What should I include in my personal statement. Should I mention societies, clubs and sports or simply academics.

This common question is entirely dependent on what the student is applying for and where. In my case for modern languages, sporting activities where not relevant and I wrote my personal statement on a purely academic basis. I know for Oxbridge applications, the tutors are not interested in Duke of Edinburgh or netball for example, and I would only mention societies if they are relevant to the degree you are applying for and give support to your application. For example, in my personal statement I wrote briefly about sign language club and Italian society at school- this was relevant to my degree of Italian and linguistics. All other achievements of the student, whether musical or sporting, can be seen by the university from their UCAS form. This of course depends on the university, but for the ones that I applied for, considering the restricting word count of the personal statement, it is better to talk about books you have read/ interesting new ideas that they can challenge you on in interview/ why you are so interested in your subject than other non-academic achievements.