IT is the day of reckoning for the south’s A-level students.

Thousands are finding out their results today – and all indications are that congratulations are in order for another brilliant performance.

Yet again these hard-working teenagers deserve great credit for what college and school bosses are describing as recordbreaking results, as we report today on pages 8 and 9.

Can they really beat last year when an amazing 24 per cent of grades across the whole of Hampshire were A* or A?

Necessity is driving the year-on-year improvement. Our teenagers are under pressure like never before when failing to score top grades potentially means missing out on that much-coveted degree or training course.

Whatever happens, it is important that these students realise that getting a disappointing set of results is not the end of the world.

Today should be treated as the start of the next stage in their journey – allowing them to make vital decisions about their future, such as heading off to university, starting a training course or taking their first steps into the world of work.