The night before results day is scary. Even if you came out super confident after your exams, those little seeds of doubt sprout into full blown terror when faced with impending grades. It can feel like these grades are going to determine the rest of your life, like one wrong letter on the page could doom you forever. Of course it won’t. But it definitely feels like it at the time.

So here’s a few approaches to help to manage those pre results day nerves.

The distract yourself approach: Find something to occupy your mind and your time on the day before. This could be spending time with your friends, binge watching an entire Netflix series or cuddling your pet. Anything that can make the day go quicker is helpful.

The look beyond approach: Plan something for immediately after getting your results that you can look forward to. Something to ground you and that will happen regardless of whether you are happy or sad with your results. If you are happy with your results, it is a chance to celebrate. If you are unhappy then it is a way to keep busy and try to focus on something beyond results – like food!

The plan for every eventuality approach: Decide what you are going to do if you don’t get the results you want. Are you going to take a year out or are you going to go through clearing? If you’re going to go through clearing, which universities are you going to ring? Can you find the numbers and what courses are available? (they are often on the clearing websites the night before). What if you do better than you expect? Are you going to go through adjustment? Answering these questions and having a contingency plan in place can help reassure you that no matter what happens on results day, life will go on. Check out my Guide to Clearing for help on how it works.

The perspective approach: This is one of the approaches that everyone should try to take whenever you are nervous about something. Remember that no matter what happens, your life will go on and this result does not define you. At the time it can seem extremely daunting when things don’t go to plan but there’s no minimum age to go to university and ultimately wherever whenever you go, you will enjoy it.

Good luck with your results!