The BPTC is a frenetic and hectic rollercoaster ride,
taking you from an academic knowledge and understanding of the law, to a
different plane; one where you have judgment, practicality, problem solving
skills and the confidence to with the major responsibility of other people’s
legal conundrums.
There are some very simple things you can do to make sure
the foundations of your learning are strong, and they are best put in place
from the very beginning.
So, once again, I am proud to say: “OVER TO THE
STUDENTS!”
Eloise
Turnnidge emphasises how important starting well on the BPTC is:
“Hit the ground running! There is so much work to do
starting in the first week. Consider your timetable and the preparation
required, then plan how you're going to use the time. It helps to get into a
good routine early on.”
Ahsan Zaman had a four point plan:
“I advise simple methods:
1. Don't be tense (stressed), have fun, just try to enjoy the
environment of City.
2. Strictly follow the lectures during the first two weeks.
3. Every day give at least 4 to 6 hrs to prepare your class-work.
It would be better if you prepare your work in advance during the off-days.
4. Make a few good friends who strictly follow the classes and are
more serious students than you.”
Working together can be a great way of building your confidence up
and getting ahead. Group study, done efficiently and without distraction can be
one of the most effective ways of learning.
Peter Khoury endorses this advice:
"Get to know the other members of your tutorial group!
Setting up a study group as soon as possible will assist you in keeping up with
workload and also allow you to share personal frustrations along the way."
Friends and group mates in the course are not just there to be
study buddies. A support network is vital. You will need people to give you a
listening ear and a big hug from time to time.
Wasiul Hoque Chowdhury advises keeping good company:
"Just try and enjoy yourself and stay away from people who
demoralise you. Then you would do great!!"
Staying positive and building confidence will stand you in good
stead. Avoid negative people who bring you down... unless they are your tutor!
;)
Heath
Jamal sums up with this excellent list:
“1.
Don't panic. You will get through this.
2.
You're not alone, everyone struggles and feels a little overwhelmed.
3.
Engage with your group, they are the best support you will have.
4.
Use the energy to get organised, in particular files for the mountains of
papers you will get.
5.
If all else fails, speak to Snigdha. Not only is she an amazing teacher, she
also really cares about her students.
6.
The end line is a long way off but keep in mind that the reward is amazing.
Nothing beats Call Night!
7.
Give yourself a break, you are not superman/woman.
8.
Work bloody hard, but from time to time, say what the fuck and go have fun!
Good
Luck.”
You will see I included the profanity. Sometimes you do have to
say “what the fuck!” In other words, accept that other things are also
important in your life. Taking time for friends and family. Taking time for
your hobbies. You will need these things to keep you sane.
Alvin
Chai, a former BVC student has written practically a whole,
wonderful, blog post on the subject:
“Your
partner in crime is very important. Get to know your classmates and have 1-2
people who you can count on. These are also the people who will help you in
notes sharing, and proof read your work in the future (except for assessment
work). They are the people who will know exactly how you feel, having deadlines
after deadlines, watching the sunrise of London after sleepless nights,
studying through Christmas. These comrades will make your challenging days much
better.
I
was fortunate to have a few of these friends on the BVC. Snigdha, Chris is one
of them. English is not my first language, so advocacy was not my strength, but
having Chris to learn from was of great help. There were so many solution,
ideas and realizations that came from long talks with my team mates.
There
are such people who do not share positive energy. Stay away from them. Choose
to spend your time with those who are disciplined, with positive energy – these
things money can’t buy.
Coming
back to Snigdha’s question about how to cope with the first two weeks of the
BPTC:
1. Spend the first few weeks building
relationships. Having a team mate is better than going it alone. This is a
challenging ride, but you will learn skills that are good for life.
2.
Prepare or read before going to class. I didn’t do this at the start, I do
regret it.
3. Spend
money buying ring folders to have your notes organized by subjects. No last
minute magic can help you if you are not organized.
4.
Don’t care about what other students tell you such as we can slack first, work
later. They will wish they never say such things.
5.
Hunt down past years papers for civil and criminal MCQs (if such things still
exists) for practice later. Do it early because such information is hard to
find during my time, but worth it. :P [Sadly, only the papers
released by the BSB CEB to the providers are available these days. Sorry! –
Snigdha]
6.
Go find out how to online book your dining sessions early. Sort these things
out early so you don’t need to have a last minute panic.
7.
Revise on how to use the online databases, legal research skills are gold
because they will be the first steps of many of your work tasks.
8.
Need to understand that there are subjects that you will really need to
allocate time to practice them such as Drafting because you are required to
draft in exam conditions with a time limit. Last minute prep just doesn’t cut
it. Suffice to say, they are many type of examination methods. Plan your time
accordingly for how to approach them. Talk to your tutors about this, and they
will be able to give indication on how to prep for each subject, the strategy
etc.
9.
Snigdha is truly an educator and a friend. She will give good actionable advice
from advocacy to study. Get to know her if you get the chance.
10.
If you are new to London, check out places you can get your favourite food.
Comfort food goes a long way as small reward, as motivation.
11.
Enjoy your time in London with like-minded course mate. It’s gonna be
memorable. At the end of the day, you need fun too.”
Jeremy Heywood says:
"I would say the following:
(1) take a deep breath and don't panic about it - the course is going to throw up some new challenges but there is nothing to be scared about and everything is eminently passable;
(2) make sure to take some time in the beginning to get to know your tutor group outside of the classroom - these are the guys you are going to share this with and (if they are anything like the folks I met) they are likely to be pretty awesome and stay with you long after the course has gone;
(3) be realistic and give yourself down time - no one works well when they are knackered;
(4) never be afraid to take part, or ask for help (from your tutor or your classmates) - everyone is in the same boat and you will get most out of the course if you speak up and play a part in it; and
(5) enjoy it while you can - it is a really good, fun, course and one of the best years of study and fun I have had.
