HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[emilyygeorgexx]

Hey! You know how when we use an acronym in our legal essays, usually we write out the entire thing first and then put in in brackets, and THEN proceed to using the acronym in brackets from thereon? (Like, Criminal Justice System (CJS)) For really obvious things such as SMH and BOCSAR, is that really necessary? Idk I feel like I'm wasting time hahaha

I personally don't think so! In all my legal essays, I have used SMH, BOCSAR, etc and the teacher seems to be fine with it. I don't think they would get that into the nitty gritty of it.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey! You know how when we use an acronym in our legal essays, usually we write out the entire thing first and then put in in brackets, and THEN proceed to using the acronym in brackets from thereon? (Like, Criminal Justice System (CJS)) For really obvious things such as SMH and BOCSAR, is that really necessary? Idk I feel like I'm wasting time hahaha

Hey! As above, it's not really going to matter - Technically though, you should do it for them too! I did it for BOCSAR, don't think I did it for SMH

[Razeen25]

Tomorrow's my legal Human Rights exam and I guess I should have studied earlier. But anyway, how much are we expected to know for all of the international and domestic responses to evaluate their effectiveness in promoting and enforcing human rights? It all feels like too much to learn in one day (.

[elysepopplewell]

Tomorrow's my legal Human Rights exam and I guess I should have studied earlier. But anyway, how much are we expected to know for all of the international and domestic responses to evaluate their effectiveness in promoting and enforcing human rights? It all feels like too much to learn in one day (.

Hey! This might be too late now by a few hours, but remember for human rights you are only examined in the way of multiple choice and short answer questions. So you won't have to independently support your knowledge to the same extent you would for an essay. So you have to know them, but perhaps only to the length that you could sufficiently respond to an 8 mark question on the topic

I hope you go well!

[LochNess Monster]

Hiiii

This probably won't come through in time but...oh well!

I have a Legal exam tomorrow and I have all my notes done during the term; so I'm just reading over my essay plans (Chp. 5/6, the teacher told us) and memorising notes, cause I know exactly what chapters I'm tested on in half-yearlies. (Chp: 1 - 9 =  Crime + Human Rights)

BUT !!!! >>> One big problem. I suck at Multiple Choice! Other people in my class are like, it's easy and flying through with colours but I'm like.....getting 16/20 on a good *very good* day?!

Help. I'm normally getting 12/20 and freaking out because I need at least 18/20 to keep me safe with the essay and short answers.

Anyways, just a bit stressed ahhahahahahahha....ha...ha...(gah)...ha.

See you later (& thanks for the sympathetic & caring & genius community ATAR Notes! Loving the newsletters!)

[jamonwindeyer]

Hiiii

This probably won't come through in time but...oh well!

You underestimate the AN community MC was always where I lost my marks too! My half yearly, I only lost them in the MC (wait, maybe I lost like 0.5 in short answer, anyway...)

A few tips off the top of my head:

- Remember to answer by picking incorrect answers wherever possible. So, go through each answer and say "This is wrong because _____." This will force you to consider every option properly and you will avoid silly errors!
- Understand the psychology of most MC questions. There are usually two more obviously incorrect answers, the correct one, and then a distractor that is really close to correct. If you understand and remember this it can make it easier to discern the correct answer - Be ready for distractors!
- Try and identify the syllabus dot point being targeted straight away - This will limit the bank of knowledge you are drawing from.
- Don't rush them - Some people can do the MC in 5 minutes, some need the full 20-30 minutes that they recommend.
- Don't stress them! 12/20 is a solid score, and if you are doing well elsewhere then you are sitting in a high Band 5/low Band 6 range, which is a great place to be around the halfway mark!

See you later (& thanks for the sympathetic & caring & genius community ATAR Notes! Loving the newsletters!)

I'll make sure Nick knows you are loving his work

[NowYouTseMe]

The way I see multiple choice for Legal is that, unlike essays made of pre-prepared LCMs and course theory, they are cross-sections of all the specific details in the Crime syllabus. What I like to do is after every practice multiple choice, I see what I get wrong and check my notes on the relevant syllabus section as that is presumably, one of my weaker points. After doing a few multiple choice practice runs and subsequent review of mistakes, you can probably raise your accuracy significantly.

