FE1 Exam Thread (Mod Warning: NO ADS)

Hogzy

law_lady wrote: »

Not made of money! :mad:

I know. I got fairly lucky in the sense that i have a 6 day gap between my exams so i can drive back down to Cork for those days. I couldnt imagine the cost if you were doing 8 exams and had no choice but to pay for accomodation.

I was shocked to find that Morans were not doing any special deals for students staying at the hotel. Its the bloody least the law society could have done tbh


EDIT:
Just got my recheck back. Came up 2% to a total of 47%

---

F*ck you law society!!!!!!!

Dylan123

Here is the map of the Ibis hotel:
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=map+of+ibis+hotel+dublin&fb=1&hq=ibis+hotel&hnear=Dublin,+Co.+Fingal,+Ireland&cid=7723561754640827432

Here is the map of the Moran hotel:
http://www.hotels.com/ho225355/red-cow-moran-hotel-dublin-ireland/#maps

The Moran hotel is much better in fairness

coco13

Hogzy wrote: »

I booked the Moran hotel. It was 60 per night when i was booking it :mad:

Just tried to book online now and the best rate available is €79 per night!

Hogzy

coco13 wrote: »

Just tried to book online now and the best rate available is €79 per night!

Sorry just looked over my booking there. Mine worked out at 69pn but if you book 2 nights you get 10% off. Book 3 nights and get 15% off.

blathblath

Hey everyone, how are yee approaching the company exam this round? I guess owing to the low pass rates over the past few sitting it really is one which one cannot leave any stone unturned....surely there are some chapters which can be left out though???i.e. memo & articles etc......any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

steph86

i booked the IBIS hotel, its far cheaper than the red cow. €56 p/n compared to €79 a nite in the red cow. When i booked it they told me it was a 20 min walk to the red cow. Air in the lungs before the exams might be good, although whether permitting i may just take my car. Would advise people to ring round though, 79 a night is far to dear.

mirm

steph86 wrote: »

i booked the IBIS hotel, its far cheaper than the red cow. €56 p/n compared to €79 a nite in the red cow. When i booked it they told me it was a 20 min walk to the red cow. Air in the lungs before the exams might be good, although whether permitting i may just take my car. Would advise people to ring round though, 79 a night is far to dear.

I booked the Ibis too and got my room for €44.80 per nite which is fairly good. They also told me it was a 20 min walk. The red cow is obviously more convenient but days like now I wouldnt turn down the cheaper option for the sake of a stroll in the morning

steph86

yeh exactly. the cheaper the better for me. Shame they don't sit the exams in Donegal.

hession.law

Just booked two nights @ Red Cow for €128.33 on ebookers cheapest around

CFOLEY85

hi everyone

Just wondering has anyone ever attended the Law Society seminar about how to secure a traineeship, CV drafting, etc. Is it worth its €25 fee and the trek up to Dublin for it?

Hogzy

Just to remind everyone to have their applications in for the first Friday in February. I think its the 5th or the 4th?

Edit: Meant the first friday

colonel1

blathblath wrote: »

Hey everyone, how are yee approaching the company exam this round? I guess owing to the low pass rates over the past few sitting it really is one which one cannot leave any stone unturned....surely there are some chapters which can be left out though???i.e. memo & articles etc......any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I am leaving out receivers, examiners and meetings (he couldn't possibly ask about meetings 3 times in a row could he?).

law86

colonel1 wrote: »

I am leaving out receivers, examiners and meetings (he couldn't possibly ask about meetings 3 times in a row could he?).

Not sure how confident I would be about leaving out winding-up. Given the state of the country, you are pretty much guaranteed one full question on winding-up in some form, examinership, liquidation, receivership, and another question which refers to a company in trouble. It's also relatively easy and lots of recent interesting case law. That's just my tuppence worth, I just scraped the pass. Up from 43% to 51% on a recheck.

blathblath

colonel1 wrote: »

I am leaving out receivers, examiners and meetings (he couldn't possibly ask about meetings 3 times in a row could he?).

I really wouldn't leave out receivership or examinership...going through the manual there actually really isn't much to leave out....auditors perhaps?

Orla FitzP

company is the one ive ignored the most i just hate it!!! its sooo dry and i starting studying it late-

ugh im only on restriction of directors zzzzz

blathblath

Orla FitzP wrote: »

company is the one ive ignored the most i just hate it!!! its sooo dry and i starting studying it late-

ugh im only on restriction of directors zzzzz

Wow you're there already that is good going! I am incredibly slow at getting into it, it BORES me so bad!

coco13

blathblath wrote: »

Wow you're there already that is good going! I am incredibly slow at getting into it, it BORES me so bad!

