all 9s is not realistic.

i don’t mean to dampen anybody’s spirits, and downvote me if you want, but i think some people need to realise how rare it is to achieve straight 9s.

for 2024, only 1270 of 667340 students in England achieved straight 9s, just 0.19% of students (see both images) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infographic-gcse-results-2024/infographics-for-gcse-results-2024-accessible

most people on here have high aspirations, and i think there’s this misconception that GCSEs are the end all be all, so you won’t be able to get into top universities if you don’t get all 9s. of course, this is based on truth as many of these unis may use GCSE grades as a tiebreaker, so to speak. However (assuming you achieve good alevel mock grades), it is very unlikely that a uni will reject you because you have 9s excluding one/two 8s, 7s or potentially 6s.

i don’t want this to be entirely negative so know that you SHOULD be aiming for straight 9s. put in as much effort as you can, because achieving good grades will help you, if you choose to pursue higher education. but don’t let your grades define you and affect your self worth - very few people do achieve straight 9s. if you do/did, congratulations, but if you don’t do acknowledge it’s rarity.