Are The Hours Hard?

Original post by shuffles

I really want to do Law but really want to enjoy the university life and someone told me that if you do Law, you have so many lectures and don't get to enjoy yourself that much :frown:

Hopefully he is wrong, any comments?

I've just had my first week of lectures and I would say it's manageable. I've done quite a lot of reading this week and only been out once, but I that's my personal choice because I want to have a better understanding of the law before I start doing other stuff. I'm starting to understand it better and the way things are going, I would say you can definitely enjoy university while studying law. It's all about management.

it also depends on what university you are going to, if It' some where like Cambridge I'm sure it will differ.

Reply 2

shuffles

OP

Thank you, if only Cambridge :smile:

no definitely Lancaster :smile:

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Reply 3

LawLad13

4

Original post by shuffles

I really want to do Law but really want to enjoy the university life and someone told me that if you do Law, you have so many lectures and don't get to enjoy yourself that much :frown:

Hopefully he is wrong, any comments?

Complete scaremongering; Law has notoriously little contact time. Most law courses have less than 10 hours a week of contact time (i.e. lectures and seminars). If you think that you're in school for nearly 40 hours a week, then 10 hours is an absolute doddle.

Law is an academically rigorous subject and does require effort and time to achieve a good classification. However, you will have plenty of time to join societies, go out and even get a job if you wish. It all comes down to your time management. If you are organised and don't spend your entire life hungover or ending up on the weird parts of YouTube etc., then it's entirely possible to get a good degree and have fun at the same time.

Reply 4

Bambilicious

1

It's a long time since I was at uni, but I think my contact hours were about 15 hours a week. Most of your time will be spent reading, making notes and preparing for tutorials.

But you can definitely have a social life as well as a law degree, provided you work hard and manage your time. As LawLad13 says, joining clubs and societies and taking on a part-time job should be perfectly achievable, as will going out with your friends. In fact, if you want to pursue a legal career then it's very important that your CV shows you didn't just spend your whole degree with your nose in a textbook.

Reply 5

shuffles

OP

Thank you so much guys, really helped! I just want to enjoy the full Uni life :smile:

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Reply 6

edmund

Original post by shuffles

I really want to do Law but really want to enjoy the university life and someone told me that if you do Law, you have so many lectures and don't get to enjoy yourself that much :frown:

Hopefully he is wrong, any comments?

Law is a text heavy and demanding subject. You could do a less demanding subject and then do the conversion course if you are worried about the work/life balance.

Reply 7

A lot comes down to how you study and how your university organises assessments. Ar my uni, 100% of your assessment was based on final exams at the end of the year. So I did loads of extracurriculars, worked two jobs part-time, partied, ended up watching hours of youtube videos and did very little reading for the most part. Right at the beginning of Easter Break every year, I would buckle down and start studying like a maniac, somewhere in the realm of 12-15 hours every day. That amount of effort was enough to get me a first-class degree. :wink:

Reply 8

Original post by arrowhead

A lot comes down to how you study and how your university organises assessments. Ar my uni, 100% of your assessment was based on final exams at the end of the year. So I did loads of extracurriculars, worked two jobs part-time, partied, ended up watching hours of youtube videos and did very little reading for the most part. Right at the beginning of Easter Break every year, I would buckle down and start studying like a maniac, somewhere in the realm of 12-15 hours every day. That amount of effort was enough to get me a first-class degree. :wink:

I basically did this for A-level haha. Didn't you get like tests an stuff that you had to do which didn't count towards your degree? Sadly my university has bits of coursework, but most is strongly based on exams.

Reply 9

Original post by Sesshomaru24U

I basically did this for A-level haha. Didn't you get like tests an stuff that you had to do which didn't count towards your degree? Sadly my university has bits of coursework, but most is strongly based on exams.

Nope, no coursework whatsoever. There is one optional module that had a bit of coursework but I didn't take that one so I was free until exams every year.

Reply 10

Original post by arrowhead

Nope, no coursework whatsoever. There is one optional module that had a bit of coursework but I didn't take that one so I was free until exams every year.

Don't you get essays you need to write and hand in though - not coursework, like homework. What uni did you attend, I really wish I went were you did now.

Reply 11

Original post by Sesshomaru24U

Don't you get essays you need to write and hand in though - not coursework, like homework. What uni did you attend, I really wish I went were you did now.

We had infrequent essays (maybe 1 or 2 a term per module) that would get a grade but they didn't really count for anything. I think I averaged at a low 2.1 on my essays each term and got high 2.1s/1sts in the exams by the end of the year. :tongue:

I read Law at the LSE, where are you studying?

Reply 12

Original post by arrowhead

We had infrequent essays (maybe 1 or 2 a term per module) that would get a grade but they didn't really count for anything. I think I averaged at a low 2.1 on my essays each term and got high 2.1s/1sts in the exams by the end of the year. :tongue:

I read Law at the LSE, where are you studying?

