How to Revise for Exams at Law School
- The Manchester Law Student
- Apr 21, 2022
- 3 min read
With exam season fast approaching, I thought it would be the best time to share some of my revision tips and techniques. As a law student, the typical exam-style questions I get are:
- Essay questions.
- Problem questions (PQs).
- Multiple-choice questions (MCQs).
For each style of question, I have a different revision technique…
Revision for essay style questions and PQs
For essay style questions and PQs, I find the most effective revision techniques for me are consolidation and practice questions. To consolidate my knowledge, I go over my lecture materials and revision textbooks I have, highlighting key information. My favourite revision books are:
- Law Express
- Concentrate
- LLB Answered
Law Express and Concentrate books give more detailed overviews of each topic, with detailed cases, statutes, and key information. The LLB Answered books provide similar information but are less detailed. This is helpful when you need key points, and I have found these books extremely helpful when I need help clarifying a topic, but if you want more detailed information, Law Express or Concentrate books are good. However, the LLB answered books provide a structure on how to answer a PQ/essay Q for each topic – which helps me to establish an effective structure for my answers.
After consolidating a topic, practice questions help me to apply my knowledge to either a scenario in a PQ or legal application to topics for essay style questions. In all my seminars we create a plan for PQs and essay questions, allowing me to plan answers to questions on every topic of the module. Gaining access to past papers is a good way to practice too. For some of my modules, the lecturer uploads model answers for exam questions, which allows me to understand what the marker thinks is a good answer.
Finally, taking on feedback from your past exam submissions is key. Sometimes exam feedback from markers isn’t very detailed, which can make it difficult to understand what improvements you need to make for next time. But, if you have detailed feedback, it is important to take this on board for your next exam in that module. Understand what areas have given you marks, and the areas that have limited your ability to get a higher mark. If you find your feedback is limited, which I have at times, go to your marker, and ask for more feedback. If not them, try your seminar taker or course unit director. Use feedback to improve for next time, that is what it’s there for!
Revision for MCQs
For MCQs, I take a different approach. My best revision technique for MCQs is to practice them. For some modules, at the end of each topic, the course director usually uploads short MCQs for us to answer. For my revision, I will complete these, whilst writing the questions and answers on a word document in my files. This way, I end up with a document with a range of different questions and answers for each topic, which I find useful to have up when I’m taking the real MCQ exam.
Before the exam period, the course director will also sometimes release a larger practice MCQ exam, which I will do and continue with the same word-document technique.
Throughout the year, I also find it helpful to download any flow diagrams that lecturers have uploaded. These flow diagrams usually show what legislation to apply depending on the scenario. These diagrams are good to have up when completing a MCQ exam that involves applying the correct legislation based on the facts.
Final take
Everyone has different revision styles that they prefer. There’s not a ‘one fits all’ approach to revision. It is important to find the best techniques for you that provide you with the most effective results. For me, these are the techniques I have presented, but others will have different techniques that they prefer.
University can be challenging. Topics can be confusing; exams can be complex. So, it is important to find the right revision style to help you consolidate your knowledge and practice your exam skills effectively.
You will inevitably experiment with what techniques suit you best. Feel free to try out any of mine if you haven’t already! But make sure you are revising in a way that’s most effective for you, they are your exams after all.
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