2012 Legal Studies Class (Unit 3/4)

[vanroevan1994]

Hey !

I am going into Legal Studies next year, and I am just wondering from any of you's - more so from the people who gained a 40+ Study Score for Legal Studies -----> How did you do it?

What advice / tips would you be able to give on achieving something like that?
What should I do during the holidays to prepare myself for the class next year?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thank YOU !

[aabattery]

Aim to top the rankings for legal from the beginning of the year. It is a competitive subject...

Always pay attention in class - everything your teacher says is pretty much gold, because legal is essentially the memorization and understanding of a lot of information.
I remember making tons of notes during classtime, then coming home to read over them and possibly make them neater - to solidify the newly learnt material.

Read through the textbook during the holidays... and read lots and lots of news - especially any news about court cases etc. One of the best tips for Legal is that you need to show an understanding of current law and especially recent cases. If you quote/mention a recent case that occurred during the year, examiners really like that...
Towards the exam, I created massive posters, flow charts and cue cards to help my learning/memorisation process... then I did a lot of exam papers...!

Any questions, just ask. Legal is fun if you make it relevant - relating it to real things that happen in Australian politics/Australian law. I was lucky because when I did legal, I managed to relate to the election process and the wierd situation of a hung parliament...!
Good luck...!

[eeps]

An essential key to scoring well in Legal Studies is to provide examples. Generally, where a question is worth more than 2 marks, you should provide an example to back up what you’re saying. It shows a greater depth of knowledge to the assessor/your teacher (who’s marking your work) - whether it be the name of an act or case with a description, a specific section of the Constitution etc. This is what makes a student successful in this subject; knowing how to the question. It doesn’t take much effort to memorise these finer points/examples. With practice, it will become second-nature to you. For the holidays, just read your textbook. It's not necessary to blitz through the entire course during the holidays because there is a lot to cover. Also, I agree about ranking for Legal Studies. It's important.

[werdna]

Building on from what everyone else has said, make sure you know how to structure your responses. Know what each task word is asking of you, because your answers should be really clear and distinct in how marks should be allocated. And like epl said, wherever possible, include an example as this will enrich your answer and set you apart. Also make sure that you follow the study design to a tee, and filter out what you do and don't need to know. There's a lot of material in the textbooks (particularly Justice & Outcomes) that is irrelevant and unnecessary, so save yourself the time and effort and learn only the stuff you have to know.. unless you're really keen and want to learn it all.

[Zafaraaaa]

Also, I agree about ranking for Legal Studies. It's important.

Hmmm, is it still possible to achieve a high end score, e.g. 45, if you're ranked like 2nd? =/

[eeps]

Also, I agree about ranking for Legal Studies. It's important.

Hmmm, is it still possible to achieve a high end score, e.g. 45, if you're ranked like 2nd? =/

Yeh, I think so. My understanding is that SAC ranking matters if you’re in a ‘weaker’ cohort - if you’re rank one, then no matter how well or badly your cohort performs, you’ll end up with the highest exam score. Having said that, being the highest-ranked person in regards to SACs doesn’t always correlate to the highest study score. Someone ranked below you for SACs can still end up with a higher study score than you. So to answer your question, I believe it is possible to achieve a high-end score being ranked second. I think it's more-so the exam which separate students and how well you perform on it. That's just my take on how things work.

[sunintherain]

I did Unit 1/2 this year, and I agree with all the advice said, I also want to add an unconventional piece of advice- I think it's very important that you have a good relationship with your teacher and that they like you, because then they're more likely to help you and this is not true for all teachers but some teachers can be bias towards students and tend to give the students they like a higher mark, again not true for all teachers- just some, that why I like to ensure I'm friends with all my teachers, just in case that they're one of those teachers.

[aabattery]

So true... Its like that with almost every subject though... I have met very very few teachers who are totally unbiased. Its the unfortunate reality of school...

[Surgeon]

I did Units 3/4 this year and there's so many things I wish I knew and did earlier.

Although it may seem pointless to do a lot of study and burn yourself out before you start the course, you really need to do preparation over the summer holidays. Because Legal is a relatively easy to grasp subject and the better part of it is memorisation, I suggest that you read through your books and make notes for everything on the study design over the summer holidays.

Start with the first area of study in Unit 3 and work your way through, writing extensive notes while referring to your book and other sets of notes/summaries that I'm sure you'll be able to source.

I'm not suggesting that you do 10 hours of legal every day, but perhaps doing 1-2 hours of solid work for 5 days a week on the holidays will give you a huge advantage.

In the end, it's a competition and you're fighting for a high study score with the rest of the State.

Take SACs seriously as they are not only imperative for your high ranking in your cohort but are also very good indications as to the types of exam questions you could face specific to that area of study, especially if the SACs at your school are relatively difficult.

Overall, it's a great subject and I really enjoyed it. I feel as though I could have done so much better than I did this year but anyway, onwards and upwards!

Best of luck to you in your future endeavours!