EXAM TIPS
LOCATING OPPORTUNITIES WITH A HD VISION
In combination with perfecting your networking skills, your grades in law school are equally as important and a reflection of your dedication and appreciation for the law and will inevitably stand you in great stead for a stellar legal career.
LSS Resources
The Monash Law Students’ Society provides a significant range of resources for every unit. The key ones in relation to exam preparation are the concise sketchnotes and in depth weekly tutorials. Whilst, it is imperative to create your own notes to ensure adequate revision for an exam, LSS’s sketchnotes provide a guideline in terms of structure, detail required as well as a general checklist of what to include in your notes. All you need to do is pay for an annual LSS membership of just $15.00!
LSS’ tutorials are often an overlooked resource. They are conducted by a past student who scored highly in the respective unit. Meaning that the recordings can make onerous topics a lot more accessible and easy to comprehend as they are taught from a fellow student’s perspective and pick up on nuances easily missed by tutors or workshop leaders.
It is also a common reality that towards the end of the semester your ability to remember content from weeks earlier is compromised. Additionally, classes missed can cause gaps in your learning, this is where the tutorials come in! They are only an hour long and are a great way to recap and affirm your understanding of certain topics. Another great aspect of these tutorials is that the last tutorials are reserved for revision of a past exam, a resource that often is not shared by the unit itself. It also provides practical tips on how to answer questions from a student who has only just recently sat the exam.
Study Groups
‘To teach is to learn twice over’ Joseph Joubert
Creating your notes with other students is not considered collusion and is actively encouraged. It can be extremely helpful to collaborate with other students whose lecture and workshop notes may slightly differ based on different teaching methods employed by various tutors. Varying levels of understanding can present an opportunity to teach one another difficult topics which is often the best tool for revision. Law school is often construed as a competitive and isolating experience, however, collaboration and teamwork are often the most crucial skills in the workforce. It can be extremely rewarding to succeed alongside your peers!
Creating a study group is not something that should be done during swotvac, rather coordinating weekly meetings from the beginning of the semester can ensure you are up to date with the material. It also means you are not only accountable to yourself, but a group. This greater sense of urgency can be the make or break factor in ensuring you remain on top of your workload. It also ensures that the final weeks prior to an exam are used for practice questions and past exams, which are proven to be far more beneficial in exam preparation in comparison to any futile attempts at summarising a whole semester’s worth of notes in a week.
Use of AI
‘Our future success hinges on our ability to embrace AI and use it for good.’ – Brad Smith
The use of AI within the legal profession is an inevitability. It is changing the legal profession as we know it and is a resource many legal professionals believe should be embraced rather than feared. As law students, It is imperative to not completely become dependent upon it. However, if it is used ethically, it can be of immense help in streamlining studying and allowing more time for comprehending concepts and applying knowledge.
For example, if there is a concept you are struggling with, asking AI to explain it in a different way can assist in your understanding. It is also useful in making often long-winded case summaries more concise, or as a starting point for a particularly intimidating topic (like implied intergovernmental immunities or pretty much any constitutional law topic). It can even help create a study plan for the semester, an ideal SWOTVAC schedule or a concise structure for your exam script.
In short, mastering law school is all about balancing effective study habits with the use of resources provided through LSS, your peers or embracing AI. Use every tool at your disposal, and we wish you all the best in your preparation for your exams!
Written by Ananya Wickramaratne and Avantiika Singh
