An Account on Results Day (and all that comes with it)

You may or may not know this but I’m an international student and applicant, originally hailing from India but currently residing in the UAE, where I’ve been raised for the most part of my life as well. I have also completed my entire education in the CBSE (Indian) schooling system, an education system with its own highs and lows like any other!

My results day this year fell on the 13th of July and I thought it would be interesting to reflect on everything that came with it, a rollercoaster ride right from the anxiety-stricken days before it to the slightly overwhelming few days that followed. With results day for most of you right around the corner as well, I’m hoping this blog post would hopefully help ease some nerves too.

A little bit of background information; my exams took place during the month of March and I did 5 subjects – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English and Informatics Practices (IP). Our results are released in the form of percentages, for each individual subject as well as an overall percentage obtained by averaging it all out. Luckily, most of my exams took place, IP being an exception which was marked using a different system.

Now fast-forward to the week leading up to results day- the nerves were unavoidable, especially the night before when I could barely get myself to sleep. Although I did try to keep myself busy and going about my regular tasks, the thoughts were still looming at the back of my mind. In fact, I even tried to write a ‘Pre-Results Day’ blog post at one point in the hopes of letting my thoughts out to make myself feel better but gave up after 15 minutes of some very feeble efforts (at least now we know I can’t write when I’m distracted or anxious).

Strangely enough though, on the actual morning when I was about to receive my results I was relatively calmer than I expected (or maybe it was just a calm exterior since I couldn’t really get myself to get through breakfast without having a look at my report card first!). Now, for the big reveal for those of you who might be interested, I ended up getting a 95/96 in all of my subjects, averaging it out to an overall of 95.4% and thereby confirming my place at my first choice medical school! (My offers stood at 90% or above)

Not to sound too poetic but it certainly felt like I could finally let out a big sigh of relief that I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding, finally accomplishing something I’d worked so hard for over the last 4 years.

However, even though results are important, they undeniably aren’t everything. I knew that those numbers did not define my knowledge of any subject and should never be taken too seriously. As grateful as I am for not having to resort to them, I still had my back-up plans in case anything went awry. I believe that if you really set your mind to something and work towards it, nothing can keep you from achieving, even if it’s not now, at some point you’ll truly receive what you deserve and things always fall into place.

I wish all of you reading this best of luck for your results day if it happens to be coming up, and in case you end up not getting what you expected please remember that those grades will never define you and you are so much more than that. There’s always another chance and good things will come your way if you work towards them. And for those of you who might have already received your results and have gotten what you wanted, congratulations! Here’s to achieving our goals and always striving for better <3