I'm at Newcastle. I seriously regret not doing the LNAT now ._. So, just an assumption here, I'm assuming you read all the textbooks, understand most of the content to the point where you could use the majority of legal terms then after that went on the read articles and journals for the point of furthering your legal view and allowing for you to argue from different points of law and the you started remembering cases. Is it right to assume that would be enough? Apart from practicing a few past papers, I'm guessing that's what the study of law required from you right? Please correct if wrong, because that's basically what I plan on doing/

Reply 13

Original post by Sesshomaru24U

I'm at Newcastle. I seriously regret not doing the LNAT now ._. So, just an assumption here, I'm assuming you read all the textbooks, understand most of the content to the point where you could use the majority of legal terms then after that went on the read articles and journals for the point of furthering your legal view and allowing for you to argue from different points of law and the you started remembering cases. Is it right to assume that would be enough? Apart from practicing a few past papers, I'm guessing that's what the study of law required from you right? Please correct if wrong, because that's basically what I plan on doing/

LSE is a non-LNAT uni. :tongue:

Yes, that's pretty much what I did. To be clear, my process was as follows: Pick the topic, read the textbook essential reading, then read the essential reading articles, then read 5/6 of the further reading articles, then write essay plans for past paper questions on that topic. All in all, this process takes about 2-3 days per topic and with 5-6 topics per module, the revision period is a hardcore 45-50 days of insane study.

Reply 14

Original post by arrowhead

LSE is a non-LNAT uni. :tongue:

Yes, that's pretty much what I did. To be clear, my process was as follows: Pick the topic, read the textbook essential reading, then read the essential reading articles, then read 5/6 of the further reading articles, then write essay plans for past paper questions on that topic. All in all, this process takes about 2-3 days per topic and with 5-6 topics per module, the revision period is a hardcore 45-50 days of insane study.

I didn't get A*AA so I couldn't anyone, unless in clearing they dropped to AAA. That sounds hardcore. So you completed like 700 paged textbooks in about 3 days as well as articales and journals and so on. See the problem with me is Newcastle just change their exam papers for this year, meaning that past papers are useless. However, I assume that taking the same structure should be enough right? I've been told that you are normally given a legal controversy and express views on it backed up with cases and legal points relating to the area of the study and so on - a week ago I didn't understand an of this, I feel like a nerd :cool:

. Also we've been given further reading, but it's only like 2 sources, so i'm guessing that won't be enough. How hard/long do you think it will take to find journal and articles myself? I mean our library has a section for it and i'm sure with westlaw they post that kind of stuff. I'm quite bored at university and I'm really tempted to just do what you said now, so i'll have like all the work and stuff sorted so when the exam period approaches I'll just have to run over it all which seems like it would make the whole experience easy. What do you think? Sorry for the overload haha

Reply 15

Original post by Sesshomaru24U

I didn't get A*AA so I couldn't anyone, unless in clearing they dropped to AAA. That sounds hardcore. So you completed like 700 paged textbooks in about 3 days as well as articales and journals and so on. See the problem with me is Newcastle just change their exam papers for this year, meaning that past papers are useless. However, I assume that taking the same structure should be enough right? I've been told that you are normally given a legal controversy and express views on it backed up with cases and legal points relating to the area of the study and so on - a week ago I didn't understand an of this, I feel like a nerd :cool:

. Also we've been given further reading, but it's only like 2 sources, so i'm guessing that won't be enough. How hard/long do you think it will take to find journal and articles myself? I mean our library has a section for it and i'm sure with westlaw they post that kind of stuff. I'm quite bored at university and I'm really tempted to just do what you said now, so i'll have like all the work and stuff sorted so when the exam period approaches I'll just have to run over it all which seems like it would make the whole experience easy. What do you think? Sorry for the overload haha

If the exams are changing, it's probably syllabus changes? If the changes are drastic, your university will generally publish sample exam papers to give you a guide for exam prep. Otherwise, past exam papers should give you a good idea about structure of the exams. if there are going to be huge structural changes however, these will be communicated to you much in advance and again, sample papers are the norm.

In terms of finding sources for further readings, the best places are within the footnotes of your essential readings. See which articles/sources turn up most commonly in those pages of your textbook. The next best thing to do is just ask your tutor/lecturer/seminar convenor/class teacher for further reading suggestions/online links/author names/books. They're usually more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Reply 16

Original post by arrowhead

If the exams are changing, it's probably syllabus changes? If the changes are drastic, your university will generally publish sample exam papers to give you a guide for exam prep. Otherwise, past exam papers should give you a good idea about structure of the exams. if there are going to be huge structural changes however, these will be communicated to you much in advance and again, sample papers are the norm.

In terms of finding sources for further readings, the best places are within the footnotes of your essential readings. See which articles/sources turn up most commonly in those pages of your textbook. The next best thing to do is just ask your tutor/lecturer/seminar convenor/class teacher for further reading suggestions/online links/author names/books. They're usually more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Thanks. I'm feeling more confident about it now. So from looking at the syllabus you prepare to possible questions from the topics, but do you do this by just making points on a particular area and the cases/statues that will support that point and contradict it? I've been told that to get the higher marks that's what I should be looking to do. Examining the question and seeing what it asks for then providing evidence that supports certain view points but then including counter argument and possibly other views on law (this is where journals and stuff come in). Also staying on topic of course, but then with the conclusion I assume you take the argument given then include your own opinion on it all?

That's likely the last question :tongue:

Reply 17