Thousands of students received their A-level, Btec and T-level results on Thursday, after a nerve-wracking wait for students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A record number of 18-year-olds got into their first choice of university this year, even if they missed their grades, while boys outperformed girls for the top A-level grades for the first time since 2018.
Students picked up their results up and down the country, chatting to BBC reporters about how they’d fared, what they hoped to do next, and how they were planning to celebrate. With three A*s in A-level maths, biology, and chemistry, Lily-Rose Williamson was ready for a big night out in Liverpool. She secured her place to study medicine at the University of Oxford next year, fulfilling a dream she’s had since she was 12.
For Olivia Melville, a different kind of celebration was on the cards: “Going to Nando’s.” The 18-year-old from Telford was delighted with a distinction in her health T-level and said she’d had a “really good feeling” about her results. T-levels, vocational qualifications for 16-19-year-olds in England, grew in popularity this year.
Others had mixed feelings about their results and the prospect of their next steps, including Shaheer Shafqat and Heron Balisane from Manchester. Shaheer said he “wasn’t disappointed” but “wasn’t too happy” with his results in A-level media and Btecs in applied psychology and computing. He still secured his first-choice place, studying cyber security at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Heron said he was so nervous he could “barely sleep” on Wednesday night: “I was panicking.” He said he was “expecting a bit more” from his results but had still secured a place at the University of Greater Manchester to study law. Both students said they were expecting to work part-time jobs during university, citing high living costs.
For others, the pressure was off, with jobs and apprenticeships secured before the big day, including Harry McClelland. The pupil from Bangor, Northern Ireland, is set to start an electronics apprenticeship with Red Bull’s Formula 1 team in September. “I knew I had the place before the exams, so I could relax a bit more,” he said, after receiving two As and a C.
The day was a family affair for many, including identical twins Adrian and Łukasz Koman from south Wales. The brothers insisted there was no competition in their house and celebrated their near-identical grades in the same science subjects. They said they were excited to start new chapters, heading from Newport to the universities of Bristol and Bath.
Megan from Cornwall brought her entire family with her to collect her results. She said she “burst out crying” when she saw an A* and two As staring back at her, and her mum said she was “so pleased”. Others said the support of family and friends along the way had been crucial, including Meghan Cotty from Caerphilly, who had balanced her studies alongside helping to care for her brother, who has learning difficulties, and working part-time.
She received two A*s and a B and was excited to head off to the University of Birmingham to study law. “It’s taken a lot of work and patience, but I’m so glad it paid off,” she said.
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