I'm at the same place as that too!!!! Don't really think there is alot they can be left out to be honest. I'm working from an IC Manual and it's really not that big so I'm hoping it's not going to take me too long and that the info in it will be sufficient for exam purposes! Any suggestions on what can be left out of Constitutional??

blathblath

coco13 wrote: »

I'm at the same place as that too!!!! Don't really think there is alot they can be left out to be honest. I'm working from an IC Manual and it's really not that big so I'm hoping it's not going to take me too long and that the info in it will be sufficient for exam purposes! Any suggestions on what can be left out of Constitutional??

Try not to leave anything out for Constitution....there are too many mixing of topics to guarantee safety on the day! I have never been so slow to start studying really finding it incredibly difficult need to get away from the internet it's too easy to allow yourself to get away and then suddenly the day is over!

Orla FitzP

i just got off the phone to a woman from the red cow- clearly my call was a huge hinderance to her day???

anyway the important thing is that the exams are in the ballroom (?) and go into the main reception and theyl tell u were to go also she said there is plently of parking and she said once ur going to an event u should be fine? so im not sure if that means u have to pay of not?

anyway that might ease hassle or confusion on the day?

Hogzy

Does anyone have an up to date exam grid for constitutional. I have up to date ones for Equity and Property so could swap.

THanks

steph86

in relation to the eu exam. what topics are people covering?
so far i've done: the institutions( hoping it will come up this sitting as it didnt in the last) sources of eu law, supremacy/ direct effect.
I'm planning on doing procedures before the court, fmog and fmow incl citizens and self employed and maybe equality.

Hogzy

steph86 wrote: »

in relation to the eu exam. what topics are people covering?
so far i've done: the institutions( hoping it will come up this sitting as it didnt in the last) sources of eu law, supremacy/ direct effect.
I'm planning on doing procedures before the court, fmog and fmow incl citizens and self employed and maybe equality.

Institutions
Suppremacy
Direct Effect
Sources Of EU Law
Procedures
FMOG
FMOW
FTPS
FOE

Doing the above is definetly enough to scrape a pass. I did this in the last sitting and passed despite the Institutions not coming up which we were all shocked at. I hope to god your paper wont be as hard as last years.

Hogzy

Just going through my Equity Manual and noticed that the exam grid in the manual has not been updated since March 2009. It really annoying having to look at the exam gird on the site.

Can anyone tell me if they got a newer version from Griffith this year. I think they might be trying to pull a fast one on me.

brian__foley

Hogzy wrote: »

Just going through my Equity Manual and noticed that the exam grid in the manual has not been updated since March 2009. It really annoying having to look at the exam gird on the site.

Can anyone tell me if they got a newer version from Griffith this year. I think they might be trying to pull a fast one on me.

No fast one here. A positive decision was made within GCD that manuals would not be updated with things like this on an ongoing basis, and rather those updates would be kept online, and licensed in the manner they are. The reasoning was as follows.

We have students who pay for the courses. There is also the real-life issue that materials get sold off afterwards, pirated and so on. Hence, there were complaints from people (reasonably) saying that what they pay GCD for, could be obtained (in breach of licence) elsewhere. Thus, the question was how to increase the value-added to the paying student and how best to ensure that the paying student is given an edge over someone who doesn't take the courses (which is the entire aim).

The solution decided upon was that paying students would be given up to date (and printable) material online to supplement manuals. So, someone buying manuals in an alternative way would not (at all) get the same information that a GCD student would get. This means one can buy a manual etc in whatever way one wants, but it won't give you the material that the student paying for the course may actually get. It is for the same reason that I would keep, say, handouts on "new" issues in contract law and "new" exam issues entirely separate and given out only online internally - value added for the paying student and something that isn't "out there" on the re-sale market (at least legally).

Grids are a good example. People seem to want them, and thus keeping up to date grids out of the manual gives those willing to pay for the courses the competitive edge with access to such. Thus, we restore the "value added" to actually paying quite a lot of money to do the courses - i.e. you get something that someone doens't get (legally) elsewhere.

That's the reason for keeping the in-manual grids otherwise than bang up to date - to increase the value of the course you're paying for and to increase your chances in doing better than the person who didn't pay for the course and didn't get the materials!

glengirlie

Anyone staying in the IBIS hotel for the exams? Got a quote online for 44.80 per night which is good. Just wondered is it within walking distance? Red Cow seems pretty dear if you are to add all the nights up which for me is 4 in total:(

Whatto

Hola,

New to posting on this blog. Reading all your comments about preparations for the forthcoming exams made me realise I ought to take the finger out.

I did my first four in October. Got recheck upgrade from 46 to 50 in Constitutional Law which means I got 50 in EU, Tort and Constitutional. Somehow, I feel like I've beaten the system. Thats how exciting my life has become.

Criminal, Company, Equity and Contract left in March.

