"De nos jours, le hasard ne favorise l'invention que pours des esprits prepares ..."

( ". . . chance favours only the prepared mind." ) Louis Pasteur

For many students in both years 12 and 13, two topics loom on the horizon this month; one, your review or report, is another of the apparently endless minor milestones of the academic year; while the other - the careers convention - stands vast and monstrous, a megalith of life-altering decision. Reviews and reports can seem no more than a slight inconvenience when measured against the larger issues of life, but they come along - sure as birthdays and much less fun to unwrap - with the same purpose as careers conventions. Sent by an ever open-handed fate, they provide an opportunity to assess, improve, make new decisions - change the future.

There's no doubt that from December onwards college life may seem a daunting procession of potentially life-changing decisions. Should you take a year out? go on to Higher Education? do work experience? change your options at A2? choose a career? These are 'tip of the iceberg' questions, labels on the doors of cupboards which when opened will tumble a hundred other questions at your feet. Scary?.. very. Impossible?.. no.

Like every review, each decision you make is an opportunity to rethink the future. Not in a big way, but through small assessments and changes which you can use as tools and skills alongside the others which you have learned. Good decision-making involves seeing the broad landscape of the issue - the big bold-type question - and then creating and placing small signposts to help you navigate through that landscape towards your goal, by asking and answering smaller, more manageable, questions.

Termly reviews are the little landmarks which help to guide us through the broad horizon of two years in Further Education; responding to them with small steps and small decisions can also help to make the big scary decisions more manageable.

When you use a coursefinder or a career guidance questionnaire you won't be faced with one big bold-type question - SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO, THEN? - but with a series of small questions designed to provoke you into self-awareness, to prepare you for and help you towards a conclusion. You may not agree with the result, but that in itself is a step on the path of decision-making. (If you come away from that career questionnaire saying 'heck, no! I do not want to be a bank cashier/police officer/ osteopath ...' - that's a decision.) So ask yourself little questions - what don't I like? what do I enjoy? what do I feel I'm good at? What do other people tell me are my strong points?

Of course, learning to find and use the information we need to answer these questions is another important aspect of decision-making. This means learning to ask other people for what we need (no one person can know everything!)

The first choices are your parents, tutor and career guidance officer but if they don't have the information you need, or you don't empathise with them, keep looking; try the teacher of your favourite subject, another family member, someone you admire or who is doing what you're interested in, an older friend, the admissions officer of the HE centre you're interested in, a book on the topic, the internet - the information is out there.

The challenge to make the 'right' decision may be terrifying but don't be put off. You can gain the skills and confidence to prepare yourself for making these decisions by learning to recognise, ask, and answer the smaller questions they involve. The upside is that while you're navigating that landscape you are an explorer, a free spirit with the chance to create, rewrite, express yourself. And few decisions are as final and irreversible as they may seem, as many people on their second HE course or third career will tell you.

Your life will be a journey through an endlessly changing landscape which most of us cannot predict, so if you have no drive to be a doctor, an engineer, a hairdresser or whatever, there's no need to panic; plan for the next few years, opt for what you like and are good at, and enjoy the experience.

Whatever you do with your life there will always be both big questions and the equivalent of termly reviews - it's human nature. Decisions are the bricks from which we build our lives, so the ability to make decisions - the right decisions for us - is a skill which we all need in order to make the most of life's chances.