Another update: I have just received the lastest Law Tutors installment for Jurisprudence. I cannot describe how slowly that work is going, nor how far behind I have fallen. I think that I must be denser than the average English graduate law student. I don't seem to be able to assimilate Jurisprudence nearly as quickly as the schedule requires. I find that I have to read the authors VERY slowly and carefully if I want to have any hope of understanding them. (I am behind in sentencing, too, but there, at least, I have a thorough understanding of the issues.) Anyway, I am beginning to doubt that I can possibly be ready for my exams in August and am debating whether to withdraw rather than go in and fail. I can't recover some of the money I paid in when I entered but a failure woul not be a good thing. So how about it? all you clergy and theologians out there. Jurisprudence is a branch of philosophy, after all...is it a bad sign that I can't absorb this stuff without careful reflection and rereading?
Grind it out, baby. You just gotta set aside time to really get into it. Are you trying to study an hour or two a day, 6 days a week or something along those lines? If so, STOP IT!!! You and I both know that that dense stuff--like reading through the Federalist Papers--can be slow going until you get into it. Instead, dive in and set aside 6-8 hour time slots (with breaks, of course, to mentally vomit), maybe fewer days a week. That way, you're not spending most or all of your study in that first hour of painful struggle as you get your brain into the rhythm. That's the way I did my Bar studies. Towards the end, I was spending 12-15 hours a day with breaks only to eat, and the stuff was just pouring into my brain. My poor wife! But I got through it and did 156 on the MBE. But this stuff of saying: "I'll just set aside a little time here and there and start real early and be relaxed". It doesn't work for the hard stuff, you gotta set aside larger sections of time. Now, that said, if that's what you're currently doing, then I'm at a loss. But remember, you know full well that what you're going through is common to all law students, that period of sheer terror that tells you: "I can't do this, somebody let me outta here!" Just get through it, man, grind it out! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! You feel better now?
Little fuss is right about scheduling time. The denser the material or the more difficult it is for you, the longer it takes to get into the rhythm or groove or rut (or whatever you want to call it)--the longer it takes to "warm up," which is where the best learning takes place. You have to mentally entered the world of jurisprudence. Set aside larger blocks of time. You probably already know this, since you have already gone through law school. How much of a "life" do you still have left, and how much can you (or are you willing to) give up short term to get through jurisprudence? In other words, how bad do you want this? The question of withdrawing, of course, depends on how far behind you actually are. If you haven't already done it, try larger blocks of time for studying and see if things go better. I'm assuming you still have some time to make the withdrawl decision? Good luck. We're all pulling for you. marilynd
Don't give up Nosborne! You can pull through - it's difficult material but it should all gel near then end. I wonder if it would help your studies if you traveled over to England or watched a British version of Court TV? G
I've got a friend with a Cambridge LLB and LLM and an Oxford DPhil. She teaches at the Sorbonne and on the LLB at Birkbeck and her day job is in legal policy at the Bank of England. In conversation online with you, you have never, ever struck me as inferior to her in intellect. In fact, your ability to get to the heart of a subject has quite often struct me as superior. Don't worry about taking time to absorb the subject, that's perfectly natural. In particular, given that you haven't been a student for some time, it takes forever to get back into the swing of academic reading and writing. In particular, essay writing in the UK has always seemed to me to be a rather different skill set than any you're taught in the US. We're much more interested in how you justify your opinion than in whether there's a right answer. In jurisprudence, in particular, there usually isn't a right answer, so the process of how you arrived at your answer is all the more important. In particular, have a long chat with LTO and ask them for a candid evaluation of your progress. They aren't going to want you to present for examination if it's going to make their tutoring look bad. You may just be surprised at the results of the conversation, because I rather suspect they'd've told you by now if you were a wash-out. Also (and see below), if they offer any help on exam technique, grab it with both hands. Next. Writing UK-style exams is an art that is perfected by practice and requires certain skills that are only ever covered in the final seminar of the year on exam technique. Trust me on this one, I know whereof I speak. If