Tomorrow marks GCSE results day. For many teens, this will be an incredibly stressful period as they hope for the grades they’ve worked hard for throughout a global pandemic. Nationally representative research from leading EdTech platform MyTutor has found that as a result of the pandemic 42% of parents feel their children are the most stressed they’ve ever been, with over a quarter reporting a visible decline in their educational progression. With this in mind, MyTutor has put together some advice for parents on supporting their child during and after results day.

Have a plan for the day

As your teen receives their results, make sure they have the right number to call or the right website and login details ready to get their results. If they need to go into the school to pick them up and they are already feeling uncertain about their results, it might be best to go in early. This way they can get what they need and leave quickly so they don’t have to share (or avoid sharing) their results with other kids in their year.

Avoid comparison with others
If they are unhappy with their results, you may want to discourage them from going on social media and looking at how their friends did. At the end of the day, it’s their own grades that matters the most and they should maintain their focus here and on what their next steps will be.

Do something to celebrate them
A great way to reassure your child – whatever results they’ve got – is to have something fun planned for later on. This could be making their favourite meal, watching a film or playing board games together. This way they’ll have something to look forward to, and the conversation of the day doesn’t need to just resolve around their grades.

Tell them you’re proud of them (whatever results they get)
Remind your teen that you’re proud of their achievements no matter how they’ve done. It’s one thing to keep learning, studying and sitting school exams at their most advanced level yet in a normal year, never mind during a pandemic! They’ve had far more challenges than most school generations, and they should feel really proud of themselves for getting through.

If they’re not happy with their results, talk to their teachers
If your teen isn’t happy with their results, it might or might not be the right thing to plan to retake them. In this situation, the best person to talk to is their teacher for the subject in question. They might be around on results day, but in any case, you or your child should email them to get their advice before making any final decisions.

If a student doesn’t pass their Maths or English GCSEs, they’ll actually be required to retake them. National retake exams will be happening in November, so reach out to your child’s school for more information on this as the deadline for those subject entries will be October 4th. Students can also resit any other of their GCSE exams at this time as well. These exams will run from November 2nd to November 23rd and the deadline for entries will be September 18th.

Get advice from people who have been through it
Talking to someone who’s been through the same challenges as your teen – and made it to the other side – can be a great source of reassurance and encouragement. At MyTutor, our tutors studied the same courses as teens in the past few years – and they’ve been tutoring teens through school closures too. They double as mentors for teens, so they can help your child work out their next steps and get them on track for the next academic year. You can check out our online tutors here, or book a call with one of our Tutor Experts who’ll help you find someone who can give your teen the advice they need.

Bertie Hubbard, CEO of MyTutor comments on the difficulties faced by school children during the pandemic:

“The last 18 months have been unbelievably tough year on teens and parents alike with months out of school, exam cancellations, not seeing friends and worrying about Covid-19. With schools open again, catching up on lost learning and prepping for exams this term has undoubtedly brought another set of challenges for teens.

“They’re in more need than ever for some support and reassurance with their studies, and that’s exactly what our tutors offer. Our tutors are all from UK universities, and because they’re just a few years older they can easily relate to what teens are going through. With their dedicated one-to-one support, teens get some much-needed reassurance and come out with a stronger self-belief – 88% say that lessons made them feel more confident.”