Top Law Studying Tips from First Class Law Students

Having worked as a lecturer, I have plenty of advice to share with law students on how to get a first class degree. But this time I’ve decided to reach straight to the source for even more insights. I spoke to several of my top law students who have been consistently getting firsts for at least two academic terms. Here are the top law studying tips that they wanted to share with you.

Top Law Study Tip 1: Ask the lecturers for help with courseworks

The first law studying tip comes from Michael who is currently a final year student in London:

​When I was in my first year I was very shy to ask my lecturers for help with my law papers. I thought I had to know it all and that if they found out that I didn’t something bad would happen. 

In my second year I talked to more students and realised that nobody knew what they were doing. I started asking lecturers to tell me how to get better at writing my essays and many gave me useful tips.

​I wish I had done it earlier.
​

​I completely agree. It’s true that not all lecturers will be eager to give you feedback and advice on how to improve your essays. But if they do that, this might help you understand better how to approach the coursework they set.

Here are some things you can ask your lecturers if you need more support with your coursework:
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• How do I approach this specific topic? What do you expect to see in the introduction, the main body and the conclusion of an essay on this topic?
• Is there a particular essay structure you want me to use?
• Which part of the lecture do you want me to focus my reading on to make sure I don’t miss out on anything important?
• How many cases do you think a first class essay on this topic should discuss?
• How many journal articles do you think a first class essay on this topic should discuss?

While not all lecturers will be eager to answer those questions, it’s still worth a try given the potential improvement in your grade.

Note: If your lecturers are not that eager on giving you guidance, you can always check out the 1st Class Law Essay Writing Course I created for students like you.

Top Law Study Tip 2: Listen carefully during revision sessions

The second of the top law studying tips comes from Shaida, a third year student in London:

​I found this one subject in my second year very boring and I was zooming in and out during lectures throughout the whole term. I just couldn’t stay focused. When the revision session arrived, I was too tired of hearing about this topic and didn’t pay attention at all. That was a mistake. It turned out that none of my close friends paid attention and nobody knew what to revise for the exam. I got very stressed and didn’t do well in the exam.

​During your law degree you will study a very wide range of subjects, starting with human rights and finishing with EU law. It’s natural that you will like some subjects more than others and you should not feel guilty about it.

But even those subjects that you’re not particularly fond of will contribute to your final degree grade. You don’t have to love them, but you still have to study for them in a clever way to make sure they don’t spoil your future career for you by lowering your final grade.

Nobody will force you to be passionate about them. But you should accept that if you haven’t done much studying for a particular subject throughout the term, you will really need to be clever about exam revisions.

There is no way that you will learn the entire module in one or two weeks of exam prep. But if you listen carefully during the revision session you won’t have to do it, because you will find out exactly what you absolutely have to focus on to make sure you get a decent grade.

Here are a few things to pay attention to during exam revision sessions:

•  Which topics did your lecturer recommend revising?
• What specific part of each of those topics is more likely to show up in the exam than others?
• Which topics did your lecturer not recommend revising?
• Which topics are likely to show up as problem-style questions?
• Which topics are likely to show up as essay-style questions?

At the end of the day, if your lecturer hasn’t covered some of the above points during the revision session, you can always raise your hand or approach them after the lecture and ask the question. It is also always good to compare whatever the lecturer said with past exam papers. It will especially help you to figure out the answers to the last two of the above questions.

Top Law Study Tip 3: Hire a tutor to help you with the first few assignments

The last of the top law study tips comes from a second year law student in Essex, Eric:

​I failed my first law assignment ever and it really hit me hard. I thought to myself: how will I ever get a first grade if I can’t even pass? I tried to improve on my own, read all the available law study books and a lot of stuff online, but I still wasn't able to get above 52%. That’s when I decided to hire a law tutor.

I was scared about the money at first, but I realised that it would be a good investment. And it really paid off. After I started getting my essays proofread by a tutor my grades really increased a lot in term two. I wouldn’t have been able to improve them so much and in such a short time on my own.

I can tell from experience that Eric made a good choice. Unfortunately, these days lecturers working at universities have hardly any time to spare to properly teach law students how to write first class law essays.

Without the extra support, most students don’t ever get a first grade until they are in their third year. By that time, their chances of getting a 1st in their overall degree decrease significantly. That’s why it’s useful to get support from a law tutor early on in the process.

But, be wary of tutors who don’t provide enough guidance for you to improve quickly, because they want you to keep buying services from them throughout your whole degree. A good law tutor should be able to help you improve your legal writing significantly within a term or two.

Here are some things you should pay attention to when looking for a law tutor:

• Do they offer support with preparing essay plans and essay proofreading?
• Do they have any training materials you can access for free or otherwise?
• Do they have experience working as a law lecturer?
• How many students have they worked with in the past?​​

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