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

saor19

Legal125 wrote: »

You might not get it until a bit the way through the exam. They try get it to you but they have to go through it to make sure no writing on it. And if lots of people only bring it on the morning. May add to the wait. I think they are fairly good at getting it to people though.
Just going on what I've read here though.

Yep you usually get it at the half hour mark!

dashdoll

Im looking at Property at the moment, specifically easements. Im working from a 2012 manual so not sure if the material on Prescription is relevant anymore for example the transitional period etc and references to the Civil Law Bill 2011 which I presume has been enacted by now. I sthis part of easements still relevant for exam purposes? Its very confusing!

Thanks.

dietcokeg

Thanks all!! yeah I've emailed the law society and got no answer and whenever i call i just get transferred from person to person at the utterance of 'fe1' and no one actually picks up...

will just give it on the day so, as long as i get it sometime during the exam for reference i don't mind!

thanks±

southcounty

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to learn constitutional in a week? Have 6 days before that exam to cram a pass! any advice on what topics to cut/zone in on? I've heard it's a very waffely exam

Legal125

southcounty wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to learn constitutional in a week? Have 6 days before that exam to cram a pass! any advice on what topics to cut/zone in on? I've heard it's a very waffely exam

Guess it depends. I learnt my notes two weeks ago. And have left it now until then. So hoping 6 days going over notes shoul be enough. But have u looked at it at all or familiar with any of it. 6 days is decent amount of time either way if u have notes. Don't panic

S12b

southcounty wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to learn constitutional in a week? Have 6 days before that exam to cram a pass! any advice on what topics to cut/zone in on? I've heard it's a very waffely exam

Have you notes written out or are you starting from scratch?

dashdoll

S12b wrote: »

Have you notes written out or are you starting from scratch?

6 days sounds very decent if you have notes!

Im in panic mode too..meant to be sitting 5 exams but thinking of dropping one now. Gonna have 4 days each to learn for company and contract..have all my notes written out..just need to do the hard bit and try learn them. Have a few exams back to back too...dont know if im better off dropping one or what as need to get 3.

I havent even sat an fe1 yet and this is already a horrific experience!

Any advice would be very welcome!

southcounty

S12b wrote: »

Have you notes written out or are you starting from scratch?

Have notes written out..kinda glanced over them 2 weeks ago but by no means are they learned! Thanks for the vote of confidence guys think sometimes u just need someone to say it is do-able!!
Dash doll...don't give up! I planned in sitting 5 my first go and ended up doing 4 so if u feel u need to drop one do but company and contract I found very doable especially if U have a gap of a few days! Property is a nice one to do first time round aswell!

dandadub

Similar boat myself. My first attempt at a constitution exam and unlike other fe1s I cant see a trend in questions ie the same types of questions for each chapter.

Would I be right in saying there doesn't appear to be the same type of questions that come up just with the specifics changed? eg In contract offer and acceptance scenario where you must establish if there was a valid contract

LawCQ91

dashdoll wrote: »

6 days sounds very decent if you have notes!

Im in panic mode too..meant to be sitting 5 exams but thinking of dropping one now. Gonna have 4 days each to learn for company and contract..have all my notes written out..just need to do the hard bit and try learn them. Have a few exams back to back too...dont know if im better off dropping one or what as need to get 3.

I havent even sat an fe1 yet and this is already a horrific experience!

Any advice would be very welcome!

I was meant to do 5 the last last time , and I dropped one, best decision ever.. I really don't know would I have passed the 4 if I hadn't dropped contract ( it was my last exam on the last day) . I had company and property back to back which I was kind of prepared for. Because they were the first two , then I had only 3 days for criminal then a day for equity, and no gap between equity and contract . I really had no time to learn contract .. I decided to drop contract the week before the exam, had I not I don't think I would have passed the 4 .. Given that I got 50 on the dot for criminal ...and I really was not confident with equity ...I really could have failed both .. Anyway: what I am trying to say by dropping contract gave me a tiny bit of time to study for the criminal and equity and pushed me over the line !!

Also 4 days each is enough to learn, I did all criminal in 3 days and one and half day for equity. ( with a few mental breakdown in between )

dashdoll

Thanks a mil for the advice. Iv been watching lectures and reading notes for ages so annoyed that I didnt start trying to learn sooner. Meant to be sitting Company, Property, Contract, Criminal & Equity. Property & Contract are back to back but kind of edging towards dropping Company and its the first one and is so vast (and i dont have any of it learned). Dont really know contract either and its a back to back one but have a feeling it wiuld be easier to pass than company.

