Practice Makes Perfect

Alongside my assessed essays this holiday season I am also working through a practice essay for the Equity and Trusts module.

Law students encounter two types of questions in their coursework and exams;  essay and problem questions. The former you are likely to be pretty familiar with but the latter may be new to you if you’ve not studied Law at A-level. Problem questions consist of a scenario presenting a selection of facts and your task is to identify the issues raised by the facts and apply the legal rules you have learnt to them.

This particular practice essay is a problem question centered around whether a number of clauses contained within a Will constitute valid trusts. In order to compile the advice I will give to the hypothetical client identified by the problem question, I have had to re-read the vast majority of my notes from lectures and reading from the first semester. In this way, practice essays provide a great focal point for revision and give you the opportunity to test your understanding of what has been taught over the previous semester and fill any gaps in your knowledge.

At school opportunities to practice your essay writing skills and receive feedback are more prevalent than they are at University. I know that some students feel that practice essays (which are often compulsory) distract them from their assessed coursework and that they are a waste of time because the mark you receive does not count toward your final degree classification. But in my view practice essays are a really great way to test your understanding and address any problems before you take your seat in the exam hall at the end of the year. And with that I shall leave you for now and return to revising the ‘contract holding theory’ which may save this hypothetical lady’s gift to an unincorporated association!

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas break!