far and that your exams were okay!
Today was IB results day – yikes, I can’t believe exactly a year ago today I was opening my results. I had luckily got the grades I needed to get into my firm (which was Warwick) and it was a really happy day for me. But I remember the nerves.
Most people I’ve come across at Warwick have done A Levels. There are also a fair amount of people with the French Bacc (I think that’s what it’s called) since there are quite a large number of French students at Warwick, but I haven’t actually come across many people who did IB (there are quite a few but not as many as the rest!). I haven’t seen anyone blog about IB results so I thought I might share my experience and some advice and reassurance if you didn’t get the grades you needed! Some of the things I talk about are applicable to both A Level and IB students.
So my personal experience – I wasn’t confident about results day at all. I had a horriblly spaced exam timetable where I had almost all my exams crammed into one week so I ended up being very sleep deprived (I definitely did not do my best in those last exams that week) and half of my exams were really difficult. Warwick wanted 38 and I didn’t even think I’d meet my offer for my insurance (Nottingham Uni) who usually ask for 38 but gave me a lower offer of 36.
Results day came about and before I picked up my results at school, I was sure I wouldn’t get my firm and was just hoping I scraped grades to get into my insurance at least because the whole idea of clearing really did just stress me out. Thankfully, I managed to get the grades I needed and my place at Warwick was secured!
Now I don’t mean to share my experience as an opportunity to just share my happiness of getting the grades I needed and getting into my firm choice. I just wanted to share that even though I did well, I was very sure I had dropped quite a few points. So it’s normal to feel demoralised and it’s very easy to underestimate yourself before the day and build it up in your head that it went worse for you than it actually did in reality.
While I can’t speak from my own position, I have many friends who did not get the grades they needed.
So if you’re in that position right now, here are some things you should keep in mind. First of all, if you miss your offer by even 1-2 points, it is always worth calling the university anyway as they might let you in anyway, or if you’re set on going to that university, they could offer (or maybe you could ask?) to be placed on a different degree that has lower requirements at the same university. Don’t rely on this too much as it is a case-by-case basis – but it does happen! So always make sure if your firm is really out of the question.
Secondly, if you don’t get into your firm but got into your insurance, and are not feeling keen on your insurance choice now, do not let that hinder your experience at all. University is really what youmake it to be, it really will not matter where you go. I know so many people who went to their insurance choice and loved it!
If you’ve missed both your offers – again, just call your insurance choice to be sure that it is really out of the question. And if you’re definitely not going to either of your choices, don’t worry!! Hope is not lost! There is a bit of a stigma of having to go through Clearing but trust me, so many good institutions get put on Clearing. I keep saying I know people, but I genuinely do know people who went onto clearing and got places at Warwick or other great institutions such as SOAS, QMUL, Bath, Kent etc. And they’re very happy!
You could also always consider re-taking some of your exams if you think that could help, and re-apply. I don’t really know anyone who went through IB who retook exams, but I do know some people who re-did one or two of their subjects at A Level and it worked out better for them.
If you’ve done better than you expected, you might even consider going through Adjustment where you could look at universities with higher requirements and see if you could get a place somewhere you might not have considered before because you really didn’t think you’d meet their requirements.
The main disadvantage of having early IB results is the fact that Clearing and Adjustment open after A Level results – so it’s a long wait until August before you can sort yourself out on that. But it does give you some time to consider your options (almost 2 months!), and be on the phones as soon as they open to try and get those places. Also, if you’ve justmissed your offer by 1-2 points, sometimes universities will say they cannot tell you whether they can give you the place or not until A Level results are out – which can be a bit annoying.
BUT the main advantage is that stress and fear of results day is over. You can somewhat relax, go to the beach and enjoy your summers without a results day looming on the horizon as it would be for those A Level students (sorry guys – I do feel for you though!). I’m glad I got my results quite early as I tend to overthink everything so it helped to just get that out of the way.
I hope everyone are happy with what they have achieved, and I wish you all the best of luck with whatever you do! As always, if you have any questions, please do comment down below.
– Rana
