Supercurriculars: What They Are, With 20 Examples for UK Sixth Formers

For UK sixth formers, supercurriculars are activities that take you deeper into the subject you want to study at university, beyond what your A level syllabus covers. Reading around the subject, online courses, lectures, competitions, research projects and relevant qualifications all count. Admissions tutors value them because they show genuine interest, and they give your personal statement real evidence to write about.

Ian O’Sullivan

Founder of The TEFL Institute Group. Ian founded the group in 2017 to bring honesty to TEFL training and has more than 20 years in the field. The group is Europe’s largest TEFL trainer by teachers certified, with 161,000 graduates teaching in 80 countries.

Key takeaways

• Supercurriculars relate directly to your chosen degree subject. Extracurriculars, such as sport or music, do not, and the University of Cambridge says it does not take extracurricular activities into account.
• What you reflect on matters more than how many activities you list. Two or three well chosen supercurriculars beat a long list.
• From 2026 entry, the UCAS personal statement is three questions within 4,000 characters, so you need concrete examples you can describe briefly.
• Good supercurriculars cost little or nothing: reading lists, podcasts, free online courses, lectures and national competitions.
• A teaching qualification is a strong supercurricular for applicants to education, English, languages, linguistics, and psychology, though it does not carry UCAS Tariff points.

What are supercurriculars?

Supercurriculars, also written as super curricular activities or super-curriculars, are activities you choose yourself to explore your intended degree subject beyond the classroom. The University of Cambridge uses the term for things like reading books and journals about your subject, attending lectures, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, entering academic competitions and doing relevant volunteering or work experience. It contrasts these with extracurricular activities unrelated to your chosen course, which it says will not be taken into consideration during the application process.

The word sounds like jargon, but the idea is simple. If you want to study history, you read history that was never on your exam board’s list. If you want to study medicine, you find out what the job involves beyond the textbook. Supercurriculars are the evidence that your interest in a subject did not stop when the bell rang.

How are supercurriculars different from extracurriculars?

The difference is relevance to your degree. A supercurricular connects to the subject you are applying for. An extracurricular activity is any interest outside school, such as playing for a football team or learning the piano, that is not connected to school.

Both have value for you as a person, and extracurriculars still matter for some applications, apprenticeships and job interviews. For selective university courses, though, supercurriculars carry far more weight because they show subject commitment. The same activity can be either, depending on what you apply for. Volunteering at a primary school reading club is a supercurricular for an education applicant and an extracurricular for an engineering applicant.

Why do UK universities care about supercurriculars?

Universities care because supercurriculars are the clearest evidence of genuine interest in a subject. Predicted grades show that you can do well in exams. They do not show whether you will still enjoy the subject after three years of studying it in depth.

Cambridge says that in your personal statement and at interview you need to show curiosity, independent thought and enthusiasm for your subject. Supercurriculars are how you show those qualities rather than just claim them. Writing “I am passionate about linguistics” proves nothing. Writing about what a linguistics book taught you, or how you noticed the same pattern when you taught a lesson, proves a great deal.

They also help with the personal statement format. From 2026 entry onwards, UCAS asks three questions within a 4,000-character limit, with at least 350 characters for each answer. One of those questions is about how you have prepared for your chosen course outside the classroom. That is where supercurriculars go.

What are 20 examples of super curricular activities?

The best supercurriculars match your subject, fit into the time you have, and give you something specific to reflect on. These 20 work for most sixth formers, grouped by type.

Reading and listening

1. A book from a university reading list. Many departments publish suggested reading for applicants. Choose one and read it properly, with notes.
2. A subject magazine or journal. New Scientist, History Today or The Economist, depending on your subject.
3. A podcast series. BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time covers history, science, philosophy and culture in depth.
4. Documentaries. Choose ones you can discuss critically, not just ones you enjoyed.
5. Academic blogs and articles. The Conversation publishes short pieces by university researchers on almost every subject.

Courses and lectures

6. A free online course. Platforms such as FutureLearn and OpenLearn host short courses written by universities.
7. Public lectures. Gresham College has been running free public lectures in London since 1597, and many are online.
8. University taster days and masterclasses. Many universities run subject days for Year 12 students.
9. Summer schools. Widening participation programmes such as Sutton Trust summer schools are free for eligible students.
10. A recognised qualification related to your subject. For language and education applicants, a 120-hour TEFL course is one example. More on this below.

Projects and competitions

11. The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). A Level 3 qualification in which you research and write up a project on a topic of your choice.
12. National competitions. The UK Mathematics Trust challenges, the British Physics Olympiad, the UK Chemistry Olympiad and the British Biology Olympiad are all well known to admissions tutors.
13. Essay competitions. Several Oxford and Cambridge colleges run essay prizes for sixth formers.
14. A research placement. Nuffield Research Placements give Year 12 students summer projects in STEM.
15. Your own investigation. Collect data, build something, or write a short paper, then reflect on what went wrong and what worked.

Experience and doing

16. Relevant volunteering. A reading club for education, a care home for medicine, a local museum for history.
17. Work experience or shadowing. Even a week gives you real situations to write about.
18. Teaching or tutoring. Explaining something to someone else is the fastest way to find out whether you really understand it.
19. Learning a language independently. Valuable for languages and linguistics, especially if you study how the language works rather than just collecting vocabulary.
20. Visiting museums, galleries and archives. Go with a question in mind, and write down what you find.

