1. General law exam study tips

Select your exam topics strategically

Revising all the topics for your exam is not the best strategy. If you attempt to revise every single topic covered in your module you are very likely to forget a lot about each topic. Result? You won’t be able to write a thorough exam answer on the few topics that actually matter. In most cases, you will get high marks in your law exam if you focus on revising only 3 to 5 topics per module.

Here are the benefits of this approach:

• Focusing on fewer topics helps you revise well for every topic that is considered important (i.e. likely to show up in the exam).


• It helps you cut down on the number of revision notes which you have to prepare before your exams = more time to study and practise writing mock exam answers.


• By focusing on fewer topics you’re avoiding the risk of getting things mixed up and answering the question in the wrong way.


• Focusing on just a few topics will give you a sense of control, confidence and certainty. This will reduce your exam stress A LOT.

Use fewer exam study resources

Law students often get scared that if they don’t read all the recommended textbooks and journal articles for their exam they will fail. It’s quite the opposite, actually. When you focus on revising from only a few crucial resources, you have more time to spend on each topic. This means you can study it better and practise writing answers to mock law exam questions (crucial!).

Here’s how to study less but smarter:

• Select only ONE textbook for each topic. Instead of diving into four different textbooks on criminal law to learn about murder and manslaughter, select one textbook only and prepare your revision notes based on that textbook. It will make you less confused and free up a lot of time to actually revise from your notes.


• Focus only on key definitions, cases and statute sections for each topic. Your lecturer might have mentioned 20+ cases and statute sections in each lecture. But not all of those cases and statute sections are relevant for your exam. Select 2-3 definitions of key concepts and 7-8 cases or statute sections per topic. This will help you focus on what’s really important.


• If you are struggling to select the right definitions, cases and statute sections, get professional revision notes that already contain only the most relevant sources for each exam topic. This will help you save a lot of unnecessary reading, stress and pressure of having to select the key sources yourself.

TIP: Save time during exam revisions with 1st Class Law Revision Notes!

Practise writing law exam answers

Many students believe that all they need to do to pass their law exams is memorise the right definitions, cases, and statute sections. But it’s one thing to remember the key sources and another to use them under pressure to write an exam answer. That’s why practising mock exam answers is crucial if you’re aiming for a first in your law exam.

When practising, take time to read and understand the question well, so you can answer it appropriately. If you are in a hurry to finish your answer during the exam, you are likely to write an essay that doesn't answer the question asked. Reading the question and analysing it is 50% of success. And you can definitely get better at it by practising mock exam answers at home.

Start by writing mock exam answers without a timer first. This will give you enough time to learn the right exam answering techniques. Then, find out how much time you will have during the exam for each question. Try to write your mock exam answers at home within that time. This will really help you prepare for the real-life exam experience.

TIP: Want to get a first in your law exams? Check out the 1st Class Law Exam Revision Course!

2. How to revise & study for law exams

How to study law cases for law exams

There are several case revision strategies you can use to pass your law exams. Different revision strategies work for different students. In order to discover what works for you, you need to try out a variety of case revision techniques early in your LLB course. Below you will find a suggestion of three key exam revision techniques for law cases. These techniques have been successfully used in the past by first class law students during exam preparation.

Studying cases for law exams using the ‘covering’ technique

This law exam study technique can be used with revision notes formatted as a table, with the names of case parties on one side of the page and explanations of facts, points of law and decisions on the other side.

The technique requires you to read through both sides of the revision note page. You then cover the side with explanations and try to recall whatever you remember about those explanations. You can do that quietly or out loud, depending on what works best for you.

After recalling the explanation of each case, you can uncover that explanation in the revision note and verify whether you have remembered it correctly.

TIP: See more tips on different law exam revision techniques.

Studying cases for law exams using the ‘story-telling’ technique

This law exam study technique is particularly useful when memorising lists of cases for each topic of your law exam. You can use this technique by looking at the cases and making up a funny or creative story involving the names of the parties, in the particular order in which they appear in the name of the case.

For example, if the first case on your list is Hart v Meddley and the second case is Daniels v Stevenson, you should first create a short story about Hart and Meddley. Your next step would be to come up with a continuation of the story that somehow connects Meddley with Daniels, and then Daniels with Stevenson.

By the end of the exam study process you should be able to quickly recall the entire story and write down the names of the parties one by one, starting with Hart and Meddley (Hart v Meddley) and finishing with Daniels and Stevenson (Daniels v Stevenson).

