Dealing with disappointing exam results

Topics mentioned: exams, self-esteem, self-care

About: Exam results day can be a stressful time, particularly if you didn’t do as well as you’d hoped. Here is some advice from our Activists who've been there.

You have so many options. Your school might not tell you all of them, or they might make some options seem better than others. But everyone has a different idea of what success looks like, so different options will be best for different people.

You are no less than your peers for choosing a different route to them. You are not inferior, or less intelligent, or less ambitious. You are creating your own route to your own version of success and that is the smartest decision you can make.

What success really looks like is a lot of ups and downs, as opposed to the straight line we all imagine. Without failure we cannot grow, and without failure there is no success. We need to remember to practice self-compassion.

Trying to achieve perfection is the opposite of success if every mistake is allowed to damage our self-confidence and sabotage our dreams.

Sometimes things can come out of missing an opportunity which turn out to be better than the original opportunity! Case in point - when I applied to intern at YoungMinds, I originally applied for the an HR internship, I didn't get it, but I was offered the Digital internship instead.

In hindsight, it was a much better role for me and led to many opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten if I had been given the role I originally applied for! What you think you might have wanted to do with certain grades might not turn out to be for you after all.

Getting different grades might actually put you on to a much more enjoyable and fulfilling path, even if it wasn't the one you originally set out to be on.

Remember not everyone’s journey is the same. Success comes in different forms, and sometimes the best way to learn is by making mistakes.