Exam Hysteria

We have all been there. The final exam of the year. Nerves, yes, but also a faint whiff of excitement for the summer. That feeling that, no matter what the exam may throw at you, in 3 hours time you won't have to worry for another 3 months. The invigilator calls you all to put down your pens and a wave of cool relief washes over you... ahhh calm!

This year I have been cruelly and heartlessly deprived of that heady relief due to, what I am coining, 'exam hysteria'. Electives exams were rather ruthless and consequently we have all been drawn into a blow-by-blow dissection of each and every word we wrote on the papers. The guilt, the regret, the misery.

When I finished the paper I felt a bit disappointed but definitely confident of a pass. I stayed behind with a few friends to grab a pizza in Guildford and the self-doubt began. 

"Oh... did you include [insert relevant case]?"

"Yes question 2 was definitely about [insert relevant topic]"

"You said she worked 40 hours a week? I am pretty sure it worked out at 37.5"

I spent the drive home deflatedly mulling over each and every detail and convincing myself I had failed.  I didn't even do this for my degree finals.

But the conversations didn't stop there. All texts from friends since the exams have been exam related. Some friends repeatedly just stating that they have failed. Some friends remembering bits they did or didn't include and checking if they were in the majority. Others planning their new careers after the embarrassment of inevitably being publicly named and shamed as the University of Law's worst LPC student and then unceremoniously kicked off the course. Tiresome, but infectious. 

My personal way of dealing with anything like this is perfectly summed up in the phrase "worrying won't change a thing" so I don't understand why I have been dragged into all this pessimism. I am slowly withdrawing from the exam talk now (it has been 2 weeks!) and trying to resume with normal life. I hope that my friends can also combat this strange compulsion to berate ourselves but I fear they may need to go cold turkey.

What I can confirm is that it is most definitely catching so beware, fellow law students, and keep away from the infected.

Exams and finishing LPC year one

I have officially completed the first year of the LPC :D I cannot believe it. This academic year has gone so quickly and it's scary to think that I will only be a student for one more year. 

Last week I had exams in the employment elective and then solicitors' accounts. Employment (on Tuesday) didn't go as well as I would have like. In preparation for the exam I re-read the ENTIRE textbook (dedication!) and made notes on each topic. I went through each workshop and re-did most of the workshop tasks. I then annotated the flow charts and did the specimen exam. It would be fair to say I was feeling fairly confident and I slept like a baby the night before the exam. 

The multiple choice element of the exam (20%) went terribly, as expected. So I was pleased to move on to the written questions. The first one was primarily redundancy based, with an unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal element plus a juicy question on restraint of trade. The second was TUPE followed by a question on future liability in relation to transferred employees. It mainly went badly due to time management. At the start of the exam I worked out how much time I had for each section but, inevitably, I ran over on my redundancy question- opting to cover EVERY single option etc. This meant I rushed the second part. However, I did finish and since the exam I know of 3 people who didn't even reach the future liability question, so I am at least thankful for that! 

The real issue I have is with regard to discrimination. 1/3 of the course was dedicated to discrimination claims and so I was surprised to find it was not examined in the paper . Apparently, this surprise was felt by many and has led to a divide on whether there was in fact a potential discrimination claim in the first question. *cue panic* Some have covered it and some haven't. I didn't. And I revised discrimination ALOT. My personal opinion is that some have felt so uncomfortable that it wasn't in the paper that they have shoe-horned a claim in, but I guess only results will tell. 

My advice to anyone studying on the LPC in the future would be that, studying for open book exams is actually no walk in the park! Obviously, more is expected of you and you really cannot rely on your books; there just isn't the time. I think I used my actual textbook twice in the whole 3 hour exam and used my notes sporadically- I only just finished in time. You absolutely cannot be learning or reading big chunks about a topic during the exam so make sure you learn everything in the same way you would a closed book exam. Then, create prompts and case references to quickly glance at while you are writing. 

Prediction for Employment: 58%

On the other hand, Solicitors' Accounts (closed book) was a dream. A 2 hour paper and I managed the ledgers (worth 36%) in 20 minutes and the Financial Statement (worth 16%) in another 20 minutes. This gave me a lovely 80 minutes for the multiple choice element (20%) and the comprehension element (28%). No hiccups and it was pretty painless. 

Prediction for Solicitors' Accounts: 70%

Results are out on 30th July and I am glad to have a 6 week breather to be honest. My immediate plans involve a return to the CAB for my advisor training, continuing with work and completing my TC applications. I might even treat myself to a break! No holidays this year as we are saving for an 8 week trip next summer (destination is as yet unknown) but I am booking in a lot of beach barbecues and countryside picnics. Here's to the summer! 

Interviewing and Advising Exam/ end of term

Save for two exams, I have officially completed the first year of the LPC *fires poppers*. The Interviewing and Advising exam fell on the final day of term and so there was a mix of excitement, anticipation and nerves floating about last Wednesday. 

I am pleased to report that, generally, the exam went smoothly. I think I made two moderate errors: starting to muddle up explaining the law with giving the client the relevant options (two sections which are meant to be kept separate for clarity) and also forgetting to tell the client they would be receiving a letter of advice. I hope that these things won't prevent me from being found competent as I seemed to have a good rapport with the "client" and the interview flowed nicely. I spent exactly 20:19 on the interviewing so had a nice 9.5 minutes to complete my notes. Phew! 

I am now heavily stuck into revision for the Employment elective (exam: 11 June) and Solicitors Accounts (exam: 15 June) so you can consider me off the grid. 

In other news...

Not strictly LPC related but yesterday when I arrived at work I was unfortunately made redundant and given my 1 week's statutory notice. So any job application relief I thought I might have after the TC deadline passes will be short lived. On the bright side, I now won't need to work during exams next week.... every cloud and all that!