Students count down the hours to Leaving Cert results

About 55,000 students who sat their Leaving Cert in June have just one day to go before they receive their eagerly-awaited official exam results from the State Examinations Commission.

Students can collect their results from their schools from 9am on Wednesday or online by visiting the SEC website from midday.

The Irish Times will provide coverage online, in mobile and in print, covering the results and the upcoming CAO first and second round offers.

The Irish Times helpdesk will operate at irishtimes.com/results2018 from 9am until 5.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday. The service will also be available from 9am-1pm on Friday.

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Guidance counsellors Brian Howard and Deirdre Garrett will be on hand to answer questions about the results and any questions students or their parents might have about the college applications.

Next Monday, those who applied for third-level courses will discover whether they have secured their first choice when offers through the Central Applications Office (CAO) are made.

The CAO’s Round One offer constitutes the main body of offers that takes place after the results of the Leaving Cert have been made available and 77,425 applicants have registered their preference with the agency this year.

From 6am onwards on Monday, applicants can check online to see if they have received an offer by visiting cao.ie and logging in to their account using the "My Application" facility.

The CAO will also issue offers by post, e-mail and SMS text and applicants who have not received an offer will receive a Statement of Application Record.

The Irish Times will continue its coverage online and in print on Monday with a special supplement featuring news, advice, and analysis published at irishtimes.com/results2018.

The acceptance of Round One offers is 5.15pm on Friday August 24th. Offers can be accepted online or by returning the completed offer notice to CAO.

The helpdesk will reopen on Monday morning at 9am and will operate until Tuesday at 1pm.

Ahead of the Leaving Certificate results being released tomorrow, the alcohol industry-funded group Drinkaware has called on parents to talk to their children about alcohol ahead of exam results celebrations.

Drinkaware interim chief executive, Miriam Taber said: "We know that not all Leaving Cert celebrations with include alcohol, but it is important to have resources in place to support young people who choose to mark this achievement with or without alcohol.

“We are asking parents to discuss with their young people their plans for results night – find out who they will be with, if alcohol will be present and how they plan to get home.”