That was my approach anyway. Hope all is well. J. x"
Katie
Beard has these thoughts about keeping your sense of
perspective:
“My
advice is don't panic/worry/overwhelm yourself.
Don't
worry about what other people have done before starting the course, or that
they are better/have more experience than you. Get to know as many people as
possible and most of all - try and enjoy it.
Before
you know it you'll be buried in revision so make the most of the first 2 weeks
to take everything in and enjoy.
Also-
use your inn! And pupillage workshops and extra advice sessions - it will
really help in the long run.
Good
luck, everyone! :D
Oh
and find Snigdha - she is a diamond and helped me so so much x”
Do try to avoid being too competitive or comparing
yourself with others. We do learn at different paces. Provided you are not
slacking or avoiding doing the work required of you, don’t worry if you
perceive others are doing better than you or “getting it” more. Stay calm, keep
working. It will all fall into place.
Vishal
Shamsi recommends making the most of the induction programme,
which I heartily endorse and reminds you of the importance of sleeping
properly:
“I
started a week late because I could not arrive in London on time and OMG, I was
so lost on my first day! I missed all the introductory LGS and SGS, so I
basically I just jumped into the deep end of the pool.
My
advice would be to make sure you attend all the introductory lessons you can,
especially the ones that familiarise you with legal research and our law
library. Knowing how to research and use the library in the beginning saves so
much time throughout the rest of the year.
Next
comes managing your day and getting enough sleep. Throughout the BPTC, sleep
might be the least of your priorities, but I think it’s really important to not
just stay awake during LGS but also actively make notes and participate where
required. Llack of sleep WILL put you to sleep during lessons, trust me!
I
guess organizing all the notes, books and your time would be the key (the first
reading week helps with this).
Also
studying for BPTC and knowing how to study for BPTC are two different things,
Snigdha Nag has some amazing material on pinterest that can help with that, she
also shares it on facebook from time to time. :D
I
hope this helps x”
Sleep is your body and brain’s way of resting and
repairing itself. You will learn most effectively if you ensure you get enough
sleep. Pulling all nighters at your desk makes you feel like you are working
heroically, but robs you of the ability to think the next day. You need to
sleep to learn. It is as simple as that. If you put in consistent amounts of
work during the day, you should not need to stay up all night working.
Shakir
Ahmed has these thoughts:
“Enjoy
the first couple of days. Check out the CLS library, the beautiful fields.
Drink coffee from Starbucks. You are going to need a lot of it in the next nine
months. Check out other amazing restaurants around CLS. You might also have a
look at the Grays Inn and Lincoln's Inn, which is very close to CLS. Now the
serious part: prepare before you go to classes. Make friends with like-minded
people and study together sometimes. It makes studying easier. And if you have
any problems or facing any difficulties talk to your personal tutor. He/She
will give you the best advice.”
Brilliant advice, but I would remind you that other
coffee establishments are available.
Imtiaz
Bin Hafiz continues the theme of how important being organised for
the course is:
“Get
bundles to arrange the heap of papers given to you. Make separate files for
each subject.”
Dawn
De Coteau has this concise and sage advice:
“Follow
your instructions, get going with the preparation from day one, as there is no
downtime on the BPTC.”
Tom
Jones has a deceptively simple tip:
“Use
the first two weeks to try out different ways of taking notes and preparing
SGSs. Type in some and write in others and see what works for you.”
I cannot stress how useful this advice is – do not assume
your previously used methods and techniques will work for the BPTC and the life
in practice which awaits you. Yes, you are graduates and intelligent people,
but you may find that your previous note-taking and learning methods are not
effective on a course of this pace, volume and difficulty.
Ahmed
Durrani says that getting relevant work experience is important,
and can give you a break from the relentless pace of Small Group and Large
Group Sessions:
“Prioritise.
That's the magic word. Even though the workload will seem daunting, it is
equally important to engage in other activities such as mooting/work
experience/mini-pupillages, etc, to give you that much needed, and
simultaneously a very useful, break from studying.”
David
Green has the following to say:
“The pace is unrelenting and you don't get a reading week
till November - so learn to move on.
Allocate a fixed amount of time to a task (eg an opinion
for class), and use it, but don't exceed it - it's better to have 3/4 of a
class opinion and all of your civil and crim lit reading for the week, than it
is to have a perfect opinion, no sleep, and incomplete notes for your other
classes.
Take good notes - you'll revise from them. I typed all of
mine: if you do too I STRONGLY recommend Microsoft OneNote (which is free as
part of MS Office - if you have office you already have it). It's perfect for
taking notes on the fly and organising, categorising and searching them. It got
me through my GDL and BPTC and I still use my notebooks from each.”
Managing the workload is immensely important; you may
find that you have more than one class to prepare for in a day. It is not going
to help you to prepare exhaustively for one and then go to the other
unprepared. We are capable of self-deception, saying “oh, I want this piece of
work to be perfect, so I’ll carry on with this skeleton argument rather than
read up my civil litigation”. What you might actually be doing is spending time
finessing an already good skeleton argument to avoid doing the civil litigation
preparation because you dislike the subject or find it difficult. David’s
advice is astute and worth absorbing.
I would like to express my sincerest and deepest
gratitude to the students who have essentially wrote this post.
These two posts on surviving the first two weeks of the
BPTC are amazing, but only because my former students are amazing and brilliant
people.
