FE1 Exam Thread (Mod Warning: NO ADS)

JCJCJC · 06-12-2010 8:15pm

Hogzy wrote: »

Not unless your primary degree comes from a college outside Ireland i think. I didnt have to do an Irish exam anyway. I was born here, did my Leaving Cert here and went to college here.

No, it's gone altogether, There was a remark about it on the lawsoc's website about a year ago but it isn't there now.

ilovelamp2000 · 06-12-2010 8:27pm

Well since i did all my moaning I here I might as well update - I got my results today. Passed them both and now I have all 8 in the bag, and an apprenticeship to boot. So I'll see some of you in Blackhall in Sept.

Earlier in the thread there was some criticism of Property Law Course in Independent Colleges - I refrained from making a comment at the time but I found the lecturer to be very good at explaining the material in as simple a manner as possible and left aside the academic side to the subject which I feel is an advantage for the FE-1's (and i think it's borne out in my results because it's a subject I hated). The manual could have flagged up certain cases a bit better, no doubt, but footnotes are there to be read too.

mtucker · 06-12-2010 8:28pm

coolbananas wrote: »

Hey guys
I'm looking for some advice, I've 5 exams passed so far with 3 to go. My plan is to hopefully sit one exam next time around as I'm currently doing an LLB and have a dissertation to write. My question is which one would you pick: Tort, EU or Constitutional?
Thanks in advance for your replies:)

I'm looking at the Law Society rules here and it says that you have to sit your final three exams together if you've passed five. You also have to pass two of the three exams to have been deemed to pass the three exams.

It's Rule Six of the 'Rules Governing the Final Examination - First Part', if you want to check it out yourself.

Jamie-b · 06-12-2010 8:53pm

6. A candidate sitting the Examination for the first time who is entitled to exemptions from five or more of the examinations must sit all the remaining examinations together at one sitting of the Examination.
That means if you're exempt from five, in some other way, and sit the FE1s for the first time, you have to do 3 and pass two. If you sit your first four and pass 3 you can sit the rest one at a time:

7. A candidate who has previously sat the Examination and who has been deemed to have passed three or more examinations, may sit the remaining examination or examinations at one sitting of the Examination or may sit them individually, or in combinations less than the total remaining, in separate sittings of the Examination, and shall be deemed to have passed each such remaining examination by obtaining the pass mark.

hession.law · 07-12-2010 8:23am

coolbananas wrote: »

Hey guys
I'm looking for some advice, I've 5 exams passed so far with 3 to go. My plan is to hopefully sit one exam next time around as I'm currently doing an LLB and have a dissertation to write. My question is which one would you pick: Tort, EU or Constitutional?
Thanks in advance for your replies:)

you must take your last three in one sitting and pass two to keep them, check the rules on law society

page1 · 07-12-2010 10:07am

hession.law wrote: »

you must take your last three in one sitting and pass two to keep them, check the rules on law society

Not a correct reading of the rules, that only applies if you haven't sat any of the exams but received exemptions in them.
I had 3 left and I sat them 1 and 2 and there was no problem.

coolbananas · 07-12-2010 2:51pm

hession.law wrote: »

you must take your last three in one sitting and pass two to keep them, check the rules on law society

your not reading the rules properly, I can do the three one at a time, others I know have and there has been no problems

tony28 · 07-12-2010 7:48pm

Right im seriously worried now,is there anyone whos results still havent came -please tell me

rick flair · 07-12-2010 9:11pm

I have not received mine either. I rang the LS as i have had post from other sources received just after the send date. I told them that the results must be lost so how can i find out - they said they would call back

THEY DID NOT ! What a shambles.

blathblath · 08-12-2010 11:29am

Just wondering when peoples are starting to study????Dreading it but need to make a plan

zelda88 · 08-12-2010 12:21pm

I didnt do any course in preparation for the FE1s as I did an LL.B but I bought the Independent College manuals and relied solely on these for studying. I did my first set of exams 2 months ago in september and passed them all so I highly recommend these manuals.

{SNIP}

Strawberry Fields · 08-12-2010 6:39pm

{SNIP}

rick flair · 08-12-2010 7:26pm

Got my 3 out of 4 ........yippeeeeeeee now bring on the books for more immiseration

Failed the Contract paper which i though was my best exam. Got 43 - worth a re-check ????? Any-one ?

rick flair · 08-12-2010 7:29pm

I got the results today and will be studying tomorrow - get as much done as you can before Christmas. This way you will not stray too far during the Christmas period or come out in middle January with a WTF !!!!!!!!! there nearly here.

frustratedTC · 09-12-2010 3:05am

Failed contract too, think she must mark really hard cos i thought it was my best paper, obvo not!!
She lectured me in college too, and she's a tough woman, didn't fail it then tho, so just has kinda shown me the difference is standard with professional exams.

