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

FE1 student

I am dreading the EU exam. I hope it's nothing like the last one. I just can't get motivated to study it at all and time is ticking.

XxMCRxBabyxX

Scarymary13 wrote: »

Where do you live? I'm currently living in Belfast so could meet half way or do over skype?

Sorry, was away over the weekend and forgot to reply. I'm based in Wicklow or Dublin depending on the day. I could probably travel but would be depending on public transport!

Bayley1

I found out im pregnant 3 weeks ago and haven't been able to study due to tiredness and nausea, im super stressed now with time ticking by!!!! Ive no idea how im going to attempt these exams. I was planning to do two but now I think I'll just sign up for one, better to pass one than fail two

Bayley1

backformore wrote: »

Hi all,

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has sat the Equity exam in recent times. What has been the perception of the exam of late (fair or tricky) and has there been any change in the examiner? Also, what topics have come up lately? I will be sitting this Fe-1 in October so would be grateful for people's thoughts!

I can't remember exactly what came up but someone on here told me to do the revision class with the lecturer in City Colleges! Everything he predicted came up. I wasn't going to do tracing but did it the night before based on this class and there was a whole problem question so it was an easy enough question.

law_student1

Hi guys, would anyone be able to point me towards what topics came up in the September 2014 Sittings in Company, Equity, EU Contract? I'm missing them from my grid.. I would be happy to exchange some notes perhaps in return!

dashdoll

Could anyone that has sat the Tort exam offer any advice on it?

I'm considering taking it on for the Sept exams but haven't looked at it all yet and won't be able to for a few weeks yet.

Just wondering if it is one of the more doable exams or if it is a very broad course to cover or if there are any banker qs in it?

Thanks a mil.

Hunchback

Hi everyone - no doubt I will become more familiar with everyone in this thread over the coming weeks, but just a very quick question re the format of the exams.

Are they all 4 question exams with the exception of Criminal Law which is a 5 question exam? And are they all three hours long?

jdbarry

CKonetheonlyone wrote:

Hi everyone - no doubt I will become more familiar with everyone in this thread over the coming weeks, but just a very quick question re the format of the exams.

CKonetheonlyone wrote:

Are they all 4 question exams with the exception of Criminal Law which is a 5 question exam? And are they all three hours long?

They're all 3 hours long, all have a choice of 8 questions, answer 5

Lawstudent007

Hi all, does anyone know how I can get my hands on previous EU papers and actual answers for the questions? Thanks in advance

hochspitch

dashdoll wrote: »

Could anyone that has sat the Tort exam offer any advice on it?

I'm considering taking it on for the Sept exams but haven't looked at it all yet and won't be able to for a few weeks yet.

Just wondering if it is one of the more doable exams or if it is a very broad course to cover or if there are any banker qs in it?

Thanks a mil.

Not gonna lie it's not the most straightforward exam. There are a lot of topics in torts so it's difficult to rely on just learning the minimum and hoping they came up. A lot of people screwed over in March's exam because liability for animals almost always comes up and this year they put a question on liable for accidental fire damage instead. Topics can be quite long (negligence/defamation) and you don't know what way they're going to come up. Not trying to put you off but if you want to sit torts definitely make sure you cover enough topics and know they pretty well.

kd2121

Hi! I'm sitting 3 exams in October and am deciding between constitutional and EU..which would be the better option?

dashdoll

Thanks for the reply!

hochspitch wrote: »

Not gonna lie it's not the most straightforward exam. There are a lot of topics in torts so it's difficult to rely on just learning the minimum and hoping they came up. A lot of people screwed over in March's exam because liability for animals almost always comes up and this year they put a question on liable for accidental fire damage instead. Topics can be quite long (negligence/defamation) and you don't know what way they're going to come up. Not trying to put you off but if you want to sit torts definitely make sure you cover enough topics and know they pretty well.

law_student1

Just a quick question regarding equity, in Purpose Trusts is there any need to study Public Benefit prior to the 2009 act seeing as this act is now in force? Don't want to waste my time on it if it is completely irrelevant!

Hunchback

law_student1 wrote: »

Just a quick question regarding equity, in Purpose Trusts is there any need to study Public Benefit prior to the 2009 act seeing as this act is now in force? Don't want to waste my time on it if it is completely irrelevant!

Hi Law Student 1.

This is just my two cents here, somebody else might directly (and correctly!) contradict me - so this is just my opinion.

Now, disclaimer aside, I would be inclined to include the case law that illustrates the area. You may be asked a question that requires you to trace the development of the law in the area, hence a knowledge of the development of the case law and the different issues that the judiciary grappled with would need to be discussed. Also, legislation is not produced in isolation or in a vacuum. It tends to be informed by precedence as much as it might be anticipatory. So I think that in order to discuss the legislation at least a mention of the old case law is required.

Also, I think if you were asked a question on, say, donations for political purposes and you did not mention case law to illustrate your point, but only referred to the act, it would be a very short exam answer - too short.

