What to do when you’ve been rejected by Oxford or Cambridge
When you apply to Oxford or Cambridge you expose yourself to the very great risk that you will be rejected. The ratio of the number of applicants to the number of places means that you’ll probably be in the 75% or more of applicants who are rejected. Some will have their hard work and intelligence […]
Continue reading
How to stop mock exams from ruining your Christmas holiday
It sucks. Teachers schedule mock exams every January. That means, if you’re a conscientious student, that you need to spend the Christmas holidays revising. However, you don’t have to let revision ruin your Christmas holidays. Here are my top tips on stopping revision from ruining the most wonderful time of the year. How to stop […]
Continue reading
How much further reading is too much further reading?
I often talk about how important it is to do further reading, over and beyond the demands of your GCSE and A-Level courses. It’s vital because: Further reading will be the foundation of what you write about in your personal statement It allows you to deepen and broaden your knowledge of your subjects, making you […]
Continue reading
How to seem more confident than you actually feel
I walked into a room packed full of people I didn’t know. The sight of them all stopped me in my tracks. For a second my courage left me and I felt like shrinking into a tiny ball or just turning around and leaving. But I didn’t. I reminded myself why I was there with […]
Continue reading
How to prepare for an Oxbridge Interview
It’s the final hurdle. You’ve written a stellar personal statement, sent off your very best work, taken the aptitude tests and now you’re going for interview. But, this is the trickiest, scariest part of the process because of all the stories that surround this mysterious meeting. Today, I’m going to show you how to prepare […]
Continue reading
How to Write an EPQ essay (including lessons I’ve learned from writing my book)
I often get emails from my blog readers asking me how to write an EPQ essay. It’s a big project and can be quite daunting. However, I think this type of independent academic research is incredibly important in preparing you for the kind of work you’ll be expected to do at university. Having just finished […]
Continue reading
How to edit a UCAS personal statement (video)
Ugh! What a nightmare… You’ve spent hours writing your personal statement, brainstorming everything you’ve done that makes you the perfect candidate for your course, crafting an opening sentence and tweaking your words. However, you’re way over the 4,000 character limit that UCAS puts on personal statements and you have no idea what to cut […]
Continue reading
Concerned about fitting in at Oxford or Cambridge? Don't be…
Just after A-Level results day this year I had an email from a reader of my blog who’d earned straight A*s in her exams and was off to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. However, she was worried. This is what she said: “Did Cambridge live up to your expectations and did you live […]
Continue reading
The Best Twitter Accounts and Hashtags to Help you Improve Your Grades
You must know by now that you should be reading around your subject/s for two very good reasons: It will help you get into university and is a great thing to write about in your UCAS personal statement It will help you get better grades because you’ll have a deeper and broader understanding of […]
Continue reading
How to Avoid Cliches in Your Personal Statement
When you sit down to write your personal statement for the first time it can be really tempting to use age-old cliches like ‘I’ve always been fascinated by…’ or ‘I have a deep and enduring admiration for nurses/doctors/midwives’. However, you can quite easily avoid these cliches and I’m going to show you exactly how in today’s […]
Continue reading