In our recent blog post Celebrating Success – Brigid Cotter Prize and Graduate Entry Awards we recognised the outstanding success of our students in winning one of two prizes awarded by Undergraduate Laws at the University of London.
In this post, two of our winners of the Brigid Cotter Prize 2024-25 share their advice on:
- The study habits, strategies, or approaches that contributed most to their success.
- Any particular challenges they faced during their studies, and how they overcame them.
- What advice they would you give to other students preparing for future examinations.
Noorul Khadeeja Rahman
1. My go-to strategy was to always read the module guide and use that to outline what concepts I needed to focus on. Once I had my outline I would then go on to read the essential reading for those topics. On topics that I personally had more of an interest I would take it a step further to go through the additional material as well. The final step for me was to then attempt multiple questions on a particular area and familiarize myself with certain concepts and case law. It’s important to practice these questions because at the end of the day you need to be able to apply and evaluate the law. If I found myself struggling with how to structure a particular essay I would refer to examiner reports and do a little more research.
2. Initially I did find everything quite overwhelming and I felt like time was against me. What worked for me was to take a step back and come to the realization that it’s not the end of the world. Everyone’s running their own race and even if it takes you 6 hours to go over one chapter, that’s okay.
3. While studying is important, what’s equally more important is your mental health. Whether that comes from music, going to the gym or even having a warm meal. Prioritize yourself and results will follow.
Hadia Tufail
1. One of the approaches that contributed most to my success was preparing well-organised notes in a mannerly pattern for every topic when studying for the first time. This allowed me to quickly revise and focus on the key points before each exam instead of going through the entire content again. It saved a lot of time and reduced the inevitable pressure and procrastination that usually come with repeatedly searching through different books and noting down the content. In short, make the big effort once and rely on that throughout the year.
2. One constant challenge I found myself facing was confusing certain questions with each other and in order to tackle that, I started noting down their difference or the questions that highlight the distinction between overlapping questions. A minor challenge was also memorising dates or certain topic’s content but for that, one just needs to practice that specific topic multiple times along with its questions.
3. It would be a short and simple advice if I have to give one, i.e., understand the question types and format, always have the main points for each topic clear and memorised and lastly, do not take extra pressure or overdo memorising of unnecessary points to the extent you lose control of the actual important stuff.