you haven't already done so, get hold of as many past jurisprudence papers as you can (UCL has a set for internal students from 1995 to 2004). Leave last year's external students' exam one to one side and study all the others carefully. Even though the examiners will change from year to year, you'll begin to notice a patterning in the questions. There are themes that the examiners will always be interested in. Knowing the presence of these themes, which should be reflected in the reading you've got from LTO is a way of understanding what you're supposed to be aiming for in your essays. Now set aside three hours and 15 minutes. The phone must be off the hook. The wife and kids must be told not to intrude. Place a bottle of water, a legal pad and a selection of pens on an empty desk . . . one that wobbles slightly and annoys you is a bonus because you always get one of the buggers ;-) Now turn over last year's paper and begin, following the rubric to the letter. After 3 and a quarter hours, put your pen down. If you're still writing at the time to put down your pen, you're on the right track. Now put the papers into a locked drawer and leave them alone for at least a week. If you know anybody who's done a UK-style LLM, you can let them have a look, but only after a week has gone by, so that you're not so hung up about what you've written. If you don't know somebody who's done a UK-style LLM, then once a week has gone by you can be more objective about what you see. Above all, remember that writing a good essay-based exam is a learned skill rather than an innate gift. You can have all the fluency in expression in the world, but that won't help you if you don't have the exam technique. Finally. Relax. Chill out. Have a beer and do not, under any circumstances do any work this weekend. It's patently obvious that you've got to that stage where your brain is going round like a rat on a treadmill going "gotta work, gotta work, can't stop I'll fall off". In particular, if you start obsessing to the spouse and kids about "I'm so behind, I've got to work" get them to hit you over the head until you shut up and then let them drag you out to dinner. One weekend is not going to hurt, regardless of how far behind you are (or think you are). Cheers Angela PS. Always use last year's paper as your practice exam. Unless the examiners are doing a nasty double-bluff, you can usually guarantee that the same questions won't turn up again. The same themes will, but they won't cover the exact same ground.
Thanks to all for your encouragement. After all, if worst really does come to worst, I get a second chance. Especially thank you to Angela. It helps to hear from someone who has been there! And really, whatever happens, I cannot BELIEVE how much I've actually learned!
Best of luck, nosborne48! Don't get discouraged! The fact that you're questioning your progress may merely indicate that you're being very thoughtful about the situation -- more thoughtful than those who won't do as well on the exam.
Update update Last night and this morning I finally sent my tutor a long overdue essay answer involving the latest UK government policy on the rights of crime victims. I am STILL 'way behind in both subjects BUT: -I believe that it was a good analysis though I don't know what my tutor will make of it; and -I feel MUCH BETTER because I actually accomplished something that I was dreading. -My quasi-tutor for Jurisprudence answered my cries for help with some decidedly encouraging advice. I AM behind but I am NOT wasting my time, she says. The authors over whom I am sweating much blood and spending much time are the heart of the coursework. A solid grasp of their work will go a long way toward satisfying the examiners. So we'll stick it out and see if it gets any easier.
I'm In Your Corner! As I have said in previous post, I was born and I grew up in the British System and have worked with Barristers and Solicitors in the British System. I have been an articled Law Student in the Bahamas for three years having studied under the tutorledge of noted British attorneys. I have also sat five A'Levels and O'Levels and understand how heavily the British depend on format when responding to essay question. I have had professors say to me, that if even if your answer is wrong, the way you defend your position goes a long way. I am more familiar with British Jurisprudence than I am US Jurisprudence. If you need any tips or inside on any topics, please send me the question and I can address it in the way that would be pleasing to a British professor. After all, when I moved here, I had to reconstruct my wriitng format to blend in with here. I prefer the US writing syle but from time to time, I still find myself writing and/or responding to questions as I would if I was still in The Bahamas. Email me privately if you need me to look over anything and provide my input on anything. I'll be delighted to help. You, specifically, and other members of this group, Jack, and the others, I can't remember your names right now, have helped so much, you wouldn't begin to know. I too believe you can do it.
