FE1 Exam Thread (Read 1st post!) NOTICE: YOU MAY SWAP EXAM GRIDS

lawbear

it would be great if somehow that exam was declared void due to how ridiculous it was and the level of stress and anxiety it caused to people haha

sunshine and showers

Lily Belle wrote: »

Sorry now but it's ridiculous. We are trying to pass these exams so we can learn how to be legal experts AFTER the exams. We all put in the work. We are not EU law experts. I'm all for not regurgitating pre-learned answers that aren't relevant to the question but at least stick to some sort of exhaustive list of topics. Sorry now but for a subject that I think is the least practical in day to day life of all of them, some of those questions were a joke. I'm not so much annoyed as I am worried about next time. His examiners report will be an interesting read.

Which is why they should make their own manual if they're not gonna stick to the topics listed!

LawCQ91

Do we have grounds to complain? Lol


Various FE1ers vs the law society of Ireland ...

Afterall someone did sue the law society so we have to do the exams at the first place !

Troels Hartmann

LawCQ91 wrote: »

Various FE1ers vs the law society of Ireland.... !

More likely to be cited as "Wards of Court v Law Society of Ireland" after we're all consigned to insane asylums or regress into a persistent vegetative state after the stress of dealing with this kind of rubbish...!!

Troels Hartmann

I'm wondering ARE there grounds to complain? And what would the wisdom be of putting ones head above the parapet?

Could anyone here who did one of the EU prep courses ask their course lecturers for a view on it?

jenspondolik

LawCQ91 wrote: »

Do we have grounds to complain? Lol


Various FE1ers vs the law society of Ireland ...

Afterall someone did sue the law society so we have to do the exams at the first place !

Well there's all this talk of fair procedures and fundamental rights. The right to know and be presented with the charges so as to prepare a defence. They might so kind as to do the same for us as regards the syllabus so we can study the examined material.

But what worries me is that there were a good few who seemed genuinely happy. I kept looking around to see if I was the only one having a freak.

As I said re monetary policy ecb etc my manual actually said its beyond scope of fe1s.

sunshine and showers

jenspondolik wrote: »

Well there's all this talk of fair procedures and fundamental rights. The right to know and be presented with the charges so as to prepare a defence. They might so kind as to do the same for us as regards the syllabus so we can study the examined material.

But what worries me is that there were a good few who seemed genuinely happy. I kept looking around to see if I was the only one having a freak.

As I said re monetary policy ecb etc my manual actually said its beyond scope of fe1s.

Mine has zero case law on that Brussels 2 bis child question. Not one single case.

And I can't see much relevant to the Pringle question either.

Arcturus2112

lawbear wrote: »

it would be great if somehow that exam was declared void due to how ridiculous it was and the level of stress and anxiety it caused to people haha

Yeah, or a once-off resit in for EU in July on the basis that he made a totally unacceptable paper and unrealistic paper!

That examiner took silk last year. I don't know if he is just now too busy to give sufficient attention to the exam paper and to the candidates' interests or what, but it certainly isn't good enough when you consider that people's careers are at stake. That paper was ill thought out, there is no question.

I'm coming from a law background and still that was total unsuitable for what candidates might reasonably expect for these exams. I can't begin to imagine what it is like for those coming from a non-law background to deal with that. Even the Constitutional paper was quite doable in comparison to that EU paper, and that was very challenging in this sitting.

Troels Hartmann

Speaking of taking silk - was Travers involved in the Pringle case somehow? It would certainly explain why he keeps repeating it on every single blasted paper for 2 years

Arcturus2112

Troels Hartmann wrote: »

Speaking of taking silk - was Travers involved in the Pringle case somehow? It would certainly explain why he keeps repeating it on every single blasted paper for 2 years

Yeah that thought occurred to me also.

Lily Belle

Troels Hartmann wrote: »

I'm wondering ARE there grounds to complain? And what would the wisdom be of putting ones head above the parapet?

Could anyone here who did one of the EU prep courses ask their course lecturers for a view on it?

+1 on the prep course opinion, I'd love to hear their thoughts!

