Preparation for
exams
Preparation
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Know what to expect
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Learning the material
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LPAB website
Summaries
Approaching open book exams
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What to take in
Technique
Know what to expect
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http://www.lpab.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lpab/l
egalprofession_current_dip_law_stud/legal
profession_current_dip_law_stud_examina
tions/legalprofession_current_dip_law_stu
d_exam_coverpages.html
Time-table
Structure and timing (cover page)
Past papers
Exam fit
Learning the material
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Open book
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Do I need to learn the material?
What to learn
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Lectures
Readings
Summaries
Why summaries?
Preparation of summaries helps you:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Organise material in a clear and logical
manner
Structure your thoughts and ideas
Test your understanding of course
materials – if you don’t know it you can’t
summarise it
Reduce your notes to a form useful for
study and open book exams
Learn course materials
ORGANISE
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You will have
assembled a lot of
material – lecture
notes, case notes,
notes of readings, etc
Your summaries need
to organise this in a
way which is
accessible and useful
Organisation requires editing
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As you summarise, you should select the
most important points you need to
remember
These points should be organised around
topics, or themes, or grouped together
with similar ideas, in a way which makes
sense to you.
Rewriting your notes is NOT preparing a
summary – you also need to RETHINK
your notes
An organised summary is:
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Brief – ideally, every topic should be dealt
with in only one page
Headings only – your summary should be
key points or headings which remind you
of the main material to be covered, not a
complete restatement of the course
material
Supported by relevant authorities
(cases/legislation)
STRUCTURE
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“Black holes”
are very dense
and full of
matter.
There is so
much matter
in a black hole
that once you
enter there is
no escape.
Avoid
Black
Holes
•A summary which is a complete rewrite
of the text book and all your lecture notes
is a black hole - it will suck up all your
time and energy and give you nothing
back.
•Summaries should be brief, cover only
the main points and be a rethink not a
rewrite
A good structure:
May be different for every person –
as we all think differently.
 Should be able to work as an essay
plan, or a check list to make sure you
spot and discuss all relevant issues
raised in a question
 Should be structured logically and
supported by relevant material
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A good structure:
Will use headings and dot points
 Won’t use so much information that
the reader gets lost in the detail
 May cross reference to other
summaries if ideas overlap, or you
want to link to related ideas
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UNDERSTANDING
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A key purpose of summary preparation is
for you to check you have understood the
course material.
The process of summarising should
expose gaps in your understanding – and
give you the opportunity to fix them,
before the examiner also looks for any
lack of understanding.
Understand before you
summarise
• The process of preparing a summary will help
you learn, if you check and develop your
understanding along the way.
•If your summaries are nothing more than
rewrites of material you do not understand then
they are not learning tools – but exercises in
penmanship.
•You need to rethink for a summary, not simply
rewrite.
Understand what you
summarise
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For some people reading the text or other
recommended reading will be sufficient to
understand the lecture material. Others may
have to go wider to other sources to build their
understanding.
Ask questions, read widely, do whatever it takes
to make sure you understand the material.
You need to summarise your knowledge, not
your ignorance.
Self preparation
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Because summaries are
prepared so that you can
check your understanding
– and to help you
demonstrate that
understanding in an exam,
the best summaries are
self prepared: made for
you, by you. Every
summary may look
different, but be equally
useful to the person who
prepared it.
REDUCE
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Once you understand the
material, then you can reduce
it into a usable summary.
Summary preparation is a
process of distilling down
lecture notes, case notes and
readings into a very
abbreviated summary, which
reminds you of the key points
at a glance.
Summaries of summaries
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Because summarising is a process of
building understanding rather than just
rewriting notes, the best exam summaries
are often summaries of summaries.
Preparing summaries is not a one-step
process.
LEARN
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Now your summaries
are ready, the last step
is to learn them.
Writing the summary is
only part of the process
You must also know
what is in the summary,
so you can use it in the
exam (and in practice.)
Aide memoire
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A summary is an aide memoire
The purpose of a summary is to remind
you of the law you already know
Summaries cannot teach you law in exam
conditions with which you are not already
familiar.
How to?
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Start by reviewing (and if necessary
rewriting) your lecture notes, case notes
and the notes of other readings from texts
or other sources.
Make sure your lecture notes are complete
and that you have read enough to
understand the material covered in each
lecture.
Your lecture notes are the best basis for
your summary preparation.
Examples: Legal Institutions
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Legal Institutions is a thematic course with
a spiralling curriculum which looks at a
number of issues and concepts. One
useful structure would be to prepare a
glossary of terms and concepts commonly
encountered in lectures and in your
reading. Attempting a one sentence
explanation for each of the concepts listed
on the next slide (and others you may
add) is a useful approach.
Concept glossary
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Bicameral Legislature
Concurrent power/exclusive power
Constitutional Monarchy
Democracy
Division of powers
Federation
Independence of the Judiciary
Concept glossary
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Manner and Form provisions
Parliamentary sovereignty
Plenary power
Repugnancy (of Colonial laws)
Representative government
Responsible government
Rule of law
Concept glossary
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Separation of powers
Judicial Power
Executive
Legislature
s15AA/s15AB
Ambiguous
Other LI structures
You could also consider using:
 The course outline as the structure for
your summaries
 The powerpoints – construct a summary
around the issues noted in the
powerpoints
 A time-line – especially useful for the
historical material and highlighting the
important developments over time
Study Skills
Approaching Open
Book Exams
Before you start writing
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Set up a time schedule
Read through the whole exam paper once
Think before you write
Writing and answering
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Get right to the point
Develop your argument
Aim for compactness, completeness and
clarity
Summarize in your last paragraph
Review (if time available)
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Complete questions left incomplete
Review, edit correct
Run out of time?
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Out line what you would have said
OPEN BOOK TESTS
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In an open book exam you are evaluated on
understanding rather than recall and
memorization
You will be expected to:
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Apply material to new situations
Analyze elements and relationships
Synthesize, or structure
Evaluate using your material as evidence
Open book exams
Do not underestimate the
preparation needed for an open
book exam: your time will be
limited, so the key is proper
organization in order to quickly
find data, quotes, examples,
and/or arguments you use in
your answers.
What not to bring
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Open book exams generally
allow any non-electronic
materials in the exam room
(but always check the details first.)
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What will you bring?
Selection of materials is the
key to success
Why bring the whole library
when you will have neither
time nor room to use it.
A Good Answer:
Reads and responds to the question
carefully
 Isolates all relevant issues
 Is clearly structured
 Is well supported
 Provides sufficient detail to answer
the question
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