In short, I get where you are coming from - needing to be economical with where you focus your energy, but I personally think study of this area (and pretty much any area?) needs to include the case law even if legislation has been enacted that supplants it - the case law still illustrates and complements it. Also, the case law in the area is actually quite interesting. Well, I think so anyway. Just a few reads over it and it should stick in your mind easily enough.

Best of luck with it. GO TEAM! :pac:

missindigo123

Any suggestions for Company Law? Worried about the new act coming into force. Using a 2014 manual and I heard that the examiner is a very hard marker so want to make sure I'm ok to just use the new law as part of a concluding point almost?

sunshine and showers

missindigo123 wrote: »

Any suggestions for Company Law? Worried about the new act coming into force. Using a 2014 manual and I heard that the examiner is a very hard marker so want to make sure I'm ok to just use the new law as part of a concluding point almost?

Fairly certain it's still either or. It was for the last sitting. Use the old or the new.

In fact, I just checked the syllabus and that is the case. Base answers on the Companies Act 1963-2013 or the Companies Act 2014.

So you can forget about the new law if you want. I am. Enough to be at!

missindigo123

missindigo123 wrote: »

Any suggestions for Company Law? Worried about the new act coming into force. Using a 2014 manual and I heard that the examiner is a very hard marker so want to make sure I'm ok to just use the new law as part of a concluding point almost?

Thanks a mill

hullaballoo

I would suggest that there may be implications of totally ignoring the new Companies Act for your professional lives. There are many changes to the law under the new Act and the practice and procedure will have to change as a result. I can understand the temptation to just pretend there is no new Act but I would suggest that you have at least some idea what the major changes are under the new Act - like what the new company types are, changes to restriction/disqualification of directors and the various other larger heads.

I wouldn't suggest learning the new sections by number but have an idea what the bigger changes are and how they might change how you go about answering the exam paper.

Hunchback

hullaballoo wrote: »

I would suggest that there may be implications of totally ignoring the new Companies Act for your professional lives. There are many changes to the law under the new Act and the practice and procedure will have to change as a result. I can understand the temptation to just pretend there is no new Act but I would suggest that you have at least some idea what the major changes are under the new Act - like what the new company types are, changes to restriction/disqualification of directors and the various other larger heads.

I wouldn't suggest learning the new sections by number but have an idea what the bigger changes are and how they might change how you go about answering the exam paper.

Absolutley agree with this post. It will stand you in good stead when you get into the office. We all want to pass these exams, but wouldn't it be way more use to learn the Companies Act 2014? I'd be a tiny bit embarrassed if a new colleague asked me a question about DAC companies and how they are treated under the Act and I couldn't answer because I elected to study the old legislation.

sunshine and showers

Yeah, not saying pretend the new legislation doesn't exist, lads. But the poster has a 2014 manual and about six weeks until the exam. Presumably other subjects to do too.

In an ideal world, you'd learn both inside out. We'd also all get As. In FE1 land, you want to pass and nobody cares about anything over that beautiful 50%.

There's time enough to read the new legislation and put it to good use. Believe me, these exams are difficult enough, CK.

Scandixx

Hello!

I'm doing my first sitting of the fe1s at the end of september this year. I'm taking equity, tort, contract and property. I've all my notes finished and am just starting to learn them all.. Does anyone have any tips for learning off? Eg what to leave out/ how to approach it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

chops018

There is an FE1 thread which this would be more useful in.

It's usually always on the front page as people regularly post in it.

From my experience of the FE1's I never understood why people would spend most of their time making notes when the manuals already have everything there, although I am not saying do not make notes at all.

I used to go through a chapter in the manual, then go over 3-5 sample answers for that chapter and see exactly how many different types of questions can be asked on each topic, then I would try to maybe make a very quick 5 minute summary of 1-2 pages of the topic just jotting down headings and case names (for memory), but my main aim was understanding the topic/area I was studying.

For each topic I was only happy if I was comfortable enough to be able tell my friend/relative about it over lunch (not that I ever did but you know what I mean, but at a good level of understanding the topic that you could do this, and if you can then you should be able to answer a question on it).

This usually took me 2-3 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the topic.

If I was having problems with an area then I would post on the FE1 thread, I would search online, go through the text book or even the nutshell.

In terms of leaving areas out I was always a firm believer of covering at least 90% of each subject. However from looking at exam grids you can see for some of the subjects there are areas that can be completely left out.

If you have a good exam grid and go back through the past questions you will see what areas are usually asked on for each topic. For example in Equity I think for each injunction there was only two or three certain types of questions they could actually ask you, so just learn them off. Another area in Equity was the remedies, I think for them there was very little room for different questions in these areas so again just learn off the questions and cases for these.

When it came very close to the exam I would literally scan back over each of the topics and just try to drum case names into my head. The City Colleges NBN's (Night Before Notes) were very good for this. They put these online for everyone for free, I never did a prep course so I was delighted to get them. Also get to know other people doing the exams and you can trade notes and sample answers etc. I did this and the amount of material I have on my laptop for the FE1's is unreal.

