By Emma Clayton

TURN on the news this Thursday and I guarantee you will see glossy-haired teenagers leaping into the air, clutching pieces of paper and grinning like Cheshire Cats. It’s GCSE results day.

It is now obligatory for newspapers and TV news teams to photograph/film young people delirious with joy at their exam success. Last week giddy 18-year-olds were all over the news celebrating their record numbers of A-levels at Grade A**** or whatever the grading system is these days.

I still don’t know how anyone manages to take more than four A-levels. In my experience A-levels required two years of intense study - way more difficult and stressful than studying for a degree - and it simply wasn’t possible to juggle more than three or, very rarely, four subjects. And when did an A-grade become not quite good enough? Since some Ofqual pen-pusher decided to stick a few stars on, for no apparent reason?

Whenever I see those pictures of teens jumping for joy, I feel a pang of pity for the ones who didn’t get the grades. For every happy kid gushing on about their amazing exam results, there’s another one sobbing their heart out, bitterly disappointed and feeling like their life is over.

There were no cameras greeting me when I got my A-level results. I’d just finished a shift at a crisp factory, where I had a summer job, when I tore open the paper that would reveal my fate. They weren’t bad grades, but they weren’t good enough for Durham University, where I’d set my heart on spending the next three years.

It felt like staring into a black tunnel, with no idea where it would lead me. All through sixth-form I’d been driven by the mantra that my future depended on A-level results, and when I finally got them it was like someone had punched me in the stomach.

York Press:

Exams in progress: but the results won't always be what was hoped for

I’ve since faced much greater upsets in life, but I’ll never forget how desolate I felt that Thursday afternoon.

In the end I went to another university, and had three of the best years of my life, so it worked out okay. But I know from experience that, despite the joyful photo-calls, A-level results day can be utterly miserable.

Thankfully, there are excellent services offering young people support and advice on careers, further education, training opportunities and apprenticeships.

University isn’t for everyone; many are put off by the high costs and prospect of debt - and according to a recent survey, a third of graduates wish they’d done a different degree - so it’s vital that young people are offered support in making the right choices or seeking alternative employment avenues.

  • WHEN I did get to university, the thing I was most excited about was getting my own kettle. It was the staple item for student life; many a friendship was forged over endless cuppas. Along with the kettle, I took two of my mum’s old pans and several packets of dehydrated soya mince (I was newly-vegetarian and there wasn’t much else in the way of veggie convenience food in the late 1980s). It’s different now. Last weekend I took my niece to buy “a few bits” for her student digs, and she ended up with a small fortune’s worth of new bedding, matching kitchen utensils, towels, even a fluffy bath mat.

She laughingly refers to her accommodation as a “hotel”. As someone who lived in squalid student residences, with snail trails across the carpet and mouse-traps pinging through the night, I can’t help thinking she may have a reality check awaiting...