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

Samuma

Tried the mock. Couldn't do it. Just can't type up an answer without being able to make written notes to refer to. The sticky notes are pointless. They're not the same as written.
I am doing criminal which is considered one of the easier ones to do and apply the law.
I won't have a hope in hell of doing well in constitution without being able to write a plan.

Shame on them for only giving us 2 weeks notice to get used to this completely new way of doing an exam that we have never had to do in our lives.
And shame on them for asking us to give feedback last week with our concerns when they had no intention of taking any of it into consideration.

It looks like i'll be asking for a refund.

JHalpin

I have just tried to sit that Mock exam. Criminal Law Mock paper, I half answered a few questions as I passed Criminal last year so just spewed out anything I thought was relevant off the top of my head. I found that really quite tough without the ability to hand write some rough work or brain dump some information in order to formulate an answer. Then I leaned on my headphones which I didn't even realise were plugged in and Ariana Grande started blasting out of the earphones and I couldn't figure out where the music was coming from on the laptop and if I tried to click out of the exam page to turn it off it would notify me that I had left the exam and start a countdown timer to come back in..... honestly, Im a bit shaken after that, such a bizarre was to try and sit an exam.

Samuma

....."no tears left to cry"...

Fedone

Has anyone been in touch with the law society about any other options if we’re not comfortable with the online format? Sorry if I’ve missed it above. Could not wrap my head around not being able to jot down case names on the exam paper or doing out a rough plan before a question in the mock. Does anyone think if enough of us complain they’d have to reconsider going on ahead with this?

aisoburke1994

The way I see it - the LS owes us a duty of care to provide this information in a reasonable time frame. Also thanks to all who provided predictions of what topics they think might come up.

People’s careers are on the line here and the LS don’t give a s**t

Hazel774

Fedone wrote: »

Has anyone been in touch with the law society about any other options if we’re not comfortable with the online format? Sorry if I’ve missed it above. Could not wrap my head around not being able to jot down case names on the exam paper or doing out a rough plan before a question in the mock. Does anyone think if enough of us complain they’d have to reconsider going on ahead with this?

I wish, but unfortunately our complaints mean nothing to them, they don't care. The exams start in 12 days and they haven't even told us what time they're on at, if we can use the bathroom, have a drink of water etc...

There's probably not even a point in trying to complain to them about it, considering they ignored a public petition against them last month which got almost 700 signatures (the petition is moot now, but the changes were only made due to their hands being tied with covid restrictions, nothing to do with the impact they were having on candidates). That's effectively them just ignoring 700 complaints

EM95

DUMSURFER wrote: »

It will be physical copies. During the mock run if you leave the page, a timer starts and if your not back before that runs out your exam is over so don't see how that is compatible with using a digital copy when the mock is supposed to be a near 1:1 trail run of the day.

Plus, there's no way they could make people use legislation that isn't tabbed or highlighted, it would be callous considering how time consuming it would be to find the information you need. Some of us who are much slower at typing than writing are already disadvantaged enough with the exam still only being 3 hours and no ability to highlight the questions. Never mind the fact they haven't mentioned it will be digital, knowing people are or have already shelled out money for the physical copies that are required.

Are you allowed to tab the Companies Act?

Aoibhin511

EM95 wrote: »

Are you allowed to tab the Companies Act?

Yes, tab and highlight/underline, just not writing

maggie95

EM95 wrote: »

Are you allowed to tab the Companies Act?

Yep!

Hiya1234

Exams are 10am - 1pm according to timetable on Law Society website. Didn't see that the last time I looked at the timetable.

Aoibhin511

Hiya1234 wrote: »

Exams are 10am - 1pm according to timetable on Law Society website. Didn't see that the last time I looked at the timetable.

Updating a pdf linked on the website without telling anyone... a law society classic

illy.m

Just tried the mock exam. The system seemed ok. There was no bathroom break tab anywhere. Also, find it very hard to do without being able to write a plan on the page.

