So, the time has finally come and GCSE results will soon be coming out. However, how will you receive your results? In this short article, we will discuss the different ways in which your GCSE results could potentially be given to you and which one is most likely.
Usually, GCSE results are given out in-person and are collected by students from 8am at either their school or exam centre. However, in the circumstance where you are unable to physically collect your results, they will normally be emailed or posted to you by your school or exam centre. It is important to note that GCSE results may be given via an online method for schools or exam centres that will be unable to temporarily open for results day.
Although the short answer above should have given you a brief answer to your question, the remainder of this article will be helpful for anyone interested to know how GCSE results day is run. Therefore, I would recommend that you read the whole thing – it won’t take you long, but it will give you a comprehensive guide to how GCSE results will be handed out!
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Can you receive your GCSE results online?
Firstly, if you have a genuine reason for receiving your GCSE results online as opposed to in-person, the option will be made available to you. Below are a few examples of reasons that would most likely enable you to receive your GCSE results online, instead of in-person. This list is not final or comprehensive – it simply displays a few potential reasons someone might have for wishing to receive their results online.
- Physical injury (for example, a broken leg)
- Holiday
- No valid means of transport to school or exam centre
So, if you have a genuine reason, don’t worry, amendments to the process will be made for you.
However, what about situations where you would just prefer to receive them online and don’t necessarily have a reason that would require it? Well, the not so specific answer is it depends on which school you go to and which exam board you took your GCSEs with. Some schools may send out emails with your GCSE results in addition to the physical copies. In my experience, this can sometimes happen but there is usually a fairly large gap between when you can receive them in-person and when you receive an email with your GCSE results.
Make sure that you communicate a desire to receive your results online with your school, both if you have a genuine reason why you can’t collect them in person, and you just simply want to receive them online.
Will GCSE results be posted?
If you did not want to go into school to collect your GCSE results, but you also could not or didn’t want to receive them via email for any reason, could you get them posted to your house?
Every school and exam board is different and therefore there is no decisive single answer to this question. That said, like receiving results online, if a genuine reason is given, the school would most likely make an exception for you and post them to your home address.
The problem arises however with when they would arrive at your house. Getting the school to agree to posting you your results is one thing, but for them to arrive on your doorstep on results day morning is another. My suspicion is that if you wanted to receive your GCSE results via post, there would be a considerable delay between when you received yours and when everyone else, who collected their results in-person, received theirs.
That said, I highly recommend that you contact your school or exam centre and discuss it with them as they are much better equipped to answer locally specific questions such as this.
Can someone else pick up your GCSE results?
If you are unable to pick up your GCSE results in person, you can send either a guardian, friend or family member to pick them up for you and act as a proxy. However, if you do this, you will need to let your school know by way of a signed document or letter informing them that you consent to another person picking up your results for you.
If the school has no way of identifying who either the guardian, friend or family member is, they won’t give your results to them, so make sure you plan ahead and have everything sorted (like their photo ID, and perhaps even a copy of your signed letter) the night before!
If this is something that you would like to do, contact your school and find out as soon as possible what exactly you would need to do, and what the person picking up your results would need to have in order to make this process as simple as possible!
Furthermore, if any doubts are raised about whether or not you consented to someone else picking up your GCSE results, they also won’t give them out. This means that for those of you who will be picking up your GCSE results yourself; you don’t have to worry about someone else getting there first and taking yours…
How will you get your GCSE exam certificates?
Your GCSE Exam Certificates are not the same things as your GCSE results. Your GCSE results are simply a notification from your school of what you have achieved in your academic examinations throughout your time at school, whereas your exam certificates are physical proof that you have achieved those aforenoted grades.
GCSE exam certificates are usually collected by students from their respective schools a few months after GCSE results day. Schools are required to keep student’s GCSE exam certificates for a minimum of 12 months; therefore, students can pick them up from their school within a year of results day. Your school should contact you with details of how and when to pick up your results.
If you would like some more information about how long schools keep GCSE exam certificates or just want to know more about GCSE exam certificates, check out this Think Student article.
When will your GCSE results be given out?
Usually, GCSE results are given out on the 3rd Thursday of August each year. This should remain the same regardless of how you get your results (either online or from your school building).
Results day is something that your school will keep you informed about when you are leaving, having done your GCSEs. Each school may have slightly varying procedures for results day – some may open at 8am, whereas others may open at 10am. Look out for any emails from your school if you have already left, and if you are still at school, ask your teacher or exams officer!
Ideally, this is all information that you should note down from your school before you leave, but we know that this is not always possible. As long as you keep checking your email, you should have all the information that you need by the time that it comes to results day!