How can I write a good personal statement?

The key to writting a good personal statement is to use your own ideas and come up with your own ways of expressing them. There is very little point to writting what you think Universities want to hear as most of the time this comes across as artificial whereas Universities are interested in reading about your thoughts and experiences.Reading around the subject you wish to study and going beyond the scope of what you learn at school is important as you need to show passion and enthusiasm for the subject. It is also crucial to remain clear, concise and avoid confusing sentences or repetition.In advising students on personal statements, I think it is paramount to help them produce something original and uniquely theirs, so my approach would be to help them come up with the best way to express their ideas by themselves rather than write the personal statement for them.