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

Milkypops

dashdoll wrote: »

Sitting Company in Sept and just starting to sort notes out and stuff now.

The Company's Act is so expensive, is there any cheaper way of getting it cos I guess its pretty essential? Looking at 80e minimum.

Bloody broke from these exams!

pm sent!

makemecrazy

Hi all just wondering how much time are you giving to studying for these exams? Do people think its too late to start now and aim to do 5 in September? Finding it hard to keep at it!

dashdoll

makemecrazy wrote: »

Hi all just wondering how much time are you giving to studying for these exams? Do people think its too late to start now and aim to do 5 in September? Finding it hard to keep at it!

I hope so. I'm supposed to be sitting 6 which is probably a bit ambitious, but definitely 5 in Sept and only getting into it in the last few days.

I haven't actually sat the exams before though so I don't know. So far I've been watching some lectures and find it v time consuming what with pausing to take notes etc.

saor19

makemecrazy wrote: »

Hi all just wondering how much time are you giving to studying for these exams? Do people think its too late to start now and aim to do 5 in September? Finding it hard to keep at it!

It definitely isn't too late but don't get complacent because I said that! If you are making your own notes I'd advise you to stop with at least 4 weeks to go and just learn from that point. Too many people are still making notes the week before the exam! Also don't divide your time equally between subjects, you know which are more difficult, spend your time accordingly!

rory16

Hi all,

Thinking of taking 4 FE1's in September and buying preowned manuals.. is there any specific manuals which are better than others, ie griffith/city etc? Thanks in advance for the advice!!

saor19

rory16 wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of taking 4 FE1's in September and buying preowned manuals.. is there any specific manuals which are better than others, ie griffith/city etc? Thanks in advance for the advice!!

They each have a distinct style so it's really a personal preference. I found city colleges to be the best for subjects like EU, property & company because they really streamline the info you need. I prefer independent for constitutional because it gives a good theoretical background, something I think is necessary for the exam. Griffith would be my least favourite as I think they can be unclear in some places with use of language but really once you get any manual you should be fine, I'm pretty sure if you learn one back to front you'll pass ;-)

KarlKarlson123

Would anyone have exam grids for eu or tort that they could email or even screenshot to me?

NavyandBlue

rory16 wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of taking 4 FE1's in September and buying preowned manuals.. is there any specific manuals which are better than others, ie griffith/city etc? Thanks in advance for the advice!!

I used City and Independent. I would say avoid City though. The standard of grammar and punctuation found in some (although not all) of their manuals was utterly abysmal. Apostrophes were treated as if they didn't exist. You may think I am being a grammar nazi (and I am) but it really shook my confidence in their competence to put together a publication for a professional course. After all, you are placing your faith in them to sort the wheat from the chaff by choosing the right cases to focus on. I thought that if they couldn't grasp the fundamental basics of the English language, then there is a fair old chance that substantive content would be amiss as well.

Also, I used a City manual for contract law and the chapter on Estoppel was an absolute mess. It was obviously someone's notes from a lecture back in university - but the notes hadn't been annotated since that person walked out of the lecture hall. There were all sorts of tell tale signs for this but one glaring error was that the facts for High Trees (so fundamental a case) were wrong. I thought this was really strange considering other chapters of that manual dealt with the various topics quite well.

On the whole I found the Independent manuals were better. There were certainly no consistent grammatical errors. However, it's noticeable that the quality of a manual often depends on the quality of the main academic textbooks in a particular area of law. The Independent College Equity manual was extremely good but this is mainly down to the fact that the Hilary Delany Equity textbook (which is quoted extensively in the manual) is so good and quite up to date. Whereas Independent College's Constitutional Law manual was good but I thought that it's treatment of cases within the last five years wasn't brilliant (and often I felt it was necessary to read the actual case ! ) and possibly an explanation for this is that there hasn't been any major constitutional law textbook since 2008-ish.

a_star89

rory16 wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of taking 4 FE1's in September and buying preowned manuals.. is there any specific manuals which are better than others, ie griffith/city etc? Thanks in advance for the advice!!

Hi rory16 - I definitely recommend Independent Colleges manuals. I used these and lecture notes and passed all 8 without doing any external reading whatsoever! they are just concise enough to be manageable while giving enough info to pass.

saor19

NavyandBlue wrote: »

I used City and Independent. I would say avoid City though. The standard of grammar and punctuation found in some (although not all) of their manuals was utterly abysmal. Apostrophes were treated as if they didn't exist. You may think I am being a grammar nazi (and I am) but it really shook my confidence in their competence to put together a publication for a professional course. After all, you are placing your faith in them to sort the wheat from the chaff by choosing the right cases to focus on. I thought that if they couldn't grasp the fundamental basics of the English language, then there is a fair old chance that substantive content would be amiss as well.