Iv had ages to study but Im thinking its the last few days that really matter in the end and dont know if my brain can hold 5. I know I'll be kicking myself if I drop it but as you said if I sit 5 and dont get 3 it will be worse.

I think I'll spend a few days at Contract from tomorrow on and see how I am after that!

Thanks again!

LawCQ91 wrote: »

I was meant to do 5 the last last time , and I dropped one, best decision ever.. I really don't know would I have passed the 4 if I hadn't dropped contract ( it was my last exam on the last day) . I had company and property back to back which I was kind of prepared for. Because they were the first two , then I had only 3 days for criminal then a day for equity, and no gap between equity and contract . I really had no time to learn contract .. I decided to drop contract the week before the exam, had I not I don't think I would have passed the 4 .. Given that I got 50 on the dot for criminal ...and I really was not confident with equity ...I really could have failed both .. Anyway: what I am trying to say by dropping contract gave me a tiny bit of time to study for the criminal and equity and pushed me over the line !!

Also 4 days each is enough to learn, I did all criminal in 3 days and one and half day for equity. ( with a few mental breakdown in between )

LawCQ91

dashdoll wrote: »

Thanks a mil for the advice. Iv been watching lectures and reading notes for ages so annoyed that I didnt start trying to learn sooner. Meant to be sitting Company, Property, Contract, Criminal & Equity. Property & Contract are back to back but kind of edging towards dropping Company and its the first one and is so vast (and i dont have any of it learned). Dont really know contract either and its a back to back one but have a feeling it wiuld be easier to pass than company.

Iv had ages to study but Im thinking its the last few days that really matter in the end and dont know if my brain can hold 5. I know I'll be kicking myself if I drop it but as you said if I sit 5 and dont get 3 it will be worse.

I think I'll spend a few days at Contract from tomorrow on and see how I am after that!

Thanks again!

No problem at all , I was on the same boat as you. It's up to you to decide, I know it's a hard decision to make. You had the notes made out etc. It's not as if you will start from scratch the next time If you decide to drop one ,one less subject to worry about then

The only this I would say is property/contract/equity has some overlap, I answered a whole question in equity (estoppel) based on my notes for property. Undue influence can come up in both contract and equity too. It might be wise to do those two/three together , I personally think criminal and equity examiners are very nice, easy markers . I am biased about company, I liked company and think it's by far the easiest for me, but you do need to remember a lot of cases though.

Also, it's the few days before the exams that really matters, I don't think I would remembered much had I studied sooner.. I am only starting to learn notes now,I could have started sooner too

If I were you I would concentrate on three. make sure you are confident with them then anything on top is a bonus !

southcounty

dandadub wrote: »

Similar boat myself. My first attempt at a constitution exam and unlike other fe1s I cant see a trend in questions ie the same types of questions for each chapter.

Would I be right in saying there doesn't appear to be the same type of questions that come up just with the specifics changed? eg In contract offer and acceptance scenario where you must establish if there was a valid contract

Yeah the questions are all over the place! It's hard to even pick out the points he wants u to make! I find that in some questions u could raise about 5 arts from the const!

southcounty

Can anyone help me out re Nuisance. I get private nuisance and the elements to establish it etc. but with public nuisance what does it mean if it says it becomes privately actionable if a member of the public suffers more harm than the rest?? Does it become private nuisance then?? And if a member of the public doesn't suffer more harm than anyone else do u still follow the same elements as for private nuisance??

Legal125

southcounty wrote: »

Can anyone help me out re Nuisance. I get private nuisance and the elements to establish it etc. but with public nuisance what does it mean if it says it becomes privately actionable if a member of the public suffers more harm than the rest?? Does it become private nuisance then?? And if a member of the public doesn't suffer more harm than anyone else do u still follow the same elements as for private nuisance??

Public never really examined.generally taken by AG. As it is a public wrong.
U are referring to a very exceptional situation.where someone could est it. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

LawCQ91

southcounty wrote: »

Can anyone help me out re Nuisance. I get private nuisance and the elements to establish it etc. but with public nuisance what does it mean if it says it becomes privately actionable if a member of the public suffers more harm than the rest?? Does it become private nuisance then?? And if a member of the public doesn't suffer more harm than anyone else do u still follow the same elements as for private nuisance??

