My exams begin in 3 weeks time, and I have a huge amount of revision to get through, and I have always struggled taking notes so I don't really have adequate notes to revise from. I am a first year LLB student, and yes whilst I understand 'first year doesn't count', it still means a lot to me to get good marks, so any advice would be appreciated.
Exams are as follows...
Common law - 4th June (i.e. tort and contract)
Public law - 5th June
Criminal law -11th June
EU law - 13th June
I guess the most important thing is to make sure that you really have a good grasp of the key concepts in each area. It's all very well reading zillions of articles and cases that go into immense amount of detail if you haven't really understood the fundamental premise of each area. Once you've got that, then you can start looking at the complex stuff. Hopefully it won't take too long as you'll have been learning throughout the year.
I don't think anybody can really tell you what revision method is best for you, but we can give you some idea of how we revise. I very much take a note-taking approach to revision. I don't really like revising from lecture notes as I find that bits are often missed out, glossed over, or explained in a way that I don't understand. What I do is start taking lots of new notes from textbooks, cases and journals. I find that actually writing down all the notes is very good revision for me as it sticks in my mind better. Then once I'm satisfied with my notes, I simply read through them again and again. If there's a particularly difficult area, I might make a very basic flow-chart with key cases that can reduce a particular area down to the core components.
At this point I'm not sure that reading through case after case would really be that helpful. Reading cases is obviously a very important part of doing a law degree, but I don't find it particularly helps from a revision standpoint. I would maybe read a few of the key cases in each area (e.g. promissory estoppel --> Denning in High Trees) and make sure I know them well. But for a lot of the other 'less important' cases I'll just try and extract the ratio. An essay question is likely to require you to have a good knowledge of the key cases in a particular area. A problem question is going to normally require you to have a broader understanding, but without as much detail. Often with problem questions, you'll only have time to write down the proposition of law followed by the case name in brackets, so it's not really worth reading every case in full as you will not really have a chance to demonstrate that knowledge unless you feel that your specific knowledge about a non-key case would really help your argument in an essay question.
Another thing would be to decide now whether you are going to cover all the topics or be more specific about what you revise. While it is obviously best to revise everything, and you should probably strive towards that, obviously it's not always going to be practical, and there may be some areas that you just don't get or don't enjoy. But I don't think I'd advocate flat-out not revising them. Spend more time on the other areas if you wish, but really make sure that you have at least a working knowledge of the other areas as you'll be kicking yourself if you've revised Consideration really well, and then find that it's combined with UCTA or something.
Definitely, definitely, definitely look at past papers, preferably going back a few years. While I wouldn't advocate question-spotting, there are often patterns in what gets asked, and looking at past papers will also give you an idea of the depth and detail that you are going to require. If you can face it (I know I can't!) then try and write some practice answers in the time allotted. I don't know how many timed problem questions you've done so far, but it always amazes me just how much you're supposed to write in such a short amount of time.
One more thing, your friends will be going through similar experiences. I think it's a good idea if you can form a study group or at least discuss areas that you are having trouble with. I also think it would be useful to ask some of your friends if you can have a look at any essays that they got good marks on through the year. I've always found it pretty useful to see how other people approach questions. If you got a 55 on an essay but your friend got a 70, it can only be useful for you to have a look at what got them that mark.
Sorry if any of that sounds condescending, I don't mean it to be. I know that it's a very stressful time. I've fortunately finished my exams for the year but I was a nervous wreck while I was doing them.
I guess the most important thing is to make sure that you really have a good grasp of the key concepts in each area...
I have cut your message short so you know I am writing back to you, but WOW, thank you so very much for writing that lengthy message, it has really helped give me a bit of perspective on how I should face the revision.
Do you bother with a revision timetable or do you just study spontaneously? I am not the best at keeping focused on things due to various forums, facebook, msn etc, so although I get what I want to do one, I dont necessarily get it done in the time scale i'd like. Should I just not bother with time tables?
I never really liked revision techniques, tricks or aids.. or maybe I just couldn't be bothered to try them out. In any case, as far as I can see there are two important parts to mastering the material for an exam: understanding the material and remembering the material. As such, my revision goes in two stages:
1. Writing revision notes - going through my text book/lecture notes/tutorial notes and basically writing it up as if I was writing a very condensed text book of my own. It can take a while if the subject area is tricky but I've found it to be a good way of making sure I understand everything.
2. Revising the revision notes - there are lots of ways to get the notes into your head. I personally just read them through a few times and then literally copy it all out by hand 2-3 times and test myself along the way. It's incredibly tedious but it seems to work
Edit: Regarding timetables, I tend to try and do 1 subject per day when I'm writing my notes, but this can vary depending on the size of the subject. It would be almost impossible, for example, to get through negligence in one day
Last edited by Onearmedbandit : 12-05-2008 at 11:48.
My technique is like onearmedbandit, except where he tests his knowledge by writing I find that just wastes my time so I just learn everything until I can recite it from start to finish with no major errors or omissions - once I can recite everything, I'm good to go.
I personally have never bothered with revision timetables. Inevitably I won't stick to it and then I'll feel bad for doing so! If these are the first law exams that you're taking it might also be fairly difficult to accurately predict how long each bit of work will take. You might assign a morning to something and then find that it takes two days. I think that timetables do work for some people, but I like to have the flexibility to do the work how I see fit, as I go along.
I'm pretty bad with the internet as well. If you don't need to access the internet for revision purposes then it's probably best to just completely disconnect your computer from it so that it will be too much effort to quench your MSN cravings. If you do need the internet, then making sure that you don't open MSN in the first place is probably the key thing to bear in mind.
All of this is very personal. Some people will thrive on having a structured timetable of revision, so that their lives are more or less planned in the few weeks leading up to exams. Others, like me, can't stand them. I know it's hard and we've heard it all before, but you'll be making your life a lot easier for yourself if you work hard now, rather than starting in a couple of weeks times. Start this afternoon if you haven't already! Especially if you don't have great notes. And even more especially as you have very case-heavy modules to revise for.
I always have some sort of sketch in my head of where I want to be - but I always set it so ambitiously that I never get there! Basically 1 topic per day (on the basis of each 'core' module such as trusts containing 8 topics since there were 8 tutorials across the year) seems to be how long it'll take me to make decent notes and then another day thereafter to memorise those notes.
OK, I managed to get through all the material, except I need to write a pair of case notes (one for tort, one for contract) in the exam, and I haven't got through all my cases in this much depth yet, so I am wondering if anyone has any of the key cases in this format that they'd like to share!
Okay im going to admit I have not read everyone reply but here is what I have found useful.
1. Timetable - but instead of having a time in which I need to do things I Just have a list and I think right as long as I complete it today I will be fine. Its good as it pushes me to do it but when I didnt once I woke up at 12am trying to do it all till 3am..
2. For Law such as Tort I came up with ryhmes for the test. As with that subject I use to mix breach and duty and other things up so I would write out the tests in Simple terms. - Elliot and Quinn I used for it.
Then I made a ryhme using the first letters I think it was like PTS or something cant remember now as it was ages ago. But it totally worked.
Also the person (Im sorry as I have forgot your screen name) who replied first was absolutly right! Defintly before I do any shortening of my reviison I re-copy all my notes out highlight draw diagrams if I can and need to and basically duplicate them with more or less detail depending on my knoweldge. It also highlights any gaps you might have in the subjects.
Then I make revision cards and then I just revise.
With me revision is like exercise when you havnt done any in a while you struggle to. But once you get started and get that good feeling at the end of it like you do with revision - accomplishment you want to keep on going.
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