I am planning on doing 5 in march- tort, contract, equity, criminal and property. Is 5 doable?

JCJCJC · 09-12-2010 1:18pm

rick flair wrote: »

Got my 3 out of 4 ........yippeeeeeeee now bring on the books for more immiseration

Failed the Contract paper which i though was my best exam. Got 43 - worth a re-check ????? Any-one ?

I got 45 in March, sent it in for a re-check - no change. Got a 63 in October TG. What I did differently was a change of tactics and style - I've posted this here before - know the case-law and you will easily do the problems. Look up what the int and ext examiners have published recently in journals - you'll get an essay or two out of it. Know the new cases in the most recent edition of her own book.
Study some discrete areas - offer/acceptance/consideration, damages, frustration, mistake, proprietary estoppel. None of those are huge, and when you have them covered you can't be caught if they come up.

JCJCJC · 09-12-2010 1:23pm

frustratedTC wrote: »

A - She lectured me in college too, ...

B - I am planning on doing 5 in march- tort, contract, equity, criminal and property. Is 5 doable?

A - I am interested in this: when she did mistake as to identity in contract, did she cover the case of Sowell v Potter?

B - Your five might be doable, provided you have the stamina to do so many in a row - check the timetable. Certainly there is cross-over between contract and equity in areas like estoppel, but be super-careful about mixing up the differences between negligent mis-statement/misrepresentation etc. be also very clear on the different approaches to damages in tort and in contract.

Criminal is about the only one that doesn't mingle at all with the others - there are no equitable reliefs availabe!

frustratedTC · 09-12-2010 7:29pm

the last time I did contract was in 1st yr, and i did bbls, so quite a while ago!But I don't remember us doing it, but we could have!

Yea i started study today, yuck!

Jev/N · 09-12-2010 11:21pm

Contract was my lowest score in college and the second highest in my FE1s - same examiner as well :pac:

Hogzy · 10-12-2010 1:13am

Jev/N wrote: »

Contract was my lowest score in college and the second highest in my FE1s - same examiner as well :pac:

haha me too apart from them being the same examiner!!!

colonel1 · 10-12-2010 11:55am

frustratedTC wrote: »

the last time I did contract was in 1st yr, and i did bbls, so quite a while ago!But I don't remember us doing it, but we could have!

Yea i started study today, yuck!

Fair play, I am finding it difficult to get back into it tbh, though I did purchase some nice Rhodia yellow paged notepads for making final notes:D. Did anyone do the consumer protection question on the October 2010 paper? Bit a nasty surprise that, basing it entirely on EU legislation.

brian__foley · 10-12-2010 3:58pm

colonel1 wrote: »

Fair play, I am finding it difficult to get back into it tbh, though I did purchase some nice Rhodia yellow paged notepads for making final notes:D. Did anyone do the consumer protection question on the October 2010 paper? Bit a nasty surprise that, basing it entirely on EU legislation.

The question was more than nasty. What need is there for further harmonisation? Well, I don't really know, since I don't (nor am I required to) know anything about domestic consumer law in France, Germany or Spain. Hence, I don't really know the extent to which pan-European consumer law needs harmonisation. On the other hand, if you want to put on the syllabus that we need to know enough about other jurisdictions (including civil law jurisdictions) to comment on the need for harmonisation, sure why not put that on the syllabus?

I really, really am not a fan of fuzzy thinking like that. To know what harmonisation is needed, one needs to know what needs harmonising and how could students be expected to know that?

colonel1 · 10-12-2010 4:29pm

Agreed Brian:D especially as consumer protection is a topic one normally omits as she hasn't examined it in several years. Hopefully, it will be off the table for another few years.

I also thought the question on borrowing in company law was tricky. I would love to see a sample answer on that

brian__foley · 10-12-2010 4:33pm

colonel1 wrote: »

Agreed Brian:D especially as consumer protection is a topic one normally omits as she hasn't examined it in several years. Hopefully, it will be off the table for another few years.

I also thought the question on borrowing in company law was tricky. I would love to see a sample answer on that

I wouldn't be adverse to including things not usually examined. I'd positively agree the examiner ought "mix it up". I just think that the questions ought have a basis in rationality. Examine the whole syllabus, sure...examine it rigorously and require good answers, but examine it fairly.

rbag · 11-12-2010 1:22pm

Hi - does anyone know a summary of the changes the CPROC 2010 made to 1965 Act. ? Am studying for a land law exam and am confused.

bob_lob_law · 13-12-2010 5:31pm

Hello all,

I am about to attempt these for the first time in March – on the basis of the timetable, and subjects that I have experience in, I am thinking of doing contract, tort, equity and EU.

