More Law Facul-Tea

#MoreLawFaculTea1266 why is it so hard for certain papers (cough cough EU and Equity in particular) to understand that the more unrealistic the 'core reading' list is, the less likely I am to attempt any of it, there's no good reason to set whole cases when the whole thing isn't relevant, no one is reading that i promise

#MoreLawFaculTea1265 CAN WE START A CULS ELECTION DISCOURSE

#MoreLawFaculTea1264 you have to be a crazy level of arrogant to walk into a lecture 30 minutes late - and the way the person doesn’t even need to be named bc everyone knows who it is. outrageous

#MoreLawFaculTea1263 Chat, tracing is so much fun

#MoreLawFaculTea1262 Tort PQ you can drop either OLA or product liability

#MoreLawFaculTea1261 Wait do 1st and 2nd years not clap at the end of every lecture anymore??

#MoreLawFaculTea1260 #MoreLawFaculTea1252 It really varies annually: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ba_law_part_ii_dissertation_mark Do one if you want to write 12,000 words on something you're actually interested in not because you don't want to sit an exam or prepare for a supo. The people most well awarded tend to be the people who care lots about the idea of writing long form about an issue they felt needed academic attention. Also, the lack of supervision and feedback means you don't go into submitting the dissertation with any good idea of how it will fare when being marked.

#MoreLawFaculTea1259 #MoreLawFaculTea1257 Please also take this with a pinch of salt. Very few parts of first year are completely ignorable in the way that later optional papers can be. So 'dropping' for many subjects looks more like tailoring your revision to the stuff you're interested in and having a full understanding of these areas, so you can write something in depth and nuanced on a given q rather than having to be really vague because you've streched yourself too widely trying to engage with all of every single course. But also it means making sure you have at least a few comprehensible notes on the basics, especially because overrarching basic things (eg. Parliamentary sovereignty; negligence; actus reus) cannot be ridded of - no matter how much you may hate breach or Miller. Tort: all of first term is critical + the remedies stuff at the end - you cannot 'drop' any of this for pqs. Occupiers Liability is often a discrete question you can rehearse an answer for. We were told to stay clear of tort essays unless you really cared about the issues at hand so I did no essay prep and have no advise on this (I also doubt if this advice is true). Civil: essays wise, if there is a topic you are disinterested in of the history chunk, lex acquilia, property and contract, you cld probably 'drop' 1, but on this, even if you dont like broad essays, I was terrified of these in first year, it's probably helpful to look at the overarching stuff for each topic, as part of the course is an understanding of the 'bigger picture' of roman law. I prefer essays so I don't think I did or revised civil PQs so I have no advice on approaching civil PQ revision. Consti: all of first term is quite critical. Even if you prefer writing about the more discrete topics covered this term, I would still make sure you know all the conceptual first term principles stuff. For the discrete topics (JR; Human rights; Devolution), you can probably drop 1 of them (eg. Judicial review PQ) and focus on the others or even 2 of the discrete topics if you are really into and good at the conceptual first term stuff. Crim: Is probably the easiest topic to drop stuff in. Have pq notes with the basics of each offence - because it is not uncommon for a property offences q to also have an OAPA 1861 issue thrown in - but you can focus on 3 or 4 of the topics and only have detailed pq notes for those 3 or 4. SOA 2003 PQs are most likely to be entirely discrete so as to allow people - for whatever personal reason they may have - to not have to look into sexual offences in an exam context. Thus, if you liked this topic, you can probably revise it in depth on its own reliant on it not cropping up with lots of mixed issues. Essays in crim are also quite repetitive, you can probably look into past papers and decide which debates you found interesting/understood throughout the year and then tailor your revision to a few topics. Having a few topics you understand through and through in an essay context is really helpful in crim because, imo, since the issues are conceptually more simple than eg. consti, if your goal is to score highly, your arguments really benefit from nuance. This is really only gained from a few bits of secondary reading that you have properly engaged with rather than skimming through everything to try to have something to say on every aspect of the course. Unless you have a world of time and motivation to have something nuanced to say about the whole course, then pick the bits that you like - you will probs do better. I don't think dropping topics leads to spending less time revising, but it definitely ups the quality of what you have revised.

#MoreLawFaculTea1258 #MoreLawFaculTea1257 Take it with a grain of salt because I haven't actually tried to actively drop something before, and I don't remember a ton about first year papers, but I would say mostly to look at past papers and take note of how often some topics come up. Especially in PQs, in some papers you'll see similar trends since some topics just work better together in that kind of format. Though I don't think I'd recommend dropping anything entirely when it comes to PQs since obviously anything can be relevant, it might be useful to prioritise certain things that you know are definitely going to come up. EQs are a similar thing, though it depends which of the two you like to focus on. If you do mainly PQs, for EQ topics typically I'd make note of major themes/debates that could, and have, come up, and focus on the ones I feel I'm most interested in and would have more to say about (also since the natural interest can make it easier to remember more about the topic). If you prefer EQs, would obviously want to do a wider spread of topics. In terms of looking at the trends, I think it largely depends on the paper, as in some will try and do different EQ topics year to year, so if something came up last year, probably not this year, and vice versa, while in others they might like to ask about a particular thing regularly but will just bring in other topics or pivot to a different aspect. Though again general understanding at least is always best to be safe, you could go into more detail on things they're most likely to bring up. To what extent kinda depends on your accepted risk level. It's also helpful to think about the things your supervisors and lecturers focused in on most during the year. Obviously they won't all know what's actually going to be on the paper, but if eg your supervisor likes to delve into the EQ topics, it can help you see the different kinds of discussions they'd expect you to be having in an essay on that topic. If PQs, it can help you see what level of detail they expect you to talk about something (unless they were just in a rush). I think I hadn't fully grasped first year how localised exams are, as in your lecturers are literally most likely writing the papers, are most likely supervisors, and they know the topics you go through on a supervision sheet - that's not accidental. Supervision sheets are crafted in such a way very intentionally, and can be great for focused revision and to see what's really important imo. I think this becomes of greater significance in 2nd and 3rd year though since the number of supervisors for an optional paper might be less, and so there's a higher chance of them knowing what's gonna come up. You can also ask your supervisor, if possible, which topics they think are most important and to focus on the most. A lot will have their own guesses, if they haven't written the paper, as to what will come up this year. Normally they'll talk about this kinda thing anyway in your last revision supervision and give you advice about notes, revision, etc, but most probably wouldn't mind you asking earlier, especially since by the last supo your exam can sometimes be only a few weeks away.

#MoreLawFaculTea1257 i hope third/second years still check this.. i hear everyone saying they can 'drop' topics (not revise them for the exam)... how do you know which ones you can?