Help for parents on exam results day

A guide to supporting your teen

As exam results day approaches, both you and your child may experience a real mix of emotions. 

It can be a pivotal moment that often brings anxiety and uncertainty for young people, so it can be hard to know how best to support as a caregiver. 

So, we’ve checked in with our medical team and our teen community to find out what they recommend for exam results day. Keep reading to find out! And for tailored advice depending on the type of results your teen is awaiting, check out our guides to SATs results, GCSE results day, and A-Level results day.

Before exam results day, you could try to:

• Reassure and encourage: let your teen know that you are supportive of them no matter what happens, and remind them that exam results don’t define their worth
• Do something nice together: there’s not much they can do that’s productive ahead of results day, so try and do something nice together or encourage them to do something nice for themselves – that could be a favourite meal, a trip to the shops or even a walk around the park
• Encourage self care: it can massively help their mental health and anxiety to make sure they’re eating well, getting enough sleep, getting some exercise in and even practising mindfulness – luna’s got loads of ideas in the app if you want to encourage them to download it. It can be found by searching “we are luna” in app stores

On exam results day, you could try to:

• Empower your teen: involve your teen in planning the day's activities, giving them a sense of control over the situation and also distracting them from the looming results. This could be asking how they’d prefer to get there (for example by car, walk or bus), or even what time they’d like to go
• Check your teen has everything they need: they may need some login details or a school pass to get their results, or it might be more self-care bits they need like period products, for example
• Manage expectations: as you head to collect the results, try to remind your teen to focus on their own journey and results when they get there and also remind them that sometimes surprises, both good and bad, can happen
• Remind them not to compare: comparison culture is rife in the teen community, and so it’s important not just for their own wellbeing but the wellbeing of others to try not to overly announce results. Some may not have had the best experience, or they may not have, and so it’s best to downplay this if possible

If their exam results are disappointing, you can:

• Reassure them again: it can help to remind them that their results don’t define their worth, and that they will get through this
• Share relatable stories: share stories of how you’ve overcome setbacks – this can help them feel more confident in finding a way through this and help them feel more motivated to keep going
• Explore options: discuss alternative pathways they could take from here, for example resits or different academic routes, such as apprenticeships or vocational training. You could arrange a meeting with a teacher or pastoral team member at the school to get their thoughts on this too

If their exam results are good, you can:

Celebrate! Perhaps plan a special results day activity to celebrate their efforts and achievements – this actually can be a good idea regardless of their exam outcomes, but if they aren’t happy with their results they may want a check in about what they want to do

Exam results day is a real milestone in a teen's academic journey, but it's important to remind them that it's really just one chapter. Whether they didn’t do as expected or they’re over the moon, hopefully these tips have helped you out for when the big day arrives.

Why not support your teen with luna premium?

Our app, luna, has dedicated advice on this topic which can help them feel more empowered through adolescence.

You can think of luna as a modern, digital approach to wellbeing – it’s cost-effective, verified by doctors and safeguarding experts, and has a direct line into the biggest concerns facing teens today – so it’s actually addressing what they need advice on, when they need it.

If you’ve been looking for an antidote to the misinformation and negativity shared on social media or forums, you can get luna for your teen via our luna premium page for the price of a coffee each month or manage their subscription by downloading luna yourself and signing up as a parent (it's "we are luna" in app stores).