1. Preparing for the LL108 exam
Neil McLean
Mike Redmayne

2. Overview
• Successful answers
• Revision strategy
• Logistics / the exam itself

3. Successful answers
• Have clear handwriting (worth 5%)
• Answer the question in the time available
• Are well organised / flow logically
• Demonstrate the skills / techniques / knowledge
of the course
– E.g. Successful exam essays balance opinion
with knowledge
– Thesis – say what you think (intelligent + independent)
– Justification – reasoning (informed by reading)
– Support – use of evidence (case law, definitions, rulings)

4. Successful answers know the task
(e.g. for 45 minute essays, most people write around
800 words, probably an introduction and 4 or 5
paragraphs and a conclusion. The introduction
answers the question and outlines the argument in
support of this answer, each paragraph begins with a
clear statement that helps answer the question and
combines reference to authorities, statutory material,
and case law to justify and support the main idea of
the paragraph in a detailed and convincing manner)

5. Successful answers know the task
(e.g. 45 minute problem question answers identify
possible offences, match the definition of the offence to
the actions in the problem, consider whether actus reus /
mens rea can be established, decide whether defences /
omissions apply and argue for the liability of all relevant
individuals in the problem scenario succinctly and in a
coherent order. Good answers see the potential
ambiguity of the scenario and how this relates to
establishing liability. They argue on this basis, making
use of statutory materials and case law to justify this
argument.)

6. Create a training regime (1)
• Replicate the game
Know what the exam tasks are
• Know how you win
Know what the examiners want
• Practice (essays)
1. Plan really good answers
2. Practice making plans in real time
3. Write out the answers in long hand

7. Create a Training regime (2)
• Choose the topics you will answer for each exam – try to see
where there are areas you can double up on
• Collect a database of past exam paper questions on these
topics – train yourself to be able to answer a new question on
any of your topics
• Divide the days you’ll be revising into sections and prepare
plans of good answers to all of these questions – use repetition
to learn the core content, e.g. references / cases

8. Revision planning
• 4 courses into 25 days = 3 sessions per day –
75 questions – enough?
Mo Tue Wed Thur Fri
28 29 30 31 1
4 5 6 7 8
11 12 13 14 15
18 19 20 21 22
25 26 27 28 29
Check you can fit everything in, know when you’re doing what
and think about linking related topics / doubling up across
exams and about repeating topics regularly

9. Revision planning
• Weeks 1 – 4 – make answers to your
likely exam questions
• Week 5 + summer term – practise
these, making plans on the bus, writing
a timed essay each day (25/4 – 13/5 =
15 essays)

10. Study groups
• Great idea – learn from each other, increase
motivation etc.
• But…
• Agree on revising the same material and arrive with
work to compare
• Don’t concentrate on the lecture notes, concentrate
on answers
• Don’t meet for long – 2 hours max.
• Don’t do this with great friends / if you all speak the
same language (other than English)
• No beer

11. The Criminal Law Exam
• 3 hours
• Ten questions: you must answer four
• In the exam you will be provided with a copy of the
following statutory material:
– Sexual Offences Act 2003 ss 1-4 and 74-79; Theft
Act 1968 ss 1-12; Theft Act 1978 s 3; Fraud Act
2006 ss 1-16
• You can use your own copy of Herring, Criminal Law
Statutes. DO NOT write in them.
– Underlining, highlighting and page tabs are
permitted

12. The Criminal Law Exam
• 7 essay questions, 3 problem questions
(some essays may be either/or)
• You do not have to answer a problem
question…but the vast majority of
people do. Avoiding problem questions
= risky revision strategy. You don’t
know which topics will come up as
essay/problem

13. The Criminal Law Exam
• Revision: look at past papers, but do
not take anything for granted (‘x always
comes up’ / ‘x always comes up as a
problem question’)
• Some topics especially important
because they can easily be combined
with other issues in a problem question,
eg complicity, intoxication

14. The Criminal Law Exam
• Essays: answer the question! (none of
the essays ask: ‘write all you know
about x’)
• Refer to authorities where relevant
• Either (a) Or (b) means Either (a) Or
(b), not Both (a) and (b)

15. The Criminal Law Exam
• Examiner’s reports on moodle. These
talk through the questions on the exam
for the last two years and give detailed
advice, commenting on what students
did well and badly.

16. The Criminal Law Exam
• The easiest way to do badly: leave
insufficient time for the final answer