Result Day Feels: Things you need to hear
Whether it's your first result day or your last, that dreaded August morning seldom changes over the years. The pit in your stomach grows larger with every minute, the half breaths that barely escape you, the constant what if at the back of your mind, your grades; a looming threat that clouds your vision until it's in front of you… the same debate: does a piece of paper determine your future or not?
But this fateful day simultaneously has the capacity to be very different from your last. The obvious comparison being whether you will feel like you’re on top of the world or watch it physically crumble around you.
Funnily enough, most of us have experienced both. Which could be enough to answer the question in that debate about your future. On some of those August days, the world does crumble around you, and you wish for it to end but it doesn’t. The piece of paper in your hand determines your next step forward; because backward is never a choice. But the great big future we all strive towards is dependent on more than your grades, it requires your courage, willpower, hope, determination and passion to make it through all those result days with a clear head and a plan, no matter what way it goes.
So what do you need to do to prepare for Result Day 2025?
- Please sleep the night before. Please.
- Wake up early, don’t forget to eat breakfast.
- Dress with confidence! If a breakdown is required, at least do it in style.
- Make sure you have someone to support you in any case.
- Be ready for anything, prepare for the best and worst case scenario.
How can you be ready for anything?
- Make a plan: what are you going to do if it's not straight As (or whatever you hoped for) on that report card?
- Don’t expect anything: it leads to disappointment, know that the day could go both ways.
- You did your best: there’s no point pondering over what could have gone better in the exams. It's over and you gave it your all. If you didn’t, take it as a lesson for next time.
- There is always a next time: you heard me right. Even if you’re a senior with no second chance, you will always have room and means of improvement if you aim to learn from your mistakes and move forward instead of staying stuck in your disappointment.
- Give yourself space: you don’t immediately need to brighten up and move on in case of bad news. Your pain is valid, feel it until it frees you. Cry for 48 hours if you need to, just as long as you get up and back in the field afterwards.
- Treat yourself gently: that’s the biggest challenge result day presents: who you choose to blame or thank. In case of bad news, Do you direct your anger towards yourself? The board of examinations? The world? There’s no right answer, because what is written on your report card is a combined effort of all three. So don’t hate yourself, it's not going to change the present or any future outcomes.
Here are some anxiety management tips for the night before and the day of:
- Deep breathing.
- Music that’s your best friend. It doesn’t necessarily have to be “the climb” by Miley Cyrus, just whatever makes you feel better.
- Don’t overthink. It's not going to help you control the outcome, focus on controlling your reaction to it instead.
- Distract yourself if that’s what it takes to escape the dreadful thought process.
- Talk to your friends and loved ones, sharing the experience makes it less damning.
- Support others, it's better to panic together than alone.
- Remember that there’s no easy way to do this, so do it how it feels right.
Most of these annual August mornings are always the same, what you can change this year is how you deal with them. As a senior who has now been through all of them, I’ve learned that the best way to react is to tell yourself you won't let a piece of paper determine your future, you will build it with your own hands. For example; a very determined, very angry 17 year old once made an entry in her notes on August 16th, 2023: nice job life, but I WILL get that boring corporate job.
You got this.