FE1 Exam Thread (Mod Warning: NO ADS)

chops018

itsonlybla wrote: »

Duress is succinct, only a handful of cases and easy to apply...

Yeah had it covered from before and took me about 15 mins to go over it. I'd only be able to apply to a part of a problem question though. Wouldn't be able to do an essay.

Keane91

Do the law firms want you to be getting a minimum mark in the FE-1's to consider you, say in the big firms would they exclude anyone who got under a certain grade from interviews?

DeSourire

Keane91 wrote: »

Do the law firms want you to be getting a minimum mark in the FE-1's to consider you, say in the big firms would they exclude anyone who got under a certain grade from interviews?

I've heard from many people that the marks in the FE1 exams do not matter so long as you pass- although some firms restrict you to three attempts.

Sparky29

lads can anyone answer re the eu exam, is it worthwhile hunting down the consolidated legislation to bring in? i mean is it as valuable to have or merely a possible convenience.

Denham

Does anyone know what the marking scheme is like... 1 question is 20% but realistically if u do a reasonably good question what are u looking at: 11-12% p/q? if u do a below average q missing some parts what will they give you about 7 out of 20 i assume?

3x11 = 33
2x7 = 14

Thats only 47- im thinking for tort if they give me 48 or 49 i wont do a recheck... 150 euro to be brought up to 49!!
The fe1 award winners are prob scoring in the 75s max are they.. so the max mark is prob only 15 out of 20 p/q possibly ever! so 11 percent per q is an average q with most points...

boomtown84

Sparky29 wrote: »

lads can anyone answer re the eu exam, is it worthwhile hunting down the consolidated legislation to bring in? i mean is it as valuable to have or merely a possible convenience.

Not needed imo. The examiner has stated time and time again in his exam reports that he is not strict on misuse of Article numbers etc. The question will expressly mention the number. Knowing the area and case law is far more important.
I'm doing EU on Tuesday and don't have the legislation.

Ned_led16

Which of the criminal justice acts should we be familiar with for the criminal law exam? There is so much legislation.

Tom Young

I note City has this published this year: http://www.citycolleges.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/FE1-CRIMINAL-2.pdf

Comes with a caveat that those are most popular FE1 'Crimes'.

bouchez

EU

Hi everyone. What topics are you studying for EU. What do you expect to come up? At the moment I'm studying the following though I may narrow it down because there is so much to remember...

FMG
Competition
Institutions
Mergers
Prelim Reference
State Aid
Direct Effect & Supremacy
Citizenship
Freedom of services, establishment and workers

Thoughts?

evercloserunion

bouchez wrote: »

EU

Hi everyone. What topics are you studying for EU. What do you expect to come up? At the moment I'm studying the following though I may narrow it down because there is so much to remember...

FMG
Competition
Institutions
Mergers
Prelim Reference
State Aid
Direct Effect & Supremacy
Citizenship
Freedom of services, establishment and workers

Thoughts?

I plan on doing roughly the same, I haven't studied institutions in depth but rather have a background knowledge of legislative procedures and the concerns about democratic legitimacy etc. I'll also look at the Kadi case as it tends to come up a lot in case note questions (along with Chen, Microsoft, Keck and direct effect questions, which you would cover with those topics anyway).

cuunna_90

Just wondering what are people studying for constitutional?
Havent done any study for it as I wasn't planning on doing it, but pretty sure I failed contract today so going to have to give it a go. Any questions guaranteed to come up?

DeSourire

cuunna_90 wrote: »

Just wondering what are people studying for constitutional?
Havent done any study for it as I wasn't planning on doing it, but pretty sure I failed contract today so going to have to give it a go. Any questions guaranteed to come up?

I'm in the same boat. complete nightmare with contract. I was cringing afterwards. I also have constitutional. fml!

perfectcircles

I thought I was the only one with contract, bit of a nightmare really!

Denham

perfectcircles wrote: »

I thought I was the only one with contract, bit of a nightmare really!

What the hell happened? let me guess 5 ridiculous questions on niche areas u didnt study?

perfectcircles

Denham wrote: »

perfectcircles wrote: »

I thought I was the only one with contract, bit of a nightmare really!

What the hell happened? let me guess 5 ridiculous questions on niche areas u didnt study?

No, the Pqs were massive, very hard to identify all the issues without missing out some. Took ages to go through then left with very little time for an essay question, some of which were examined last year. Suppose I'll know better for next time!

UberStressed

bouchez wrote: »

EU

Hi everyone. What topics are you studying for EU. What do you expect to come up? At the moment I'm studying the following though I may narrow it down because there is so much to remember...

FMG
Competition
Institutions
Mergers
Prelim Reference
State Aid
Direct Effect & Supremacy
Citizenship
Freedom of services, establishment and workers

Thoughts?

I'm doing FMG; institutions; prelim ref; judicial review; infringements; principles of EU law; competition; freedom services, estmt and workers, citizenship. Just finished my dissertation on infringements so praying that it comes up!

chops018

Thought today's exam was very manageable, which was surprising for her. I still I am not so sure about whether I passed. Unfortunately I spent the few days before property going over that and so contract was a bit pushed out, then I only had last night to revise over things, so I forgot some of the case names but I still tried to answer as best I could.

Think I got 2 good answers, 2 very ok-ish answers, then one poor one. I know she is a hard marker but I hope it's enough.

Also I spent 50 mins on question 1, which meant I didn't have as much time on the others, my own fault I know.

