Chloe sitting on a brown leather couch in a bookstore, holding an open book and looking at the camera, with colourful shelves of books behind her and stacks of books behind her.

How did the girl who was almost kicked out of school build a career teaching people how to study?

I left school under a cloud of bad grades and disappointment, vowing I’d never go to university because I thought struggling meant I wasn’t smart enough or academic enough.

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Chloe in vibrant red dungarees and a blue patterned shirt browsing books in a bookstore, with a wooden bookshelf filled with colourful books in the background, and books with colourful covers on a table in the foreground.

But here’s the truth…

You don’t need to be naturally academic.
You don’t need to have a perfect study record.
And you don’t need to spend every spare moment studying.

No matter your background or current grades, it IS possible to achieve your dream qualification.

What you need are the right strategies and someone in your corner who believes in your potential.

As your Academic Strategist…

What I won’t do

  • Tell you that you just need to work harder or find more hours in the day


  • Imply that your studying struggles are down to a lack of discipline or talent


  • Make you study in a way that goes against your learning style and needs

  • Give you vague advice that sounds good but doesn’t actually help you improve your results

What I will do

  • Teach you the best study strategies for your course, brain and life

  • Show you how you can spend less time studying each week but get more done

  • Normalise the absolute chaos that studying as an adult can be

  • Be your best cheerleader, believing in you even when you don’t believe in yourself

Storytime

  • A woman wearing a black leather jacket, purple skirt, and striped gloves standing outdoors on a gravel surface, giving two thumbs up with a cityscape and cloudy sky in the background.

    No more coasting

    2008

    At 16, I started Sixth Form and quickly realised I’d been winging my studies previously and now I was SCREWED. The workload stepped up and we were expected to learn more independently…but I didn’t know how! Everyone shot ahead of me while I fell further and further behind, having no idea how to organise myself or prepare for exams.

    Teachers who’d previously sung my praises were annoyed at me and told me I wasn’t cut out for higher education. I did so badly in Maths that, two months before my final exams, my teacher tried to remove me from the course…which would have caused me to fail out of school completely.

    FYI: crying to your teacher in the middle of a corridor of 11-year-olds is an embarrassingly effective strategy to get what you want.

  • A woman wearing a gray dress and sunglasses, standing on a sandy beach near the water, holding her sandals, with the ocean and a boat in the background.

    When in doubt, run away

    2009

    A month after my final exam, having vowed never to go to university, cos it obviously wasn’t for me, I moved across the world to live in Barbados (with my then boyfriend who’d just moved there for work).

    I was on the beach when my mum called me to tell me my A-Level results! I spent two years enjoying paradise before coming home (buy me a few Amaretto Sours and I’ll tell you the juicy story of how and why!)

    Pretty great distraction from the fact ALL my friends went to uni without me.

  • Person with brown hair sitting at a desk with a small bird perched on the back of their chair, in front of a computer monitor, with notes and papers on the wall.

    Let’s try this ol’ education thing again

    2012

    I moved back in with my mum and got an office job. But I soon realised that to go for the jobs I wanted, I needed a degree. I’d grown up a lot since school and gained evidence that I could do hard things, so university no longer seemed completely impossible.

    I realised there was a qualification between me and my next career move.

  • A laptop, open books with highlighted text, pens, and a glass of water on a wooden table.

    This time it will be different

    2013

    I knew I wanted to keep working so I started an online Business degree with The Open University. From the get go, I realised if I didn’t work on my study skills I’d screw it all up again.

    So, alongside the reading and assignments, I went hard on figuring out how to learn effectively. How to organise my time and tasks, how to learn my material without spending 10–15 hours a week reading and note taking, how to demonstrate my knowledge in essays and exams.

    I didn’t need to become smarter, I needed to become a better learner.

  • Two women in graduation gowns shaking hands during a ceremony. One woman has blonde hair and the other has long dark hair. The woman with dark hair is smiling.

    Holy crap, it worked!

    2016

    I literally went from failing at school to excelling at university, alongside working full time AND having a social life. I wanted everyone to realise what an absolute secret weapon study skills are so I shared my techniques with friends and other students on my course and they started getting their highest ever grades too!

    After four years, I graduated on an absolute high with a First Class degree.

    I strutted across that stage.

  • A woman holding a study guide titled 'The Return to Study Handbook' in front of her, with framed artwork of a winter scene with snow and bare trees behind her.

    The beginning of the best job ever

    2018

    I started my blog and email newsletter, sharing studying advice every week. It took a year before my audience started growing. Alongside my job I started coaching 1-on-1 in the evenings and at weekends, and I created online trainings in productivity, note taking, essay writing and exam revision. I even ran workshops for The Open University.

