It can be hard to make the right career decisions in the middle of an exam course. Louise Holden has some advice

Many students decide where to go to college in the flurry of mocks and in the shadow of the Leaving Certificate. There's little time to research courses in depth or think carefully about fourth, fifth and sixth choices. The dropout rates at Irish colleges and universities suggest that many students are making the wrong choices in sixth year: almost one in six students will not complete the undergraduate course for which they were initially accepted, according to the Higher Education Authority.

John Deely, an occupational psychologist who has been researching the area, believes students need to start to think about their college choices long before sixth year. "While some of the reasons for dropping out relate to the pressures of coping with college, some of the key factors highlighted are unsuitable career choices, unclear career aspirations and lack of information on course and career options. Transition Year is a great time to do the groundwork that you might not have time for in the exam years."

Research by Pinpoint, a firm of occupational psychologists who specialise in career direction and development, has highlighted the main reasons why students make bad decisions when filling out their CAO forms. The results are worth chewing over if you're planning to go to college.

First-choice bias Students get hung up on their first choice and put no thought into their second, third and further options. "If they don't get the points they need for the first choice, and if they are unwilling to repeat or have already repeated, students end up focusing on a poorly-thought-out choice in a disappointed frame of mind," says Deely.

Aptitude/subject-led choices Students who like a particular subject or do very well at it in their mock exams often choose a course based on that criterion. "Being good at a particular skill and studying it in college does not guarantee a career that will suit you," says Deely. "It's important to find out where the graduates of different courses go. For example, students who enjoy languages at school follow that preference through to third level without thinking about where that will lead them. Many language graduates end up in multilingual call centres, which is a very specialised work environment. While such graduates may not have had a clear direction, this is not the type of career that they had envisaged for themselves."

Market-led choices Many students make career choices based on what's going on in the job market when they're filling in their CAO forms. Deely says this is a risky strategy. "Sometimes students sacrifice the potential for job satisfaction by choosing a career they think they can get a job in. Both the economy and individual sectors go through cycles. In the late 1990s the tech boom attracted people to the IT area. Many students turned away from information technology after the tech bubble burst; ironically, that would be a favourable time to pursue such a course. In the time since the downturn, one could have gained a qualification in the IT area and emerge into an IT jobs market where the demand for graduates has again become buoyant."

Deely believes that the best way to avoid these mistakes is to start getting to know yourself, your courses and your careers early. "The key factors that influence job satisfaction and suitability are personal qualities and motivations. Think about your strong qualities and what motivates you. If you are an outgoing person, then you are likely to enjoy a job that provides the opportunity for varied social interaction. If you are more reserved, you may prefer a role that is not as high profile, where people are drawn to you because of your expertise or position."

Finding out the real deal behind careers that interest you is very important, too. If you decide in sixth year that you might like to study law, you won't have much time for work experience in a legal office, a visit to the Four Courts or the Law Library, or chats with law students about their experience. Transition Year is a good time for this kind of "career imagination".

It's important, too, to find out the alternative routes that people take into careers. Not everyone can get the points they need for physiotherapy, but there are other ways in, and if you plan properly you might get where you want to go by a different route.

"A science degree can provide a platform for the accelerated postgraduate courses in this career both here and in the UK, provided you focus on anatomy and physiology. Alternatively, Carlow IT offers a national certificate in physiology and health science, which can provide a route to becoming a physiotherapist," says Deely. It takes a bit of leg work to find these roads less travelled.

How is Transition Year working for you? Do you relish the chance to get away from the desk and books and learn by doing? That in itself is a clue to your learning style, and it could be a factor in your CAO choices. Perhaps you need to take a course with plenty of work experience, fieldwork and teamwork rather than a very academic subject that will drag you back to the desk.