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wifd149's last fight to end my law degree with a bang!!!

:hugs: Hello! :h:

I know that this may seem like it's too late to start a new Grow Your Grades blog, but you know what - I am still going to do it!

:hide:


I am currently almost halfway through the last year of my law degree, and I am aiming to graduate with first class average (classifications) for the first time in my life this year! To me, what is important right now is to work towards it and to keep learning on how to make this possible. That means I need to continuously improve my study skills, exam techniques, research ability, and the "lawyering" mentality.


My Motivation

To be honest, before this I haven't truly considered the value of what it means to get a First Class average outside of improving my chances to get employed as a lawyer. Then after several rejections months back, I somehow managed to have a 3-week long internship in legal advisory when it comes to civil matters such as debt recollection, employment contracts, land law, and intellectual property. During this time period I've realized that a lot of the legal suggestions that the lawyers made were very legally creative, functional, and innovative!

This made me grasp the true value of what is to be able to understand, apply, and mold the law to make it work the way you want it to. I did a lot of legal research during this internship, so it definitely opened my eyes on why legal theories are very important.

And so, ever since then I've been interested in doing my best to achieve this level of greatness I swear!


Previously

I made a similar thread about doing things absolutely last minute in the last exam term. You can find the thread here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7020972

Academic scores so far (not looking great, I know :frown:)

Spoiler


By second year, most of my weaknesses lies in answering problem scenario questions which is the bane of my entire existence :ashamed2: I've had several first class essays, but even then I am still questioning my actual essay writing abilities at the moment :frown:


Third Year Modules (2021/2022 academic year)


Semester 1:
(Mental) Health Care Law
Environmental Law
Company Law


Semester 2:
(Medical) Health Care Law
Intellectual Property Law
Commercial Law
(edited 2 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
So far...
(Tuesday, 30th November)

I've just submitted a MHL essay literally last week. I genuinely didn't know what to write about for 5-10 pages in relation to the question that we were given. Really anxious about it because I want to score well in it, since MHL was a random choice I made that I didn't expect to enjoy.

Right now I have 2 more assignments - (questions not confirmed yet, but I know it's coming!) - in MHL and Environmental Law due late January, but I will also have my Company Law exams by then so I am worried.

...I am also having some kind of trauma with assignments after failing Jurisprudence honestly :frown:

For the next few days, I am not sure what to do yet. Though I guess that I will have to catch up with Company law and MHL, as well as preparing for my last my batch of seminars this term. Since I've skipped some due to me doing my MHL assignment last minute, I ought to utilize their remaining office-hours seriously. Have to seek out advice on what and how to write lengthy assignments too.

[Btw, sorry for tagging you guys along again. Feel free to unwatch at anytime, and hope that you guys are doing a-OK! :jumphug:]
@Catherine1973 @lawdreamer23 @TFEU
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 2
I'll be here for you too. Please don't put yourself down like that, there are a lot of factors at play than 2:1s to be honest :redface: My CV is frankly empty and the competition is horrendous.

Personally, am doing the bar after this though but a solicitor's work is very appealing to me too. On the bright side we can always support each other!

So how've you been lately?
Reply 3
Congrats on your first in an essay mate! :h: I don't think that you would score that low to be honest, I'd say that it could possibly be your nerves speaking - I'm in a worrying state too :frown:

On that note, have you thought of making your own GYG blog? It'll be nice to track our progresses :smile:
Reply 4
The Last Set of Semester 1 Tutorials
(Tuesday, 7th December)

This week has the last set of tutorials that I would ever have for Semester 1, and it is horrifying to think that I wouldn't study the same modules in the following semester - mostly because that meant that I would really, really need to do well for the upcoming exams in January. To be honest, I have not done much in the past 10 weeks of university. I admittedly just stuck to the bare minimum of doing things, such as answering and filling in tutorial questions.

In the past 2 and a half years of university, I surprisingly never made any kinds of notes for any of my subjects. The only thing I had were my tutorial notes? Even then, they were not exactly the most detailed. In some ways this worries me, since this lazy approach clearly negatively impacted my ability to answer problem questions, as evident in my low mark in Tort Law. Therefore, from today onwards until early January, I think that I might want to make an outline for Company Law :colondollar:

Will I even do it?

I don't know, but I should honestly.
I won't get to have 3rd year again and I must go out with a bang! :doh:

In the meanwhile, I also have to gear up on whatever that I need to prepare for the two remaining assignments that I have for Environmental Law and MHL. These are due in late January, so I still have time that I need to put to good use - lest it be as stressful as Jurisprudence :cry: I cannot afford another repeat of bad marks this year at all, especially since I have been leaving out a lot of extracurricular experiences that I could have done in order to do well academically this year :flute:


:hide: ...