Also, I used a City manual for contract law and the chapter on Estoppel was an absolute mess. It was obviously someone's notes from a lecture back in university - but the notes hadn't been annotated since that person walked out of the lecture hall. There were all sorts of tell tale signs for this but one glaring error was that the facts for High Trees (so fundamental a case) were wrong. I thought this was really strange considering other chapters of that manual dealt with the various topics quite well.

On the whole I found the Independent manuals were better. There were certainly no consistent grammatical errors. However, it's noticeable that the quality of a manual often depends on the quality of the main academic textbooks in a particular area of law. The Independent College Equity manual was extremely good but this is mainly down to the fact that the Hilary Delany Equity textbook (which is quoted extensively in the manual) is so good and quite up to date. Whereas Independent College's Constitutional Law manual was good but I thought that it's treatment of cases within the last five years wasn't brilliant (and often I felt it was necessary to read the actual case ! ) and possibly an explanation for this is that there hasn't been any major constitutional law textbook since 2008-ish.

I honestly didn't come across the level of errors that you seem to have, but you are right that each lecturer writes their own manual so they can (and must) vary. Having said that, the specific ones I mentioned I passed comfortably my first time with City manuals so I think it really is up to the individual and their preferences.
I'm doing contract & equity next so thanks for those tips!

XxMCRxBabyxX

Hey guys, stating to properly getting into my FE1 study so I thought that I'd join ye here. I'm totally lost with these exams though. Is there anywhere that I can just get a general breakdown of how the exams go. Like how many Q's you do and what you can bring in with you or anything?

Also, do the law society have any allowances for people with disabilities like you could get in college, i.e. extra time or smaller rooms?

a_star89

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

Hey guys, stating to properly getting into my FE1 study so I thought that I'd join ye here. I'm totally lost with these exams though. Is there anywhere that I can just get a general breakdown of how the exams go. Like how many Q's you do and what you can bring in with you or anything?

Also, do the law society have any allowances for people with disabilities like you could get in college, i.e. extra time or smaller rooms?

Hey.

So basically the exams are a memory test. You need to do 5 of 8 questions which are a mixture of essay and problem questions. they differ from university exams in that you need to know a lot of topics in not so much detail as opposed to less topics in more detail. you cannot bring notes/book s but can bring some acts/legislation such as Companies Acts, EU Treaty and constitution. All information on permitted materials is available on the law society's website.

As regards, allowances for disabilities, there is a separate location for those who need extra time. I think its in UCD but you may need to clarify with the law society.

Good luck!!

XxMCRxBabyxX

a_star89 wrote: »

Hey.

So basically the exams are a memory test. You need to do 5 of 8 questions which are a mixture of essay and problem questions. they differ from university exams in that you need to know a lot of topics in not so much detail as opposed to less topics in more detail. you cannot bring notes/book s but can bring some acts/legislation such as Companies Acts, EU Treaty and constitution. All information on permitted materials is available on the law society's website.

As regards, allowances for disabilities, there is a separate location for those who need extra time. I think its in UCD but you may need to clarify with the law society.

Good luck!!

Crap, memory tests are not my forte but I was preparing for that anyway!

Thanks for the info. I went searching but I just seemed to get myself more confused! I'll get in touch with the Law Society about the disability allowances.

a_star89

Are you doing a prep course? They can be pricey but definitely worth it I think.

XxMCRxBabyxX

a_star89 wrote: »

Are you doing a prep course? They can be pricey but definitely worth it I think.

Nope but I have manuals and am doing the subjects that I just finished in final year so I'm hoping that that'll stand for me

dandadub

First time to Constitutional Law ive been attending the lectures in Independent Colleges and although the lectures seem fine to understand the general principles and cases etc im struggling a bit with the manual. Is anyone else in or was in the same position and what did you do? Im thinking of buying the Oran Doyle book to help. What are the manuals like from Griffith/City?

makemecrazy

Does anyone know what came up in both exams in Property Law 2013 and 2014? My grid is not up to date

Legal125

This may seem basic but does standard of care come under duty of care or is it distinct and seperate in terms of analysis re Qs in tort. It's just a Q specifically asked to discuss duty of care and I just wondered if it would be appropriate to inc std of care in such a Q. Thanks in advance

saor19

Legal125 wrote: »

This may seem basic but does standard of care come under duty of care or is it distinct and seperate in terms of analysis re Qs in tort. It's just a Q specifically asked to discuss duty of care and I just wondered if it would be appropriate to inc std of care in such a Q. Thanks in advance

They are separate according to Val Corbett in independent colleges. He said you can mention in a sentence that you notice there may be a standard of care issue but as you have been specifically asked to discuss the duty of care etc etc.... He said this is a common mistake by students that the examiner hates and thus marks harshly, only answer what you are asked.

