Leaving Cert results day is different for everyone. There will be people who are dying to find out how they did and people who’d rather hide under the bed. Whatever happens and however you did, it’ll be ok. It is definitively not the be all and end all. Some of history’s brightest people didn't ace their exams or get where they wanted to be straight away.

Online or at school?

You can get your results at your school or from 12 noon online at www.examinations.ie. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with. Going to school can actually be a good option as you’ll be with your friends and you’re all in the same boat, and the camaraderie can get you through. Your principal and teachers should also be around to give you help and advice.That said, you might not want to be surrounded by people and that’s ok too.

Working out the points – take your time, don’t panic

After all the exams, adding together a few numbers might seem like a walk in the park, but with nerves, it’s easy to count things twice or not at all. Take a deep breath, and take your time. If you’re not the best at the old arithmetic, get out your calculator, and if you’re not sure ask someone to double check it for you. There is also a points calculator here.

The CAO offers

Results are out on Wednesday the 14th  August, then come the celebrations (no matter how you did, it’s over, right?) and on Monday 19th August, the ‘first round’ of CAO offers will be sent to your house and uploaded to www.cao.ie – log on to find yours. The ‘second round’ will come out on the 28th August.Each offer will come with a date that you must accept it by – this is usually seven days later, so it’s important to be on the ball in terms of accepting it. There should be instructions about how to do that within the offer. The points required for each course will be published in the newspaper, so you should have a good idea what you might be offered in the coming days. Even if you haven’t hit the nail on the head in terms of points, if you’re not too far off you might still get an offer in the ‘second round’.

The rounds

In the first round, offers will be sent to people who got the required points or more for their CAO choices. In the second round, offers start to go out for any places that haven’t been filled and this keeps going until all places are allocatedIf you got the points for your first choice on either the degree or diploma list in the first round, you’ll be offered those and that’s it– you don’t have the option to pick your second choice, but hopefully you’ll be delighted with your choice.If you got the points for your second, third, or fourth choice on either list in the first round, you will be offered that, but may receive offers of your higher preferences in the second round. It’s ok to go ahead and accept these offers, and change to a higher preference if this arrives in the next week or two. Your latest acceptance will automatically undo any previous acceptances.However, if you deicide you’d like to stick with the original offer, you can, just by ignoring the new offer.In some cases, where too many people got the same points compared to the number of places available, there will be random selection of people accepted. Don’t worry, this doesn't happen very often. You might still get the offer as people accept and turn down places.Offers will continue after the second round until places are filled, and this might take a little while, but it also means that you might have options that you weren't expecting. That said, it’s good to keep making plans in the mean time.

Views, checks and appeals

If you want to view a paper, either because you want to have something re-checked or maybe because you’re thinking of repeating and want to see where you could improve, you need to apply to do this by the 23 August – so next Tuesday. There should be a form in your school that you can fill in.Viewings will take place on the 30th and 31st of August  in your school, and you can bring one person with you – it might be good to ask the teacher of the subject you want viewed, as they should have the most helpful perspective on whether or not you should appeal.To re-check or appeal your result, you need to apply by the 4 September and pay a fee, and results of appeals are out in October. There’s more information on this process on www.examinations.ie.  Good luck with your exam results from all at the ISSU