Let’s be real - law exams can be REALLY challenging. But with the right techniques, you can smash your exams… and maybe even actually enjoy the process of learning!
In this blog, we're sharing five of our favourite study techniques, that will help you understand and retain information better, prepare for your exams more quickly, and ultimately help you achieve great results.
Active Reading
Active reading is a technique that involves actively engaging with the material you're reading. Instead of passively scanning through the text, you want to make sure you are really digesting and understanding each word. This could be through highlighting sections, underlining keywords or phrases, tabbing up key sections, or creating a summary of what you have read. All these actions help you to take time over the words, which will help you remember the information better.
Our brains try to work as effectively as possible - which a lot of the time is helpful! But when it comes to learning new information, our brains can stop us from learning effectively if we aren’t mindful about the way in which we approach our work. If we read something without concentrating properly, we will only read a certain percentage of the text in front of us, and our brains will fill in the blanks with what we already know - which of course becomes problematic when you are trying to learn new things!
When you're actively reading, you should ask yourself questions about the material - for example, what are the main points in this passage? How are different ideas related to each other? Is this similar to other legal concepts you have come across in your studies? What are the key facts you need to memorise? How do the examples given show how a legal concept or a piece of legislation is applied in real life?
Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition involves spreading out your study sessions and revisiting information periodically rather than cramming a topic all in one go. Not only has this been shown to help you retain information better in the long-term, but can also make revising way less stressful.
The aim of spaced repetition is that the more you repeat information, the more likely you are to remember it. It essentially helps you create building blocks for different subjects in your brain, which you can continue to build on every time you revisit a subject. This helps you have a much deeper understanding of the topic, and makes revising more interesting, especially for the subjects that you don’t enjoy quite as much. For example, instead of revising Tort for one week and Contract Law for the next week, you split each day into two and do half Tort revision, and half Contract law revision.
CREATING VISUAL AIDS
This can include creating tables, diagrams, flow charts, and mind maps. Taking a subject out of long paragraphs of text and into diagrams, shapes, single words, or short phrases can help you understand the connections between different concepts and remember them better (this is why we include so many flowcharts, diagrams and tables in our revision guides!)
With all visual aids, you should start with a central idea, and then branch out to related ideas. Keywords, legislation, cases and images can then be used to help you remember the information. Building up this visual depiction of a topic can really help in an exam when you are getting stuck. Rather than trying to think of the detail, if you imagine the image in your head, you can often then find the information you need. Colours can also be a really useful trigger for your brain to remind you of a specific date, case, or detail.
Mnemonics
Mnemonics are memory aids that can help you remember lists of information. Mnemonics can be anything from a simple acronym to a more complex visualization. For example, for approaching criminal law questions you want to think “CO-FARMED” - find the Crime, identify the details of the Offence, set out the Actus Reus and then the MEns rea, and finally understand which Defences are available.
Practice Questions
After you have covered your syllabus, the most effective way to prepare yourself for your exams is to practice!
When you're practicing, you use past papers and model answers wherever possible to help you understand the format of the exam and the types of questions that will be asked. Make sure that you time yourself when you're practicing, so that you can get a sense of how long you have to answer each question.
If you are short on time, you can do a ‘lite’ version of a practice exam. Rather than writing out your answer in full bullet point out the key points you would cover.
As with all study techniques, the key is to find out what works for you. Try things out, take what works, and leave the rest. And don’t worry if your friends learn in a different way from you - that doesn’t mean you are doing anything wrong!