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Law Student Survival Guide (^85) b
When it comes to a law exam, I often think the front cover would be served well by the sensible words on the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , written in large friendly letters:
Don’t panic!
In my time as a law student, I have seen students hyperventilate on entering the exam room, burst into tears on more than one occasion, throw up, look as pale as a ghost, physically shake and, of course, panic.
Why?
@ A law exam induces panic because in most cases there is a
need to pass the exam to pass the subject. Although there are many different forms of assessment in different law
Preparing for a law exam
Step 6
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Preparing for a law exam
reading cases and understanding the principles of law, it is more likely than not you will pass the exam. You could try to think of your nerves in a different way! Rather than feeling nervous, think of the feeling as excitement! In your preparation leading up to the exam, feeling excited (nervous) is a sign that you are motivated to achieve, you want to be productive, learn effectively and perform in the exam at a high level. If you do have a law exam as a significant component of your law assessment, be “exam-focused” throughout the semester. This approach can make any pre-exam nerves manageable so that you can feel confident in your abilities as a law student. In your studies, project ahead to the arguments you need for the exam situation and, in studying the subject, write study notes that can be condensed to summary notes. All of these techniques are explained in Step 5 of this Survival Guide. In addition you should:
@ Change your study techniques in the weeks leading up to
the exam.
@ In the few days before a law exam, implement simple steps to
calm your nerves , use anxiety constructively and ensure you are in a mental and physical position to perform well on the day of the exam. This section of the Survival Guide will now deal with each of these steps separately.
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Reading this too late? How to pre-exam cram The hints and tips in this Step of the Survival Guide are designed for students who have worked throughout the semester, steadily learning the law subject they are studying and preparing summaries of the law and cases in study notes and summary notes. This learning approach may not be a reality for some law students, for whatever reason. It’s (usually) not too late to learn, but you have to be committed to pre-exam cram! Here are 3 steps to implement: 1 Resolve to fix your study techniques for next semester. You know that in leaving it too late, you’ve probably worked just as hard or even harder in the weeks before the exam than students who have plugged away all semester. Resolve now to implement efficient and productive learning habits for your next law subject. 2 Implement pre-exam cramming techniques. See Step 9 : Problem “I have too much to do, I don’t know where to start” for specific tips on pre-exam cramming. 3 Write an intense pre-exam study schedule. Write a study schedule based on the amount of available study time you have left until the exam. To write a study schedule, use the instructions given in Step 3 of this Survival Guide for weekly schedules, adjusting the timeframe accordingly.
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Study planner for exam pre-cramming
Based on 10 days before an exam
Time
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
6 am
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
7 am
Study
Study
Time off
Free time
Study
Free time
Study
Time off
Study
8 am
Study
Study
Time off
Free time
Study
Free time
Study
Time off
Study
9 am
Study
Study
Time off
Free time
Study
Study
Time off
Time off
Time off
10 am
Study
Break
Study
Free time
Study
Study
Time off
Time off
Time off
11 am
Break
Study
Study
Free time
Break
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
12 pm
Break
Study
Study
Free time
Study
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
1 pm
Study
Free time
Study
Study
Study
Study
Study
Study
Study
2 pm
Study
Free time
Time off
Study
Study
Study
Time off
Study
Break
3 pm
Study
Free time
Time off
Study
Study
Time off
Time off
Study
Break
4 pm
Study
Free time
Study
Study
Time off
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
5 pm
Break
Free time
Study
Break
Time off
Study
Study
Time off
Study
6 pm
Break
Study
Time off
Break
Time off
Study
Study
Time off
Study
7 pm
Study
Study
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
Study
8 pm
Study
Study
Study
Study
Time off
Break
Time off
Study
Finish!
9 pm
Time off
Time off
Study
Study
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
Relax!
10 pm
Time off
Time off
Study
Study
Time off
Study
Time off
Study
Relax!
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CHANGE YOUR LEARNING
TECHNIQUES LEADING UP TO
THE EXAM
The following suggestions are for those of you who do not need to pre-exam cram. It’s a good idea to change your study tech niques in the last few weeks leading up to the exam.
Practice, practice and more practice!
The single most useful and important exam preparation you can do is to practise and then do more practice!
Practise throughout the semester , stepping up to more and more practice in the last weeks before the exam. Law exam practice is perhaps the single most useful preparation you can do for a law exam. It is through this process that you learn the law and how you will apply it in an exam situation.
Learning law in theory and reading legal principles in abstract will never test your ability to apply these principles to various fact patterns. The key to understanding the law and to achieving in a law exam is to:
@ successfully identify legal issues;
@ isolate the appropriate legal principle; and
@ apply the law to the facts of the problem.
