On A-Level results day, you're going to need to have two plans in place: one where things don't go as expected and you need to apply through Clearing; and a second where things go better than you're expecting, and you need to apply for an Adjustment place.

Spend time on the UCAS Clearing website and find places that will be available to you if you don’t get the grades and want to apply through Clearing; do the same in case you get better than expected grades and want to apply through Adjustment.

You’re eligible for Clearing if you didn’t get any offers or if your university place isn’t confirmed. The most likely reason your place won’t be confirmed is if you didn’t get the grades you needed. You need to have a plan in place for this before results day, because things are going to happen fast after this. Places are going to be given away quickly, and you will not have time to do the planning on results day. You have to do it now. 

You've got to be realistic. You're not going to be able to get a medicine place through Clearing because the grades are very high, so if you're not getting your grades for your firm choice, then it's unlikely you're going to be able to apply for medicine somewhere else. But have a look through and see if there's anything that catches your fancy because, things are going to move really, really quickly on results day. You need to get started as soon as you can.

On results day, it’s likely you’ll be tired from a sleepless night and things are going to happen very quickly.

In an ideal situation, you’ll get exactly the grade you need to get into your first choice and you can go and celebrate with your friends.

The UCAS website will update at 8am, and any conditional offers you hold will change to ‘firm’ or you’ll see that you have been rejected. 

The UCAS website will tell you whether you've gotten into university or not, and your A-Level results will show your grades. There is the chance that if you don't exactly get your A-Level results, you might still get into university.

However, if you check the UCAS website before you go to school, you can see whether you've got into university or not irrespective of what your A-Level results are. It is possible to not get the grades you need and still get your place at university, this decision is completely at the discretion of the individual universities.

Schools will generally open early to give you your results, and they know UCAS track updates at 8am and they want to give you as much time as possible to apply via Clearing if needed.