Trust Me I Know Law

Well I don’t but I will in four years

[trustmeiknowlaw]

A nice visual for you all!

1. ACTUALLY SLEEP!!! Don’t wake up and start shifting around before your alarm. It can seem productive but it’s actually terrible for your motivation for the rest of the day.

2. Wake up at a reasonable time. By reasonable, I mean 9am or 10am, no later unless you have personal issues or something.

3. Breakfast is important! A hearty, yummy breakfast can make the day great. I started today with two buttery pancakes and syrup. Yummy!

4. Straight into it! Start your first subject. I recommend the pomodoro technique to keep focused on your work. Work for about an hour and a half.

5. Break time! Have a cuppa. Get away from your screen.

6. Back to work! Keep working until lunch. Don’t forget toilet breaks are fine!

[trustmeiknowlaw]

How to get into a study routine, quarantine edition!

Hey guys! 

I’ll be posting about how to get into a routine! It can apply to all subjects so use it with whatever you need. See you all soon!

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I’ve seen people do one of these so here’s mine! If only my desk was as clean as that, I’ve had it for at least five years now haha

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Legal Landmarks on YT

Let me just say that these videos were developed for the general public and should only be used as a starting or end point of your revision. It should not be a substantive part of it.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1k4S7pliX3Ke-051ftTP1g

This is for History Hub, covering Legal Landmarks and a wide background of legal and political history. I’d recommend watching a video or two in your spare time because it’s interesting if not useful :)

[trustmeiknowlaw]

Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/latest

Canva: https://www.canva.com

My Study Life: https://www.mystudylife.com

Legal Landmarks: I’ll link the videos in my next post since there isn’t actually a playlist and they’re scattered across the cosmos :(

TEXT READS: 

‘GOOD ONLINE REVISION MATERIALS

quizlet it has free account and online flashcards

canva you can make infographics and visual materials

my study life to make a revision timetable and track how much time you spend on each subject

legal landmarks - youtube an overview of the most important cases in constitutional law

see links to each below!’

[trustmeiknowlaw]

Happy Easter to everyone! Remember to gorge on chocolate!

[trustmeiknowlaw]

I thought everyone would like to see what my lecture notes actually look like. This page is consolidation of 40 slides on the ECHR and HRA 1998. 

40. Slides.

What I’ve done: I’ve put down case names but no summaries; any information specific to this particular area of law, e.g. the mirror principle and how HRA 1998 changed things; I've done it all in one colour, the same colour as my flashcards and my lists, so I know what matches up with what. 

It took me an hour but it was worth it. Writing stuff down can be a form of revision too, but I recommend doing it in the early stages like I did. This stuff was done when I started quarantine, back in early March.

It is possible, just needs effort. I hope this actually helps you since I did it, so you can too :)

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Playlists for focusing

Firstly, I do not recommend listening to latest pop hits or anything with lyrics in them because you focus too much on the words and not your work. (Also, it’s a bop and it’s illegal not to dance to a bop. Which is why I never listen to Boss Bitch by Doja Cat while studying).

Synth/Vibes music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPni755-Krg

Piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gPOwt2gmrg

Hip Hop (you know what I’m about to link):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A

And my personal favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qap5aO4i9A

This one is a 3 hour rendition of my favourite piano song, ‘Rains Will Fall’ by Kevin Macleod. It’s slow, energetic and even has a bass line for all you more modern people :)

Have fun exploring your music style, and if there are any other recommendations you have, feel free to add to this post!

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5. Audio

Note: this method works for auditory learners, not so much the other types of learners.

You made it! Stage 5! *cheers* 

This is where you make a playlist of all your favourite hits! ... or, in this case, cases. 

1. Find some relevant cases. All of them should be organised by subject and section by now.

2. Find the facts, ratio and any obiter you found interesting. Make sure to have notes handy for recording.

3. Get your device, microphone included, and start recording your voice teaching the case. Repeat this for all the cases you wish to do.

4. Compile them into a playlist under subject and section and et voila! You have the playlist of a lawyer’s dreams.

That’s all from me on revision techniques! Stay tuned for more!