I was just wondering how people have found these in terms of size of the syllabus and predictability in the exam. Also, on the more rudimentary stuff like paper structure, am I right in saying that each paper has eight questions, so you need to do around five good ones to pass? How are these divided between problem and essay questions? Sorry if this stuff is basic but I'm having a goo at the syllabus here and it's not very illuminating.

My problem is that I haven’t sat an exam since 2007, so I need to get the technique down really. I won’t be starting studying until January and will be working for the month of January at least and possibly right through if I can get a job.

Grateful for any thoughts or advice!

steph86 · 13-12-2010 6:01pm

hi, like you i am doing my first four fe1s in march. I'm doing eu, tort, contract and property and doing the griffith college on line revision. property and contract are nice managable subjects, tort is somewhat bigger but is easily learned. eu on the other hand is very big and requires alot of work but i find it do able as i studied it for the finals of my undergrad in may this yr. perhaps it would be better to take a diff subject if you havent studied eu before.
exams are 8 q answer 5. All examiners report say that student fail where they do not attempt all 5 questions.
Dont have fe1 exam experience but hope that is some help.

Aisling23 · 14-12-2010 4:11pm

bob_lob_law wrote: »

Hello all,

I am about to attempt these for the first time in March – on the basis of the timetable, and subjects that I have experience in, I am thinking of doing contract, tort, equity and EU.

I was just wondering how people have found these in terms of size of the syllabus and predictability in the exam. Also, on the more rudimentary stuff like paper structure, am I right in saying that each paper has eight questions, so you need to do around five good ones to pass? How are these divided between problem and essay questions? Sorry if this stuff is basic but I'm having a goo at the syllabus here and it's not very illuminating.

My problem is that I haven’t sat an exam since 2007, so I need to get the technique down really. I won’t be starting studying until January and will be working for the month of January at least and possibly right through if I can get a job.

Grateful for any thoughts or advice!

Property, Equity and Contract are somewhat linked. Depending on how you feel about EU (generally considered a really tough fe1 subject, but hey maybe you loved it at undergrad) maybe you could consider doing property istead. I found it a very manageable syllabus.

Re answering 5 questions, it is an absolute MUST. I really don't see how you could pass one of these exams without answering all 5 questions. At a stretch maybe the 5th question could be in bullet point form.

Maybe i'm a total geek but if you could at all do a little study before Christmas, i think it would take some of the pressure off. I spent most of 3 solid months studying for 4 of these fe1s last time and found myself really under pressure, although i did pass all 4 (not exactly with flying colours mind, although i guess that's not the idea).

Hogzy · 14-12-2010 8:48pm

Folks,

I have attempted Constitutional twice now and i have failed it both times. First time round i got 38% and this time round i got 45%. Both sittings i always felt Constitutional was my best paper and that i defo passed.
I have done the Griffith courses too to no avail. I know the case law and principles fairly well so i just dont know why i am failing.

Is there much of a difference in the Griffith and independant college courses. I cant justify paying Griff more money when i am not passing. I just cant grasp why i am failing this subject i thought i did REALLY well this time round.

brian__foley · 15-12-2010 11:03am

Hogzy wrote: »

Folks,

I have attempted Constitutional twice now and i have failed it both times. First time round i got 38% and this time round i got 45%. Both sittings i always felt Constitutional was my best paper and that i defo passed.
I have done the Griffith courses too to no avail. I know the case law and principles fairly well so i just dont know why i am failing.

Is there much of a difference in the Griffith and independant college courses. I cant justify paying Griff more money when i am not passing. I just cant grasp why i am failing this subject i thought i did REALLY well this time round.

Maybe we can grasp it - tell me, what questions did you do and why did you think you did really well? It's possible that whereas the material you put down may have been right, it wasn't on point. The examiner isn't a "hard" marker by any stretch of the imagination. If you set out what you did, we might be able to see where the difficulties may be.

Honestly, in my opinion, constitutional law is the easiest and most predictable paper on the fe1 course. Routinely similar stuff is examined and the examiner keeps examining peoples understanding of T.D. etc and keeps referring to this in the reports. People continue to fail largely because people (a) don't spot the issue (b) are not up to date (c) write "all they know" or (d) simply get things wrong. It's very hard to get things wrong in law, but the examiner himself had to note one year how people didn't spot that a question entirely about a newspaper raised press freedom issues.

The manuals (from wherever) are quite large, but save with regard to a few cases, you hardly need more than a few lines knowledge of each one and each "area" of the course is relatively condensable and digestible.

FE1 Exam Thread (Mod Warning: NO ADS)

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