How can I prepare for my personal statement efficiently and tailor it for my personal statement?

Personal statements are your opportunity to demonstrate your passion and aptitude for a subject, they are your chance to individuate yourself when applying for a course. As long as you do the right preparation and focus your personal statement to show why you will be a good student, anyone can write a good personal statement. Personal statement preparation should fall into three stages. Firstly is your preparation, secondly your personal response to what you've read and/or experienced and finally using clear language in a tight structure. Preparation is the key to personal statements as long as you can show that what you've done has made you a better applicant.Your preparation cannot start too early, you should be reading at around the subject you are applying for. Read only what you find genuinely interesting, not what you think will look good. How useful your preparation is depends on whether you can have a thoughtful response to what you're doing. Do you agree with what you're reading and why? Why does that particular area of the subject interest you? And most crucially how has what you've read made you a better student of the subject? Has it changed your perception of certain ideas or given you new insight or knowledge which you can use to explore the subject? Reading magazines and academic publications can show you have a particular interest in the higher level academia of a subject. Make notes of what you have read, you're responses and again, why reading it has made you a better student. I can show you examples of the notes I took and give you recommendations of academic publications and literature you may find interesting. What you add to your PS can be anything, work experiences, visits to museums and even podcasts, as long as it genuinely interests you and you can show a thoughtful response to what you've done it is useful. My advice would be to read less but think about it more. You can also talk about how the subjects you've done at A-level have prepared you, picking out the academic skills you have learned and applying them to your subject show's good awareness of your subject. For example, your microeconomic knowledge can you help you explain complex changes in industry when looking at history. Or for example you can show how being a member of the debating club has improved your knowledge and use of logic in philosophical arguments. Simply having been in the debating club won't impress admissions officers, however showing how it has made you better at your subject will.Your preparation has to be focused on your subject and engaging with it academically beyond what you do in school is the best way to do this. However, your preparation should include thinking about why your subject interests you and making notes. All personal statements including those to oxbridge should show why your passionate and interested about the subject you want to study for three or more years. Everyone's personal statement will say that they are interested in their subject you will have to develop this and make it genuine. For example, do contemporary issues like climate change fuel your interest in the sciences? Crucially you have to make the source of your interest personal it cannot just be generic, what is even better is if you can show how you have acted on your interests. If global financial markets intrigue you then stay up-to date with stock market indexes and think about how party's manifestos will affect the national economy. So, focus your preparation and keep notes on your progress and you will find yourself with the material you need to write a brilliant personal statement. I can also offer guidance on the structure and language you should use.