How do you revise & remember case names?

So I'm about to start revising for my first year exams. Do you just re-read the module guide over and over until you know it or is there some better way? Also how do memorise case names?

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Reply 1

username368993

I'll give you a method if you can say an example...?

Reply 2

dosed

For case names, I make up flash cards, with the main point of the case on one side and the case on the other, I learn them a lot quicker that way than by any other.

Reply 3

sparklysparkles

Flashcards, definitely. Brief legal ruling on the front, then name with very brief facts on the back - then reverse so you know both ways.

Reply 4

eggtarts

I make flashcards as well, I read the cases and then make bullet points with the key facts. Review them every now and then and then test yourself. You might also want to link it with cases that have overruled them as well.

Reply 5

marcjacob

Have you seen the Routledge revision cards? I thought about buying them as they are only £7.50 per subject. Good investment??

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Criminal-Lawcards-Law-Cards-Routledge-Cavendish/dp/0415456878

Reply 6

marcjacob

My flatmate makes up silly stories to help me but there are just so many cases that I may need, it's too daunting to do it that way.

Forex R v Holland being "refusal to take medical advice doesn't break causation" by making up a story about the health shop Holland & Barratt.

Is that what you were going to suggest?

That does work for remembering things quickly but for this, I think there is just too much to learn.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 7

username368993

marcjacob

Yes, pretty much! I got it from Derren Browns book actually, he gives an example of... Pharmaceuticals society of great britain vs boots cash chemists (1953) where he imagines a top businessman in a suit (to stand for a high position ie pharmaceutical expert or whatever) at a boots counter trying to pay a £50 for incorrectly priced socks - the assistant holds up 3 fingers for an extra £3 coins. The socks where for SOCiety, not company and the £50 and £3 coded for 1953.

Its a crude example and very sketchy but you could add other stuff to it to make it more complex, meaningful and so it contains more information - its an alternative/additional method to use but one I quite like for remembering stuff. Good luck :smile:

Reply 8

sophie_snail

Post-it notes :]
Legal principle on one post-it note and then underneath on a different post-it note the case name. So your drying your hair (or whatever) and you look at them ... "hmm i wonder what case shows the contra-preferentum rule, i think it's Andrews vs. Singer" *flicks post-it note over* "alright it was Andrews. vs. Singer" *does little dance*

Reply 9

joes2

I have enough trouble remembering the cases for a timed assessment (one area of law) then I get it back saying I haven't used enough cases. Dam I need a database implanted in my brain.

Reply 10

cat1992

we have to learn lots of case studies in psychology.

i just learn them in great detail. the details are easiest to remember for me (surprisingly) and then, I can think about how Freud's subject's mother was an expatient of his, and the rest of the study comes flooding back!

also, with pyschology, we often have to remember sample sizes, percentages and so on - lots of numbers. I tend not to focus on these. I remember if a sample was large or small, and what the most significant proportions were and which were the least. I find this easiest.

Make sure you know what you're learning different cases for. Know what issues/debates/ideas you could link it to, rather than just trying to learn something completely out of context.

Reply 11

sparklysparkles

With the flashcards, I find it also helps (depending on how expensive your printer is!) to print faces that match the names (just copy them from fbook pictures) - won't work for every case, but depending on how many people you know it can be quite useful!

Reply 12

*Star*Guitar*

I don't know about how your uni approaches exams but in our law ones its not crucial to know the case year, unless you're going into detail about its context in comparison to historical or preceeding legislation. Just the name, facts if necessary, and ratio are necessary. Perhaps some obiter if its relevant will get you some extra marks. But I just have those headings in a table and have them written down, and write and re-write until I can do it from memory. That's the only way I can revise.

Reply 13

Rybee

Agree with Star Guitar, I think it's just the long and painful process of going over them again and again and again until you've lodged them in your brain. I tend to find, probably like most others, that it's not the facts of the case or the ratio that's hard to call, just putting the case names to the facts is.

Reply 14

*Star*Guitar*

ryan harding

Aye its one or the other until you make an effort to learn it :mad:

Also, you should do as many practice questions as you can too, to make sure you know you're getting the marks and applying the cases as you should be doing.
Its well advised that the first time you answer a question, it should not be from the paper you're sitting down to be marked on!
You should be practised and perfect by then.

Reply 15

jacketpotato

I take the same approach with cases that I'd take with learning a musical instrument or a sport: the best way to learn it is to practice it. Personally, I find just repeating case names in a vacuum or using flash-cards isn't that helpful, I remember the names by actually applying the cases to answer a question.

Try writing essays to answer past exam questions. Initially, do it with your notes and give yourself a bit more time - so if you get 45mins per question in the exam, give yourself an hour to 90minutes. The idea is to write the answer that you would realistically like to write in the exam, using your notes. You'll soon start remembering the cases, and will have got some practice at using them in context. This also helps you to get a sense of which cases are very useful for exams, and which, whilst interesting, are largely useless.

This is quite a personal thing. Try different methods and use whatever works best for you.

Reply 16

kimberlytanxz92

i usually read the facts of the case, and when I do absorb that - i write them out until it sticks in my head. It takes a while - but works for me :biggrin:

Reply 17

iamorgan

It's weird -once I have identified the case, I can normally remember the facts quite well -and then other cases come to mind -it's just 'finding' the case in your brain if that makes sense? I personally condense my notes, then just read them again and again -I ask myself questions etc.

I also do the post it note thing -but put them all over the place -in the fridge -in my bed -in my sock drawer etc. So I'm constantly just finding a random case to know! Only way it really goes in.

Reply 18

eve_22

iamorgan

I do in almost an identical way, except that I don't jusy read my notes over and over again - I actually have to write them out numerous times and then it all sits comfortably in my head :smile:

Post it notes are great too - before my exams, my room looked like a rainbow, since it was filled with orange, pink, green and etc. :biggrin:

Reply 19

Hibba01

One thing I would advise and by reading the posts above it is very disturbing that you as Law students cite cases with a 'Vs' instead of a 'V'. In England the 'V' is said 'and' not versus even though that is what the 'V' stands for. keep that in mind. For criminal cases it is 'V' = Against (That is how you say it). You write the 'V' like 'V' not 'Vs'.

I hope I'm not being too techniqual but it must be noted that all lecturers and tutors will give you differeing saying thus making you confused. For example I have a American tutor and he says that cases as they would in America. But please bear this in mind.