Which supercurriculars suit which degree subjects?

Every subject has natural supercurriculars, and the strongest choices are the ones a tutor in that subject would recognise. This table shows practical starting points.

Time figures are typical ranges, not rules. What matters most is that you can explain what you learned.

Is a TEFL course a good supercurricular?

A TEFL course is a strong supercurricular activity if you are applying to education, English, languages, linguistics, international relations, or psychology. It is not a strong one for most science, engineering or maths courses, and you should not present it as one.

The reason it works for those subjects is that it gives you concrete material. In a 120-hour course, you learn how English grammar is taught rather than how it is spoken, plan and sequence lessons for learners who do not share your first language, and are assessed across 10 modules. That gives you specific things to write about in a personal statement, such as the difference between receptive and productive skills and how it changes the way you teach.

Two honest points. First, the 120-hour course we deliver to schools does not carry UCAS Tariff points, so anyone quoting a points figure for a course like this should be asked which qualification code it matches. Second, at 16 or 17 you can complete the course, but almost every paid teaching route has a minimum age of 18. The value now is in your application. The certificate will be useful for work later, including during a gap year.

Many schools now offer it as part of their sixth form enrichment programme, and the 120 Hour Sixth Form TEFL Course is built for students aged 16 to 18 studying alongside A levels. Our TEFL for Schools programme supports schools that run it, with a guide for sixth form students that sets out what you can and cannot do with the certificate at each age.

What mistakes do students make with supercurriculars?

The most common mistake is treating supercurriculars as a list to complete rather than as a way to explore a subject. Admissions tutors can tell the difference between a student who ticked off five activities in the summer of Year 12 and one who followed a genuine question for several months.

Four other mistakes come up again and again in personal statements:

• Choosing activities for the wrong subject. A strong activity unrelated to your degree is an extracurricular activity, however impressive it is. Check each one against the course you are applying for.
• Naming without reflecting. “I read a book by David Crystal” says nothing. One sentence about what changed your mind or what you disagreed with says a great deal.
• Overclaiming. Describing a two-hour online taster as research, or a single lecture as a course, invites awkward questions at interview. Describe things accurately.
• Leaving it too late. Activities started in the autumn of Year 13 are hard to reflect on before the UCAS deadline, because you have barely begun them.

The fix for all of these is the same. Pick fewer activities, connect each one clearly to your subject, and keep notes as you go so the reflection is already written when you need it.

How can parents and teachers help with supercurriculars?

Parents and teachers help most by asking good questions rather than organising activities. A student who is asked “what surprised you in that chapter” over dinner is already rehearsing the reflection a personal statement needs.

Practical support also matters. Teachers can point students to departmental reading lists, competitions and masterclasses that suit their subject, and can mention supercurricular work in the UCAS reference so the two parts of the application support each other. Parents can help with the logistics of lectures, museum visits or a structured course, and with keeping the commitment realistic alongside A levels.

The best supercurriculars still belong to the student. If an adult chose every activity, it usually shows in how the student writes about them.

How do you write about supercurriculars in your personal statement?

Write about what you learned and how your thinking changed, not just what you did. A list of activities wastes characters. A short reflection on one or two of them uses the space well.

A simple pattern works: name the activity, give one specific detail, then explain what it made you think about your subject. Compare these two sentences.

• Weak: “I completed a TEFL course, which developed my communication skills.”
• Stronger: “Planning a grammar lesson for adult learners showed me that the rules I use without thinking are hard to explain, which is what drew me to linguistics.”

The second sentence is specific, links to the degree, and shows curiosity. That is exactly what Cambridge says it looks for. Keep a short log as you go, with dates and notes, so you have the details ready when you start drafting.

How many supercurriculars do you need?

Most strong applicants write about two to four supercurriculars in depth. There is no set number, and Cambridge says your experience and reflections matter more than the number of activities.

A sensible plan for Year 12 is one ongoing activity, such as wider reading or a course, plus one or two shorter ones, such as a competition or a lecture series. Start in the autumn or spring of Year 12 so you have something real to write about before the UCAS deadline in Year 13. Leaving it until the summer before you apply usually means listing things rather than reflecting on them.

Can teachers build supercurriculars into sixth form enrichment?

Yes, and the best enrichment programmes do. Department for Education guidance for 16 to 19 study programmes says enrichment should be a planned part of a study programme, and that activities should help students gain experience they can use in CVs and personal statements.

A structured, certified option is easier to run than an open-ended one, because students have a clear finish line and staff can track progress. If you lead enrichment or careers, our page for sixth form staff sets out the staff time involved, the three ways schools usually run the course, and published pricing per student.

What is the next step?

Choose one supercurricular that fits your subject this week, and start a simple log. If teaching English fits your degree plans, ask whoever runs enrichment or careers at your school about TEFL for Schools, or try the free three-day trial course first to see whether it suits you. If you are already thinking beyond sixth form, our guides to gap year ideas for 18-year-olds and paid gap year work abroad show where the certificate can take you once you turn 18.

See the Sixth Form TEFL Course