It took me 4 sittings to get all 8 - they are gruelling.

Also the weirdest set of exams ever by the way. I have come out of exams thinking I did 5 strong answers and ended up getting low 40's (Tort and Company were my Achilles heel subjects) then other exams (Constitutional) I waffled and threw in everything and hoped for the best and passed no problem (I must have included Separation of Powers for nearly every question and for one question I only used the Constitution provisions and one case). Although I remember for Constitutional I knew the principle of Proportionality very well and this could be applied in all the rights based questions so that helped.

The main thing is if you put the work in and know what the examiner wants and know the info then you will pass. Remember the simple system of IRAC (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) for most problem questions and you can't go too far wrong. Be wary of the mixed topic questions and for essay questions make sure you read the question and relate your answer to this, try give your opinion and put in some scholarly articles (if you can) for brownie points.

Good luck with your first set. It sounds like you are way ahead of schedule with all your notes done and now you have plenty of time to look at past papers, sample answers and learn off cases.

missindigo123

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

Absolutley agree with this post. It will stand you in good stead when you get into the office. We all want to pass these exams, but wouldn't it be way more use to learn the Companies Act 2014? I'd be a tiny bit embarrassed if a new colleague asked me a question about DAC companies and how they are treated under the Act and I couldn't answer because I elected to study the old legislation.

My intention was to just know the main points of the new legislation and put them almost as a conclusion to questions!! I'm in no way concerned with life in the office, I'll prepare for that when the time comes!!
Just wanted to be sure that a paragraph at the end would do the trick! Not even sure how to answer a question solely on the new legislation tbh!!

hullaballoo

sunshine and showers wrote: »

Yeah, not saying pretend the new legislation doesn't exist, lads. But the poster has a 2014 manual and about six weeks until the exam. Presumably other subjects to do too.

In an ideal world, you'd learn both inside out. We'd also all get As. In FE1 land, you want to pass and nobody cares about anything over that beautiful 50%.

There's time enough to read the new legislation and put it to good use. Believe me, these exams are difficult enough, CK.

It's perfectly acceptable and, in my opinion, the better option to focus on the 1963-2012 regime because whatever happens under the new Act will be done against a backdrop of hundreds of years of law, just like any new Act.

What I am getting at and I think it's the most sensible approach all round is that you are aware of the headline changes brought in by the new Act so that you can add it as more or less a footnote to your answer. I'm talking about a general awareness, rather than anything in-depth.

My point about your career is one that I've raised before. I understand the exam pressure situation that means you cannot give your undivided attention to every facet of the syllabus for any given subject but when you get out the other side of the exams and start training, you cannot turn around to whoever you're working with and say, "I left that chapter out."

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can look over the stuff when you're finished your exams because you simply will not. You won't pick up a dreary law book until the next time you absolutely have to and that will remain the same for the rest of your life!

sunshine and showers

Yeah, thanks, Hullaballoo. Just stress setting in - I need these exams to be over already. Again!

Scandixx

Thanks chops loads of helpful advice there thank you

Scandixx

Hello!

I'm doing my first sitting of the fe1s at the end of september this year. I'm taking equity, tort, contract and property. I've all my notes finished and am just starting to learn them all.. Does anyone have any tips for learning off? Eg what to leave out/ how to approach it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Reply Edit

Hunchback

missindigo123 wrote: »

My intention was to just know the main points of the new legislation and put them almost as a conclusion to questions!! I'm in no way concerned with life in the office, I'll prepare for that when the time comes!!
Just wanted to be sure that a paragraph at the end would do the trick! Not even sure how to answer a question solely on the new legislation tbh!!

Cool Cool, sorry if my post came across as a bit prim - on looking it back it does read a bit like that. My main thing was, having been in an office where people are adjusting to the implications of the new Act and calls are coming in from clients who need to be advised on how to adapt to its requirements, it does have real use to be familiar with it, and now more than ever. And considering that you can answer with reference to one OR the other in the exam.....

But as you said passing is your main concern. And as Sunshine identified, you only have six weeks and perhaps you don't have the materials for the 2014 Act. So I see where you are coming from.

Right Turn Clyde

My handwriting is very slow. I know the old 'quality v quantity' argument, but I'm genuinely worried that it's gonna hold me back with the FE1s. I've no doubt that I have the ability to pass the exams on an organisational and endurance level, but I'm just so worried that there won't be enough time for me to get my answers down on paper. I've just picked up work in a firm, with a good chance of being offered a contract when the time comes. So everything seems to be coming together, but I'm simply bricking it over these bloody things.

tiischy

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

My handwriting is very slow. I know the old 'quality v quantity' argument, but I'm genuinely worried that it's gonna hold me back with the FE1s. I've no doubt that I have the ability to pass the exams on an organisational and endurance level, but I'm just so worried that there won't be enough time for me to get my answers down on paper. I've just picked up work in a firm, with a good chance of being offered a contract when the time comes. So everything seems to be coming together, but I'm simply bricking it over these bloody things.

Same. I think I spend more time worrying about that than the actual exams