Legal125

saor19 wrote: »

They are separate according to Val Corbett in independent colleges. He said you can mention in a sentence that you notice there may be a standard of care issue but as you have been specifically asked to discuss the duty of care etc etc.... He said this is a common mistake by students that the examiner hates and thus marks harshly, only answer what you are asked.

Thank you so very much!!! Yeah I noticed in his reports- he keeps saying answer Q asked but that in itself is sometimes difficult to decipher lol! Thanks again!!

Milkypops

Legal125 wrote: »

Thank you so very much!!! Yeah I noticed in his reports- he keeps saying answer Q asked but that in itself is sometimes difficult to decipher lol! Thanks again!!

when i did my tort exam last october...standard of care was a full essay question so learn the two as separate issues definitely!

Legal125

Thanks. Yeah no I saw that alright. It was more in where its a discussion of duty of care whether one so expected to inc std of care or not but that's ok. All sorted now. Thanks for reply.

add727

dandadub wrote: »

First time to Constitutional Law ive been attending the lectures in Independent Colleges and although the lectures seem fine to understand the general principles and cases etc im struggling a bit with the manual. Is anyone else in or was in the same position and what did you do? Im thinking of buying the Oran Doyle book to help. What are the manuals like from Griffith/City?

I'm doing a prep course with City, on a few recommendations, and I'm not finding it great for Constitutional at all! He seems to skim through things in lectures, skips through a huge amount of slides and the manual just doesn't seem meaty enough at all, nor is he going through it in order which is really throwing me off. Got my hands on Oran Doyle's Constitutional book, also hoping that'll help steer me through :-/

Has anyone else attended City Colleges for Constitutional? Any thoughts on it? Starting to wish I'd stuck with Independent, didn't let me down first time around!

Laura Steph

Hi guys,

You all seem very occupied with the Autumn 2014 exams, but if anyone could give me some advice, I'd really appreciate it.

I'm coming home from Australia in late November to study for the Spring 2015 set (my 1st set...I'm ****ting it but its time to take the bull by the horns now!).
Going to do a prep course with Independent.

Any general advice for someone a year out of the study game as to how address the whole study/note compiling process??

Good luck to everyone studying at the moment, can't wait to be one of you! :P

dandadub

add727 wrote: »

I'm doing a prep course with City, on a few recommendations, and I'm not finding it great for Constitutional at all! He seems to skim through things in lectures, skips through a huge amount of slides and the manual just doesn't seem meaty enough at all, nor is he going through it in order which is really throwing me off. Got my hands on Oran Doyle's Constitutional book, also hoping that'll help steer me through :-/

Has anyone else attended City Colleges for Constitutional? Any thoughts on it? Starting to wish I'd stuck with Independent, didn't let me down first time around!

Oh really? God now i dont know. Im finding Independent Colleges ok based on lectures but not really for answering questions or some other tips ive been getting.

On a seperate note. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best EU book to get?

Legal125

dandadub wrote: »

Oh really? God now i dont know. Im finding Independent Colleges ok based on lectures but not really for answering questions or some other tips ive been getting.

On a seperate note. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best EU book to get?

I went with ind. and basically notes were short version of manual. Worked.

Right Turn Clyde

I was going to sit the Spring exams, but my circumstances have changed and now I'm considering doing them this September/October? I have to attempt four as it's my first sitting. Is that crazy, or do you think there's enough time? I'm planning on studying 9-5, Monday to Friday. I'm quite disciplined. I've only just finished my LLB so a lot of it is still in my head. Even so, am I pushing it? Thanks.

--homeslice--

add727 wrote: »

I'm doing a prep course with City, on a few recommendations, and I'm not finding it great for Constitutional at all! He seems to skim through things in lectures, skips through a huge amount of slides and the manual just doesn't seem meaty enough at all, nor is he going through it in order which is really throwing me off. Got my hands on Oran Doyle's Constitutional book, also hoping that'll help steer me through :-/

Has anyone else attended City Colleges for Constitutional? Any thoughts on it? Starting to wish I'd stuck with Independent, didn't let me down first time around!

I was worried about city too about a month and a half before the exams because I thought it was all over the place but I did the extra cram revision day they run before the exams and found that I knew a lot more than I thought! I agree the city manual isn't laid out amazingly but just stick to it - I think it'd be a bit mad to start with a new manual at this stage! I did really really well in the exam in the end so your man really knows his stuff!

dinemo6

Could anybody doing a prep course at the moment for Company Law pm if you get a chance please......

vickyplumx

Hey ! New here. Been studying for a good month now with manuals and college notes. Decided today to do propert instead of eu. 1st 4 and really wanna get 3. Doing equity, contract, property and tort. Good choices ?