BY NICOLA JAMES

UCAS expect more than 30,000 calls from university and college applicants during December, as students prepare ahead of the January deadline.

The company have therefore created top tips for anyone putting the finishing touches to their application, and being one of the students applying myself, I can honestly say that they have been a great help.

I had my application written a while ago now but this was a great check list to use and I would urge other students applying to pay attention as there is something simple but vital that you might have missed.

The most important tips I found were to ensure that you save your application regularly as it times out after around 30 minutes, make a note of your sign in details, your username and Personal ID, in case you need to contact them.

Make sure you check the deadline for your course in the UCAS search tool and make sure you leave plenty of time to complete the application and get the reference - don't leave it until the deadline day.

Check your emails for notifications and emails from UCAS, please don't just delete them. Add enquiries@ucas.ac.uk to your contacts to make sure you receive everything. When I received an email back from them it went into my junk folder so keep an eye out and make sure you don't delete them.

And finally, check it twice and get someone else to check it twice too. Once you have sent your application, you can’t go back and edit it.

Having someone else, like your parents read the application is vital and they can spot a lot of mistakes that you missed.