Tomorrow morning, 300,000 young people – and their parents – will finally be put out of their summer-long misery when the A-level results are released (GCSE students get theirs on Tuesday). Here are a few golden rules for the big day.
Students
• Don't open your results envelope in front of all your friends, unless you're very confident. A straw poll reveals most favour the "grab and run" technique. "I'm going to find a corner on my own," says Tara, 18. "I want to compose myself before I tell my mates, and hear how they did."
• Don't immediately post your amazing results on Facebook. "It's great to be successful, but some of your friends are going to be dealing with not such good results," advises Hannah, 18.
• Remember that your parents have been (almost) as terrified as you've been. Don't take bad grades out on them – and give them a chance to celebrate good results with you.
Parents
• If your child wants to open their results without you around, don't take it personally (and be flexible – 18-year-olds are forever changing their minds, so the son who's told you since June that he won't need you on the day may feel different this morning).
• Be tactful. If your kid gets four A* grades, don't immediately call the friend who you know has been biting her fingernails about her child scraping three Cs. On the other hand, don't put off the call so long that it seems like you don't care – one mother I know waited weeks because she feared her friend's son wouldn't have done as well as hers (in the event, he'd done fine).
• Don't grab the phone if your son or daughter has to call a university to plead over a dropped grade in one subject. It's your child they need to be impressed with, not you.
• And whatever the results, do plan a family event to mark all their hard work (although maybe not this evening).
