Surviving A Level Results Day

For many of you tomorrow may be a very important day and you might be nervously awaiting your A Level results. If you are good luck :) 
I remember this day very well 2/3 years ago and I kind of knew I already had a place at university as I did 3 years at college which gave me more points for my course.

This year I'm working clearing at university and thought that I'd try and give some of my reader a few tips for how to survive results day and what to do if you don't get the results that you need/ want.

- Believe in yourself - Even though you can't change anything that you did in your exams, there is no point stressing about it. Try and be positive, I know that I doubt myself ALOT and that I surprise myself and end up doing better than I thought.

- UCAS will probably crash - Yes.. This isn't something that you want to hear but it happens. This is because there are 1000s of people who are wanting to see if they have been successful or unsuccessful. I remember checking from 7am and I didn't get on til around 9am which was quite annoying. You may get on it earlier and if you do well done. However some of you may want to wait to get your results from college/ sixth form to see if you have been successful.

- Clearing is always an option - If you don't get the grades you need for your firm choice or insurance then you always have clearing as a back up. Clearing this year might not be as competitive as it has been previously with fees rising and universities may have more places because of this. Check the UCAS website or the university that you are interested in and they will have a list of courses and the institutions with places. Make sure that you are interested in the course and that you don't pick something just for the sake of doing to university. Also try and call the unis as soon as possible to be in with the best chance of getting a place, phone lines will also get busier as the day goes by.

- Choices are important - Try to remember that you are going to be at the university for three years and will spend alot of time in the city. Make some lists of unis that you would definately like to go to and a list of no's, this is just incase you need to go through clearing.

- Make sure that you're contactable and can find information easily, have your UCAS number and an email address close by and try to stay close to a computer and a phone.

- Despite what happens try and stay calm. Results day and clearing can be daunting, especially if you've suffered disappointment with grades. Ringing up universities for a place through clearing might be the last thing you feel like doing but there will be 1000s of other students in the UK in the same position and unis deal with clearing every year. You may not end up going to the university you'd planned but it could end up being the best thing thats ever happened to you.

And most of all good luck! I hope that you all get the results that you need to get onto the course you want to do.

University is the start of a new beginning, so forget what has gone before and know that many others aren't as lucky as yourself.

ox