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4. Active Reading

Time to go back to your key readings for this term! 

If you haven’t done so already, organise them by subject and section, and fill in any gaps by printing/downloading and adding them to your collection.

Using online or paper resources is OK for this one, whatever works best for you.

Once you have done that, get reading! I recommend two pieces a day if they’re less than 10 pages, and 1 piece a day if it’s more than 10 pages long.

1. Read it through once, completely. Read it out loud, in your head, whatever helps you to understand the text. 

2. Find the key points of the text. Summarise the text in a notepad/document or at the bottom of the text if there’s space.

3. Highlight anything relevant you might quote or paraphrase. These have to be SHORT and SWEET. Quotes shouldn’t be more than a couple of sentences of long.

4. Try and relate it to relevant case law. For example, how does the work of AV Dicey relate to Parliamentary Sovereignty? How does it relate to the traffic light theory of admin law? Mark it down inside the text, or failing that, on your notepad/document.

5. Now you have an annotated document! :) 

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3. Lists

Listing, my favourite technique!

It’s always better to do this on paper rather than a laptop, as tedious as it may seem. I tend to do it like this:

Make a list of your cases by subject with a small summary of the facts and ratio, e.g. Shackell v UK [2000] is a case about cohabitation etc etc etc...

Then make a list of cases by section, e.g. Administrative Law: Shackell v UK [2000] is a case about...

Then split it further down into sub-sections, e.g. Administrative Law: Judicial Review: Shackell v UK [2000] is about...

For each subject, have at least 2 cases per section, that can be divided into sub-sections. 

Put it in a table or a simple list with colours, this one is about presentation!

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2. Mind Maps

This revision technique isn’t for everyone but for visual learners, kinesthetic learners, it can be a good technique.

I’ve included an example of a mind map in my next post, but generally, mind maps are starters for revision - they brush the surface of a topic without going too deep.

For law, in my opinion, mind maps should generally have:

- general topic in the centre, e.g. ‘Public Law: Judicial Review’ - one part for authors and texts of relevant literature, e.g. ‘Dicey, Williams, Craig’  - one part for key themes of this topic, e.g. ‘separation of powers’ - one part for an overview of the main points of the topic, e.g. ‘grounds of judicial review/time constraints/some key case law/any statute law’

This will direct you to relevant cases and wider reading, as well as acting as a reminder of the main points of the topic, which should help you get a high 2:1, or 70% for those who aren’t in the UK!

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1. Notes

First things first before you sit your butt on your chair. Are your notes neat? Typed up, or hand-written if you prefer? Are your notes in order of lectures, with titles and dates?

if you’ve had seminars/tutorials/sessions, whatever you want to call them, did you complete the pre-work? Did you answer any questions, read any articles or make any notes?

Did you miss any of these sessions, and didn’t supplement your notes afterwards?

Before you can even think of revising, you need actual material to revise. That means getting your notes in the right order with the right level of depth.

Do this before revision.

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Text reads ‘5 DAYS OF REVISION TECHNIQUES:

1. NOTES 2. MIND MAPS 3. LISTS 4. ACTIVE READING 5. AUDIO’

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What’s coming next!

Over the next few weeks I will explain 5 different revision techniques I use in prep for our law exams in April/May/June.

Then I will explain (and link up) five different time-keeping/productivity techniques I have foud well through trial and error. That should take us up to March!

[trustmeiknowlaw]

oh shit i need to update

me, realising i haven’t queued up any posts

YES, I’M BACK WITH MORE ADVICE!

[trustmeiknowlaw]

Just a quick message to everyone...

Law is a really heavy subject so please don’t be worried if you can’t keep up or do any extra reading. It’s really normal for that to happen. Now that reading week is rapidly approaching I’ll be recommending and linking up playlists for work and rest for law students. I’ll also be posting a list of good textbooks to have for law, and what websites are good for law studying. I’ll also focus on what to prioritise and how to utilise online resources!

Don’t panic. Everything’s fine. Reading week is almost here.