Receiving Results On Live TV, EEK!

If you have nothing to do with the education sector, then you probably look on in bemusement when results day rolls up. I trust however, that you are not one of those who dismisses students’ achievements by saying things like “oh exams were far more difficult in my time” or “I wonder how many real subjects these students who are getting A grades actually did.” That is honestly a real comment made by someone on the Sky news page on which my video was.

What? Sky News? Yes, as I have mentioned previously or perhaps hinted at, this results day was all about being on television. Well there was the small part of getting my results but as I walked to college at 6:45am, I was more nervous about my imminent arrival on live TV. What if my grades were bad? Would I have to bluff it and cheerily say that I got all A stars?
“You’re brave,” my cousins told me. To be honest, I was not that worried about my results in terms of meeting the requirements of my University’s offer but being a slight perfectionist when it comes to grades, I wanted to get at least one A*.

The weather was quite gloomy as I shot a small selfie style video whilst walking to college. Now I normally have an aversion for selfies but this was on the orders of a producer at Sky. They had requested me to do a small vlog of results day where I capture some important moments so hopefully this should be coming out in the next few days when they have edited it all. I’ll keep you people updated, don’t worry! Update: Just as I was typing this, it came through so it is now on the same page as all the rest of the videos. Link is at the end of this post.

So when I arrived at college, the crew was there and they prepped us on what to expect. Imagine the torture, we had our results in our hands for about ten minutes yet we couldn’t open them! Finally, Sky News cut to our live feed and the correspondent jumped into action mode. I was the second person to be asked to open my results and for some reason when he asked what I would like to do in the future, I blurted out “your job!” It is true though and he did say when we were talking beforehand that if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Thankfully, my grades were fine. (No I don’t really like talking or boasting about them so click the link below if you want to find out!) I would have liked to do a bit better in terms of some individual and whilst normally this kind of talk conjures up images of a pompous or weird perfectionist, I really do mean it.

At the same time, I am glad that it all went well and as we waited for other students to come in at 8:30, I took the time to relax and watch myself on TV. There are two videos; one where I am at home and they are interviewing me and another where I open my results and now the video diary but that has not made it to television yet.

One of the hardest things about results day once you have opened your own results and are happy with them is comforting those who did not do so well. Sometimes when it is your close friends, it is terribly difficult to know what to say and silence or a hug may work best. No one wants to be told that oh never mind it is going to be okay when they have just received bad news as they need time to digest information and accept what has happened. Teachers must find results day extremely heartening yet heartbreaking at the same time!

Luckily this year, there are more clearing places available so I hope everyone is successful in getting a place at a university they like.

Until Next Time

A Worried Student

Oh yes, the link. I gingerly paste it: http://news.sky.com/story/1318305/record-numbers-off-to-uni-as-a-grades-rise

P.S: The videos which have a cool teenager called Siraj are the ones you need to watch 😉