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Results day stress and mental health

Results day is stressful, especially if you already manage anxiety or other mental health issues. Our tips are here to help you find ways to cope.

Student checking their results on their laptop

We've compiled a list of tips and techniques to help you deal with results day stress. Different things work for everyone so try some out and choose the ones that work best for you. 

1. Talk to people around you

Try not to bottle up your feelings. Mental health issues aren't uncommon among students, so you'll likely know others who are struggling. Your parents or older relatives may have also felt the same sort of emotions waiting for their results. Sometimes just talking about your anxieties out loud can help ease the burden.  

2. Plan for the best and worst outcomes

Exams don’t always go to plan, and you might not get the grades you need. Make sure you’ve researched what to do on results day and how Clearing works, but don’t dwell on the worst-case scenario. Think of a way to celebrate with friends and family if you do get the results you need. Even if your grades aren’t great, you still deserve to do something nice. 

Importantly, exam success doesn't define you as a person. Everyone copes differently in different situations and there's so much more to your personality than how well you can respond to an exam. 

3. Maintain a normal routine

Try not to let waiting for your exams take over your summer. Keep yourself as busy as possible to distract yourself from results day stress. If you have hobbies, keep up with them and try to stick with any plans you’ve made, such as holidays and spending time with friends.

4. Make sure you’re in the country for results day (and for a few days after)

Being in a different country for the exam results period can make things complicated. It can be more difficult to obtain your results and get advice from teachers and advisers. If you need to go through Clearing, contacting universities will be considerably harder too. 

5. Have someone with you when you collect your results

Have someone with you on the day to offer reassurance, talk through options if your results aren't what you wanted, and hopefully celebrate your success. This could be a parent, guardian, sibling, friend, or even a teacher. 

6. Don’t feel like you have to open your results with friends or share what you got

There can be a lot of peer pressure to open results at the same time and share what you got with everyone, but you don’t have to. You can collect your results and open them at home to avoid this scenario. Many schools and colleges will also publish results online or offer a text results service. 

7. Don’t compete or compare your results with others 

A common feature of results day is students sharing their results on social media and this can lead to comparing your results unfavourably. It may help to avoid social media completely for a few days. 

Remember to judge your success by your own standards. If you know you worked hard for your grades, but your friend got higher ones, that doesn’t make your achievement any less impressive. 

More advice

If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, ask your GP for a referral to NHS Talking Therapies, or you can self-refer via the NHS website.

For more advice on mental health and exam stress, you can contact one of many charities and organisations specialising in the mental health of university students, including:

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