    Then, my childhood dream came true! A publishing house approached ME to write a study skills book for non-traditional learners. I took this as a sign and quit my job to go full time and write the best book I could: The Return to Study Handbook.

    You’ve gotta do the work before you can see the results.

  • A laptop on a wooden desk displaying a Zoom video conference with multiple participants. Behind it, a larger computer monitor shows a document or webpage. To the right, there is a white mug and some papers.

    Then education changed overnight

    2020

    Two days after the first lockdown was announced I launched my membership, The Kickbutt Students Club. I knew study support was even more important now that more students were choosing to (or being forced to) study online.

    I have loved every second of running the KSC for six years, supporting 100s of students to achieve their dream qualifications sustainably. I also launched the Chloe Made Me Study podcast and realised I could literally yap all day about the mindset and strategy of effective studying.

    It is such a privilege to help students achieve what they never thought was possible for them.

  • A person holding a cupcake with white frosting in front of a computer workspace with books, a keyboard, and a monitor displaying documents.

    Back to school again

    2024

    I realised my passion was making higher education doable. So many students are made to feel it’s not for them, due to their background or because they’ve had or have difficulties with learning. I realised there was a gap between the support I was offering and where I wanted to take my career next.

    So, I went back to formal education, qualifying as a Specialist Study Skills & Support Tutor for adult learners with specific learning differences, such as ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia.

    Anyone can achieve academic success with inclusive support and strategies.

  • A home office desk with a dual monitor setup, a lava lamp, pens, notebooks, glasses, and decorative items. The wall behind features a white grid with various posters, artwork, and notes pinned, including a prominent black and white poster reading 'SOMERSET LAND OF THE SUMMER PEOPLE'.

    I’m just getting started

    Today

    Whether you’re trying to study alongside full-time work, an intense family life, physical or mental health issues, or suspected or diagnosed neurodivergence – I’m here to show you how to study strategically and sustainably, in the best way for your course, needs and life. So you can go after and achieve the qualification that’s sitting between you and your next career move.

    I’m currently gearing up to launch my best programme yet, The Qualification Basecamp, to make higher education achievable for all adult learners (join the waitlist).

    It’s possible to balance studying with real life.

  • “I knew I wanted to get a degree one day but I never thought little old me could get a First”

    “You did it Chloe! You managed to teach my mature student brain who didn’t even finish school and teach her how to study. I spent so long writing essays that only got 60% that I just believed that was it for me, but you made me believe in myself. I’m so glad I joined to learn essay writing from you. I can’t believe I’m sitting her writing to you and have just booked my graduation ceremony to collect my First Class degree!! Thank you will never be enough.”

    Emma | Business Management student

  • “I did dreadful in my A Levels and now my grades and work are completely different”

    “Understanding how I learn is the biggest thing you’ve given me, Chloe. The initial bootcamp I did with you was like having sight problems and been given a pair of glasses for the first time. And your membership empowers my studies every day. Never thought I’d be sitting very comfortable on a First in a Masters no less #NotAllHeroesWearCapes #someAreJustCalledChloe”

    Rebecca | Human Resource Management student

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Board game setup with various cards, tokens, and game pieces on a wooden table.
Chloe with a backpack looking at a green lake with rocky hills and mountains in the background during daytime.

And a little more about who I am when I’m not yapping about learning…

  • I loveeee a good card or board game and could play all day. All time faves: Whist and Wingspan (we’ve got every expansion 🤓).


  • I only learned to swim when I was 20 and now I love wild swimming, all through the winter.


  • I’m part of a weekly pub skittles league with my pals and we’re the youngest team by about four decades.


  • I love buying books, talking about books and (sometimes) reading books – specifically dark and twisty thrillers, high fantasy and anything with weird girl vibes or an unreliable narrator.


  • I am a certified long boi and I’m either happy about it when playing netball or sad about it when shopping for trousers.


  • My dream concert would be Marilyn Manson but I’m worried I’d die in a mosh pit.


  • I bust the myth that eating slowly makes you fuller faster – I can go alllllll day.

  • I read once that someone died after falling into a clothes rack so now I’m scared every time I hang laundry (or is that a clever excuse?!)

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Group of nine friends smiling and celebrating in a pub, some hugging, standing in front of a board showing a golf score at Old Culverhaysians R.F.C.
Group of nine friends smiling and celebrating in a pub, some hugging, standing in front of a board showing a golf score at Old Culverhaysians R.F.C.
Chloe standing on a wooden dock by a lake, wearing a black swimsuit, a camouflage jacket, a pink scarf, and water shoes, with her arms raised and smiling. The background has leafless trees and cloudy skies.
Chloe with a backpack standing on a rock with mountains and a lake in the background, arms raised in the air, enjoying the view from a mountain summit under a bright blue sky with a few clouds.

Let’s get started