Reading some of the comments above, I really do not think its a good idea to leave anything related to insolvency etc out in Company given the current state of the country. Also, examiners are repeatedly telling us not to predict the papers in any shape or form. Given how close I was at failing my first time in Oct, I think I'm going to cover as much as possible!!!:rolleyes:

coco13

Whatto wrote: »

Hola,

New to posting on this blog. Reading all your comments about preparations for the forthcoming exams made me realise I ought to take the finger out.

I did my first four in October. Got recheck upgrade from 46 to 50 in Constitutional Law which means I got 50 in EU, Tort and Constitutional. Somehow, I feel like I've beaten the system. Thats how exciting my life has become.

Criminal, Company, Equity and Contract left in March.

Reading some of the comments above, I really do not think its a good idea to leave anything related to insolvency etc out in Company given the current state of the country. Also, examiners are repeatedly telling us not to predict the papers in any shape or form. Given how close I was at failing my first time in Oct, I think I'm going to cover as much as possible!!!:rolleyes:

Hey Whatto!

Sitting Eu, Constitutional and Company as my last three this sitting.. Any advice re these exams? Did you cover most of the courses or did you pick and choose alot of topics.. Really want to scrape the pass in these in March.. Sat Criminal, Equity, Contract and Tort as my first four and found them all realtively ok.. Esp Criminal, Equity and Contract..Found all those three courses short enough and relatively black and white.. Find the size of the Constitutional and EU course quite daunting!

Whatto

coco13 wrote: »

Hey Whatto!

Sitting Eu, Constitutional and Company as my last three this sitting.. Any advice re these exams? Did you cover most of the courses or did you pick and choose alot of topics.. Really want to scrape the pass in these in March.. Sat Criminal, Equity, Contract and Tort as my first four and found them all realtively ok.. Esp Criminal, Equity and Contract..Found all those three courses short enough and relatively black and white.. Find the size of the Constitutional and EU course quite daunting!

EU and Constitutional courses are decidedly the longest and toughest. Ironically, EU is my favourite subject but to say I felt deflated leaving the exam in October is an understatement. However, it is FACT that Travers, the examiner for EU is a fair marker. Note in all his reports, especially the report for the October sitting that those who did not attempt at least five questions were almost immediately guaranteed a fail. This was definitely true. There was a question on subsidiarity and proportionality which I chose as my fifth question. I was sitting in the exam remembering my EU professor in UL giving one whole tutorial on it and from somewhere just wrote down what seemed an intelligible answer. Of course, this is not to be recommended - my point is, DEFINITELY attempt five questions. For EU, I covered Free Movements of Goods, Directive 2004, Institutions, Competition (all sections) Free movement of services, workers etc and equality. I simply did not do supremacy/Direct Effect or the sources because I was more interested in the other areas. However, again, I really recommend covering the whole course - its what he is looking for. At the end of the day, yes, it is a lot of material to cover but surely its better for you to spend a few late nights getting the material covered as oppose to sitting in the exam wishing you had covered the very material in front of you. For me, that feeling is NOT worth it.

The night before Tort, I decided to read through liability for animals and nuisance because I couldn't cope with Friel or Quill getting one over me. In that exam animals and nuisance were my respective fourth and fifth questions - again, luck - not the best strategy for passing. It paid off to have at least read the chapters I was not going to cover in order to be familiar with various principles in different areas.

Constitutional was my pet hate. Has been for years. I'd need to take out my book to remember the exact sections I covered but I deliberately left out religion etc because I felt it had come up too many times in previous sittings and I was right.

The Constitutional examiner makes the point after each examination that the paper is set to reflect current constitutional issues. Recently, we have had government privileges regarding government documents in the news (DUE ON THE PAPER), the president calling on the Council of State to review the constitutionality of a bill (ALWAYS ON THE PAPER), Gay Marriage, Father's Rights to their Children - only recently wasn't it Ms. White from the Green Party calling upon a change in the constitution for Father's Rights and protection thereof? It goes without saying, Property Rights is ALWAYS on the paper. Equality will feature somewhere.

DO NOT bank on what I have just said re Constitutional law, remember, I depended on a recheck but given the fact that I was faced with potentially resitting the paper, I was actively following his guideline in the reports in order to pass - i.e. keeping on top of current constitutional issues.

It goes without saying, we hate FE1s, we despise the examiners for making our lives hell. However, I think passing these exams is right in front of our very eyes - in their examiner's reports!!!!!!

brian__foley

Whatto wrote: »

the president calling on the Council of State to review the constitutionality of a bill (ALWAYS ON THE PAPER)

???

Whatto

Maybe that part wasn't clear - the constitutionality of bills are always on the paper, with government proposing a bill and the student to develop an answer on how to determine whether a bill is constitutional or not.

There is a section in the Griffith College book about Council acting as the president's advisor if she questions various bills etc, something we recently saw re the finance bill!! (I'M NOT SAYING THIS WILL COME UP BUT ITS A VERY RECENT AND CURRENT CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE).

Merely an observation.