The Student Room Group
Neo
Could someone give me an idea of the kindof essay titles law students at exeter get?


They change from tutor to tutor, but ones i've had so far are (well, the shorter ones at least)

'To what extent does the constitution of the UK embody the seperation of powers?'

'"When combined with Parliamentary Supremecy, it becomes obvious that human rights are protected by parliament only so much as it chooses to do so"- discuss"

"To what extent do omissions make one liable under the criminal law?"

"'Legislation was of little relevance in Roman Law'. Discuss."

Or something like that anyway. Does that help?
Reply 2
To be honest, I think seeing the titles will be of little use to you until you've done the reading to go with them- frequently I haven't a clue what the title of my current week's essay is getting at until I've started the reading.
Crazy Mongoose is right that they change from tutor to tutor, but they will be about the same aspects of the law since we all sit the same mods and finals papers at the end of the course.
Law essays can either be an essay question such as the ones above or a problem question, where you will be told about a series of events and then asked to advise one of the parties.
If you want to know more about essays, my tutors always tell us not to write more in a tutorial essay than we would be able to in 45 mins in an exam as that's how long we'll have in the exam and most tutors won't mark more than about 4 single spaced typed sides. That may not seem like a lot but the faculty claims that you should be doing 45 hours a week (based on you doing one and a half subjects a week) and whilst you may find shortcuts and cut down on that a little, the reading list is long and you will need to spend quite a good deal of time on it before you can even begin to tackle your essay.
Hope that helps.
Reply 3
Thats really put my mind at rest! I knew that the reading would be difficult, but i'm glad that they don't expect much more than 4 sides an essay, i was imagining pages and pages.... *phew* !!!
Reply 4
beckynewsome
Thats really put my mind at rest! I knew that the reading would be difficult, but i'm glad that they don't expect much more than 4 sides an essay, i was imagining pages and pages.... *phew* !!!


single spaced typed sides (i'm guessing 2500 words or so) and 45 hours a week studying does not put my mind at rest....:smile:

i do really like the sound of the first 2 essays though, a level politics might lend a hand i think.
Yeah, constitutional law isn't that bad in terms of requring legal knowledge, but it does need a decent amount of reading of textbooks and articles that are so dry it is beyond belief. Your tutors will probably suggest Bradley&Ewing for Cons law- under no circumstances buy it. Nothing is said in that book in five words when fifty will do.
Reply 6
45 hours a week is bull****.
If you read quite quickly (and I do) you can get the reading done in a good days work (read anything from 8 to 14 hours depending upon length) and then the writing usually takes me about three, a total of about 17 hours. Thats per essay, though, and will involve getting only the bare bones to construct your essay. So add about another five hours if you want to do the vast majority of the list, and another two hours if you are intent upon rewriting. So even then, only about 24 hours work max.

Mind you, it should be noted that those are 17 good hours, not 17 hours sitting at your desk, and that distinction can often mean all the difference.
If you are ridiculously clever you can do 1st year pre-mods essays from start of reading to finishing writing in about 4 - 5 hours (I used to do them the morning of the 2pm tute).

If you are one of these dilligent types who had to work hard to get their A's at a-lev then you could be looking at up to about 40 hours work an essay
Reply 9
I gave you the figure of 45 cos that's what the faculty said. Like most people, I don't do 45. I can't remember how much I actually do as I'm currently on my year abroad and haven't written more than 200 words at a time so far this year...
NeverMindThat
If you are ridiculously clever you can do 1st year pre-mods essays from start of reading to finishing writing in about 4 - 5 hours (I used to do them the morning of the 2pm tute).


If you are capable of that, you should be pulling 20-hours and getting firsts.
Reply 11
But not everyone wants a first. Too much effort.
NeverMindThat
If you are ridiculously clever you can do 1st year pre-mods essays from start of reading to finishing writing in about 4 - 5 hours (I used to do them the morning of the 2pm tute).

If you are one of these dilligent types who had to work hard to get their A's at a-lev then you could be looking at up to about 40 hours work an essay


You are the former, right?
Crazy Mongoose
If you are capable of that, you should be pulling 20-hours and getting firsts.



First year I did. Unfortunately after crim, roman and constit all the other modules are much less formulaic. Now it takes be about 9 hours an essay to get a mid 2:1