Dear Students,
I am delighted to present to you a guest post from a first time Very Competent BPTC student, Brian Mondoh. Brian was called to the Bar just last month after successfully completing the BPTC.
Brian wanted to reach out to you to share his tips and tricks for "Smashing the BPTC". His approach is excellent, because it encompasses time management, study skills and active learning. He recognised the need for using more than one technique and approach to covering the material and revising. He used different techniques depending on the subject matter and its inherent complexity or technicality.
What is most interesting is that Brian used self-testing to improve his recall. It is a proven technique, but one students are scared of using. Students often don't want to test themselves, as they are frightened of not knowing all the answers. Brian realised that the act of rehearsing the information frequently, helped it stick.
I will leave you to read his practical, achievable and superb advice. If you follow his advice, I am sure you will make it through. And you will know that you have Brian to thank. If you wish to follow Brian on Twitter, you will find him at @dvjmobi.
I would like to offer my most sincere and deep thanks to Brian for this fantastic guest blog post.
“Nuggets
of Wisdom for Smashing your BPTC”
The
Bar Professional Training Course (‘BPTC’) is undeniably the most difficult
postgraduate course ever designed in England and Wales. It requires sound
advocacy skills, memorising copious amounts of information and being expected
to know loads of things before your tutors teach you. During interactions with
practitioners and tutors, you will come to see that they share your concerns,
but it might take several years before a more effective system of Bar
assessment is designed.
BPTC
students undoubtedly experience high levels of stress and anxiety, to some
extent depression and often feel overwhelmed, sad, lonely and lost. Trust me,
no one outside the Bar profession will ever understand this feeling (emphasis).
In light of this, at some point in or about November last year, I quit trying
to explain my experiences on the BPTC to my friends and relatives because no
sort of explanation or illustration would get them to understand my frustrations
and so trying to get them to apprehend just got me overly irritated and upset.
It is, for these reasons that I am writing this article to share my techniques
for ‘smashing the bar’ on a first sitting! Some precautionary comments, my
advice focuses on the three Central Exam Board (‘CEB’) papers i.e. Ethics,
Civil Litigation and Criminal Litigation. Please do not take my advice word for
word as some techniques may vary individually.
ETHICS
At
the time of writing, you will be some two or three months away from the Ethics
assessment. For a BPTC student, that is frighteningly soon! If you are keen
about goings-on on the BPTC, you ought to have conducted your research and
established that the Ethics assessment in 2016/17 had serious clerical errors
and consequently, it had to be re-checked. Unfortunately, the re-check had
little or no effect on the unexpectedly high fail rate across all BPTC
providers. The Ethics assessment is the most dynamic paper and needs a proper
grasp. It is the easiest to pass if you get to grips with the syllabus but at
the same time the easiest to fail if you underestimate it. My approach to the
Ethics paper was based more on exam technique than knowledge. Nevertheless, you
will need to know the Bar Standards Board (‘BSB’) handbook, the Code for Crown
Prosecutors and the Farquharson guidelines backwards. The examiner will
challenge your brain with technical points and nuances. To scoop marks you will
be required to recite Core Duties (‘CDs’) verbatim, Conduct Rules (‘RCs’), Guidance
to core duties (‘GCs’) and Outcomes (‘OCs’) amongst other things all in the
space of two hours. In addition, the examiner will be marking you on grammar
and legible handwriting, as the new syllabus consists of six Short Answer
Questions (SAQs).
One may
find it helpful to use multiple memory aids and learning techniques in
preparation for the Ethics assessment. For instance, I had the ten CDs set as
wallpapers on my phone and iPad. I made it a habit to skim through the CDs
whenever I accessed my gadgets and kept reciting them in a bid to commit them
to memory. Alongside this, I created storyboards in my head during my commute
to and from school. For example, each bus stop on my route had a CD and
relevant RCs, GCs and OCs attached to it. As a result, I could picture a bus
stop and a floodgate of information would stream out. In the weeks running up
to the exam, I drew mind maps and flow charts to illustrate my ‘bus commute’. I
also kept discussing the revision material with my mates and as a result we
ended up teaching each other. Two weeks before the exam and thanks to making
friends from other providers, I was doing past papers and SGS questions from
other providers under ‘exam-strict’ timed conditions. Please note principles in
the Ethics assessment do not change. The ‘Cab Rank Rule’, for example, will
forever be the same, the trick is in the application of your knowledge to
various problem questions. In my view, if, Ethics was a three-hour exam, it
would possibly be the easiest exam on the BPTC but the examiner knows that.
