FE1 Exam Thread (Read 1st post!) No trading

EmmaO94

FE1student560 wrote: »

Well that's my training contract revoked. Just off the phone with my would-be employer. No point resitting company in March now. I've been in complete shock for 24 hours. I had no expectation of failing that exam and I found out I was 13% short. This year has just been awful and this certainly caps it off. No idea where I go from here. I hope everyone else has better luck than me and manages to get through these nonsensical exams.

I'm so so sorry. As someone else said, maybe since this Firm has been so callous this change of direction for you could be a blessing of sorts, although I know very hard to hear right now. Remember, you secured a TC once so you can absolutely 100% do it again. Take a breather and then plan your next move - you will get to where you want to be, we're backing you all the way!

law987

That's awful that they would revoke your contract. I also agree you're better off not working from them if that's how they treat people, although I appreciate that's not helpful to hear

Lawlaw12

FE1student560 wrote: »

Well that's my training contract revoked. Just off the phone with my would-be employer. No point resitting company in March now. I've been in complete shock for 24 hours. I had no expectation of failing that exam and I found out I was 13% short. This year has just been awful and this certainly caps it off. No idea where I go from here. I hope everyone else has better luck than me and manages to get through these nonsensical exams.

I'm so so sorry to hear that. I thought firms would have some leniency given the circumstances.
There's no pressure on you now to rush through the exam in March, maybe if you take some time for yourself and start fresh for the sitting after that it will work out for you. You will definitely manage to secure another training contract and it will work out as it was supposed to, as someone else said you've secured a TC before and you'll do it again.

I hope you're okay

Lawlz

Aimeenig wrote: »

Selling the latest City Colleges 2020-2021 manuals for Equity, Criminal and Contract. Will include up to date exam grids, past papers and examiner reports. €50 per subject. PM me if interested

Sent you a PM!

nmurphy1441

FE1Hopefully1 wrote: »

Separate legal personality
Advantages/Disadvantages of setting up a company
Directors duties
Examinership/receivership
Corporate borrowings
Winding up
Shareholder oppression

I could be missing a few others

Thanks a lot!!! Does anyone else want to add their opinion to this? And Company sample answers would be great too if someone was willing to share!

Ozymandias98

I have a lot of constitutional law materials including exam papers, revision guides and all my notes that I used to pass the November exam. I made my notes using lecture notes from college, the Doyle & Hickey book and the Law School manual. Send me a PM if interested

123456789j

Hazel774 wrote: »

I think unfortunately an extra sitting is unlikely, considering the fact that the August results were only scheduled to come out days before the October sitting and the LS refused to make any changes despite a petition with 687 signatures. The only reason it got changed to November was due to new covid restrictions, but they did everything in their power to hold it in October which would have given people who failed in August 7 days to prepare for a repeat.
People asked them to hold a second sitting even just for Tort and EU (as they were the only exams in August) just to give people a fair chance to repeat but of course they refused.

The fact that they wouldn't hold an extra sitting for two subjects for those candidates who had their March exams cancelled the day before the exam and then postponed for five months leads me to believe they won't even entertain the idea of an extra sitting for all 8 exams.

I genuinely think there is no getting through to them. They show an absolute disregard for candidates mental health time and time again.

Yes I agree with you here. Perhaps it could be all in vain knowing how the law society operate but if anyone else feels the same way I do, I will be emailing them and phoning in the coming days asking if this may be possible. Especially due to the fact that written exams may be possible come the summer.

Who knows, if enough people express interest, they might end up accommodate us.. maybe.. maybe not. Worth a shot though!

IgoPAP

123456789j wrote: »

Yes I agree with you here. Perhaps it could be all in vain knowing how the law society operate but if anyone else feels the same way I do, I will be emailing them and phoning in the coming days asking if this may be possible. Especially due to the fact that written exams may be possible come the summer.

Who knows, if enough people express interest, they might end up accommodate us.. maybe.. maybe not. Worth a shot though!

Even if there's only a 10% chance of this, it's still worth pushing for.

Fe1Examz

Definitely, any emails proposing pushing back the exams or an extra sitting - all worth a try!!

It is very unfair to have a recheck system in place, yet return them so close to exams. There will still be several months until October exams.

fe12021

would anyone be willing to share company sample answers? i have digital copies for eu, equity, criminal and property so can exchange. and if anyone else needs any of this let me know, happy to email them over

I think maybe we should try contacting our TDs again?
Maybe a few letters/emails from TDs nationwide might help?

They ignore petitions and emails and treat us like sh*t tbh.
I know people contacted TDs around October time maybe it’s a route we might want to take again now?

