chops018 wrote: » Hi all, Just giving my two cents on these exams after having passed all 8 last sitting, and I know some people find it best, but, I hate seeing people spend hours upon hours making notes when the material is already there. Took me 3 sittings to get them all. Tort and Company were my achilles heel. Anyway, I would advise for every subject that you cover 90% of the syllabus. Sure, you could just learn off 8 of the most common topics from the grids and go in and get lucky on the day and they all come up. But this will rarely happen. I found out the hard way, so just cover 90% of the syllabus. Next, I posted this before. I never see a point in anyone going off and making pages upon pages of notes on a topic. Wayy too time consuming. The manuals or nutshells are condensed enough if you ask me. What I used to do was: -Have my manual there. (tbh I had a good friend who emailed me very detailed notes for each subject, so I mostly use these, but they were very similar to the manuals just a little bit more condensed). -Book (if needed as an anchor to refer to in order to clarify something). -Nutshell (for some subjects i.e. company and tort as they were my achillies heel and I repeated them). - Grids, examiners reports, and as much sample answers I could get my hands on. - Night before notes off the City Colleges website (fantastic revision tool). Anyway, I would familarise myself with the grids. See what could definitively be left out e.g. there is always an odd topic that never comes up, or maybe a topic that comes up once every 10 sittings. Then I would have a look at some examiner reports and questions, see what type of exam it is e.g. are the questions mixed as in do they include 3-4 topics (like Criminal and Contract, whereas Property most questions will be on one topic only), what does the examiner like etc. Then I would get cracking. I would go through a topic in the manual by reading it once or twice and when I was finished doing this I would scan back through it and take note of important case names and some principles, never going over 2-3 pages with this (basically a quick summary). Then, I would use the grid to root out sample answers for the topic, so maybe have the last 4 or 5 sittings sample answers, I would read through these and highlight the main cases at the end. By doing this you will see how an answer is structured and see that similar kind of questions come up for the topic and what cases are most frequently used, and finally it allows you to spot the issues/topics in the problem straight away. This should only take 2-3 hours to do if you're tackling a topic, as it's mostly reading with some light note taking. Note taking is very time consuming and you're not taking the material fully in. Closer to the exam (try have 2-3 weeks before the exams to just do pure revision) I would just briefly scan through topics and try drum case names into my head. The way I looked at it was that I've read over this topic numerous times in different fashions - the manual/nutshell, sample answers, examiner reports. And I said to myself that I know what it's about, it's structure, and now I just need to get remembering case names. So in the final couple of weeks I would just be drumming case names into my head. You should always know a topic in the sense that you could describe it to your mum or friend in a few mins over lunch. When I was drumming case names into my head I would jot their names down also, maybe by putting a heading and jot down three cases. The NBN's come in handy here as they have all the main cases under headings with quick points set down for you. My main point is to not get bogged down in note taking. The manuals etc. are condensed enough. Once you've read a topic don't be afraid to jot down a quick summary, but try not to go over a couple of pages or spend more than 10 mins doing this. It used to take me about 1 hour to go through a chapter in the manual or my detailed notes (at a slow pace for understanding, sometimes it took less, and this included my quick 2 page summary at the end), then about 10 mins per sample answer. So most of the time if I just used those materials I would be 2 hours at a topic. So a short subject like Property you could cover in a few days. This would mean you would get back to it quicker and if you started three months before the exams and you were doing 4 exams you could easily have gone over each topic 3/4 times (meaning when you go over a topic, you then go over sample answers, so you could be reading the same cases/points a few times in the one sitting of study). Leaving 2 weeks for quick revision then before the exams. Here is a quick reply on studying the different subjects I posted a while back if you're interested: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89819004&postcount=1879
Bertie1986 wrote: » Any idea when the City Colleges Night Before Notes will be on their website??
dandadub wrote: » So whats the best option? Attempt lots of past exam papers or learn as much principles, cases, judgements as possible??
dashdoll wrote: » Does anyone know wherr I could find / have a concise explanation of the facts in Saloman v Saloman. Im working off the City manual for Company and its laid out in such a confusing way...cannot decipher it! Im fine with the outcome..just not avle to describe the facts of thr case itself. Thanks.
Bertie1986 wrote: » Do you guys think it's safe to cut the following topics from property? Or if not, what can I cut?? Tenure Freehold Estates Hybrid Estates/Fee Farm Grants Trusts of Land/Settled Land I'm covering the other 11 Topics in full.
saor19 wrote: » It's very unlikely all of those four will be on the paper so you should be fine. They're not popular topics with the examiner. If you're really worried cover one briefly which would mean you'd have five questions.
Bertie1986 wrote: » I'm actually cutting covenants too, so I might cover Hybrid Estates/Fee Farm Grants just in case. Freaking at the thought of cutting 5 out of 16 Topics, but having looked at the grids and the fact that they are more of "historical significance" surely it's safe to get rid of them...
dashdoll wrote: » I think you would be totally fine leaving these out. I was thinking of only covering the following: Succession AP Co-Ownership Easements Family Property Finding/Treasure Trove Wonder if this is cutting it way too fine? Don't have time to do Mortgages. I have Company on Tues so focusing on that from now so will only have a day and a half to spend on Property....eeek!
sunshine and showers wrote: » How long are the answers meant to be? For example, in property law, April 2014 Question Eight, I can't see myself being able to say a lot past on land find v below land find and something on the monuments act maybe because the gun is an antique (?). There are only a handful of cases in the manual. Is between 2-3 pages going to be enough as an answer? Or am I just freaking myself out that knowing everything in the manual on this topic isn't enough?
Legal125 wrote: » I did that exam and that Q I think my answer was three pages. There are five or 6 Cases armor v delamer,elwes v brig, Parker v ba waverly v borough,chairman national land auth v flack, tamworth ind v ag, hannah v peel bridges v hawkesworth I also mentioned the monuments act as the objects found were confiscated it may have been because they were arch items. That's pure from recall tho. Hope it helps. Finding was up last two papers so it may not appear again.
sunshine and showers wrote: » Thanks. Independent said it was in the top category of things to learn for this year, so I'm doing it! Succession is melting my head and the Publications Office messed up sending me my acts. Ordered them two weeks ago and still no sign! Serious question: where do people get sample answers? I can't judge my own!
Bertie1986 wrote: » Can anyone tell me whether there is an area to sit/study in the Red Cow Hotel as it looks like I will be dropped there at 7am each morning?? Happy to buy a coffee, etc. but just wondering if the hotel is open to FE1 students or is there a specific area only for the exam hall? This may be a silly question but I want to ensure I don't lose those 2 valuable cramming hours....
S12b wrote: » Ha wait and you see it, it's like a battle scene in a film with stressed students thrown in every corner of the place!! But ya the exams are in a big conference room and you can sit outside that, it's away from the main lobby area of the hotel so it's just students.
emanresu esrever wrote: » Tbh its hell up there! There is a macdonalds down the road where you could sit down with a coffee (i think they open around 7) and you would get twice as much if not more done sitting down there for 2/3 of the time than you would in that lobby! Its distraction central and not ideal. Also, make sure you get a bit of fresh air a bite to est etc in those 2 hours as its a long morning.