Troels Hartmann

We could take a class action suit! Or a "representative action"!

See - Ive got all the lingo! Those months of slaving weren't all for nought!

LawCQ91

Arcturus2112 wrote: »

Yeah, or a once-off resit in for EU in July on the basis that he made a totally unacceptable paper and unrealistic paper!

That examiner took silk last year. I don't know if he is just now too busy to give sufficient attention to the exam paper and to the candidates' interests or what, but it certainly isn't good enough when you consider that people's careers are at stake. That paper was ill thought out, there is no question.

I'm coming from a law background and still that was total unsuitable for what candidates might reasonably expect for these exams. I can't begin to imagine what it is like for those coming from a non-law background to deal with that. Even the Constitutional paper was quite doable in comparison to that EU paper, and that was very challenging in this sitting.

Never thought I would say this but I be happy to resit if that means I get to go to blackhall in sept ;(

TinkledPink

Troels Hartmann wrote: »

We could take a class action suit! Or a "representative action"!

See - Ive got all the lingo! Those months of slaving weren't all for nought!

Yeah, we'll be the Society for the Protection of Unhappy Candidates, SPUC for short just to avoid any confusion.

Troels Hartmann

TinkledPink wrote: »

Yeah, we'll be the Society for the Protection of Unhappy Candidates, SPUC for short just to avoid any confusion.

Or "Society for the Prosecution of Unfair Carry-on"

FE1 student

I did a prep course. I will e-mail paper to my lecturer tomorrow see what he thinks. I can in all honesty say I have never sat a law exam like it before. I am 7 years studying law and I have never been so upset by a paper. It was my last exam and therefore no Blackhall for me in September. Got to go home and tell my kids I could not do it and mom has to keep studying all summer. Despite my family's life has been on hold until "after the exams". Rant over. Going home to hug and cry on my husbands shoulder.

Troels Hartmann

FE1 student wrote: »

I did a prep course. I will e-mail paper to my lecturer tomorrow see what he thinks. I can in all honesty say I have never sat a law exam like it before. I am 7 years studying law and I have never been so upset by a paper. It was my last exam and therefore no Blackhall for me in September. Got to go home and tell my kids I could not do it and mom has to keep studying all summer. Despite my family's life has been on hold until "after the exams". Rant over. Going home to hug and cry on my husbands shoulder.

Well it's fab you have the family to go home to at least! Seriously if that isn't a bright side then I don't know what is. They won't think anything of it, it's not your fault that the thing was such a disaster today. Tell them there are crowds of people giving out about it!

I on the other hand went home to my empty ice box apartment lol

FeDespair

Personally i'll be writing a letter to the Society.

Again I know that if they made the exams easy everyone would pass, but if they made the questions more doable but required a higher standard of answers wouldnt that seem more logical? In the reports they talk about adding journals and extra critique, fat chance of that happening when a good majority of people found the paper hard to tackle at all.

I dunno. People pay 00's for prep courses and manuals and it's no use. I read exclusively from Chalmers, and granted the questions that came up are in it, but is it possible for someone to be able to remember over 1000 pages of script? AND keep up to date...Pringle and that other citizenship question? One second now. We'll have jobs/maybe children/AND be sitting on europa.

Nah. I'm writing a letter to them. Im getting more pi$$ed off as the day goes on

Troels Hartmann

Someone said further up the thread that they had heard some good reaction to it........ can anyone confirm or deny?

I can't imagine how the reaction could be good in any circumstance even to the best prepared

southcounty

FeDespair wrote: »

Personally i'll be writing a letter to the Society.

Again I know that if they made the exams easy everyone would pass, but if they made the questions more doable but required a higher standard of answers wouldnt that seem more logical? In the reports they talk about adding journals and extra critique, fat chance of that happening when a good majority of people found the paper hard to tackle at all.

I dunno. People pay 00's for prep courses and manuals and it's no use. I read exclusively from Chalmers, and granted the questions that came up are in it, but is it possible for someone to be able to remember over 1000 pages of script? AND keep up to date...Pringle and that other citizenship question? One second now. We'll have jobs/maybe children/AND be sitting on europa.