I just don’t understand how they can fail us, not tell us why, not tell us how to improve, NOT TELL US ANYTHING! And then not provide an adequate or transparent review system. This whole career is based off the rule of law and IMO the law soc are failing to uphold the standards they are there to represent!

mydogwentroof

Katniss1998 wrote: »

Hi, I have prepared notes for the following topics for Property, should I be ok?Will Construction and Essential
Succession Rights
Adverse Possession
Easements
Coownership
Family Property
Finding
Licences and Rights of Residence
Landlord and Tenant
Mortgage
Intestate Succession

Secondly, I am currently doing Company, Property and Contract. I was considering Constitutional but was wondering should I chance Equity and Criminal instead.

Yes.

Fe1forthefun

IgoPAP wrote: »

I don't think this is the case as the August sittings of the exams, which were in-person, went fine and most people thought the results were fair. As opposed to the remote sittings, where apparently the examiners gave up and started throwing out 36 and 43 marks like candy.

I think everyone needs to see the percentage of people that passed during the online sitting and compare it to previous years on a per subject basis.

We may have inadvertently raised the standards ourselves because being able to type the exam, coupled with the extra time, meant we were all able to write a lot more. My sentences were definitely better formulated than previous fe1 exams because I was able to go back and revise, add in further points etc. I don't think these are graded on a bell curve though?

NewFe1

What do people who failed equity, but thought they'd definitely passed, think has gone on? I genuinely cannot for the life of me understand how I didn't pass that exam. I have passed the others I have sat comfortably so I know how to judge myself. Even with harsh marking, my result makes 0 sense. I hope we all don't just sit back and accept this as something isn't right about it.

nicolesd

Hey guys, i am not to sure if many people know this because i had to find this out myself after been left in a similar position to most people and feeling like i had not many options in regard to a failed exam.

for those of you that don't know you can send in an email to the fe1 section (i also cc'd it to paula sheedy, fiona o'flaherty and also carmel kearney from the law school to ensure i was gaurenteed somebody would see it) but basically for the board of examiners who meet after the rechecks are corrected to ensure results are correct and also look at any extenuating circumstance brought forward by candidates and can bring you up based on them if they feel like you should be.

if you feel like you were adversely affected in some way which adversely affected your performance in the exam/your result you can bring it to the board of examiners attention. when i sent mine in i included some personal reasons which affected my performance and also included results from college to show i was capable of performing to such a greater degree than i had done in the exam and if it weren't for x reasons i strongly believed my performance would have not been adversely affected ect

now do ensure you get some sort of confirmation from one of the people above that such email would be attached alongside your recheck when i sent in my recheck they replied looking for payment with their details ect and looked for payment confirmation and before i sent it i wanted a guarantee it would be brought to their attention.

I ended up passing in the end but i would highly recommend including such to everyone who feel their performance in the exam didn't match their results or to anyone who feels due to a certain reason i.e the new flawed last minute system and all the hiccups that came with it and really emphasise how you feel now and how it could affect for example you possibly losing a training contract, missing out on blackhall in September or literally whatever appplies to you personally. I hope this can help some of ye!

FE1s2021

IgoPAP wrote: »

Exact same for me but in Property. It was the single best Fe1 exam I've ever sat. Failed it pathetically. Meanwhile, I barely did a final question for Criminal but got high 60s.

I also failed property and I really don't understand how - I answered all 5 questions reasonably well and was writing to the last second so it makes no sense.

LawStudent999

Just got an email there from the LS with bank details following my recheck application

IgoPAP

LawStudent999 wrote: »

Just got an email there from the LS with bank details following my recheck application

Always quick on the draw when they're looking for money lmao

LawStudent999

IgoPAP wrote: »

Always quick on the draw when they're looking for money lmao

No reply however to plenty of other emails outlining problems with their management of the exams. No reply with regards to viewing scrips either. Money hungry if I ever saw it. The thoughts of giving more money for an exam I know I passed with all my heart and might not even get brought up.

FE1student2890

Has anyone got their refunds from November? I'm hesitating to send them money fro rechecks until I've got the money back for that

Lawlz

NewFe1 wrote: »

What do people who failed equity, but thought they'd definitely passed, think has gone on? I genuinely cannot for the life of me understand how I didn't pass that exam. I have passed the others I have sat comfortably so I know how to judge myself. Even with harsh marking, my result makes 0 sense. I hope we all don't just sit back and accept this as something isn't right about it.

Genuinely don’t know! I failed with 43% but the exam went well on the day and I can’t see any difference between Equity and the others I sat and passed. I answered all 5 questions, was able to choose between questions so it’s not like I was stuck and had relevant answers and case law. Or at least I think I did!

I saw someone post about a new examiner so that’s probably a factor along with the extra time given and the fact that they were sat remotely so they might factored in the potential to cheat?