I only skimmed through question two and said I won't bother with it, then at the end I went through it again and I saw the issues and remembered the info for it. But it was too late to go at it. Ah well, let's hope I did enough to pass. Pity I didn't have an extra day before the exam because it wasn't too bad at all, just the fact that I hadn't much revision time the night before.

Caoileann

cuunna_90 wrote: »

Just wondering what are people studying for constitutional?
Havent done any study for it as I wasn't planning on doing it, but pretty sure I failed contract today so going to have to give it a go. Any questions guaranteed to come up?

Been seriously debating whether or not to sit constitutional. Spent like a month writing notes and left virtually all the learning until now. I have equity the day before too I will be studying my exam grid and taking some serious risks if I do sit it. But still wondering whether or not there's even a point in trying for me.. could maybe get lucky if the right questions come up!

itsonlybla

Caoileann wrote: »

Been seriously debating whether or not to sit constitutional. Spent like a month writing notes and left virtually all the learning until now. I have equity the day before too I will be studying my exam grid and taking some serious risks if I do sit it. But still wondering whether or not there's even a point in trying for me.. could maybe get lucky if the right questions come up!

Sure if you've paid for it there's no harm in giving it a shot

Caoileann

itsonlybla wrote: »

Sure if you've paid for it there's no harm in giving it a shot

Very true. Just worried it could be at the expense of equity but I probably will give it a lash! Thanks

fitz320

hey guys, does anyone know of any tips/hints regarding the criminal exam?! i know all of it has to be covered as it's a short syllabus but is there any topics or anything to focus more on etc? if anyone could give me advice it'd be greatly appreciated! thanks, hope the study is going well

Denham

I think the most i can narrow it down for you is as follows... but as u said it must all be covered...

- sexual offences

chops018

Denham wrote: »

I think the most i can narrow it down for you is as follows... but as u said it must all be covered...

- sexual offences/ crim procedure and homicide

From what I hear he isn't a hard marker. He prefers if you can spot the issue, set down the relevant legislation, the actus reus, the mens rea and accompanying cases where possible. I was told before if you can do that then you're on a winner. That's only really for a problem scenario, no need to go into an essay about an issue in a problem scenario.

Not sure about leaving anything out, wouldn't like to have left something small out and it could have been pointed to in a problem and got you an extra 2 or 3 marks. As you said it's a small syllabus which is why the problems contain numerous issues. I suppose have a look at the essays and see what came up last sitting and try narrow those down, but you still couldn't be sure.

Even try concentrate on a few bankers, like was given above. Then go over the areas you're not good at. Then skim through the areas you feel you already know.

Denham

Remember the examiners key aim is to make you cover everything..so thats what your up against and he specifically warns not to try and follow patterns... id be very careful planning any essay on a particular area - ... just bite the bullet and do a bit on everything and if u dont know enough try and wing it- or else put the essays into a hat and draw out a few...

RandolphEsq

Caoileann wrote: »

Been seriously debating whether or not to sit constitutional. Spent like a month writing notes and left virtually all the learning until now. I have equity the day before too I will be studying my exam grid and taking some serious risks if I do sit it. But still wondering whether or not there's even a point in trying for me.. could maybe get lucky if the right questions come up!

Usually I read through the manuals, do my own notes. Then go back over, learn them off, and write short-hand notes. I then, the days before the exam, learn these off and write incredibly shorthand notes.

For equity and constitutional I read through the manuals, did my notes but didn't have time to learn those notes off before I began property prep work. I skipped the learning off and instead just summarised those notes. Today was the first day I spent learning off equity and covered nearly everything. Tomorrow I will be learning off constitutional. Suddenly, after these two days I am confident of getting these exams. I have EU to do on Sunday and Monday and have not even got summaries of my first set of notes done!

My point; do your best and make sure to relax when you are studying. It is far easier to take the stuff in. And make sure to sleep on what you learn off; a good night's sleep before tackling an exam is the equivalent to letting cement dry before walking on a pavement.

dinemo6

DeSourire wrote: »

Keane91 wrote: »

Do the law firms want you to be getting a minimum mark in the FE-1's to consider you, say in the big firms would they exclude anyone who got under a certain grade from interviews?

I've heard from many people that the marks in the FE1 exams do not matter so long as you pass- although some firms restrict you to three attempts.

Can law firms find out your FE1 history?
Can they look us up at the Law Society or anything??

Or is it only if we tell them.....

Tom Young

After the electronic tagging stage only.

UberStressed

dinemo6 wrote: »

Can law firms find out your FE1 history?
Can they look us up at the Law Society or anything??

Or is it only if we tell them.....

Before you are accepted to Blackhall, I think you have to submit all your results letters, which show fail marks too, but I would assume it to exclude a sitting where you fail everything... though if you get to that stage I would imagine you would have already been offered the job. I think the rule for three sittings may apply to candidates who have been offered traineeships before sitting any exams.

Happychicky7

OMG I wanted to cry during that Contract exam! It was supposed to be one of my 3 to pass I now only have criminal to bank on to pull me through, anyone else doing that Monday? Can anyone email me a recent enough exam grid for it? Self-study, need to cut out things but judged last weeks exams fairly badly! panicstation.com

boomtown84

RandolphEsq wrote: »

Today was the first day I spent learning off equity and covered nearly everything. Tomorrow I will be learning off constitutional.

Are you a wizard? Takes me ages to learn this sh*t off!