Studying cases for law exams using the ‘writing’ technique

This law exam study technique gives you the opportunity to practise recalling case law in writing, that is in the same way you will have to recall it during your law exam. In order to practise this technique, you will have to work with a revision note formatted as a table – just like the ‘covering’ study technique.

Ideally, you would remove the explanations from one side of the revision note and print out a few copies of that “template”. Your “template” should contain the names of the parties in each case on one side of the page. It should also contain plenty of space on the other side of the page, which you will fill up. In order to use this technique, read through the cases and explanations several times.

Then, write down whatever you can recall about the explanations of each case. Take a peek at the complete revision note with the explanations after writing down your own explanations of each case to verify your answer.

How to study statute sections for law exams

As a law student, you must understand the law and analyse how it applies to specific situations. But to get a first in your law exam you also need to memorise law sections. The challenge here is not so much in understanding the law but in how to study law sections for your exams when the pressure is high. Luckily, there are steps you can follow to tackle this seemingly difficult task strategically and pass your law school exams with high marks.

Select only the most relevant sections

Statutes are divided into chapters, sections and subsections for a reason. Each statute is a coherent body of law containing many provisions, not all of which will be relevant to your study topics. For that reason, you are not required to study the entire statute to prepare for your exam.

Law lecturers tend to include many statute sections in the lecture materials, because they want you to get a broad knowledge of the subject throughout the term. But not all of those statute sections are useful for your exam study, so you should be strategic about which statute sections you include in your revision notes.

Select only three to five of the most relevant statute sections per topic. This will avoid overstuffing your mind with other statute sections that may not be relevant to the topic you are preparing for. This will help you remember the sections at the time of the exam.

Avoid revising too many subsections

Statute sections are usually supplemented by subsections which either clarify the meaning of the main section (e.g. include a definition of a particular term) or provide a list of situations to which the main section applies or doesn’t apply. Because subsections are explanatory provisions, they tend to be lengthy and complex.

For example, section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 contains six lengthy subsections. If you tried to memorise them all, you would waste your time and the precious space in your brain that stores information before exams. Instead of trying to memorise all the subsections you should just memorise the fact that section 4 introduced something called a “declaration of incompatibility” along with an explanation of what that means.

This strategy will not work for all law topics you will study, but it will work for the majority of them. So you will have to use your judgement to decide which topics require memorising subsections. You can also use ready-made public and constitutional law revision notes to save yourself a headache.

Use memorising techniques

It can be boring memorising law sections before exams, but you can be clever about it and have fun at the same time. Here's some proven strategies that can help you:

Flashcards: Flashcards are simply cards that include information on both sides. For example, one side can include the name of the case and the other the facts. You can do these manually on paper or digitally using apps. Flashcards allow you to test your knowledge anytime, anywhere.

Mnemonics: With mnemonics, you can inject a little bit of fun into your law studies by using words that you can easily remember or words that are relevant to you. If this helps you retain the law statute sections more effectively, you can even use words from pop culture. For example, "PEMDAS" stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction, which is a popular mnemonic.

Mind maps: Mind maps are a good way to remember law sections if you're a visual learner. They let you see the connection between the main section and the subsections, or between different main sections of the statute and your topic. Colors can even be added to your mind maps if you think colorful notes will help you retain the information.

Write down all sections at the start of your exam

Managing your time is one of the most challenging aspects of law exams. If you don't manage your time well during an exam, you can easily get stressed out and forget all the statute sections you studied. In fact, poor time management is often the cause of a failed law exam.

You can easily prevent this outcome and stop yourself from forgetting the material you learned by writing down all the statute sections relevant to an exam question as soon as you read them. At the beginning of the exam the information in your head is still fresh, which means that it is way easier to recall than after you start writing your exam answer.

Once you begin writing your answer, you can refer back to the bullet-point list of statute sections. But make sure not to spend too much time creating the list. It should really only take you around 20-30 seconds. If you've been trying for 5 minutes to recall the statute sections for an exam question, then perhaps you need to focus on a different one that you are better equipped to answer.

3. How to recognise different law exam questions

To answer a law exam question, you need to recognise what kind of question was asked. Law exam questions fall into two basic categories: essay-style questions and problem-style questions.

How to recognise essay-style exam questions

An essay-style question usually has a sentence to comment on, a proper question with a question mark that needs to be answered, and a quote that needs to be discussed. In order to answer this kind of question, you need to evaluate the law, which means discussing its pros, cons, and complexities.

There are three main types of essay questions: general essay questions, specific essay questions, and quotation essay questions. General essay questions ask you to evaluate a particular area of law, but don't specify any issues in that area. In contrast, specific essay questions require you to discuss a particular issue in an area of law.