Possibly also just as simple as a lazy or conservative marker seeing as 43 seems like a very common %. Surely they can see this when they review results before they release them though.

I rang the LS a few times today and yesterday to ask about rechecks and have only been bounced around back to the reception or got an answering machine and no call back yet.

nmurphy1441

nicolesd wrote: »

Hey guys, i am not to sure if many people know this because i had to find this out myself after been left in a similar position to most people and feeling like i had not many options in regard to a failed exam.

for those of you that don't know you can send in an email to the fe1 section (i also cc'd it to paula sheedy, fiona o'flaherty and also carmel kearney from the law school to ensure i was gaurenteed somebody would see it) but basically for the board of examiners who meet after the rechecks are corrected to ensure results are correct and also look at any extenuating circumstance brought forward by candidates and can bring you up based on them if they feel like you should be.

if you feel like you were adversely affected in some way which adversely affected your performance in the exam/your result you can bring it to the board of examiners attention. when i sent mine in i included some personal reasons which affected my performance and also included results from college to show i was capable of performing to such a greater degree than i had done in the exam and if it weren't for x reasons i strongly believed my performance would have not been adversely affected ect

now do ensure you get some sort of confirmation from one of the people above that such email would be attached alongside your recheck when i sent in my recheck they replied looking for payment with their details ect and looked for payment confirmation and before i sent it i wanted a guarantee it would be brought to their attention.

I ended up passing in the end but i would highly recommend including such to everyone who feel their performance in the exam didn't match their results or to anyone who feels due to a certain reason i.e the new flawed last minute system and all the hiccups that came with it and really emphasise how you feel now and how it could affect for example you possibly losing a training contract, missing out on blackhall in September or literally whatever appplies to you personally. I hope this can help some of ye!

So apply and pay for your recheck and then send a separate email to the FE1 section? Happened me in the property exam to a certain extent with the misprint of the year on the adverse possession question. Couldn’t get through to the law society once I realised the misprint and cost me 10/15 minutes. Ended up doing 4.5 questions and got a 45.

NewFe1

The subject field on the email they sent back to me after I sent my recheck form says "Possible Impersonation". Anyone else?

Sesh0nm0m

NewFe1 wrote: »

The subject field on the email they sent back to me after I sent my recheck form says "Possible Impersonation". Anyone else?

Do you mean that they were accusing you of committing fraud in the exam?

bozzer198

NewFe1 wrote: »

What do people who failed equity, but thought they'd definitely passed, think has gone on? I genuinely cannot for the life of me understand how I didn't pass that exam. I have passed the others I have sat comfortably so I know how to judge myself. Even with harsh marking, my result makes 0 sense. I hope we all don't just sit back and accept this as something isn't right about it.

I feel the exact same way but for company(36 which just can't be right) and tort (43) ,I passed equity barely at 52, the only explanation I have is that some of my answers didn't save , which isn't completely unlikely seen as what happened in the tort exam. When I was sitting the two exams I had to narrow down my choices from the 8 and pick 5 as I had a good grasp of the 8 questions with the exception of one question in tort.
Honestly can't study for March (which I thought would be my last 3) atm because if I failed after all I did in November I honestly don't think its worth my while even bothering anymore.iv no motivation and havnt even opened a book since, has anyone any idea where to even go from here? (Script and recheck already requested).

FE1s2021

nmurphy1441 wrote: »

So apply and pay for your recheck and then send a separate email to the FE1 section? Happened me in the property exam to a certain extent with the misprint of the year on the adverse possession question. Couldn’t get through to the law society once I realised the misprint and cost me 10/15 minutes. Ended up doing 4.5 questions and got a 45.

Yes this really impacted me I started the question and realised the mistake (tried to contact the LS and no answer) I ended up doing another question then as I wasn't sure what to do. It got 46%

Really unfair considering that if we were in a physical sitting we would of been told of the mistake.

LawLearnin

NewFe1 wrote: »

What do people who failed equity, but thought they'd definitely passed, think has gone on? I genuinely cannot for the life of me understand how I didn't pass that exam. I have passed the others I have sat comfortably so I know how to judge myself. Even with harsh marking, my result makes 0 sense. I hope we all don't just sit back and accept this as something isn't right about it.

Yeah I'm the same. I've passed 5 other FE1s grand. Failed Equity in March but knew going in that I hadn't covered much and I wasn't really in frame of mind for any exam. I failed it again there in Nov sitting - gained just 1% between the two and there was night and day in the difference between my two scripts. First run, could answer 2 full questions and then a jumble of bits for another 3. In November, answered 5qs in full with case law.