I am left with more questions tbh - like if we have a problem, there is no one to address it to. What happens if LS do not reply to the phone lines they have provided, what should we do? Do we have to show the legislation at the start? or every time we use it... I am just conscious that if something goes wrong, would we lose the exam attempt and our money?

StabiloLaw

bkm2020 wrote: »

I'm gone all paranoid about the mock now. I found the system actually fine.. but it is ok to "jump" from one question and come back to it? I seen something about clock on a timer and exiting the page? I would like to be able to log on to the exam again to just double check for myself...

Had a lot of technical difficulty at the start with the system diagnostics. Don't want that on the day but you can live chat for assistance.. another query for the LS to see if this eats into exam time!

I tried going from one question to the other, and when I went back you could add extra information to a prior question.

You can flag ones which are incomplete and come back to them at the end, and before I exited, it told me I had a flagged question and could also filter the 8 by questions which weren't attempted (I wrote jibberish- I've passed criminal so didn't even bother reading the questions).

I tried completely x out to see what would happen and a 30 second timer went off to tell me that if I didn't return to the exam, it would submit it, but it's not something I could have missed should I have x'd out by accident.

I noted that my timer remained going when I used the chat function so I assume it still eats into our time.

I didn't personally have any issues during the exam but surely the Law Society would be willing to do another mock, even with the same questions just to let people get to grips with some of the features yet again.

JHalpin

I went to bed so anxious last night about not being able to do hand written rough work. Having attempted the mock paper last night it made me realise how much, in an exam situation, I rely on jotting down case names and planning an answer while I go through the paper. Sometimes Ill be halfway through a different question and a case for another question will pop into my head so Ill turn back and jot that in to the plan. This is just all over the place and I'm not comfortable sitting the exams like this at all!

Iso_123

JHalpin wrote: »

I went to bed so anxious last night about not being able to do hand written rough work. Having attempted the mock paper last night it made me realise how much, in an exam situation, I rely on jotting down case names and planning an answer while I go through the paper. Sometimes Ill be halfway through a different question and a case for another question will pop into my head so Ill turn back and jot that in to the plan. This is just all over the place and I'm not comfortable sitting the exams like this at all!

I am still going to do a plan at the start of each answer I'm just going to type it instead of writing it! sometimes I put extra cases on the plan that I don't get to put in my actual answer so I don't think its any harm in just typing out at the start of the answer "plan/rough work" and doing out some bullet points that come to your mind when reading the question. I have done this in all my written exams so far so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do the same on the typed format

awsah

JHalpin wrote: »

I went to bed so anxious last night about not being able to do handwritten rough work. Having attempted the mock paper last night it made me realise how much, in an exam situation, I rely on jotting down case names and planning an answer while I go through the paper. Sometimes Ill be halfway through a different question and a case for another question will pop into my head so I'll turn back and jot that in to the plan. This is just all over the place and I'm not comfortable sitting the exams like this at all!

It doesn't even make sense that we can have legislation but not rough work sheets, but making sense is not as important to them as exam integrity.

I am not happy about the way this is being done, I am hoping the examiners will take all of this into consideration and mark accordingly. I really want these over and done with now, so I am just trying to plough on and hope for the best!

APower79

Iso_123 wrote: »

I am still going to do a plan at the start of each answer I'm just going to type it instead of writing it! sometimes I put extra cases on the plan that I don't get to put in my actual answer so I don't think its any harm in just typing out at the start of the answer "plan/rough work" and doing out some bullet points that come to your mind when reading the question. I have done this in all my written exams so far so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do the same on the typed format

Think I’ll do the same. You can do it in the ‘normal’ exam so why not in this. I want it to be as straight forward as possible and not be jumping round from question and to sticky note to answer etc

bkm2020

Iso_123 wrote: »

I am still going to do a plan at the start of each answer I'm just going to type it instead of writing it! sometimes I put extra cases on the plan that I don't get to put in my actual answer so I don't think its any harm in just typing out at the start of the answer "plan/rough work" and doing out some bullet points that come to your mind when reading the question. I have done this in all my written exams so far so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do the same on the typed format

Do you think it is better to "plan/rough work" at the start of the actual typed answer or to use the sticky note/notepad option? I suppose the examiner will be sure to notice it at the top of the answer...