If one member suffered more than the rest, then they can bring a case and get damages. Example: Wall fell apart and blocked the road = public nusiance. But if the wall fell on top of me , I can sue , because I suffered extra .. If that made sense... Don't follow private nusiance,it just means I get damages

Legal125

LawCQ91 wrote: »

If one member suffered more than the rest, then they can bring a case and get damages. Example: Wall fell apart and blocked the road = public nusiance. But if the wall fell on top of me , I can sue , because I suffered extra .. If that made sense... Don't follow private nusiance,it just means I get damages

But then is that just not a negligence case as opposed to nuisance aaaahhh

LawCQ91

Legal125 wrote: »

But then is that just not a negligence case as opposed to nuisance aaaahhh

Yes I think so,I think it was Q2 April 14, You can very briefly mention public nuisance in one line then the rest of the question would be based on negligence.. Sometimes it's really hard to know what the examiner is asking to be honest! In his report he just said the question was based on negligence.. Didn't mention public nuisance at all but it was definitely public nuisance too

Legal125

LawCQ91 wrote: »

Yes I think so,I think it was Q2 April 14, You can very briefly mention public nuisance in one line then the rest of the question would be based on negligence.. Sometimes it's really hard to know what the examiner is asking to be honest! In his report he just said the question was based on negligence.. Didn't mention public nuisance at all but it was definitely public nuisance too

I know. It causes so much stress.
I think five questions largely on topic and we will be ok.....

southcounty

LawCQ91 wrote: »

Yes I think so,I think it was Q2 April 14, You can very briefly mention public nuisance in one line then the rest of the question would be based on negligence.. Sometimes it's really hard to know what the examiner is asking to be honest! In his report he just said the question was based on negligence.. Didn't mention public nuisance at all but it was definitely public nuisance too

Thanks for clearing that up hopefully the questions next week will be obvious as to which topic to focus on! Wishful thinking anyway

Bertie1986

livelovelaugh wrote: »

I would love some guidance on this too, please

As would I... I am leaving out Intention to Create Legal Relations and Void Contracts. . . So far!

Fionaxoxox

I am sitting the exams for the first time and am wondering what the standard is like? As in in order to get 50% what is expected? Could you pass with 3/4 strong answers and 1/2 weak ones? And I know that there is no correct length but how many points would be expected?

Some sample answers I have seen are like 8 pages long and I could not reproduce that in an exam!! Thanks

LawCQ91

Fionaxoxox wrote: »

I am sitting the exams for the first time and am wondering what the standard is like? As in in order to get 50% what is expected? Could you pass with 3/4 strong answers and 1/2 weak ones? And I know that there is no correct length but how many points would be expected?

Some sample answers I have seen are like 8 pages long and I could not reproduce that in an exam!! Thanks

It really depends, for criminal I did 5 ok questions, none of them were particularly good or bad and I passed at 50, For company, I had two really good questions, 1 good question, 1 ok question and a bad last last question, like very bad I ran out of time and in hadn't studied the topic and just copy whatever I could find in the company's act ! .. and passed at 57 and he was suppose to be a hard marker .. It's really hard to tell.

Shan89

Hi,
For company law if you don't have McCann and Courtney's book of acts I see you can bring in just the Companies Acts.. Where do you get these and how much are they to buy?

Thanks

S12b

Fionaxoxox wrote: »

I am sitting the exams for the first time and am wondering what the standard is like? As in in order to get 50% what is expected? Could you pass with 3/4 strong answers and 1/2 weak ones? And I know that there is no correct length but how many points would be expected?

Some sample answers I have seen are like 8 pages long and I could not reproduce that in an exam!! Thanks

First of all ignore those crazy long sample answers......waste of time!! As always, quality is more important than quantity but to give a rough guide, I averaged about 3.5-4.5 pages in the 36 minutes. I'd say I'm a bit on the slow side speed wise and my writing size would be fairly average. With decent quality content that resulted in circa 65% grades.

Standard wise, I always say a solid, simple but complete answer is all you need to score well. You're not expected to write a thesis but you are expected to address all aspects of the question. Say there are say 6 issues in a problem question, if you can address each issue briefly but accurately you will fly through the question. The problems come when you're only answering half of the question.

