Study Support
Pastoral and academic Support
The Student Office has useful information about everything you need to know on a day-to-day basis for example about funding, exams, student visas, registering with a doctor, or registering to vote. They arrange for you to ‘matriculate’ as a member of the College and University when you first arrive and they organise your graduation celebrations when you finish your degree.
See our Student Office page for more details about the team.
Academic Support
Your Director of Studies is responsible for overseeing your academic progress and acts as a link between your University Department and the College. They help you to plan your course of study where you have a choice of papers, they appoint your Supervisors, and give advice about dissertations and other academic matters. You will meet your Director of Studies (or “DoS” as they are frequently called) during the Undergraduate Bridging Course.
Supervisions are small-group sessions (most often for up to four students) with a Supervisor who is an academic. They are usually arranged by Colleges and sit alongside the lectures, lab sessions, seminars and other teaching that is organised by the Departments. You will have supervisions for each of the papers you are taking every week or fortnight and you will prepare work in advance and hand it in, e.g. write an essay or complete a set of problems. In the supervision you get feedback on your work, present your ideas, and discuss them with your Supervisor. Supervisions may take place at Lucy Cavendish College, in another college or in a Department.
Information for College supervisors can be found in the members' area
Study skills and strategies are paramount to your success at Cambridge. More than that, they help you to develop vital life and work skills such as time management, effective note-taking and delivering presentations.
We want you to get the most out of your academic studies and ultimately the best results you can on your chosen Tripos or Masters course. So we run a special programme, open to all our undergraduate and graduate students, called “Maximise Your Potential” which focuses on the skills, techniques, and approaches you need to perform really well academically.
We have a core list of online guides and resources available to students, accessible any time they might need them. We offer bookable 1:1 sessions, should they need help in a particular area of their studies. We also run a selection of popular group workshops each term on particular aspects of study.
The sessions and resources are available to all our undergraduate and graduate students; some are relevant to everyone, and some are specific to the level of their qualification.
Once you are a student at Lucy Cavendish, you will be able to view the Programme in detail and sign up to sessions; just ask in the Library for advice on how to do this if you are not sure.
Current Lucy members – see more info here
Sessions and resources include, but are not limited to:
- Time management
- Critical reading
- Note making
- Writing
- Referencing and citations
- Literature searching
- Study block, procrastination and perfectionism
- General study skills – time management; note taking;
- Data management/analysis and/or statistics
- Finding information on a reading list
- Literature searching
- Citations and referencing
- Bibliographic software – getting started with Zotero
- Maths – support with maths for engineering, medicine and scientist
- Lots of online help is available to support you with core academic skills. Some good places to start:
CamGuides: digital study resources
Resources for Undergraduates
- Online skills: critical reading, note taking, time management, academic writing, dealing with feedback and more
- Finding print and electronic resources
- Referencing, plagiarism and tools to manage references
Resources for Taught postgraduates
- Software for academic use
- Finding and using resources including note taking, finding grey literature, social media and advanced searching
- Managing your study resources: reading, references, images, data and collaborating with others
- Managing your digital presence
- Study skills LibGuides: Including guides on copyright, plagiarism, managing references (including Zotero and Mendeley), text and data mining.
Pastoral Support
Your Tutor and staff in the Student Office are regularly on hand to help you to balance your time at Cambridge successfully, to thrive personally, and get the most out of all the opportunities on offer. Every student is assigned a personal Tutor and you will meet yours during the Bridging Course. We have a special team of First Year Tutors who are very experienced in helping students begin their term successfully, integrate, and thrive from the start of their time at Cambridge. Your Tutor will help you set your individual goals for the year and review them regularly. Tutors can offer advice or just listen to how you are getting on and to any concerns you may have. There is always a Tutor available over weekends during term time and the Porters’ Lodge has emergency contact details if you need to see one urgently.
At the College, we have a dedicated team of experienced and understanding practitioners, who can offer support, resources, and guidance to all students. We also run mindfulness sessions, fun activities during the exam period, and a wide range of events.
Our Health and Wellbeing team includes a Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner, a Specific Learning Difficulties Practitioner, and the College Nurse.
Getting the support students need is straightforward; we have introduced a new and improved online booking system to schedule appointments with the practitioner. Current students can access it via our members’ area.
We also run mindfulness sessions, fun activities during the exam period, and a wide range of events. Our Library runs ‘elevenses’ and ‘threeses’ during term time with the opportunity to chat, relax and enjoy a free hot drink and biscuits – See our Library page for more details. We also have a a Bye-Fellow in Multi-Faith support who visits once a week, and the University Counselling Service (UCS) supports students who are experiencing personal, relational or academic concerns. Our beautiful gardens are there for you to use as you wish.
Check our Health and Wellbeing page for all College provisions (raven login required)
We want to make sure that we cater for disabled students who may require reasonable adjustments to their academic studies.
So as well as recommending getting in touch with our Specific Learning Difficulties Practitioner, we suggest that disabled students consult the University’s Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) before commencing their studies. We send ADRC forms to candidates along with our offer letters, so please do let us know how we can help.
