Exam season is here! Here are the best seats to get in Cardiff University libraries

“Locking in season” has arrived, but where’s the best place to romanticise your uni work?

Whether you’re a “front row, noise cancelling headphones, don’t talk to me” girlie or a “casual corner spot with an oat latte” kind of studier, Cardiff’s got a seat for you. So here is your definitive guide to the best top spots in Cardiff Uni’s libraries this exam season.

ASSL (Arts and Social Studies Library)

The ASSL is an obvious number one. Although not very appealing from the outside, it’s the most iconic, most used and most talked about library at Cardiff Uni.

Home to the business, economics, humanities, languages, law, optometry, music, psychology, social sciences and Welsh and Celtic studies, but used by all students. There is not one Cardiff University student that has not been to the ASSL and spent many dreaded hours hunched over a laptop cramming an assignment last minute.

It’s the prime spot for all-nighters and long library stints as it’s available 24/7. With an ideal location, most students live within a five-minute radius, central to most Cathays houses. But we all know its main appeal, is its proximity to the Lidl bakery section and post revision pints at the Woody.

The floor levels work like a hierarchy of dedication, the higher you go, the more locked in everyone is. Floor one silent zone is the sweet spot though, quiet enough to actually get stuff done without the suffocating energy of people who’ve been there since 9am.

Venture too high and you’re risking a shush from the librarian every five minutes or worse, getting kicked down a floor in front of everyone. The walk of shame is real.

However, the secret floor that not many people venture to, is the ASSL basement. It always has more availability than the other floors, so you’re most likely guaranteed a seat. The colour rooms, you’re able to hire out, are great to revise with friends and makes you feel like you’re in a professional conference room.

Top tip to all you ASSL lovers, before you make the trek, check the Cardiff Uni libraries’ Linktree (linktre.ee/cardiffunilib) for the “find a space” tool so you’re not turning up to find no seats.

Love it or hate it, the ASSL is a Cardiff Uni rite of passage, and exam season just isn’t exam season without it.

Main Building Library

Cardiff’s most glamorise uni building, pictured in most open day photos, is the most recognisable and doesn’t disappoint in real life. Commonly used by Cardiff’s most studious pupils, you’re most likely to find the science students in there, as their building is connected. It’s the kind of library that makes you feel smarter just by sitting in it, even if you’ve spent the last 20 minutes staring at the same paragraph.

Unlike ASSL and other libraries that have optional silent zones, this library is pretty quiet throughout. For students doing “Mickey Mouse” courses, you can feel like an imposter entering this library with all the big bookshelves that make it seem like you’re in Hogwarts. The building is historically interesting to walk around, and makes you romanticise exam season. On a rare Cardiff sunny day, the benches out front are genuinely one of the nicest spots on campus.

It’s also a lot less chaotic than the ASSL, fewer people, less of that frantic exam season energy, so if you’re someone who needs calm to concentrate, this could be your spot.

CSL (Cardiff University Centre for Student Life)

Prime hotspot for mainly freshers as it seems like the most obvious place to go and do work. You probably toured around here on your open day. Then asked your new friends in Freshers’ Week if they wanted to join you to do work in here.

The high ceilings and various floors and big glass windows makes the study space feel spacious and not claustrophobic. The Costa coffee shop on the ground floor serve delicious and cheap coffees helpful for a good pick me up in between work. The proximity to Greggs and Subway is an attractive bonus for lunch breaks…

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The CSL is always busy, it can be a battle to find a seat most of the time. You end up spending more time walking up and down those dreaded steps trying to find a desk than doing any work. However, if you’re lucky enough to bag a balcony seat on a sunny day, it can be a great place to glamourise your uni life, looking out over Park Place. The view opposite the Main Building makes it feel almost cinematic, which is great until you’ve spent twenty minutes staring out the window instead of writing your essay.

The only negative about the CSL is the set opening and closing hours unlike the ASSL which is open 24/7, so not ideal for the late-night revisers. Monday to Friday 8am-8pm and Saturday 10am-4pm during term time, so don’t make the trek down there after hours.

CSL lounge 

The CSL is a hidden gem, perfect location, most people have seen it posted on the SU Tik Tok account but still can’t work out where it is, so it’s never too busy.  Feels like a bit more of a chilled fun place to work, with swings as chairs, bicycle desks, and TV booths. It’s quiet and easy to lock in at this location, as there are no windows to get lost staring out of.

There is usually a mixture of people socialising in here with friends as well as people doing uni work, great for group project meet ups, as well as other work. It’s a perfect location, right by the Taff, and you can even order Taff food to your table through the QR codes on the tables.

There’s also a small kitchenette with free coffee, tea and milk and access to hot water for pot noodles. If you like bringing a hot lunch to get you through the day, this is the perfect place to work, because you can store your food in the fridge and then heat it up in the microwave whenever you want it.

Bute Library

The Bute library gets a lot of praise from the architect and social sciences students. The funky mezzanine floors are very cool to any first timer students that haven’t been there before. If you want a calm quiet environment to do work this is the spot for you, with most of the rooms having the “know your noise zone” signs, signalling the different rooms for different levels of noises.

There is plenty of seats and spaces to sit however because of its popularity it can be difficult in the exam season to get a seat, so make sure to get here early and set up your base for the day. For any town lovers its perfect location in the middle of Cathays and town, if you want a cheeky shopping trip afterwards to reward yourself.

Alexandra Gardens is placed just in front, so if you need to go out and stretch your legs after a big study session you can go out and enjoy a break in nature. Ran out of stationery? No fear you can just head down to the stationery shop or nick a few pens that are lying around in the architect studios.

Abacws Building

Close to Bagel Place and Lidl, the Abacws building is a solid study spot for those who know about it and the £1.99 Bagel Place iced coffees make it an easy sell. The building is very modern and bright like the SU, which can be a nice contrast to some of the older more traditional libraries like ASSL or Bute library.

Great place for you to meet your group project, or spread out all your revision notes, with the big circular tables, meaning no one needs to awkwardly perch on the end of tables. However, there is one downside to this library. During some exam periods it can be restricted to computer science and mathematics students only. So worth checking before you head down.

It’s worth noting though if you live on Cogan Terrace or Llandough Street, this might be the place for you, quite literally at your doorstep, you can quickly slip away from doing work in your house to lock in for a few hours. It’s a great shout if you want somewhere quieter and less chaotic than the ASSL, without sacrificing a decent study environment.

SU Balcony

The SU balcony can be a rough place to work, and not a frequent location many students go to. However, once they do, they are pleasantly surprised.

First appearances are glowing with what every student needs, cheap Starbucks coffee. It also has various food stands along where we would get our cheesy chips in Yolo, they sell very cheap jacket potatoes that keep you going at lunch. Like the SU lounge you can also order Taff food to your table, meaning you’re still able to be locking in whilst still enjoying the cheap yummy Taff chips.

Although it has so many benefits, it’s not always a students go to library because of the opening and closing times, with the many events on like Yolo, dance recitals, society photos, AGMs, it can never be a reliable working space.

Some students may be scarred from going and doing work in there especially after their feral shenanigans in Yolo the night before. It’s been said before that people have struggled with the hangxiety post Yolo of getting banned or kicked out the night before.

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