A Level results day is just around the corner and students from schools in Cheshire West and Chester will be eagerly awaiting their results.

Signing in to UCAS Track from 8am on Thursday, August 18, will show you if your university place has been confirmed.

If you are in the position of not getting the grades you expected to get in to the university of your choice, all is not lost.

The UCAS website has all the information and advice you need to find out about the Clearing process, which lists places available on various courses at institutions around the country.

For advice on the full range of options after getting your results you can also speak to a dedicated careers adviser on the Exam Results Helpline by calling 0808 100 8000.

UCAS director of external relations Helen Thorne gives her reasons why the days of Clearing being the bargain basement of university admissions are long gone.

- A record 64,300 students found university places through Clearing last year.

- That means around one in eight people accepted to full-time university courses got there through Clearing.

- More people than ever (15,000) entered higher education by applying directly to Clearing after the June UCAS deadline.

- Students from outside the UK can use Clearing too – over 5,500 EU and international applicants were among the total accepted this way.

- A UCAS survey last year showed that 92% of students starting courses they discovered in Clearing said they were confident they’d made the right choice.

- Three quarters of students who found their course through Clearing said their experience of the process was either great or good.

- Over 30,000 courses were listed as having vacancies on the UCAS website when Clearing opened last summer, from law to zoology.

- Two thirds of 18-year-old applicants from the UK are accepted by their first ‘firm’ choice – of the rest just over half still get a university place, roughly half of these through their insurance choice, and half through Clearing.

- Close to half of those using Clearing will be placed by the Monday after A Level results day. -And if Clearing isn’t right for you? There’s always next year. Around half of 18-year-olds who don’t get in to university apply again – and 85% get in the second time.