I’ve been thinking today about the significance of your ‘results day’ experience and how this can genuinely shape your perception of yourself and your academic potential. Specifically, I have been thinking about my old schoolmate Harpreet.

Harpreet was an incredibly intelligent student and she had huge potential. She was so much more than this though: she was kind, and caring, and a beloved friend. But she did not get the A level grades that she was expecting.

Our results day was on the 18th August 2016, and there was a huge amount of pressure on everyone in our school to do well. Our school was notorious for pumping out high-achieving pupils (often at the expense of wellbeing.)

On the morning of the 22nd my mum got a phonecall from my school letting us know that on the 19th - the day after results day - Harpreet’s body has been found. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-news/2016/11/22/student-killed-herself-after-a-level-disappointment/

She had not got into her first choice of university, and she had clearly been overwhelmed after being constantly exposed to narratives around exam results being the most significant determining factor in future success.

We were devastated, and I cannot imagine how her family feel and are still feeling. But we had been told that results matter, and could not be blamed for internalizing the messages that we had been fed for months and months suggesting that to fail at exams was to be a ‘failure’.

It may well have been that Harpreet’s exams would have been remarked and her grades had gone up. But by then it would have been too late. Her results day, and the precedent that current educational practices puts on exam success, meant that she couldn’t see a successful future.

Harpreet’s life was worth so much more than her results. She was warm, she was empathetic, she deserved better. She was a better student than her results from one set of exams suggested. The significance placed on ‘results day’ can make a person equate grades to personal value.

I cannot help but think about the 2020 A-level students that have been affected by the colossal mishandling of results this year. I have seen countless examples of people who’s ambitions have been shattered by getting lower grades than they deserved.

These grades matter. Students have been told for their entire academic career that A levels are the most significant exams that they will take in compulsory education. And they have real impact on a students sense of achievement

Especially this year, when students have not been able to demonstrate their ability, and have left results entirely to the discretion of an algorithm, it is no wonder why people have been shocked and devastated when their results have come back well below expectations.

This lowering of grades has disproportionately affected less privileged students and people of colour, which has challenged the message of meritocracy and social mobility which education is supposed to champion.

Whilst the administration and logistical impact of this mishandling of results is significant, it is also important to realise how emotionally devastating it will be for students whose ability and hard work has been trampled over by an algorithm.

These students will not be able to celebrate their achievements, and for some it may mark the end of any hope of certain career prospects. They will be devastated. And who can blame them? This situation was totally out of their control.

And as I and my former classmates know all too well, it is actively dangerous and damaging to students’ mental health and sense of self worth for there to be so much uncertainty around results. Some students will struggle to cope, particularly when graduating into deep recession.

There is not much reason to be hopeful if you haven’t got the grades that you wanted. Basically, what I’m saying is please take care of anyone in your life who has been let down today. They shouldn’t have had to deal with this in what is already a horrendously stressful world.

Also: shame on the government, who have allowed this farcical error to destroy what should have been a happy day for so many. A level results matter to people. They have been built up as the singular most important academic achievement.

It is absolutely no wonder that students are emotionally invested in how their results turn out.

We lost a friend because of how important A level results are perceived to be. She was worth so much more than her results, and the world would have been a brighter place with her in it. The consequences of this mishandling from the government cannot be overstated.