Codex - Approaching that time of year

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20/02/2012

The first buds of exam season have bloomed at BPP: a little crocus to presage the stressful springtime to come. It was only a solitary coursework assignment along with a multiple-choice test, but there was a definite chill among the students that couldn’t be down to the seasonal temperatures. Four months after starting the conversion course, it’s been a timely reminder that we’re already approaching the end. To belabour the floral metaphors; there’s no more time to stop and smell the roses.

As I was revising all the impenetrable European regulations and unpronounceable case law (Fachverband der Buch und Medienwirtschaft v LIBRO Handelgesellschaft mbH, anyone?) I’d failed to understand the first time around, it struck me that this was the first exam I’d have to sit in over four years. I haven't exactly been lamenting their absence from my life, and it’s fair to say I’m a little out of practise. As well as testing my knowledge of the subject, this would force me to exercise skills that have lain dormant for some time.

The coursework's very short word limit had already been an unpleasant wake-up call. Yes, I understand the need to teach students the art of brevity before they become lawyers, but I think it’s possible to take it too far. When you reach the stage where you’re out of inessentials to cut and are looking at having to lop a few hundred words’ worth of seemingly relevant and already succinct analysis out of the piece, you start to wonder if maybe the balance of the question itself was a little off. Still, with two more pieces of (slightly longer) coursework still to be completed, it no doubt served to impart a valuable lesson: a tightly structured essay is clearly a winning strategy.

The exam was possibly of less long-term value, aside from the very definite benefit of getting one subject done and dusted. It was a multiple-choice test - a one-off: all the others we take will be the more typical three-hour, three-question affairs. Revision, although crucial, doesn’t need to be as thorough when you know you’ll be given a set of options from which to choose.

Thinking about it, I can see the wider usefulness. It has given me a better idea of how long it will take to go through examinable material in depth. The importance of having case law at my fingertips has been driven home (I see flashcards in my future), as has the value of a well-planned revision schedule.

Each of us will have our own methods for preparing for and getting through exams: what are some of your top tips?