Nah. I'm writing a letter to them. Im getting more pi$$ed off as the day goes on

I'm putting pen to paper tomorrow and writing a letter too. Screw this we study for months on end and pay enough between hotels and transport as well the exam fees and then to go in and have questions come up on topics that aren't even the syllabus and casenotes on cases so fresh from the ecj there not even on the EU website yet!! I would strongly urge everyone who feels an injustice was done today to also write a letter or an email, and keep a copy of it!! The more people that speak out the better they can't ignore us all!! At the very least we deserve a resit even though it's not ideal but a lot of people,including myself, put in a damn lot of work to get to blackhall this year!! They don't realise it's peoples lives they are messing with. I am going to try and find out which authority at the law society these letters should be sent to and I will post it here ASAP for people who want to follow suit.

spaz_hawk

There was someone sitting beside me who didn't look at his Treaties once and was writing non-stop for the three hours. I couldn't understand it at all, I was just throwing absolute nonsense onto the page.

Pepp1989

I will also be in touch and would encourage anyone else who was unhappy to do likewise. The more people who do it the more effective it will be.

FeDespair

Where I was sitting 3 people around me stood up and left at the 30/45 minute mark. More people left after an hour.

I did 5 questions, as I just wouldnt leave an exam without writing something. And something and anything is what I wrote! I'm being generous here when I say I got about 27%. If even.

I dont mind not doing well in an exam if I havent put the work in, but when you have then come on. Granted I didnt put in as much as for last weeks 3 but still. I havent slept more than 4 hours a night in the past 2 weeks.

They just need to reassess their approach to these things. The tutorial courses people tell me are a waste of time. And sure even if you went to them I cant imagine they said much about liability for fire?
Also not everyone has access to all these books they want us to supplement our learning with. And I for one dont have the money to go out and buy them all either!

Yep. Definitely writing a letter on Monday. Right to be forgotten? Right to have fair questions put to us more like!

Arcturus2112

Troels Hartmann wrote: »

Someone said further up the thread that they had heard some good reaction to it........ can anyone confirm or deny?

I can't imagine how the reaction could be good in any circumstance even to the best prepared

I think that poster was referring to some people's demeanor as they walked out of the exam hall. Sure, there was some friendly banter among (presumably) classmates but I didn't overhear anything to the effect that people were happy with it. I heard plenty of people express their unhappiness.

I thought I was quite well prepared for that, having covered the vast majority of the syllabus and yet I was still screwed.

FeDespair

Where I was sitting 3 people around me stood up and left at the 30/45 minute mark. More people left after an hour.

I did 5 questions, as I just wouldnt leave an exam without writing something. And something and anything is what I wrote! I'm being generous here when I say I got about 27%. If even.

I dont mind not doing well in an exam if I havent put the work in, but when you have then come on. Granted I didnt put in as much as for last weeks 3 but still. I havent slept more than 4 hours a night in the past 2 weeks.

They just need to reassess their approach to these things. People tell me the prep classes are a waste of time if you've already done your undergrad. And sure even if you went to them I cant imagine they said much about liability for fire?
Also not everyone has access to all these books they want us to supplement our learning with. And I for one dont have the money to go out and buy them all either!

Yep. Definitely writing a letter on Monday. Right to be forgotten? Right to have fair questions put to us more like!

Arcturus2112

southcounty wrote: »

I'm putting pen to paper tomorrow and writing a letter too. Screw this we study for months on end and pay enough between hotels and transport as well the exam fees and then to go in and have questions come up on topics that aren't even the syllabus and casenotes on cases so fresh from the ecj there not even on the EU website yet!! I would strongly urge everyone who feels an injustice was done today to also write a letter or an email, and keep a copy of it!! The more people that speak out the better they can't ignore us all!! At the very least we deserve a resit even though it's not ideal but a lot of people,including myself, put in a damn lot of work to get to blackhall this year!! They don't realise it's peoples lives they are messing with. I am going to try and find out which authority at the law society these letters should be sent to and I will post it here ASAP for people who want to follow suit.

