What is the difference between an Oxbridge personal statement and regular one?

The main difference between an Oxbridge personal statement and a regular one is that the focus is completely centered on your passion for your subject, and so your Oxbridge personal statement should look different to a regular personal statement in order to accommodate this. With a regular personal statement, you will likely be focused on presenting yourself as a good candidate, and so this includes talking a fair amount about things you've done that show certain character traits - perhaps you have a Grade 8 on piano, or you did DofE, or you worked in a charity shop for a while. With an Oxbridge personal statement, just listing your achievements and extracurriculars isn't enough - you have to explicitly tie them to your love of your subject. You shouldn't simply say that your DofE award showed commitment or time management - instead, tie the outdoor trip you did to your love of Geography/Geology/History etc - talk academically about the interesting rocks you saw, or how you went out of your way to research the history of the place you were camping in. If you are applying for Philosophy, you might realise your Grade 8 on piano isn't really worth mentioning. Your paragraph on extracurriculars should be the smallest part of your personal statement, and they should all link back to demonstrating your love of your subject.The most important thing to talk about in your Oxbridge personal statement, however, is your critical analysis of the books you've been reading - particularly if you are applying for an essay subject. Don't just name drop books, give critical thoughts such as 'I felt his argument on X was successful in part, but seemed to lack any acknowledgement of Y'. Talk about your process too. Don't just say that you read Hume, Plato, Mill, and Kant, pick a train of thought/theme and use that to link your reading critically. Perhaps you thought Hume's argument for suicide successfully tackled Plato's religious grounds for condemning the subject matter, but still failed to provide a holistic ethical argument in favor of suicide? So you read Mill's Utilitarianism and parts of Kantian ethics in order to determine if it was possible to fill this hole in Hume's argument. This is an example that really displays that you are engaged with your subject and passionate - you aren't just reading books for the sake of it, but rather leading your own investigation and having your own thoughts about the things you read. If you feel like parts of your personal statement are starting to look like a book review, that's good. Your passion for the subject should be the star of the show, and the way to do that is to let your own personal traits take a backseat, and let them shine through during your discussion of what you love.