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Preparing for your LPC exams? Having recently undertaken the first set of my exams in January, I thought I’d share some advice on how to excel.
Get Help on any stage of the LPCIt’s very important to start preparing for seminars as soon as they become available on the virtual learning environment of the institution where you will be commencing the LPC. This will enable you to be a week ahead and, if you are very diligent, even two weeks ahead before the teaching term begins.
If you have completed the requisite reading and tasks for a seminar a week or two weeks ahead, this should mean you are not falling behind in your studies as a result of work or social commitments. The LPC is a volume-intensive course and it is highly undesirable to be in the position of playing catch-up – especially when you have weeks where there is a heavy prep notice for an upcoming seminar.
On the LPC, it’s crucial that you understand the topics in each module so you have both breadth and depth of understanding. The LPC is a fast-paced programme and cramming will not work!
Having studied the LLB, I can assure you that the volume of information that needs to be understood, memorised and correctly applied is immense. It is simply too risky to try selective learning and risk losing your training contract offer (or derailing your hopes of achieving a training contract) if you are unable to achieve a pass mark in each module.
To avoid the temptation of cherry-picking topics because you are running out time with exams a few days away, it is better to have reviewed the material from every seminar within a day or two, making condensed notes in the form of flow charts, spider diagrams or checklists.
I would strongly recommend that you resolve issues you may have as soon as they arise with your tutors. This is far better than spending a long time during the revision period trying to understand a topic you didn’t grasp at the time. Invariably, there will be instances where you will not be able to review seminar material shortly after each seminar – however, avoid falling too far behind in your consolidation, otherwise reading week and the revision break will not be spent memorising your notes because they are yet to be made!
There is a tendency to feel overwhelmed on the LPC if you find yourself falling behind in your preparation for seminars. A useful tip would be not to make verbatim notes of recorded lectures as chances are you are unlikely to review your ‘transcripts’ in full when exams come around, so your time is better served striving to be fully prepared for seminars.
This means you’ll be able to actively contribute in all of your seminars (and will also mean you won’t need to panic when you’re sitting in a seminar on a topic you have very little knowledge of!). LPC exams always come around very quickly, and on the LPC the magnitude of material means you’ll run out of time to memorise the information if you haven’t made adequate progress in writing your condensed notes.
Prepare thoroughly for your seminars, check your understanding after each seminar, highlight your materials as you go so you are familiar with them and can find the relevant provisions quickly. If you find yourself in the enviable position of accepting a surprise holiday to Mauritius, you won’t be scrambling to decide which study materials to pack because you will have already written your consolidated notes to memorise (so you won’t need to make your revision notes by the pool).
Good luck in your LPC exams!
Words: Hilda-Georgina Kwafo-Akoto
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