I second this. This forum shows just a snapshot of the fact that clearly there many candidates who will have fallen at this hurdle when they would otherwise be commencing in Blackhall this September. Now their careers are significantly stunted/upset by this (not to mention their personal lives, as a previous poster mentioned).

Last year is established precedent for the fact that the Law Society can run two sittings in the Spring term. There is no administrative difficulty to prevent a Summer second sitting, for EU only. Book a smaller function room in any hotel, very few invigilators would be necessary. It's administratively workable, there is no doubt about that.

What is required is solidarity and taking a short time out of your day to articulate what is a very legitimate grievance and the consequences that you are facing as a result of that. Countless hours and expense have been invested in these exams, just for so many (a sizable majority I suspect) to fall down in very unreasonable circumstances. I think we owe it to ourselves to spend a few further hours considering what action can be taken and put things right.

LawCQ91

I would be happy to take actions. I just think it's very unfair , I covered 85% of the course, I went back the grid back as far as 2006 to make sure I will be ok, I was able to answer at least 5 Qs in every single paper!! No not this one , I had three! I kept on writing for two Qs anyway but I don't think I would have gotten more than 2% in it ! It's so not fair! It's not as if I didn't work for it .. I worked so hard for these been studying since early jan and intensive 14 hour a day study for four weeks ,I had given up my life for these I never worked so hard for anything before ! It's just an horrible feeling!

jenspondolik

Arcturus2112 wrote: »

I think that poster was referring to some people's demeanor as they walked out of the exam hall. Sure, there was some friendly banter among (presumably) classmates but I didn't overhear anything to the effect that people were happy with it. I heard plenty of people express their unhappiness.

I thought I was quite well prepared for that, having covered the vast majority of the syllabus and yet I was still screwed.

Yea that was me I was saying that when I was leaving a group of three people were saying they got five done and didn't think it was the worst I have no further info than that it was a passing observation. I was worried I was so far off the mark when I heard them. I did a masters which dealt predominantly with environmental law and EU law i had exams not assessments in a top university and I flew them I can safely say this one was taking the piss i know they require work but what happens when people do put in the work? This is a farce and looking more and more like a money making racket. I know barristers who wouldn't be able to tell me what the questions were even about

LawyrUp

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said here since 12.30 today. What an absolute joke of a paper.
EU is the only subject I have left and I'm nearly at the 5 year limit. I left another career to pursue law and all I have to show for it is a mountain of debt and years of stress.
I worked my arse off for the exam today. I tried to cover everything as best as I could so I would be guaranteed of being able to attempt 5 questions. Could barely manage 2.
I presume I'm of average intellifence yet the FE1'S have been a struggle every step of the way.
They're a baffling set of exams and even though I've passed 7, I still don't know how to pass them.
Sorry. Just on a general rant here. Today's paper was a disgrace. But in a profession that will always be oversubscribed, I guess the Law Soc can set whatever paper they want. Someone will always pass.
I really needed to get to Blackhall this September. It's not happening now. I can't afford another year of working for 200 euros per week.
If there's going to be a concerted campaign to petition for a summer resit I'm onboard.

Arcturus2112

LawyrUp wrote: »

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said here since 12.30 today. What an absolute joke of a paper.
EU is the only subject I have left and I'm nearly at the 5 year limit. I left another career to pursue law and all I have to show for it is a mountain of debt and years of stress.
I worked my arse off for the exam today. I tried to cover everything as best as I could so I would be guaranteed of being able to attempt 5 questions. Could barely manage 2.
I presume I'm of average intellifence yet the FE1'S have been a struggle every step of the way.
They're a baffling set of exams and even though I've passed 7, I still don't know how to pass them.
Sorry. Just on a general rant here. Today's paper was a disgrace. But in a profession that will always be oversubscribed, I guess the Law Soc can set whatever paper they want. Someone will always pass.
I really needed to get to Blackhall this September. It's not happening now. I can't afford another year of working for 200 euros per week.
If there's going to be a concerted campaign to petition for a summer resit I'm onboard.

There are clearly so many others in a similar situation due to this particular paper. It's not just disheartening, it's unacceptable.