Therefore, strictly time yourself while revising and be flexible in applying
the ethical principles. In conclusion, you cannot 'question spot' the Ethics
paper. It needs precision and sound judgment to enable you understand the question,
weigh out the correct number of CDs, RCs, GCs and OCs etc. to apply to an SAQ
without waffling and/or wasting time.
CIVIL LITIGATION AND CRIMINAL LITIGATION
These
two assessments can easily be termed as the most dreaded on the BPTC. Firstly,
because of the 50 examinable topics on the syllabus split between the two i.e.
22 in Civil litigation and 28 in Criminal litigation. Secondly, the volume of
pinpointed reading and long inundating text of the practitioner texts. Thirdly,
the nightmare of answering 75 'Single Best Answer' questions in each
assessment. For starters, if you have not yet developed a working relationship
with the White Book Civil Procedure (‘the Whitebook’) and Blackstones Criminal
Procedure (‘Blackstones’), you had better start the relationship sooner than
later. As a precaution, past students or those who pass the assessments on
first sitting will 'blag' about how they made it without using the practitioner
texts. My advice; do not buy into the lies. In my year, the BSB set questions
word for word based on White Book and Blackstones commentary. For instance, you
will not find Norwich Pharmacal Orders
anywhere else other than in the White Book's commentary or thorough case explanation
for Criminal legal principles if not in Blackstones. The assessments are designed
to test aspiring practitioners and as a result, it is an obvious fact that the
syllabus and/or indicative reading will be based on the two. You just have to
eat it, live it and love it! Detailed supplements can be Stuart Sime's 'A Practical Approach to Civil Procedure'
and City Law School's Criminal Litigation Manual.
I
stuck by these books for the majority of the year. However, as a quick and
cheeky memory fix, I used some reputable revision books to commit the voluminous
information to memory. To reduce last minute drag and excessive anxiety, try to
have your notes well ready before the Christmas break. Spend quality time
revising the syllabuses and creating memory aids before the exam window. For
Civil and Criminal litigation, I studied in different rooms everyday, I color
coded my notes and recorded voice notes. I also made flow charts and discussed
with my tutors and law students outside of the BPTC. I was fuelled by fear!!!
Simply put, do whatever that works for you! Unlike on the LLB or GDL, you
cannot cover the Bar syllabus two weeks prior to exams! Please note; Civil
Procedure Rules (‘CPR’) tie in with your Opinion Writing (‘OPW’), Drafting, Resolution
of Disputes Out of Court (‘RDOC’) and Civil Advocacy. Maximise your class prep
and do your own work!!! Criminal Procedure Rules (‘CrimPR’) especially on
dreaded topics like 'Bad Character evidence and Hearsay evidence' tie in with
your Conference and Criminal Advocacy. Do your level best to get the fuller
picture of procedure earlier on in the course. Similar to Ethics, do as many
past papers and SGS questions as you can. Do not ‘question spot’ as all topics
are interlinked. In conclusion, be on the lookout for BPTC syllabus updates. In
my year, we had a December 2016 and February 2017 update and the Civil Appeal's
regime was also updated in or about October 2016.
TIME MANAGEMENT
Few
BPTC students will need this reminder. The BPTC is pressure filled and one lazy
day is likely to spill over and affect at least two weeks of your workload. As
an aspiring Barrister, you have to keep your eye on the ball and work far into
the night to get the job done. I would say to every BPTC student, get the ‘Pomodoro/Apple
timer’. It literally changed my life!!! I got this advice from a Barrister and
law tutor that I follow on twitter and it was the best gift ever. The Pomodoro
timer keeps you focused by completely shutting out distractions and breaking
study time into short and productive intervals of 25 minutes with five minute
breaks and a long 25 minute break after one hour of study. It enables you to do
more and maximize on dead time and/or constrained time frames. I started off in
February 2017 at 16 Pomodoro's a day, that's an equivalent of eight study hours
a day. When starting off it’s a bit of a strain but you quickly get the hang of
it. Come March 2017, I was doing 20 Pomodoro's a day i.e.10 study hours a day,
seven days a week!!! I cannot fully express the benefits of the Pomodoro as I
am still using it in my post BPTC work.
CONCLUSION
It is
hardly necessary to emphasise the importance of teamwork and camaraderie on the
BPTC. Your previous qualification, be it LLM, LLB or GDL and your previous
university has little or no bearing on your BPTC performance. It takes nothing
away from you to have humility and to be nice to others in your cohort. Also,
it may be easier said than done, always be positive, look after your health and
avoid burn out!!! Finally, the BPTC is not all gloom and doom. Not only will you
gain an invaluable set of skills, you will become an individual with a switched
on mindset and exceptional professional conduct.
Brian
Sanya Mondoh
Grade:
Very Competent
Called
to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn, 2017
