SPONSORED EDITORIAL

It may seems likes ages ago that you sat your last exam and threw out that revision timetable but if you haven't quite been able to relax all summer, don't worry - you aren’t alone. Results day worries are common, particularly if you aren’t sure you made your grades.

Heather Judd, careers co-ordinator for the Hadlow Group, has some essential advice to prevent post A-Level panic.

If you don’t achieve the grades you need when the results come out on Thursday, August 17, clearing allows you a second chance to apply for a different university spot with your actual grades.

1. Start looking now: Clearing opened last month, so start looking now, even if you aren’t sure you’ll need to. Clearing allows you to apply for one course at a time, so make sure you’ve made a definite decision.

2.Do things that make you happy: Don’t spend all your time obsessing. If you feel relaxed and refreshed you’ll concentrate far better on planning for results day and beyond.

3.Redraft your personal statement: When you apply for university through the usual UCAS process, all your universities receive the same statement. Clearing allows you to write a more tailored statement which you can email directly to your chosen university.

4.Look for courses that teach the same skills, but are more vocational: If you didn’t meet the conditions of the zoology degree you applied for, consider an animal management degree. It utilises similar skills and opens up similar career paths but is a more practical course.

5.Don't panic about your student loan if your university changes: It’s straightforward to change your destination with Student Finance England online

6. If your A-Level grades are lower than expected, consider a foundation degree: Foundation degrees are often more affordable – and you can still do a top-up year to make them into a full degree later. Hadlow College offers foundation degrees in animal conservation and biodiversity, applied animal behavioural science and welfare, aquaculture and fisheries management, equine training and management, commercial horticulture and landscape and countryside management - all accredited by the University of Greenwich.

7.If in any doubt, contact your school or college careers advisors: The careers advisors at Hadlow are also happy to offer you plenty of useful advice.

8.And if all else fails... Consider alternative options – a gap year, a year working in an industry, volunteering or an apprenticeship. If you can, speak to people already working in the industry you want to go into and see how they got there. It isn’t always a straightforward route!

For more information about courses at Hadlow visit www.hadlow.ac.uk