A-Level results day is stressful enough in a normal year.

As the class of 2020 received grades for exams they never sat, amidst controversy over downgrading, we joined the students at Ramsey Grammar School for a results day like no other.

With two A grades and one A*, Billy Cain has been slightly downgraded but had still been accepted to study history at St Andrew’s University.

’I’m very, very proud.’ Said Billy’s mum Edith Van Genuchten.

’My stress levels went up with everything on the news, but Billy has stayed really calm all the way through.’

’I’m really happy,’ Billy added. ’I was hoping to do quite well in history - at least a A - but I was surprised to do better in geology than history.’

The history results were much-discussed.

’I think everyone in my class got downgraded by one grade’, said Charlotte Grace, who had been accepted to study Archaeology, Ancient History and History at the university of Birmingham despite her result being downgraded to B.

’I’m so glad I got an A in Politics,’ Charlotte said. ’If I hadn’t, I don’t know what would have happened.’

Amelia Garrett’s maths result had dropped two grades, from a predicted A* to a B.

The maths results arrived on Tuesday morning, so she had been expecting more bad news for two days. But with overall grades of ABB, Amelia had secured her place at the University of Sheffield.

’Coming in today, I thought the other two would be worse than they are,’ she said. ’It’s a big relief.’

Not every university was being so flexible, and a downgraded maths result could cost James Lewis (formerly Boles) a place at St Andrew’s University.

’It’s quite stressful knowing that you haven’t got the grades,’ James said. ’Today’s results are okay - geology and music are what I needed. But the maths is a bit of a problem.’

Thanks to the efforts of his teachers, his place at St Andrew’s is being held for him pending an appeal. Clare Lewis, James’s mum, said: ’Hopefully with enough pressure from the school and the government, they will look at those marks again.’

Mariella Craig was among the handful of students who actually had a result upgraded from her prediction.

But another one had been downgraded, leaving her with the right number of UCAS points but the wrong grades for her first choice of university. ’In some I overachieved but in one I underachieved,’ she said. ’I got an A*, A and a C but I needed a B.’

Supporting her was Phoebe Coates, one of the school’s top achievers with three A* results, who will study medicine at Queen’s University in Belfast.

Phoebe was dialling and re-dialling the university admissions department on Mariella’s behalf while her friend weighed up her options.

The downgrades, Phoebe said, ’have happened to quite a few people who clearly deserve more than they’ve been given.

’It’s really frustrating, especially when you can’t get through to the universities.’

Having fallen slightly short in his grades, student Ryan Corrie had also spent most of the morning on the phone. ’I got three Cs at A-Level,’ he said.

’I didn’t get into my uni of choice but there are plenty of offers in clearing that I can try and get.’

Ryan’s dad Andy said that his son had made the phone calls himself: ’It was easier than we thought it might be,’ he said. ’Two phone calls, two firm offers.’

’It’s the degree he wanted to do and it’s not far from where he wanted to be, so it’s a positive outcome,’ Andy added.

’My advice as a parent is that even if the original plan doesn’t quite come to fruition, just stick at it because there’s always other options.’