This week my seminars will cover:

MHL (Tuesday) - Community Treatment Orders and Access to Justice

Company Law (Friday) - Shareholder Remedies, Corporate Governance Regulation and Insolvency

Environmental Law (Friday) - Public participation in decision-making


You might have noticed that my last MHL tutorial will be in less than 24 hours' time, so I'm going to spend the rest of the remaining time outside of sleeping just reading around and about. I took a look at the questions and they are relatively harder than the previous ones; the last question requires me to assess a patient's case and the amount of information provided is just astounding. I've got no clue what are the requirements of a CTO are yet, nor their legal implications, thus I honestly pray that the next 20 hours would be productively spent and stress-free at the same time :dipsy:

The two other tutorial questions, on the other hand, are much more challenging, especially for Environmental Law since the reading list given is extensive. For Company Law, it's mostly because I have zero knowledge on any of those three topics yet. Luckily I have about 2 to 3 days to complete them both :dong: Yes, don't do last minute work because the whole experience is painful - yet here I am. Go me, I'd like to be alive and happy by the end of these few days.
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 5
Rant #1 (Wednesday, 8th December)

Taking a look at the posts that I have made here, I am feeling incredibly unhappy with them :frown:

My previous last minute exam study blog was much more entertaining and informative. I suppose one reason for that is maybe because I haven't done much lately; for some odd reasons I am severely slacking off and am running away from life too. Not to mention that my English writing and speaking skills have been hitting an all-time low, as evident in my recent posts.

I am feeling very frustrated :cry:

At the time of writing this, I am currently feeling very disgusted with myself, my brain isn't functioning properly, and the only thing I want to do is cry. When I am in a mood like this, looking at a block of text is also overwhelming. I'd want to space everything out, but when I view about them logically I know that these paragraphs don't make sense.

The main issue that I could think of at the top of my head is that: lately my sleeping schedule is incredibly whacky and this makes me want to puke. In the past three years, I rarely have had to go on through the day with little sleep. So now I am spoilt with a nice sleeping environment, better sleeping skills than me ol' teenage self, and at least 7 hours of sleep in a 24-hour span.

It may not sound troubling at all, but considering the fact that I don't normally sleep for 7 hours straight, etc., so I would spend some (a lot of) time awake in between every few hours (as little as 2) this means that in a day I just waste so much time. I feel ridiculous. Almost everyday when I wake up, it's like 4 pm. To provide some perspective, that meant that I don't actually do anything for 16 hours every day :dontknow:

In these times I will feel unbelievably stressed-out because I also still want to have my time to relax while eating.

It is ****ing tricky as hell, but I seriously need to sort out my sleeping schedule.
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 6
See :colondollar: Congrats again mate, your skills aren't something to scoff at. I'll be waiting for that GYG :biggrin:
Reply 7
Haven't been managing my time well :burnout:
(Friday, 10th December)

In an hour I would soon have my Company Law tutorial, followed by another one for Environmental Law so I might as well chip in on my upcoming awkward demise.

To be honest, I've only started doing some work on both of them literally 6 hours ago. Sounds like a lot of time but considering that I haven't even caught up to any of the lectures in these topics I doubt that there would be anything useful that I could contribute to the seminars. Company Law especially; there is 3 topics to be discussed and I don't know much about them. Could have spent my time better, instead I wasted time debating about the NHS on TSR and chatting in on random forums. They surprisingly polished up my critical analysis skills on a whole league better than if I were to attempt past year questions though :colondollar: I never knew how quick I could make up fully-fleshed arguments and analyze numerical evidences until then. That has been my highlight so far this week and I think that I would continue to participate in TSR debates from now on, albeit these consequently affected the preparation times for my seminars.

Henceforth, it seems like the best I could do right now is to wing them seminars :awesome:
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 8
Update:

Both went surprisingly fine :confused: I just avoided case-specific questions in Company Law, but managed to answer and discuss the concepts (e.g. unfair prejudice, derivative action, etc.). For Environmental Law, I was somehow able to complete the reading list right before the tutorial starts so the questions weren't that intimidating. Bizarre to think that I won't have any more seminars in these subjects, but that means examinations are just around the corner. I am intending to figure out some rough study plan, and might share it here soon.
Reply 9
Always will be :smile: All the best mate!
Reply 10
Quick update:


I have wasted a week not doing any revision nor do any readings for my assignments due the end of next month, but thank God that I woke up feeling much better after yesterday’s traumatic events of trying to get a rental property for the next term :blushing: Cried a lot, whined a lot too in the past week, and made separate thread about it all. I swear that I learned a lot about what strategies and techniques to use and not use to get a good property and better agency next time :dumbells:

Thank God also, that I woke up feeling a bit more motivated to do my work later in the day. Meanwhile I will probably watch some study vlogs and/or fun videos on YT, then nap/sleep for about 2 hours more.

