What law exams are like

[ninwa]

This is pretty much the format that most law exams will follow (at least at Monash, don't know how different it is for JD).

Just so people considering law know what they're getting into. xD

This is a 3-hour exam btw



















edit: wow sorry about the terrible quality lol

[laynie]

Hmm, yeah doesn't look too bad

[Russ]

Post the contracts exam with the "bonus mark" for writing your student number on the front page?

[AzureBlue]

Illegible handwriting will be penalised?! LOL
Looks not too bad...

[ninwa]

Illegible handwriting will be penalised?! LOL

Yeah, if they can't read it they obviously won't give you the marks

Post the contracts exam with the "bonus mark" for writing your student number on the front page?

I don't have access to it

[AzureBlue]

Illegible handwriting will be penalised?! LOL

Yeah, if they can't read it they obviously won't give you the marks

What if your writing is a bit messy but still readable? You'll still get the marks you deserve, right?

[ninwa]

These are HD answers, i.e. what you are expected to write in the 3 hours that you get.

[ninwa]

What if your writing is a bit messy but still readable? You'll still get the marks you deserve, right?

Yeah of course. The penalise bit just refers to the fact that examiners won't sit there for an hour trying to decipher what it is you have written.

[Russ]

I don't have access to it

Ah damn, that thing was one of my favourite exam questions ever, despite being from a law subject.

[AzureBlue]

What if your writing is a bit messy but still readable? You'll still get the marks you deserve, right?

Yeah of course. The penalise bit just refers to the fact that examiners won't sit there for an hour trying to decipher what it is you have written.

Oh, good. Phew!

[Cthulhu]

You all say "it doesn't look too bad" but how many of you have sat a Law exam?

[crappy]

You all say "it doesn't look too bad" but how many of you have sat a Law exam?

lmao

exactly what I was thinking

[laynie]

I DID BUSINESS LAW!

[ninwa]

not really a substantive law subject though, I've seen the Monash business law stuff (maybe UoM is substantially different)

[lynt.br]

Post the contracts exam with the "bonus mark" for writing your student number on the front page?

I'm willing to post up the 2009 exam (question 1 was basically an extended series of questions about this) but I am not sure if I'm allowed to according to Monash policy...

Essentially the question was:
a) Write out lecture name + stream number on front cover for bonus mark from the Chief Examiner.
b) What if the information for part (a) was already required of you by Monash Uni Policy?
c) The Chief Examiner tries to revoke the offer of a bonus mark, what is your legal response?


The issue with law exams isn't really difficult content, but writing to time. There is a lot you can write about and in a 2 hour exam you really have to economise your writing so you only bring up the salient issues and avoid the temptation to discuss minor points in too much detail. Most students facing an exam question can probably mentally form a HD answer, but writing one out is deceptively challenging.

Also, there are two types of questions they can ask on a law exam. Policy questions and issue-spotter questions. Policy questions are like the questions in part A of ninwa's exams. They are essentially essay questions. Issue-spotter questions are like Part B. You are given a fact scenario which raises a number of legal issues. You are then usually asks to ' Advise X about his/her legal position' and have to cite relevant legal authority wherever necessary (cases, statutes etc). I don't think Monash sets policy questions for first year law subjects any more. I didn't have to do one for semester one. I think if the exam is closed book, there is usually no policy question.

For first year exams, your exam will look more like Part B of the Constitutional Law exam ninwa posted. You will probably get two long fact situations such as these. They aren't as difficult as they seem. Usually there will be aspects of each scenario that closely resemble a case you have studied so the prominent legal issues should stand out. You also don't need to memorise case names because you are given a copy of the reading guide in closed-book exams. The main problem is just writing to time. Unlike VCE, you are not given any practice writing out full answers in tutes/lectures so you have to prepare yourself.

Also Introduction to Legal Reasoning (ILR) which is a compulsory first year subject at Monash has a slightly different exam. You will be given a long piece of legislation to study 2 weeks before the exam. It is usually 10-20 pages long. You will then get issue-spotter questions which relate to the legislation. For example, this year the legislation was an Act regulating dangerous weapons. We then got a hypothetical where a number of people had been charged under the Act and we had to advise them on their legal position.