You have likely read about, or watched video segments lauding, those who graduated their Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honors and thought: it can’t be that difficult… I can do it.
Before you get lulled into thinking that studying for your LL.B or LL.M via distance learning is “a piece of cake,” we would like to share the recent experiences of two individuals who studied at two different brick-and-mortar schools.
- Mr. G, who recently turned 80, started studying for the LL.B in 1959. Back then, he was a school teacher, and “my ego got the better of me… I thought I could study on my own and pass, but I failed, twice,” he told us in February 2018. In the last two decades — and after raising three children, and seeing several of his grandchildren graduate from law school and become lawyers — he decided to try again: twice more. In the early 1990s, he signed up with a brick-and-mortar school, but could not get past Year 1, and eventually dropped out. Last year, he enrolled again with University of London, for the third time(!), intending to take the May 2018 exam. He took classes at another school, but decided eventually to study for LSM and Criminal Law on his own, “just the study guides,” he said, “because I don’t have the time.” When the May exams came around, he realized he had not covered even 20% of the syllabus for either subject, and did not take the exams. We hope he eventually figures out what he needs to do if he is serious about completing the LL.B.
- Nat, 21, was raring to embark on his law studies. He enrolled at a teaching institution, attended every lesson, took copious notes, dutifully studied (and memorized) all of his lecturers’ PowerPoint slides and tips — but did not bother to read his textbooks or casebooks. Why? Because his contract law lecturer had told the class “there’s no need to; [it is] sufficient just to understand and memorize key points in the lecture notes and PowerPoint slides.” He was not taught to identify legal issues, understand the finer points and distinguishing factors in legal cases, or how to apply legal principles and statutes to case scenarios. He insisted on sticking (word-for-word) to his lecturers’ notes: his method of studying contract law, for instance, was to memorize a list of “what is sufficient consideration” and another list of “what is not sufficient consideration” and “attack” a question on consideration by going through those items, point by point, in the exact order in which his lecturer had taught. We’re curious to know how he scored in the exams.
These two individuals are not the anomaly; our recent survey of how students study for their LL.B modules suggests that there is a strong disconnect between how teachers teach law modules (it appears that a number of teachers are teaching strictly “from the book,” or relying on their set of hand-me-down, dog-eared notes from their more experienced colleagues) and referring students to antiquated video lectures on YouTube; and how students “receive” the knowledge (often, students perceive the study of law and its concepts as nuggets of information to be memorized and regurgitated, and do not know what to “do” with those nuggets beyond that).
We believe this could explain the global pass rates for the University of London’s LL.B compulsory modules:
- 61-67% for Year 1 modules (LSM, Contract, Public, Criminal Law), with an average pass mark of 40 to 44 marks, which places the average pass grades squarely in the “D” or “Third” category — i.e., a borderline pass;
- 69-81% for Year 2 modules (Tort, Property, EU Law), with an average pass mark of 41 to 48 marks, which puts it also in the “D” or “Third” category;
- 64% (Equity & Trusts, average pass mark of 41) and 90% (Jurisprudence & Legal Theory, average pass mark of 51) for Year 3 modules.
Let the statistics sink in.
Then decide what you should do to help yourself.
If you are serious about doing well in the LL.B, contact us to get started.
* We set students on the path to scoring “A”s and “B”s in their law modules.
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