Students often ask their personal tutors questions about their degree programme to assist them in making informed choices. They might also seek guidance on how to develop study skills and prepare for assessment.  

Quotes from IC student and PT

Student perspective

"She has been giving me essay writing tutorials and has wished me good luck for my exams."

"He knows his way around the Life Sciences degree as well as the concerns of a student pursuing it. This has helped me on several occasions as he is often my first port of call for any unfamiliar university matters."

Tutor's tip

"Find out about the programme they are studying so that you can give correct, useful and timely advice about: 

  • Locations of labs, lecture theatres, seminar rooms  and the teaching office
  • Compulsory courses and an overview of their content
  • Optional courses and how they are selected
  • Intercalated years and degrees with a year at Imperial College Business School, including how to transfer onto (or off) these
  • Final year projects and how they are selected
  • Dates of exams and resits

Much of this will be in their student handbook which you should refer them to." (Department of Life Sciences)

Personal tutors might reasonably be expected to assist in these areas:

Study skillls

The more self-guided approach to study expected at university might be very unfamiliar to your tutees. They may also find that the study strategies that they had successfully applied in the past do not work at Imperial. 

Opportunities to develop the required academic skills and practices should be embedded into the curriculum, so it is worth consulting your tutee’s programme handbook or finding out from the Programme Lead so that you can signpost this for your tutee.  Or you might task your tutee with doing this.

Advise students on appropriate learning strategies, time management, drawing up study plans, note taking in lectures, how to research a topic and how to go about writing a report or essay. Direct students to the Imperial Success Guide for comprehensive ideas on learning at university. 

LearnHigher is a university sector-wide website offering resources to staff and students to support the development of skills and practices necessary for learning at university.

The Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI) offers advice and resources assist postgraduate students in their studies and beyond.

The Kind Mind Series

The Kind Mind Series is series of videos and resources from Imperial's experienced team to encourage and guide you towards being kinder to yourselves.