For most, it is a difficult task to do this in an actual exam setting without practising first.
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- It is a good idea to write some answers out in full, so you get some idea of the amount to write in the time pressures of an exam.
- As well as writing out full answers, it is also beneficial to write out a detailed dot-point answer of exactly what you would argue and the legal principles you would rely upon in the exam.
- Just reading through a question will generally not help – you may be surprised when you sit down to actually answer it.
- As a general guide, complete at least 4–5 fully written out answers before the exam and dot-point answers for any other review questions or previous exams you can find. Save at least one exam paper for the last 2 weeks of exam preparation. To allow sufficient time to fix your problems, actually complete the exam in exam conditions and time – that is, without any distractions or leaving and coming back to it – and work all the way through. Having completed all of the above, you may be surprised at the amount or type of revision you need to do. You may also be surprised at how little time in a law exam you have to complete the set questions. Practising exams will usually reveal the gaps and deficiencies in summary notes and the areas of the law subject to work on leading up to the exam.
Write summaries of your summary notes
In the last few weeks before the exam, write summaries of your summary notes. All semester you have written study notes, and then summarised and condensed that information into shorter summary notes_._ Yet, writing summaries of your summary notes is an excellent
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way to prepare for the exam. It consolidates your knowledge, puts the law subject in context and enables you to identify issues. Think what will work best for you. Lists? Tables? Charts? Flowcharts? Diagrams? Pictures? Some ideas are:
@ Write a summary of all the causes of action within a law
subject, including the elements to prove and legal principles to apply. Compile a table on an A4 page (try rotating the page to landscape format to make more room), filling in the headings, as suggested in the table below:
@ Summarise the cases in the subject you are studying on
one A4 page. Just include the case name, a few words reminding you of the facts and keywords of the area of law it concerns.
@ Think of ways to summarise how areas of the law subject
fit together, the law subject as a whole, or legal issues or elements that overlap.
Cause of action Element Tests to apply The area of law you sue under.
The elements to prove in establishing the cause of action (a numbered list is easy and clear to read).
Briefly summarise the major legal principles that apply to prove the cause of action and help explain each element. For each cause of action within your law subject, fill in each separate row, an area of law to sue under.
For each cause of action, fill in a separate row with the elements to prove.
For each cause of action, fill in the specific tests to apply to prove each element within the cause of action.
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@ In organising your folder, the legal principle you need
must be at your fingertips, right when you need it. You must be able to turn to the page you need quickly and easily so you have the law ready to apply right in front of you.
@ When choosing your exam folder it must easily fit on
your exam desk without being too much in the way while you are writing – anything larger than A4 is probably too burdensome. One important aim in preparing your summary notes folder is to avoid flick, flick, flicking in an exam, the product of too many summary notes. When you compile summary notes from your study notes (by following Step 5 of this Survival Guide ), remember your aim is to summarise to reduce the volume of your summary notes for the purpose of using them in an exam.
A second way to improve the effectiveness and organisation of your exam folder is to tab, index or file your exam folder in an easy-to-use way. There are many different labelling systems you can use for your exam folder; have a look around the stationery shops for some ideas. For instance:
@ Find small sticky paper notepads and cut to size for labels,
sticky-taping each to your summary notes.
@ Attach colourful paperclips to your folder with a
handwritten label attached to each.
@ Use sticky envelope labels and fold to turn into a tab.
@ Use colour-coding for labels, find bright pink, blue or
yellow card.
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@ Write your label on ordinary paper and cut it out. Get a
piece of sticky tape twice the size of the label. Stick the label on to the sticky tape leaving enough edge to stick on to your page. Fold the sticky tape underneath to the back of your page. Trim your labels at the end for uniform size.
When choosing labels make sure:
@ your labels are easy to see;
@ the labels you choose are sturdy and unlikely to fall off.
You’ll probably keep summary notes for future reference and strong labels will last for years;
@ the label you give to each section is appropriate!
(Remember, there’s not much space on a label.) What is the one word that describes that area of the law to you? Is there an appropriate abbreviation you can use?
THE LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE
AN EXAM
Make sure you get some sleep!
Fatigue seriously affects your ability to have a clear and lucid mind. You are much better having a sleep the night before an exam than staying up for hours the night before. At some point you must draw the line and say: “That’s it. I’ve learnt as much as I can.” Drawing the line at the exam room door is probably too late. Will you really learn that much more by cramming the few minutes before walking in?
