OCR A2 LAW G153 Criminal Law 1 - June 2013

I reckon Q1 will be on either Quick or Burgess and Q2 maybe just insanity again or both. but Q3 could really be anything. I didnt really no how to approach Q3 and thats where i lost a few marks. any suggestion from the poeple that did quite well?

Hi I was just wondering what would be the best technique to revise for criminal law, is it best to do brief notes, mind maps, past papers? I'm really struggling with absorbing information

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I haven't started "hardcore" revision yet (I probably should- I'll start next week) Everybody is different but I've done this for the past 2 exams and got 76/80(sources of law) + 80/80(special study) :
1. Go through all notes on basic principles (actus reus, mens rea = 2hrs)
2. Make an A4 mindmap on each of those topic + read through = 2hrs
3. Repeat steps 1+2 for each topic (looking at the specification I've grouped this into 5 topics/sections) = 4hrs each... (x5 topics) = 20hrs total to go through the specification thoroughly and I spread this out over 5 days (not consecutive, about 2-3 days per week so it's done in a fortnight)(http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/68942-specification.pdf = pages 12-14)

4. Once I've done that within the fortnight, I'll have 5 weeks left in which I'll start by writing a practise essay, marking it, seeing where I went wrong
5. Spend a week focussing on the Q i'm bad at (it's always Q3- the dilemma board/scenario questions), so I look at the markschemes for them and keep practising
6. 1 week before the exam (so around May 31st), I repeat step 3 every day to work my way through the specification, and do a final past paper on the last day

That's very thorough but I hope it helps, it's certainly helped me having a plan like that

Edit: Between steps 3-4, I make sure I memorise only about 5 cases per topic (with different case facts to help in using them for the scenario) and make a huge case list and go through it every week

Not really relevant to the exam but does anyone out of interest know why the D's in R v Hale (1978) was charged with robbery instead of burglary? It baffles me.

Well it's not that important to know but i assume because robbery is open to a higher maximum sentence than burglary and therefor the crown prosecution decided to prosecution them with robbery in order for the criminals to face a higher sentence

Just as a little help for anyone who is doing G154 special study in the summer: I got an A (80/80) in January and I 100% agree with people above when they say the zigzag book helped them. It costs, but the preview is free which you can get by clicking on the right hand side "preview" button next to "ordering details" on here http://zigzageducation.co.uk/synopses/4802-G154-2013-insanity-automatism.asp and it basically gives a run down of each case. Since Bratty came up in January, Quick/Burgess are the likely cases to be used on Q1 so revise these inside out. Q2 should be focussed on insanity since there's not as much to write 34 marks on for automatism (which makes me think Q1 is more likely to be Quick- a case that should've been automatism- since insanity on Q2 allows you to display more knowledge which is what they want). Q3 was the hardest for me (and most people in my class) so I practised these to death- the zig zag preview has a break down of how to structure them. Unfortunately I wrote my notes by hand in January so can't provide attachments but I hope that has helped. Good luck to everyone!

As for G153, how is everyone doing? I'm aiming for an A* (need 100/120 as well as 96/120 on my G151 resit I'll be doing) but would be happy with an A (90/120). We've just finished all topics but haven't done any practise essays (set our first one as homework over this Easter half term, so I'm only starting revision as of next week). Our teacher told us that strict liability was a good question to do as it's really easy to get the marks, but I wasn't aware we could miss out topics at all :/ Looking at past papers, and considering the length of the topic, I'm thinking that theft should come up- anybody agree/have their own opinions?

hii.. i cant help but notice the wonderful grades that you've got.. do you by any chance have any model answers for G154 and G153?

Thank you

It's funny you should say that after I just posted how much I'm panicking for G153 (getting maximum 29/50 so if you have any model answers for that I'd very much appreciate it)!

I can, however, PM you some of my essays from G154 special study Just give me an hour and I'll send you them

I've just realised I can put them up now so I'll just put them all on here for everybody. The main essays/plans are mine but some of the case lists are from what I've found on the internet

My main tip is to remember for Q3 (the scenario type thing) you get a mark for saying a conclusion e.g "... so they can use the defence of insanity" (lots of people forget this under pressure I think). And, as I said before I think, Bratty came up in January so it's more likely to be Quick/Burgess in my opinion. Hope it's helped!

i've just realised i can put them up now so i'll just put them all on here for everybody. The main essays/plans are mine but some of the case lists are from what i've found on the internet

my main tip is to remember for q3 (the scenario type thing) you get a mark for saying a conclusion e.g "... So they can use the defence of insanity" (lots of people forget this under pressure i think). And, as i said before i think, bratty came up in january so it's more likely to be quick/burgess in my opinion. Hope it's helped!