There are many factors to consider when writing your personal statement. There is no such thing as the perfect personal statement but there is such a thing as the right personal statement.

A personal statement is used to answer one simple yet important question. “Why should the admission tutor give you the space over somebody else?” There are great ways of answering that question without sounding like you are blowing your own trumpet.

Below is a simple list of things to consider / include when writing your personal statement:

• Your story
The admission tutor is going to want to know why you’re applying for that course and what has led you to this point. It is a good idea to give the admission tutor an idea of what your personal story is without going into great detail. This is particularly important if you are applying for an over subscribed course, as evidence of motivation is key (coupled with Evidence of proactivity – see below).

It is also good to let your personality shine through your personal statement. If you present yourself to be likeable, then your application will go further.

• Strike balance, above Wikipedia, below expert.
The trick of really impressing the admission tutor is to demonstrate you’ve really done your research. Mention technical jargon or phrases that the experts would commonly know, but the casual researching student would not likely come across. For example, specific medical conditions or economic terms such as “seigniorage”.

Getting this right is the easiest way of convincing a person that you really know what the course / vocation involves and they will be more willing to accept you.

• Details sell a story
Like above, providing details makes a story more convincing. Saying that “I learnt team skills” is less convincing than “I believe a team leader must keep the objectives in perspective and settle team disputes”. Also, if you have actually got an example of where you have used this, mention it as well as the outcome. It’s worth the use of characters.

• Evidence of proactivity
The “right” person for the job or the university space is always the person who gets things done no matter what. At this age, the best way to demonstrate this is to show where you have been proactive. For example, “I arranged a work experience…” or “I contacted the General Dental Council to discuss…” Naturally, be prepared to talk about this at interview but you will jump head and shoulders above your competition.

Also, if you have done anything impressive like write / publish any work or created a successfully trading business, these are things that speak volumes of your time management skills and dedication.

• Transferable Skills – Totally showboat
In all activities, there are skills which you will have picked up that can be applied in other areas. You can introduce the skills you’ve learnt at work experiences, or charity projects or even travelling while you mention them in your personal statement.

Students generally find it difficult to sing their own praises and sadly sell themselves short. This is a mistake! This is your time to shine. Showboat away.

• Work experiences / Academic A-Level Choices
Work experience and other extra curricular activities are becoming expected on a personal statement. Students seem to miss the point of these and mention them as though it was a tick list, and fail to mention what they’ve learnt.

The same is said of the choice of A-Level subjects. Most students mention their A-Levels in some poor attempt to link it to the university course. This is unnecessary. Talk about your A-Level choices if, and only if, it is relevant to why you’re applying to do that course. Don’t try and link Mathematics to Medicine or English to Engineering.

But most importantly, elicit what you have learnt and things you can bring to the university.

Good luck!

As we approach the summer exams, students will start their campaign of past papers. There are many Do’s and Don’t’s when it comes to doing past papers. The key point to remember that the real exam will have to be sat under exam conditions, without anyone or anything assuring you that you are doing questions correctly. It is best to emulate that as closely as possible.

So when doing a past paper:

1) Sit the paper under exam conditions. Do not use any study aids or guides to help you.

2) Do not mark the paper until you have completed it. It is tempting to look at the mark scheme while you are doing the paper, but this is terrible for developing examination technique.

3) Mark the paper harshly. If you’re unsure if what you’ve written should earn the mark, then you probably haven’t. But do feel free to check with your ELITE Tutor.

4) Make sure you understand why you didn’t get the marks on the questions which you’ve done incorrectly. Do you need to revise this topic, or did you simply not spot the trick.

5) Place a Post-It note on each question you still do not understand for your ELITE Tutor. Go through how to do these questions and make sure you know how to get EVERY SINGLE MARK.

6) Trick File each of the questions where you have found a trick.

(Yes I am aware I have used “Trick File” as a verb.)

With students often required to choose between artistic and scientific A-Levels, there lies a danger that students will develop one set of skills, either linguistic or logical without the appreciation of the value of marrying these skills. We at ELITE Tuition believes that strong literacy skills and strong expressive linguistic skills are vital in Mathematics.

In addition from the obvious reasons why we would need to learn to communicate clearly and effectively, strong literacy and linguistic skills are vital to scientists and mathematicians in that it forms the basis to which they work together and are able to describe their findings. In all likeliness, any given research scientist will be funded by a person with a layman’s understanding and if said scientist is unable to communicate effectively, they are not likely to get any work.

And finally, a teacher’s pet hate is the obsessive use of slang in written essays. Often, students are able to differentiate the use of slang and the use of correct and articulated English, but more and more are we finding students only versed in slang. It is upsetting that they will be harshly judged by their peers for speaking in correct English today, and even more harshly judged by potential employers in the future for speaking without correct English.

Something to think about…

One of the most important things about student development in Mathematics is practising problems when a new technique is learnt. That is why it is crucial to do the homework set from your ELITE tutor within 24 hours of the lesson. That is when it is easiest and fastest to do the homework.

If a student regularly does this, they become fantastic at spotting problems and become extremely confident with Mathematics. School work seems very simple, exam questions are familiar and easy.

However, if a student chooses to do their homework at the last minute, their progress will be a lot slower. Often, the homework will be very difficult to do as one will have forgotten the expert techniques learnt in the tutorial. Long term outcome is a very stressful examination preparation period with long nights of revision.

It is for this reason that we at ELITE Tuition emplore all students to start any homework set by their school or otherwise within 24 hours and make it mandatory for our ELITE students.

A-Level students and many of the GCSE students are starting to feel the pinch of the fact that universities will be asking for £9000 a year tuition fees. All this will launch in 2012 giving the current A2 students peace of mind.

That said, anybody in A2 thinking of taking a gap year may want to re-evaluate that choice.

ELITE Tuition feels that there are some positives that will come about from the increased tuition fees. For one, universities will be better funded and able to provide better facilities and tuition to their students. Secondly, students need not pay back their student loan until they earn over £21 000 (as purposed). Both of these are improvements on the current situation.

ELITE’s advice to it’s students is to work extra hard knowing that there will be increased competition for university spaces that offer scholarships and those that do not charge tuition fees. In addition, there will be increased demand for courses that lead to well paying jobs.

As a closing comment, we quote Professor James Sefton (Professor of Macro-Economics) who told a group of eager Imperial students “If universities are to compete with their international peers, they need to be funded as well. And with value of a better degree, you should earn a salary that more than compensates for the debt.”