Lallers96

I rang, and eventually got through to the law society. Shirley was very helpful in answering my questions, and I just wanted to share her answers.

1. Will we be able to use legislation?
- Yes
2. If so, how will be showing it as the mock exam didn't prompt us to display it?
- The actual exam may be different to mock exam and we should be showing workplace and legislation
3. Toilet breaks?
- Yes, just announce you're going to the toilet and go
4. Rough work situation? (I raised it as a problem for me)
- As of now use sticky note function, they are responding to feedback and are obviously getting a lot of people who want to use paper.
5. What if we have technical problems mid-exam is there a contact number we can ring?
- There will be more info provided asap on that, but they plan to have a team on hold during exams
6. Will there be a person watching us live?
- No, all automated.

Iso_123

bkm2020 wrote: »

Do you think it is better to "plan/rough work" at the start of the actual typed answer or to use the sticky note/notepad option? I suppose the examiner will be sure to notice it at the top of the answer...

I'm not sure if that sticky note/note pad will be seen by the examiner or if its just for us? either way I've always put a plan section at the beginning of my answers instead of writing notes on the actual exam paper because you never know you may pick up a mark for it if you forget to use some of the cases in your actual answer. I am just going to continue doing this and put it in the actual answer box!

bkm2020

Iso_123 wrote: »

I'm not sure if that sticky note/note pad will be seen by the examiner or if its just for us? either way I've always put a plan section at the beginning of my answers instead of writing notes on the actual exam paper because you never know you may pick up a mark for it if you forget to use some of the cases in your actual answer. I am just going to continue doing this and put it in the actual answer box!

I was unsure because my sticky notes were so messy yesterday but I would need them for prompts when answering! Thanks for that

channing90

Constitutional: would a copy of the constitution from 2015 be ok or should I buy a new version ?

StabiloLaw

channing90 wrote: »

Constitutional: would a copy of the constitution from 2015 be ok or should I buy a new version ?

I would recommend getting the newest version as there's been a few changes since then.

They're typically only €5 or so- might be worth it.

lsheehaneire

I am using the 2015 version... there has only been around 3

Termination of pregnancy,
The word blasphemous,
Time of Separation before filing for Divorce.

I wouldn't put yourself under pressure to get it.

Twinings2016

Hey!

For Equity, are people thinking if Specific Performance comes up it will be a problem question or essay?

Last time it came up it was Oct 2019 and an essay on sp in contracts for personal services. I'm thinking it may come up as a PQ this time...

Does anyone have any thoughts on this??

KMPT

I did the mock. It seems straightforward but time consuming to use. I think it's unfair for Law Society not to at least give us an extra 30mins. There is a notepad and sticky notes but tapping into those and all the scrolling with the questions and answers eats away at the time. Some students will manage quite well and others won't. Whatever you do don't panic. Just take your time and do your best. Please God Law Society gives us an extra 30 mins as those who will find it difficult could do with that time. Those of us who will have no problem won't be hanging aorund to use that extra time so really it's only fair that the LS gives the extra time.

FE1new

Twinings2016 wrote: »

Hey!

For Equity, are people thinking if Specific Performance comes up it will be a problem question or essay?

Last time it came up it was Oct 2019 and an essay on sp in contracts for personal services. I'm thinking it may come up as a PQ this time...

Does anyone have any thoughts on this??

I'm thinking the same, also probably not Mareva injunctions maybe QT instead (I will still cover Mareva).

Katiemckay60

Can anyone explain the difference between insane automatism and the defence of insanity ? Or in which situations would you apply either.
I know there is non-insane automatism which applies to external factors which obv wouldn’t be qualify for insanity but I can’t see much difference with the requirements for insane automatism and Insanity

Lawlaw12

For constitutional, would people plan on doing the case note questions?

I know it might be hard to avoid depending on the particular paper. But for EU people generally recommend avoiding case notes, so just wondering if it's the same for constitutional?