Well, have your lucky numbers come up? By the time most of you read this you should know whether they have or not.

After losing a sizeable chunk of the school year to a strike not of your making, those on route to collect your results will no doubt be hoping the Department of Education's examiners have looked kindly on your brave efforts from June.

Whether they have or not, there are many reasons for optimism and few for gloom on this special day.

Yes, the French aural tape was troublesome; yes, some of ordinary-level papers were like higher-level papers in disguise and yes, you had one of the toughest years students have experienced in the last decade. But before you slip into a deep depression, consider a few things.

Last year there were 63,451 applicants in the CAO system - 53,108 received one or more offers (some accepted, others didn't).

You do not need to be doing higher-level maths to realise this is a very good ratio. So unless you are one of the very unlucky ones today (about 10,000 last year), you are likely to get an offer of some kind. It may not be the one you wanted but, as the saying goes, "its nice to be wanted".

But the chances of getting your top offer next week is also relatively high and increasing each year. This year could be the highest yet.

Last year, approximately three-quarters of those getting degree offers got one of their top three choices in the first round. Even more staggering, almost 90 per cent of those getting diploma/certificate offers got one of their top three.

This indicates two things.

One is that students are, despite the usual Generation X jibes from their elders, reasonably good judges of their own ability and put down choices they can actually hope to get. It also indicates that each year the amount of courses rises and thus the number of offers to students also rise.

Of course some of you want your first preference and nothing less. Those seeking high points courses such as medicine or law tend to fall into this category. On top of that, some of this group will want to do these courses in a particular college.

This really puts you out on a limb and in a tiny statistical group. It also means you are the most likely to be disappointed.

But if you broaden your horizons and genuinely consider the other offer or offers made to you they may not be too bad.

The instinctual reaction of the average Leaving Cert student is disappointment if they are not offered a choice from the top half of their list. But try to keep a calm head (that includes you, mum) and talk about the choices you have been offered.

So what about the points for this year? Well, overall, nobody expects any great rises because the numbers taking the exam are down from over 62,000 to 58,388. This should ease the pressure, but will have little effect on the high points courses in healthcare, law and actuarial finance.

The reality is the number of places on these courses has not risen to any great degree so the points should be roughly the same as last year. Those looking for places should know that, but many of you will be looking for even the smallest of drops.

The news there is not so good.

Points on courses like medicine have been rising in the last three years, not falling.

For example, medicine at Trinity was 560 two years ago, but in 1999 and last year, it jumped to 570 (with random selection). A similar trend is evident at UCD, UCG and the Royal College of Surgeons.

However, those who applied to UCC last year got a break when the points dropped from 560 to 555 (with random selection).

Arts/social science courses remain the most popular with students and the picture is rosier there. The biggest intake is at UCD and points for DN 012 have dropped from 385 in 1998 to 375 last year. Science courses have experienced huge drops in recent years and students applying for those have most reason to be optimistic.

The main science degree at NUI Maynooth (MH 201) has fallen by 10 points to 300 over the last two years, DCU's science option (DC 201) fell by the same amount last year while UCG's course (GY 301) has fallen 35 points to 330 in the last two years.

Certificate and diplomas show even more marked falls and there were about 80 courses last year in this sector looking for AQA - all qualified applicants.

This means all you needed was the college's minimum entry requirements - normally a pass in maths and English - and you got a place. Most observers expected the AQAs to be in even greater evidence on the CAO chart this year.

So most indicators are pointing upwards for you, including, happily, the jobs market.

While the tech slowdown has yet to feed into figures on graduate employment, there is no sign of employer's losing interest in talented graduates.

According to the last HEA figures from 1999, only 1.5 per cent of graduates were "seeking employment" a year after graduating. Over 50 per cent had secured a job either at home or abroad. About 42 per cent went into postgraduate study or further training.

Most students do this so they can gain a competitive advantage by topping up their undergraduate qualification. With increasing levels of third level education, the real battleground now is at postgraduate level, where employers take a keen interest in what course you pursue after graduation.

Of course there are lots of option outside the world of the CAO such as CERT, the Defence Forces, F┴S and of course the workplace itself.

A word of caution about going straight into the workplace, though. If the economy does experience a sharp slowdown, skills will become even more important and you then might regret not getting some qualification after school.

There are also about 20,000 places available in the post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) sector and you should apply directly to the college in your area.

They can lead on to diploma and certificate courses and possibly to a degree course.

It might seem a scenic route to some, but it does allow you to develop and mature as a person and escape from the pressure of university, which can often appear to some students like school part II.

The so-called ladder system, which links PLC places to other third-level colleges, works fairly simply.

Certificate and diploma courses in the institutes of technology are available to you if you have successfully completed a National Council for Vocational Awards (NCVA) level two course at your PLC college.