Selective revising..

I can't be the only one to do this (I hope) but I've been wondering...what happens if two topics are combined in one problem question? Basically what is the safest way to selectively revise without having to revise everything. I'm doing tort, land, equity/trusts and EU currently.

I have to confess to being a selective reviser - I've done it since I was a first year undergraduate and its served me well. I did Public, Crime, Contract and EU last year (I'm on the part time GDL) and I revised 3 topics to answer 3 questions in all topics except Crime where I studied a couple more because I was prepared for some questions to include a mixed bag of offences.

The questions on all papers were exactly what I expected - they were all problem questions and the crux of the answer was the same as many of the past papers even though some of the scenarios were quite different. In my contract exam, even though the questions were what I expected my mind went pretty blank on the case law front by the time I answered question 3, and I know I scored poorly on that - fortunately my first two answers which I had practised to death were pretty kick ass to it all evened out.

So based on that I would look at past papers, write out practice answers until you can write them in your sleep (and make sure you can answer them within the exam time period), if you start doubting yourself, study an extra topic as a fallback though maybe not in so much detail as the others.

I have to confess to being a selective reviser - I've done it since I was a first year undergraduate and its served me well. I did Public, Crime, Contract and EU last year (I'm on the part time GDL) and I revised 3 topics to answer 3 questions in all topics except Crime where I studied a couple more because I was prepared for some questions to include a mixed bag of offences.

The questions on all papers were exactly what I expected - they were all problem questions and the crux of the answer was the same as many of the past papers even though some of the scenarios were quite different. In my contract exam, even though the questions were what I expected my mind went pretty blank on the case law front by the time I answered question 3, and I know I scored poorly on that - fortunately my first two answers which I had practised to death were pretty kick ass to it all evened out.

So based on that I would look at past papers, write out practice answers until you can write them in your sleep (and make sure you can answer them within the exam time period), if you start doubting yourself, study an extra topic as a fallback though maybe not in so much detail as the others.

This - Kate's absolutely spot on. There's no way that anyone can learn everything they've been taught this year (I have six subjects, each with 8 supervisions, which is a ridiculous amount of stuff!).

The best way I've found is to start by identifying how many questions you need to answer. If the paper says "answer four of eight", you'll need to know five topics well (and ideally a sixth in outline). You then need to go through past papers to work out which topics come up together. It's also worth skimming the examiners' reports - I did "Criminal Procedure and Evidence" last year (about 25% procedure, 75% evidence) and every year there's a question on procedure because the examiner complains that people think they can get away with dropping that part of the course. Preparing for it in advance - even though nobody else is - also means that fewer people will be answering that question, so hopefully you don't have to try as hard to stand out than if you do the most commonly attempted question on the paper, if that makes sense.

The problem is that there are not many EU papers at my uni, and we have a new Equity leader (we pinched Alastair Hudson from QM) so we don't have any of his past papers either. Tort I'm fine with, land...let's not. Thank you for the advice though, looks like past papers are the way to go!

Thanks I know, it's insane how much info there is. Will the examiners' reports be on the blackboard thing at all? I have't heard of these before. I think three of my exams are 3 questions to answer out of 8-12, not sure about land..

Gah, can't believe you got Alastair Hudson! Has he been plugging alastairhudson.com? I'm at Cambridge and happened to come across his Company and Equity podcasts - they're a little out of date (2009/2010) but they're fantastically clear.



I don't know. All I can tell you is that we have the last five years (or so) of papers and reports on our equivalent of the blackboard; I'm not sure if the university "has" to make them available to you. We also have things called "Form and Conduct Notices" for each exam, which are kind of like specifications. They describe how long the exam lasts, how many questions you have to answer, and which resources/statute books are approved for use in the exam. It might be worth looking to see if you have those uploaded for reference to check how many questions to do.

Yeah it's unreal, he doesn't do powerpoint slides he just speaks and then refers us to the podcasts paha. I hate equity though, I need to focus on that a lot or I think I'll actually fail. He is a nice chap really but he recycles jokes week by week and I think he's quite arrogant. I'll have a hunt for these things, I know we definitely have 3 questions for tort, EU and equity. Not so sure about land. I'm going to focus on psych injury, occupiers and public authority for tort, and also negligence. They seem to come up a lot in our past papers so that should be safe. I hope adverse possession comes up for land as that's the only topic I'm actually confident I understand...haha! I love the Directions books, they're so clear. I've ordered the Land one and Alastair's smaller book on equity as I've heard really good reviews, our equity textbook (by him, ofc) is just shy of 1300 pages and ain't nobody got time for that.

Ditto on Equity! As for 1,300 pages, that's got to be a new record. Graham Virgo is our "Alastair Hudson" and his book - which is nice and thorough - is only* 700!

*"Only"?! "You Know You're A Law Student When" #792 - "when your textbooks are 'only' a few hundred pages"...

Wow that must be good! Haha tell me about it. I just hope this smaller book works, I honestly can't be bothered reading his fat book. Half the pages are footnotes and he talks about things like Sex and the City...I just want to know what the law is, man. Shut up. The small one is the basics apparently so I'm going to use that to revise. I would be happy with a high 2:2 in equity and land tbh, I'm hoping that's doable. I'm so relieved you guys selectively revise too, at this point I'm getting overwhelmed and panicky because everyone seems to be learning every single topic. I just really hope this method works. Last year I selectively revised for constitutional and none of my topics came up except 1...but then again, it was 3 questions and I only learned 3 topics. My bad.

Something to lighten the mood though - someone (a non-lawyer, of all people!) pointed out in one of our Facebook groups that "bona fide purchaser for value without notice" (BFPFVWN) fits to the tune of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (which, it seems, is a word so long that TSR splits it into two sections)! I can't write the acronym without mentally humming it now.

I'm panicking big time, 2 weeks to go :| tort seems my only hope and even the past papers for that aren't great.

One of them: "Emily works at a pub earning £16,000 per annum. Emily is a law graduate..."

Well, how reassuring!

I could have written this... My exams start on 20th with Land, then Equity & Trusts on 22nd and Tort on 24th. I am so freakin' screwed! Equity is definitely my worst subject and that tutor has definitely been the least helpful in terms of preparing us for the exam.

Emily's job is looking quote rosy at the moment


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