[elysepopplewell]

The way I see multiple choice for Legal is that, unlike essays made of pre-prepared LCMs and course theory, they are cross-sections of all the specific details in the Crime syllabus. What I like to do is after every practice multiple choice, I see what I get wrong and check my notes on the relevant syllabus section as that is presumably, one of my weaker points. After doing a few multiple choice practice runs and subsequent review of mistakes, you can probably raise your accuracy significantly.

You can also notice some trends, like are you best at the questions with a little scenario in it, or are they the ones you struggle with? What about the ones with the answers where just one word is different in each? I found that working out the trends and patterns in questions that I either struggled with or excelled in really prepared me for the exams as well

[Tristan1]

Hey I was just wondering your opinions on tackling this practice question?

To what extent is law reform regarding same-sex relationships a reflection of changing values?

I'm thinking heavily discussing the media's response and also NGOs as there was the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage.

Thanks, T.

[markkhodair]

Hi!

What would be the domestic and international measures used when dealing with Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and War Crimes, as part of Crimes against the International Community?

Thank you!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey I was just wondering your opinions on tackling this practice question?

To what extent is law reform regarding same-sex relationships a reflection of changing values?

I'm thinking heavily discussing the media's response and also NGOs as there was the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage.

Thanks, T.

Hey! I like your approach, the recent reform around SSM should definitely get a huge amount of time as it is super contemporary and super relevant to the question. Same sex relationships have a long history of reform, so you should have no shortage of things to discuss. Great you want to discuss Media/NGO's, but make sure you get just as much legal as non-legal. And link to changing values all the way!

Hi!

What would be the domestic and international measures used when dealing with Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and War Crimes, as part of Crimes against the International Community?

Thank you!

Hiya! For international you are talking treaties and similar agreements, and you'll want a large focus on the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court. This is worth a look too!

Domestic response to these things is a little tougher to discuss. You could look at domestic legislation such as the International Criminal Court Act, I just found this bill as well. Discussion of the role of the AFP could be worth a look too - When I wrote essays on this (it was my Trials question from memory) I tended to devote more time to the international response

[emilyygeorgexx]

Hi!

What would be the domestic and international measures used when dealing with Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and War Crimes, as part of Crimes against the International Community?

Thank you!

Hey!

These are some of the ones that I have.

Domestic:
* Interpol
* Introduction of Child Sex Tourism - Crimes (Child Sex Tourism) Amendment Act 1994 (Cwlth) and was further amended in 2017 to ban convicted paedophiles from travelling overseas to vulnerable countries

International:
* International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 1994
* International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia 1993
* International Criminal Court

Hope this helps!

[Tristan1]

Hey! I like your approach, the recent reform around SSM should definitely get a huge amount of time as it is super contemporary and super relevant to the question. Same sex relationships have a long history of reform, so you should have no shortage of things to discuss. Great you want to discuss Media/NGO's, but make sure you get just as much legal as non-legal. And link to changing values all the way!

Thanks so much! However, this practice question is actually the focus of my assessment for family and the rest of the class is doing the exact question which means they’ll have the same data. What do you think I can do to differentiate myself from the others in terms of my essay?

Sorry for the questions but thank you

[jamonwindeyer]

Thanks so much! However, this practice question is actually the focus of my assessment for family and the rest of the class is doing the exact question which means they’ll have the same data. What do you think I can do to differentiate myself from the others in terms of my essay?

Sorry for the questions but thank you

Same data is totally fine, what will differentiate you is how that data and information is used. There's a big difference between taking a case, telling us what happened and making a loose link to an argument - Versus using a case cleverly to support a super strong argument. Don't spend time trying to find "weird" evidence - The common stuff is used a lot for a reason, and that time would be better invested into actually improving the essay itself, crafting a good Thesis, etc

[markkhodair]

"The process commonly used with juveniles, involving a conference attended by the offender, the victim and other supporters is known as

(A) Plea bargaining
(B) Circle sentencing
(C) Restorative justice
(D) Alternative dispute resolution"

This multiple choice question was in my half yearlies and I had put down D as my answer, but C turned out as the correct answer. When I approached my teacher about it and told him that I had thought it'd been D, he said that if I could prove that it was D he would give me the mark. Can someone/some of you give me reasons as to why it could also be D so that I could be given a mark? Thank you!