Just when you had forgotten all about them, the exams are back - this time, in the form of the results.

Today, thousands of students are thronging schools around the State, collecting their Leaving Cert. results and saying a final farewell to second level.

For most of the 65,000 exam candidates it's on to pastures new - educational ones. More than half will go to third level, finding places in universities, institutes of technology, colleges of education, private colleges. About 20,000 will begin Post Leaving Certificate courses, while a small proportion will repeat the Leaving Certificate.

More than 1,000 students will begin the new college-associated nursing diplomas. There are also education and training opportunities with FAS, CERT, Teagasc, BIM and the defence forces. Some students will get jobs immediately and others (a declining proportion) will sign on the dole.

Each year, the number of third-level places increases, and this year it is anticipated that there will be 114,000 places in all at third level, an increase of about 5,000 over last year. An estimated 35,000 places will be available to new college entrants.

This year, with the increased numbers of students sitting the Leaving Cert. Vocational Programme and the Leaving Cert. Applied Programme, it would be more accurate to use the plural form: Leaving Certs.

Close to 11,000 students sat the LCVP. This is the first year that the universities are allowing students to use the composite mark from these modules in place of a sixth subject, for purposes of college entry. The institutes of technology give a somewhat higher points rating for the link modules than the universities (see page 4).

Students who successfully completed the LCAP cannot proceed directly to third level but they are eligible to apply for places in the Post Leaving Certificate. A pilot scheme linking a variety of PLCs with third-level courses has been mainstreamed this year and about 2,000 first-year thirdlevel places have been reserved for PLC graduates. So, LCAP students can find their way to third level via PLCs if they so wish. However, the main aim of PLC courses remains to prepare students directly for the jobs market (see page 13).

This supplement is designed to help students and parents through the next few weeks as college offers are made. This year, there are only two rounds of offers and all subsequent vacancies will be offered on a continuous rolling basis. (See opposite for key dates.)

This supplement complements the daily College Places column in The Irish Times, which will keep students and parents up to date on points requirements, course vacancies, PLCs and repeat opportunities.

In addition to points, many courses have specific particular subject requirements. Students should turn to the master chart of essential subjects in this supplement. This comprehensive guide has been prepared by The Irish Times and is not available in this form elsewhere.

You must fulfil these subject requirements to secure a place on your desired course. So, while you don't yet know the cut-off levels for the points, you can at least reassure yourself that you are eligible for a place.

This supplement also contains charts detailing last year's cut-off points for all of the courses - certificates, diploma and degrees - within the CAO system. Each year, supply and demand waxes and wanes, so this is only a rough guide to what you can expect next Tuesday.

Certain courses, such as actuarial studies, medicine, dentistry, law, pharmacy and physiotherapy, are perennially popular so it's unlikely that points for these courses will fall significantly as there has not been any significant increase in the number of places available.

If you are confident that your points are good enough to secure a place in a particular college, you can make a head start in the scramble for accommodation. Page 11 contains some useful information.

The cost of going to college is a huge consideration. Both DCU and USI prepare costing for college life which should give you a reasonable indication of what costs are involved. (See pages 6 and 7.)

Whether the news was good or bad today, we hope that this supplement will help you steer your way through the college-offers season.