St Andrews Study Spaces

I know if you look at my previous blog posts, you could be forgiven for thinking there's no work to do in St Andrews. Unfortunately there is that social drag in St Andrews called getting a degree and not everyone will be comfortable with studying in their rooms (personally I kinda like it but I'm used to the productivity of having my two large monitors). Now you can of course study in your room and it's where I did a lot of my work in preparations for my exams in both semesters of the last year but I understand that a lot of people don't like it. That's not to say it's a bad place to study. Your room will be familiar, comfortable and probably quite quiet (but if you want you can play music out loud without people complaining. A big selling point for me!). But if you don't like to study in your room, fortunately there's plenty of places to study in St Andrews.

First up is the study spaces closest to your room. Most halls will have places to study on site that will offer somewhere to study in peace without having to go into town or down to a university building. I'm not familiar with them all but some of the ones I used this year include the libraries in University Hall, the Whitehorn group study rooms, and the ABH Study Bedrooms (which are like normal bedrooms but instead of beds, have chairs and tables for group study). Although I didn't personally use it, I also know people have used the DRA Facilities building to study. The halls I didn't mention will also have their own study rooms and I know for a fact that the views down the West Sands from the McIntosh study rooms are amazing (I saw them on an open day).

The Students Union also has some spaces that are frequently used by students for studying. These include the Rector's Cafe, Beacon Bar, Sandy's and Main Bar.
Rector's Cafe is found at the front of the Union building with a view of the street. It can be a bit busy but the food and drink are reasonably priced and can be a good place for people who like a little more background noise.
Main Bar (left) is the largest bar in the Union and while very loud and busy on a Friday night, is quite quiet during the day. Main Bar offers meals as well during the day. During exam season it can become a hot spot for people to sit and study but I'm told it doesn't get too loud.
Sandy's Bar (right) is found at the back of Main Bar and while on a Friday night it might be full to bursting with people belting out karaoke tunes in various levels of tunefulness, during the day it's quite quiet. It's a much more chilled area with more sofas but some people do like the more relaxed setting.
The final space in the union that is frequently used during the day for study is Beacon Bar on the top floor. With a few tables and nice views over the town, I can see why people choose to study here.

There are other cafes in town where a lot of people like to study. If you live in Sallies then the Old
Union Coffee Shop is quite close and offers good food and drink (again not too expensive) in a really nice location with old stone walls and a cosy atmosphere.

Now I've exhausted some of the more non-traditional study spaces in St Andrews, I suppose I should talk a bit about the more traditional study spaces, the libraries.

The obvious one to talk about is the Main Library (silent section on right). Just off North Street, near Sallies Quad you'll find the largest library in town. With 4 floors (3 above ground and one basement) you'll find over 1000 study spaces and about 150 computers. This is by far one of the most popular places to study which
can make things a little difficult during exam periods so you'll have to be early to get a seat but it is by far one of the most productive places to study (at least that's what I found) because of the atmosphere of sitting and working for hours.

The Main Library is not the only library in town though. One of the other popular spaces is found in the School of Physics and Astronomy on the North Haugh, the J. F. Allen Library. Much smaller than the Main Library, it can be a slightly less intimidating space to study and if you do science subjects (especially physics) there are plenty texts for research and looking up constants (something that happens a lot). The J. F. Allen Library is in a really convenient location for a lot of the halls of residence outside the centre of town such as Uni Hall, Whitehorn, Powell, Agnes Blackadder, Andrew Melville and DRA/FP.


A library that's also very busy during exam season, but is in an ideal location for residents of St Regulus Hall, is the King James Library (left) found in St Mary's Quad. I'd argue that of the major libraries in town, it's one of the nicest inside and is generally a lot less busy than the Main Library. This doesn't stop it being busy in exam season but that is just a reality of exam season that we can't really avoid (this is a problem that affects all the libraries in town).


There are more libraries than I've mentioned and a lot of the schools will have small libraries in their buildings that will be open to students. Some schools will also have other rooms and common areas you can use. For example, in the Physics building we have the Concourse (or as everyone calls it, the Physics Cafe - right) which offers tables and couches where you'll find a lot of people working on projects, reading, and doing tutorial questions on a daily basis. It's got pretty decent food which isn't too pricey and the vending machines have a good selection. You're also close to the J. F.  Allen library if you need a book. It can be a little loud at times but some people like that

. I've spent entire afternoons working in the cafe (although the Friday afternoon I spent working on a physics project there while the sun beat down outside was particularly annoying). You can also make use of tutorial rooms when they're not booked out by academic staff for classes.

There are obviously many more study spaces in St Andrews than the ones I've mentioned here. When I asked my friends I was given loads (see the bottom for a list - I would have talked about every one individually but this post would be waaaay too long!) A lot of them I won't know about but I'm sure you'll hear about more when you arrive and to any current students reading this, if you know of any really good ones I haven't mentioned then please comment them below.

Study Spaces recommended by my friends (quick reasons):

• Computer Science Labs - Coffee Machine
• Golf Museum Cafe - Arguably the best hot chocolate in town
• Wardlaw Lawn at Uni Hall - chill and really nice in the sun
• Byre Theatre Cafe - Cheap drinks
• St Andrews Brewing Company (North Street) - Cheap Coffee
• Purdie (Chemistry Building) Library
• Zest Coffee Shop - Good coffee, good for small group study

And a lot I couldn't remember!