In quotation essay questions, you are asked to comment on a quote presenting an opinion regarding a particular area of law. I talk about how to approach each of those types of questions during a law exam in my 1st Class Law Exam Revision Course.

How to recognise problem-style exam questions

A problem-style question describes something that happened to one person or a group of people who all experienced something different. In order to answer problem-style questions, you need to understand how many legal issues there are. In other words, which of the things mentioned in the scenario require legal intervention?

Let's say you're dealing with a criminal law scenario where somebody wearing a red coat was shot. From a legal point of view, it doesn't matter that they were wearing a red coat. The legal questions in this case include:

• How exactly was the victim shot?


• What was the shooter thinking when they fired the gun?


• Did the victim die immediately after the shot?

These are the factors you need to determine to answer whether the shooter will be convicted of murder.

4. How to structure law exam answers

Knowing how to structure a law exam answer is the key to getting a first in your law exam. A clear answer outline can save you a lot of time during the exam. It also saves you from waffling and makes you stick to the point. Let’s look at how to structure each part of your exam answer.

How to structure law exam answers: introduction

Introductions to exam answers can differ based on whether you are answering a problem question, a general essay question, a specific essay question, or a quotation essay question. However, your exam answer introduction should generally follow the structure below.

Background

In this section you will include one sentence with basic information about your exam answer. In an essay-style exam answer the aim of the background is to help the reader understand the context of the exam question you will be dealing with. Your background in problem-style exams should just restate the key facts from the scenario that relate to the legal issues you'll address.

Central argument

Your introduction to an essay-style exam answer should identify the central argument of your exam answer. It is your key opinion about the law area you will discuss in your exam answer. In the introduction of a problem-style exam question, instead of a central argument you will outline the legal issues you will discuss throughout your exam answer.

Structure outline

End your introduction with an outline of your exam answer. The outline should include your exam answer headings. You can just list them here to let the reader know which arguments you're going to discuss.

How to structure law exam answers: main body

Make a list of key arguments

In an essay-style law exam answer, the central argument is the key argument you make throughout your exam answer. You need to support your central argument with lots of supporting arguments in your exam answer. Typically, with an exam answer of 1,500 words you will have around 2-3 supporting arguments divided into headings. Each supporting argument will discuss the relevant cases and/or statute sections.

When answering a problem-style exam question it is easier to plan out the main body of your answer. All you have to do is identify the legal issues you will discuss in your answer and devote one heading to each. If there are multiple people in the scenario that you will advise in your law exam answer, dedicate one heading to each of them.

Decide on the order of the key arguments

After you have identified the key arguments in your exam answer, arrange them so that they best support your central argument. Your exam answer is designed to persuade readers to agree with your central argument.

Choose which supporting argument you will discuss first, second, third, etc. to best achieve this purpose. If you are dealing with a problem-style exam question, you should arrange your legal issues in the order in which they show up in the scenario.

Come up with headings

Next, we have a straightforward task. For each supporting argument in your essay-style answer, you simply need a heading. It's important to keep your main body headings brief. Generally, the best headings are between three and six words summarising the particular supporting argument.

If you are writing an answer to a problem-style exam question, each of your headings should either summarise the legal issue discussed in it or include the name of the person whom you will advise. The two can sometimes be combined, for example: "Martha's misrepresentation".

NOTE: Learn how to structure first class law exam answers with the 1st Class Law Essay Generator.

How to structure law exam answers: conclusion

Restate the central argument

In the conclusion of your law exam answer, you should not introduce new supporting arguments. The conclusion simply summarises what the exam answer was about. Consequently, in an essay-style answer your conclusion should begin by restating your central argument - just like you did in the introduction. In a problem-style exam answer, you simply state in the first sentence what conclusion you reached regarding each legal issue discussed.

Restate key supporting arguments

After restating the central argument or conclusion regarding each legal issue, the remaining 2-3 sentences of your law exam answer should be devoted to briefly describing 2-3 supporting arguments that you discussed in the main body of your answer. In a problem-style exam question, you'll use those 2-3 sentences to explain why you came to these specific conclusions about the legal issues.

Final word

Remember that you are not the only one wondering how to pass your law exams. Law school exam preparation is a difficult time for almost every law student. Stress and anxiety usually increase when you revise everything instead of selecting a few key topics strategically.

In order to do well, you should study smartly by choosing a few high-quality sources, practising mock exam papers by timing yourself, and strategically selecting the most relevant topics.

By following these recommendations you will put yourself in a better position to perform well in law exams and get a first.