The new personal statement questions: - use these as guide to writing your draft - I will help you shape and edit the essay 

Universities want to know what you:

-have been thinking about

-found interesting

-learned from these activities or materials

Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Here is where your super-curriculars will mostly reside. This is where you will demonstrate your interest in the subject and the learning you have done in this subject area that strengthens your resolve to study this as an undergraduate degree.

You should address:

1. What are you particularly interested in in this subject/what are some big ideas you contemplate/consider when exploring this subject and what are you thinking about within these big ideas?

2. What motivates you to want to study this subject at undergraduate level/What are you eager to learn more about during your undergraduate degree?

3. What evidence do you have (super-curriculars) of these interests you have highlighted in Q1 and 2?

4. What reflections are you making about these super-curricular engagements you have mentioned in Q3? Did it challenge the way you were thinking/deepen your knowledge? Explain your reflections.

Example:

Economics fascinates me because it seeks to impose structures on a world that often defies it, much like how music transforms chaotic sound into harmony. Yet, events like the pandemic and the 2022 inflation shock reveal the limits of traditional models reinforcing my interests in the evolving nature of economic thought. Mariana Mazzucato's The Value of Everything challenged my understanding of productivity, prompting me to explore alternative metrics like the GPI which integrates dimensions often overlooked in GDP. Similarly Gerd Gigerenzer's Risk Savvy deepened my curiousity about decision making under uncertainity, Particularly, his argument that heuristics can be adaptive rather than irrational made me consider the sensitivity of how risk is communicated in public policy. The interplay between theory and application, as well as the ongoing process of refining economic models through multiple analytical lenses, fuels my desire to study economics at university.

Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

This is your chance to discuss the relevant or transferable skills you’ve gained from your IB subjects and highlight your understanding of how they will help you succeed in this subject area.

This is where you will reference your EE, Internal Assessments (particularly those in your HL subjects or SL if relevant to your degree). 

Ideally you want to establish how you have used your coursework to explore your interest in this degree/subject area further and then reference the skills you have developed through your coursework that are key to studying this degree.

Example: 

‘I was interested in learning more about X so I chose to focus my IA on researching Y [Explain how Y correlates to X]. From this, I was able to understand XXXX and develop these skills YYY, which are important for XX degree.

IB Economics has grounded me in the discipline while exposing its limitations.  For example, the Phillips curve suggests an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment, but during the 2022 inflation surge, this did not hold true.  My EE analysed UK wage and price trends, leading me to conclude that pandemic-era supply chain disruptions and energy shocks had overridden demand-side inflation mechanisms — sharpening my analytical and causal reasoning in the process - skills important for a degree in Economics. The need for macroeconomic models to adapt is a theme I'm exploring further in my video submission for the Royal Economic Society's Young Economist of the Year competition.  

Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

This is your chance to talk about any other activities you have undertaken outside of your formal education or personal experiences which further demonstrate your suitability for the course. This section is likely to be highly personal to you and anything you do include should reflect on why you’re including it. Examples of what you might talk about here are: Work experience, employment, volunteering, competitions, and ECAs.

Ensure you explain what you did, the learning outcomes and skills you developed doing that activity.

Example:

As president of the Literary Society, I have facilitated discussions that challenge conventional interpretations of literature, such as exploring the value of New Historicism. This role has enhanced my critical thinking and communication skills, which are essential in university study. I am eager to engage in the ongoing conversation of literary criticism, and to continue exploring the ways in which literature resists the finality of death through its dialogue with the past. To enrich my understanding, I have attended courses at the British Library on the evolution of Gothic literature and its role in shaping ideas about death and the supernatural. I have also participated in creative writing workshops on minimalist prose, where I experimented with Hemingway's iceberg theory to refine my own literary style. These experiences have reinforced my passion for literature and its ability to transcend time, allowing voices from the past to shape contemporary thought.