I don't know what reasoning they could offer if it was agreed internally the marking would be harder for Nov. You'd think any arguable benefit of being able to type answers/do them at home would easily be mitigated by pandemic stress/new system/ppl not having ideal exam setting etc

LawStudent999

Lawlz wrote: »

Genuinely don’t know! I failed with 43% but the exam went well on the day and I can’t see any difference between Equity and the others I sat and passed. I answered all 5 questions, was able to choose between questions so it’s not like I was stuck and had relevant answers and case law. Or at least I think I did!

I saw someone post about a new examiner so that’s probably a factor along with the extra time given and the fact that they were sat remotely so they might factored in the potential to cheat?

Possibly also just as simple as a lazy or conservative marker seeing as 43 seems like a very common %. Surely they can see this when they review results before they release them though.

I rang the LS a few times today and yesterday to ask about rechecks and have only been bounced around back to the reception or got an answering machine and no call back yet.

To be honest with you, there is definitely lazy marking. I say this to my own detriment but I also received a mark of 43% in Equity and while I did 5 questions I only had 3 good ones, a 4th half decent and my 5th was barely a paragraph. If you did 5 good questions then it’s a disgrace that you received the same mark as me as I know I didn’t pass when I finished that exam and I’ve accepted that. However I failed my best exam as well which I worked very hard for, completed 5 strong questions with plenty of case law etc. It is mind boggling how these grades have been distributed and the basis on which they have. I would sooner believe they threw the papers up in the air and passed the ones that landed face up than believe that the papers were scrutinised intensively and properly by the examiners. An absolute farce to say the least.

JayFE1

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Constitutional advice? I’m terrified of it! 😂

I feel the examiner is a good fair marker - he says in his reports students have passed with the 4 Qs.

The toughest part is just the amount of topics - I had 20 before I start cutting. I didn’t do Religion or Association / Assembly. It’s basically two FE1s in one due to the size so if you could maybe mix it with a Property / Company instead of Tort / EU that would be the thing to do.

In terms of predictions, the AG / President + Interpretation was “due” last sitting. It didn’t come up so IMO even more likely next sitting. The case note Q is so important as the course is just so wide that nearly every topic has to be studied / skimmed over so that time has to be put to use in some way e.g. I studied privacy last time and McGee was a case note so the case note saved that topic from going to waste. Same with Duty to Give Reasons. It is very hard to predict topics but I found it strange there was no Family and TDC the last sitting. I also think Right to Die will be coming up over the next sittings.

The examiner reports don’t tell you what the Q is looking for and some of them are hard to identify straight away so I’d definitely go over the Qs and mark them with the topic. I work in criminal law so for example when I seen the Gemma ILAC Q about frozen monies in a bank account I’m thinking Proceeds of Crime Act instead of property rights, fair procedures, etc. The same happened with other Qs which I thought wouldn’t look out of place on a EU / Family Law paper. I suppose in other words get your “Constitutional hat” on before studying otherwise you’ll be like me at the start - confused AF and losing valuable studying time! In this aspect you can look for little patterns e.g. organizations looking to challenge something is locus standi, “Long Title” can mean NDD and mentions of Europe is international relations. This sounds so obvious but Constitutional is far from other subjects when they at least tell you what they want!

I found the Constitutional nutshell to be very beneficial because in a topic as big as this condensed chapters are even more important. Only certain topics did I use my manual for. I also used an EU nutshell for Crotty and Pringle summaries and old Family Law notes for a McKechnie judgment which the examiner talked about but wasn’t in the manuals. It felt the manuals would have you writing 4 pages on guardianship whereas the examiner just really needed that one case and judgment.

Hopefully you find a bit of that helpful. Don’t be terrified. It is challenging but you will pass it. You will overcome it

Sesh0nm0m

bozzer198 wrote: »

I feel the exact same way but for company(36 which just can't be right) and tort (43) ,I passed equity barely at 52, the only explanation I have is that some of my answers didn't save , which isn't completely unlikely seen as what happened in the tort exam. When I was sitting the two exams I had to narrow down my choices from the 8 and pick 5 as I had a good grasp of the 8 questions with the exception of one question in tort.
Honestly can't study for March (which I thought would be my last 3) atm because if I failed after all I did in November I honestly don't think its worth my while even bothering anymore.iv no motivation and havnt even opened a book since, has anyone any idea where to even go from here? (Script and recheck already requested).

I got 28 in company and I know with all my heart that I passed it. 45 in equity. March was supposed to be my last 2. When I rang the law society I was told I can pay for a recheck and if someone just decides that 28 is still their fave number that day then that's that and my career is ruined. Literally 0 motivation for March. I'm halfway through these exams and feel like this was the worst decision I've ever made in my life.