On a more serious note, stay away from alcohol and mind- altering prescription or illegal drugs that will artificially assist you
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❑❑ A watch, clock or timer to keep track of time – most exam rooms will have one, but your view may be obscured or the clock may not work. ❑❑ Anything else – it’s a long exam! Headache relief? Tissues? A snack? Sometimes a sugary packet of lollies for the last hour will get you through and increase your concentration (just test out your reaction to this beforehand and check your university exam policies for guidance).
At some universities, bags and pencil-cases are prohibited in the exam room. If this applies at your university, make sure everything is in a see-through plastic bag. Leave your textbooks at home! You should only ever need to look at your summary notes. For security, you may want to take one, at most 2, textbooks provided you are familiar with these books and have used them as a resource throughout the semester. You simply do not have time to read new books in a law exam!
On exam day, eat something!
Stay away from panicked last-minute revision.
Ignore your nerves and eat something before you go into the exam. You can’t perform at your best in a law exam for 3 or 4 hours without food. At some point draw a line to end your study.
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It may be best to stay away from that
exam door
Prior to a law exam, students congregate just near the exam door. Typically, students about to start an exam are nervous, worried or excited. Some students will compare their legal knowledge and summary notes. Depending on the type of person you are, it may be a good idea to stay away! At this point there is very little, if anything, you can do about your level of exam preparation and knowledge. Gathering in a group is likely to make you feel even more nervous. It may be a better idea at this time to just focus on your abilities. Forget about what your law colleagues know or don’t know. You are in an exam on your own and it is probably best to start off that way in the minutes immediately before the exam.
Compose a pre-exam routine
In preparing yourself physically and mentally for a law exam, it can sometimes help to set yourself a pre-exam routine that you can follow for every exam. A routine may help you feel in control, less stressed and able to cope with the anxiety of a law exam every single time you need one. Your routine may be related to the time you finish studying, whether you have a break, the food that you eat, the pens that you pack or the route you take to get to the exam.
THE EXAM
“IRAC” as leading to success in a law exam
An excellent law exam answer can be achieved in different ways, yet in all top exam papers and in nearly all law assessments
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Look at each of the facts in turn and ask yourself: Why is that fact there? What legal issue does it relate to? Is that a legal problem from this law subject that I recognise? Once you finish reading, quickly read the question once more. By this time you should be familiar with the entire fact- problem and the parties, and you will probably find even more legal issues to address. The trick to issue-spotting is to remember that, in nearly every fact problem, in every law exam, every single sentence of the facts will be relevant to a legal issue. If you find, after reading a fact-problem, facts that you have not allocated to an issue, you are usually missing an issue_._ Once you have identified the legal issues in an exam, it is a good idea to prioritise them in order of importance. Sometimes the legal issues are complicated, with several parties involved. It may be best to deal with those issues in your answer first. Spend most of your time on the more complicated issues. Leave the smaller causes of action, or those that are obvious, to last. For some law subjects it may be appropriate to ask yourself: WHO will sue WHOM, and in WHAT cause of action? This can then be used as a heading. In a law exam, write out the issue and then turn to identifying and applying the law. Repeat this for each of the legal issues you have identified.
Issue-spotting The following is a fact-problem from an exam in the subject of torts law and is used as an example of how to spot legal issues in a law exam. Every italicised fact is relevant to answering the
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legal issues. The legal issues in this question are in bold and square brackets after each sentence.
Ben was flying a kite in his garden in the suburb of Kangaroopawvale, when a sudden gust of wind tore it out of his hands. [Issue: In intentional torts, the kite being torn out of his hands may mean there is no direct conduct for a trespass.] The wind carried the kite onto the neighbouring rooftop of Leo’s house. [Issue: Is this the tort of trespass to land or the tort of nuisance?] Ben ran home in tears. He asked his father, Mark, to retrieve the kite. Mark went to Leo’s house to ask permission to do so, but found that no-one was home. Mark spotted a ladder leaning against the shed. He carried it over to the house, placed it against the wall and climbed onto the roof. [Issue: Is climbing on another person’s roof a trespass to land? Is there a defence because he is retrieving the kite? Another issue: Is picking up a ladder a trespass to goods?] When Mark was on the roof trying to untangle the string of the kite, which was caught around the chimney, Leo came home. Leo saw that Mark was doing something on the roof but, having an obsessive personality, he almost instinctively took the ladder away and locked it in the shed, where it belonged. [Issue: Is leaving Mark on the roof false impris- onment? Another issue: What is the effect of Leo having an obsessive personality – does it affect the intentional behaviour of Leo for the tort?] Mark, having untangled the kite, stepped back, intending to descend on to what he believed was the top step of the ladder. By the time he realised that there was no ladder, he lost his balance and fell from the roof, sustaining serious injuries to his right leg and arm. [Issue: Is there contributory negligence by Mark by not checking where the ladder is?]
