Oxbridge Law graduates with first class degree?

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Since we are (vaguely) on the topic of textbooks, would you guys have any suggestions as to which is the best one for land law?

My favourite is Gray and Gray's Elements of Land Law as it is the most comprehensive and explains the law in very simple terms. I also like how comprehensive the footnoting is because I like 'exploring' the sources - there are text books that don't always reference as well.

Reply 21

sleekchic

Original post by eve_22

Since we are (vaguely) on the topic of textbooks, would you guys have any suggestions as to which is the best one for land law?

I'll re-echo the Gray and Gray recommendations although it's a bit heavy-going/big. And for 'regular' textbooks either Dixon's Modern Land Law or Thompson's Modern Land Law and the Textbook on Land law

Reply 22

jjarvis

Original post by The West Wing

I'll second Gray and Gray for the same reasons. I love it. Megarry and Wade is good if you need to research a really specific point, but it's not a good way of learning it to start with. (One of my supervisors edited M&W and for some topics he told us not to use it, as it's just too dense.)

Reply 23

jjarvis

Original post by sleekchic

Oh hello.

How did you get a first in Tort? Btw what books did you use for tort?

I'm doing tort at the moment. I've found it tough to find a text I like, but one exception is Street on Tort--much better than Markesinis and Deakin. It's very good at giving the key principles, and the cases they come from. I find it rather difficult to actually learn the black-letter law from Markesinis and Deakin. I might try using Winfield and Jolowicz more next term.

Reply 24

eve_22

Original post by The West Wing

Have you tried Land Law: Tex, Cases and Materials by McFarlane? A few of my friends were using it and have vouched for it as the best book available, so I am a bit torn between it and the one by Gray & Gray.

Reply 25

The West Wing

Original post by eve_22

Yes, we used that as our case book and it's indeed very useful - I used both together

Reply 26

eve_22

Original post by The West Wing

Yes, we used that as our case book and it's indeed very useful - I used both together

Thanks! I'll try and do the same, then.

Reply 27

jacketpotato

Original post by sleekchic

So how do you decide what topics to focus your revision on? For example for EU or land or even Tort? Do you just pick the most important and then go from there?

I was not that organised during the year so for some topics I had done no work and for others I had done more. I often tended to do more work for one subject in the first term and more work for another in the second. It was then pretty easy to choose for me.

You may want some tutor guidance on this one - it varies a lot from module to module.

Another strategy I used was to revise topics I did the most work on during the year and understood the best to a good standard until I could be confident of asking 5/6 questions on the paper (you needed to answer 4). A sort of "keep going until you've done enough" approach.

Once you have a vague understanding of the whole course and start looking at exam papers you should be in a good position to decide which topics to revise in more detail

Reply 28

lesbionic

Original post by jacketpotato

Nailed my third year at Cambridge

Honestly, the most important things you can do are 1) get some decent textbooks (rather than wasting time with some of the ***** that lecturers might put on the reading list such as Treitel on Contract), 2) use multiple different textbooks especially textbooks which give a critical view of things, 3) make structured notes that give you a clear structure to apply in exam questions, 4) be brutally exam focused (i.e. in many subjects you can drop huge parts of the syllabus because you know you don't need them to answer the necessary 4 out of 10 questions, 5) practice writing exam essays, 6) make sure you read journal articles (or even just the introduction/conclusion) so you have some nice alternative viewpoints, and note that these are ESSENTIAL for essay questions, 6) don't even think about answering an essay question in an exam if you don't have journal articles to use and if you aren't 100% clear about what the question is asking - if you've revised the specific issue an essay is asking about and know where you want to take the essay and are prepared to be very controversial, essays are an easy route to a first, but if in any doubt stick to problems.

Everyone learns differently, but my top tip is to really make your learning about quality rather than quantity. Really try to maximise your productivity, don't waste time reading unimportant cases or confusing textbooks. Always think to yourself if you could be doing something more useful.

I always thought you went to Southampton, for some reason! Or is that another PS helper..?

