For many, just a few letters can determine where they spend the next three years, maybe more, of life.
But writing in a new e-book out this week, a vicar in Wales has appealed to the younger generation to not worry if they don't have a life plan.
One of Rev Andrea Jones' tips in the book 'Three Things I'd Tell My Younger Self' was 'Don't panic because you don't have a big plan.'
Rev Andrea Jones told Premier: "I think when I was leaving school and not knowing what I wanted to do and going to Canada because couldn't make my mind up, I looked at people and they were going off and they had clear ideas to be teachers or lawyers - but life isn't like that. It's not having a big A road and you set off and you get the satnav going and you're gonna end up at the other end at your destination.
"You'll turn up on all sorts of different paths, you'll do all sorts of things that you didn't expect!"
"You really do have to trust the Holy Spirit and be guided by God"
"You are not defined by your A-level results. I have never had anyone ask me in the last 30 years 'what grades did you get at A-level?' so it becomes pretty irrelevant pretty quickly after you make other life decisions"
She added that she didn't do A-levels straight after school but attended university later in life when she trained for ordination.
"When we look at Jesus, well - he certainly didn't go to university...we shouldn't be looking always for that worldly success - there are different ways we can contribute."
"You need to value friendship and loving and relationships and your relationship with God as well as all those other things."
Listen to the full interview with Rev Andrea Jones here:
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