Re the amount of good answers needed to pass.....absolutely key you can attempt 5 questions. If you only answer 4, you need to score 12.5 in each to scrape a pass and 12.5 is a very good grade according to the examiners. Getting 10 is a whole lot more manageable so really make sure you have enough topics done to ensure you can answer 5 questions. Depending on what you define as a good answer, 3 good answers and 2 ok ones would get you a pass.

I really wouldn't worry about the standard too much, I did the same for my first sitting but my grades were pretty much the same as college so there's nothing to worry about there.....I'll stress it again, be able to answer 5 questions and you'll be fine!!

Fionaxoxox

S12b wrote: »

First of all ignore those crazy long sample answers......waste of time!! As always, quality is more important than quantity but to give a rough guide, I averaged about 3.5-4.5 pages in the 36 minutes. I'd say I'm a bit on the slow side speed wise and my writing size would be fairly average. With decent quality content that resulted in circa 65% grades.

Standard wise, I always say a solid, simple but complete answer is all you need to score well. You're not expected to write a thesis but you are expected to address all aspects of the question. Say there are say 6 issues in a problem question, if you can address each issue briefly but accurately you will fly through the question. The problems come when you're only answering half of the question.

Re the amount of good answers needed to pass.....absolutely key you can attempt 5 questions. If you only answer 4, you need to score 12.5 in each to scrape a pass and 12.5 is a very good grade according to the examiners. Getting 10 is a whole lot more manageable so really make sure you have enough topics done to ensure you can answer 5 questions. Depending on what you define as a good answer, 3 good answers and 2 ok ones would get you a pass.

I really wouldn't worry about the standard too much, I did the same for my first sitting but my grades were pretty much the same as college so there's nothing to worry about there.....I'll stress it again, be able to answer 5 questions and you'll be fine!!

Thank you so much for the detailed answers guys. I just was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed about it all. Thanks for putting my mind at ease!

southcounty

Shan89 wrote: »

Hi,
For company law if you don't have McCann and Courtney's book of acts I see you can bring in just the Companies Acts.. Where do you get these and how much are they to buy?

Thanks

Not sure of the cost but I'm sure it's steep seeing as all law books are. If u are working in a law office or maybe know someone u could ask them if they have a copy and borrow it for the day or alternatively try take one out of the library if u have access to a law library! It's only 1 day and if u could do that it would save u a few euro

Mileyt

All, I'm not prepared my own fault. Thinking of just turning up at eu and not even attempting it and focusing on property, company and constitutional. I haven't even opened a book for property. I just read constitutional and nearly done reading company so there is panic for you. I did about eight chapters of eu but not a hope like It my own fault, I think I have ADD no amount of scare factor is making me sit dwn and read took the last two days off ...disaster

Legal125

southcounty wrote: »

Not sure of the cost but I'm sure it's steep seeing as all law books are. If u are working in a law office or maybe know someone u could ask them if they have a copy and borrow it for the day or alternatively try take one out of the library if u have access to a law library! It's only 1 day and if u could do that it would save u a few euro

The actual act you would have to get from gov publications. And to be honest would be a no go given they would be a nightmare to navigate. While the books are expensive the idea is they present the acts in a student friendly way so is focus more on getting a student edition than anything else.

saor19

Mileyt wrote: »

All, I'm not prepared my own fault. Thinking of just turning up at eu and not even attempting it and focusing on property, company and constitutional. I haven't even opened a book for property. I just read constitutional and nearly done reading company so there is panic for you. I did about eight chapters of eu but not a hope like It my own fault, I think I have ADD no amount of scare factor is making me sit dwn and read took the last two days off ...disaster

You have time! Set manageable targets and be really strict with yourself. Even if you can't get into study now, when the exams start, the adrenaline should kick in. You've a nice gap between exams, use it!

You've done 8 chapters in EU, thats good progress imo and if it was me I'd never go in and not attempt the paper. The EU examiner is rooting for you to pass. Even if you want to focus on the other three, do try and answer your 5 questions. It will help with exam technique and timing for the others anyway even if you struggle with content.

Property is a shorter course and you are nearly guaranteed two questions on succession so start there. Don't cover everything, questions are generally self contained.

Look at past exam papers and reports and if you can't sit and learn then do questions. You'll be surprised at how much you retain.
Best of luck.