Reply 29

jacketpotato

Original post by lesbionic

I always thought you went to Southampton, for some reason! Or is that another PS helper..?

Must be another one :cool:

Reply 30

Tsaza

Can anyone recommend an accessible, not heavy going, up to date EU book?

I am not feeling the love for steiner and woods. too much block text and smattering of cases that i can't get my head around.

Reply 31

sleekchic

Have a go at either Hartley's Foundation og European Union law although it only covers the first part of the course, or Chalmers, Davies and Monti's European Union Law Texts and Materials.

I've found both to be pretty accessible, even on days I don't really feel like studying EU law.

Reply 32

Tsaza

Questions for exams:

How should you reference? What if I can't remember where/who an idea comes from?

Should you quote judges/judgements?

When citing cases, how important is it to remember the exact year or are names of parties enough?

Reply 33

eve_22

Original post by Tsaza

Questions for exams:

How should you reference? What if I can't remember where/who an idea comes from?

If you can't remember whose idea it was, I'd just refer to it as a scholar or similar, rather than trying to second guess.

Otherwise, just say something along the lines of 'Miles has argued that ....' - that will do in so far as referencing is concerned.

Original post by Tsaza

Should you quote judges/judgements?

If you can recall any quotes, then by all means do, but I don't think it is a requisite in order to get a good mark.

Original post by Tsaza

When citing cases, how important is it to remember the exact year or are names of parties enough?

I always cite names of parties. For criminal, for example, Woolin rather than R v Woolin is enough. For other subjects you might want to have the names of both parties.

Reply 34

jjarvis

Original post by Tsaza

Your time is probably better spent studying the judgements than trying to memorise quotes. You don't need the year, though there are occasions where you'll need to know whether a case is pre- or post-Human Rights Act.

Reply 35

euphoric11

How many pages do normal, good students usually write? Because of time limit, I'd like to know when you should stop & start on the next question

Reply 36

jacketpotato

Original post by euphoric11

How many pages do normal, good students usually write? Because of time limit, I'd like to know when you should stop & start on the next question

In exams that I had revised properly for and knew what I was on about I would write 22-27 pages in 3hours. I have reasonably big handwriting but not massive.

To be honest you should spend the same amount of time on each question (im assuming they are all worth the same number of marks, obviously). Generally, its quite easy to get a low 2:1 if you basically know the law that relates to the question but harder to get a first or high 2:1. Its very unlikely that it will be worth rushing another question to try and squeeze a few marks out of an earlier question, IMO.... in my exam it was 45minutes each and I really would advise against going over 50/under 40 on any one question

Reply 37

jacketpotato

Original post by Tsaza

If you don't have a source say "it might be argued that" or "some argue that" etc. etc., obviously be more specific if possible

Learning quotes is usually a waste of time in my opinion, however you would cite specific judgments where the reasoning or views of judges differ in important cases, e.g. "Lord Nicholls reasoning has several advantages over Lord Bingham's reasoning for these reasons ...." in an essay question

Names of parties is enough. Its sometimes worth having an idea of the year where there has been development over time and this is relevant for essays, e.g. "It is submitted that the more relaxed approach to corporate personality adopted in the 1980s in cases such as A is to be preferred to the very strict modern day approach adopted by Adams v Cape Industrials for these reasons"... but this is a special situation

Reply 38

apcycles

i heard somesone said he can write 22-27 pages' of answers in 3 hrs?

My God! Is this done by leaving a line blank after each written line? Seriously! I did a dry run a few days ago with a past year exam paper. I managed 5.5 pages (no blank line in between) in 1.5 hrs only. Oh dear...

Reply 39

jjarvis

Original post by apcycles

That would scale up to 11 pp in 3 hours, but that's still probably a bit sparse. In my first (non-law) degree I'd typically write about 11-12 pp in two hours. Your work is judged on quality, not sheer quantity, but there's a certain minimum to cover the relevant aspects--I would expect this to be especially true with problem questions, although I don't have direct experience of this.