Fun fact: this is my second time typing this out because my tablet lagged and lost the last draft :boring:

Will update on my plans of attacking my work later!
(edited 2 years ago)
While I didn't do my Law degree in the UK (assuming that's where you're based), reading some of your posts really takes me back. I agree with what you mentioned about the importance of sleep schedules - sorting that out at the first instance will make you feel so much better, and does result in better concentration/productivity.

I see some problems, like getting a rental property and a better agency, are universal. Sometimes things are really just that unfair!
Reply 12
Original post by journeyaway
While I didn't do my Law degree in the UK (assuming that's where you're based), reading some of your posts really takes me back. I agree with what you mentioned about the importance of sleep schedules - sorting that out at the first instance will make you feel so much better, and does result in better concentration/productivity.

I see some problems, like getting a rental property and a better agency, are universal. Sometimes things are really just that unfair!


The occasional nostalgic trips are fun and nice at times, glad to take you down the memory lane and I am hoping that your memories of law school is actually great :colondollar:

Yes, I am studying law in the UK and the problems of rental properties are sadly, very universal. It’s just with the current times, it’s much harder; I am honestly praying that when either me or my current partner moves in, the property will be in good condition and decently clean :^_^:
Hey good luck with it.

One thing that helped me was doing one page summaries of the topics. What did the lectures cover, and then how did the readings fit into that. Did I have an article /case in most parts of the topic (even if I haven’t read it yet)
I understand procrastinating well. I finished the llb last year, doing the masters in law now, exams end January and still spent every study afternoon this week just surfing. And I am nearly 50! Shall be better after Xmas. Have printed articles to read at my parents!
Original post by wifd149
The occasional nostalgic trips are fun and nice at times, glad to take you down the memory lane and I am hoping that your memories of law school is actually great :colondollar:

Yes, I am studying law in the UK and the problems of rental properties are sadly, very universal. It’s just with the current times, it’s much harder; I am honestly praying that when either me or my current partner moves in, the property will be in good condition and decently clean :^_^:

A lot of it was great, but I recall Torts being my WORST Law paper ever. I almost failed one of the assignments and recall sitting in front of my Professor, trying to figure out where everything went wrong...

EDIT: now that I think about it, my Contract Law was pretty garbage too lol.

I still graduated with a First though, so hang in there! It's great to hear your motivations, and I'll be following your thread too :smile:
(edited 2 years ago)
Tort this year was the worse for our group with an average of 55! (Other subjects all around 65%).

I got 72, I liked tort, nice logical structure to follow for all problem questions.

Have you tried the q&a revision guides?
Reply 16
Original post by Catherine1973
Hey good luck with it.

One thing that helped me was doing one page summaries of the topics. What did the lectures cover, and then how did the readings fit into that. Did I have an article /case in most parts of the topic (even if I haven’t read it yet)
I understand procrastinating well. I finished the llb last year, doing the masters in law now, exams end January and still spent every study afternoon this week just surfing. And I am nearly 50! Shall be better after Xmas. Have printed articles to read at my parents!


The fact that you can study well at that age gives me hope that I can practice long-life learning meaningfully :u: I have been seeing way too much articles on whether or not you can learn new languages after 25, and a lot of them kept saying "you can but it will take a very long time" like an afterthought.
Reply 17
Original post by journeyaway
A lot of it was great, but I recall Torts being my WORST Law paper ever. I almost failed one of the assignments and recall sitting in front of my Professor, trying to figure out where everything went wrong...

EDIT: now that I think about it, my Contract Law was pretty garbage too lol.

I still graduated with a First though, so hang in there! It's great to hear your motivations, and I'll be following your thread too :smile:


Wow! :yep: That's good, I really want to graduate with a First too! But sometimes I question if I even have the skills to give incredible answers though, knowing what to do, what to include, what to talk about, and developing the skills really take a long time for them to kick in for me - it's been more than 2 years and I am still struggling like hell :dontknow: Granted I am also a lazy person.
Reply 18
Original post by Catherine1973
Tort this year was the worse for our group with an average of 55! (Other subjects all around 65%).

I got 72, I liked tort, nice logical structure to follow for all problem questions.

Have you tried the q&a revision guides?


I used the Q&A guide for Equity and Trusts before, 68% (-10% for late submission of a few minutes :no:) and 65% for essays and problem questions. Some are useful mostly for problem questions.

Though I think that @journeyaway didn't study law in the UK and had already graduated.
Reply 19
Thanks mate :smile: My mum is in a bit of a panicky mood, so she still wants to talk about me later, and my dad is kinda too (he wants me to keep seeing my paternal grandparents until then, which makes it kinda inconvenient). I am gloomy about this in all honesty; it's hard for them to stick to their final word :cry: They think that the moment I move out I'm going to die somewhere down the road because I moved out :confused: Anyone can die at any time to be honest, falling random debris and whatnot

I will try to get on with life too, get emotionally better, and start my assignments honestly. No one is really making it easy for me and I'm pretty bummed about that.

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