‘Huge mistake’ in College of Law exam paper
The College of Law is investigating an apparent error in one of its exam papers after students claimed that one question was impossible to answer.
A student in the second year of the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in London’s Bloomsbury contacted the Gazette to say there had been a ‘huge mistake’ in the commercial dispute resolution paper taken by students last week.
The student said that one of the questions in the exam made reference to a document connected with a completely different scenario than the one in the question.
A spokeswoman for the college said: ‘We are aware that there appears to have been an error with a commercial dispute resolution LPC paper yesterday and we are now investigating what happened and why.
‘A full report will be made to the examination board and external examiners, which will recommend any steps which may be necessary to ensure that no student will be prejudiced by it.’
Comments
I sat this exam but it was
I sat this exam but it was just a typo; the document to which we were referred was one already used for a previous question with different facts and as far as I recall clearly marked as relevant to that earlier question, at the top of it. You'd have to be a bit dim (or, now, desperate to get some marks) either to have forgotten (or pretend you'd forgotten) you'd used that document already or forgotten the facts of question to which it related. About fifteen seconds of frowning to work out what was what but it was pretty easy to work it out I think. Error, yeah; "huge one" - no. The document we were supposed to use had marked on it that we were supposed to use it for the question to which it plainly related. Amazed that this is "news", other than making some sort of marking adjustment for people who can't read is unfair to the people who can.
CDR
In response to the person above - your being extremely glib about what was a serious situation. I also sat this exam and to suggest that someone is 'dim' if they were thrown off by this mistake is arrognant and incorrect. We sit exams and expect at least 100 per cent accuracy in the paper. Any inaccuracies in the question create confusion, as we are essentially rewording the question ourselves. Intelligence or appitude is irrelevant to this debate and you'd do better than to insult fellow students.
That's right, it is unfair to
That's right, it is unfair to criticise a student who did not work it out, because when you are in practice, as a fully qualified "day 1 competent" solicitor, every problem which presents itself to you will come packaged in an easy, proof-checked, accurate summary with a 100 per cent accurate question which you simply provide the answer to.
I'm sorry, it must be my fault
To the next sympathetic poster below.. So your saying exam questions should be unclear in order to prepare students for practice? Hmm glad your not on the board of the SRA. I think clarity is rather important for solicitors. This article is about a 3 hour exam paper which contained incorrect information. Do you not think after paying fees of at least 12 thousand pounds, the College owes us a duty to produce accurate exam papers with the correct information? And if you want to talk about attention to detail - some people didn't even notice the mistake and carried on regardless. So well done to those people who noticed an error and did their best to work around it. Because when your in a time pressured and challenging small period of time where every second counts, mistakes on the paper tend to be a tad off putting.
Hmm
The rule of the thumb should that, if you don't know the difference between "your" and "you're", you don't get into the profession at all.
Was writing on my blackberry
Was writing on my blackberry whilst on the train.. And this isn't my English a level exam... btw are you in the profession yourself? Because I am.
If you also sat that exam as
If you also sat that exam as you said in your first post, then you are not in the profession yet. You may do some legal work but the purpose surely of doing the LPC is to hopefully join the profession. Your "because I am" comment also seems to be quite childish.
LPC finished, job awaits (had
LPC finished, job awaits (had been paralegal previous)... So I'd count myself part of the 'profession'? Perhaps I'm wrong. Nevertheless I will depart from this article agreeing to disagree.
Learning from mistakes.
Interesting scenario. It reminds me of the mistake made in an A Level Maths paper where the calculation was completely impossible to work out. Unfortunately many very intelligent and able students were thrown completely by the question and wasted time and no doubt lost marks on other questions. Yes - mistakes are made but you really have to try to eliminate them at this level.
I heard a story from someone who had some involvement in the marking. One student was apparently clever or calm enough to write something along the lines of this for the answer to the maths question: 'This equation is completely impossible to solve' and he/she obviously spent some time giving his reasoning. I don't think he or she was given any credit however as when the mistake was discovered the marks for the question were not taken into account.
By the way, many professional people do not know the difference between your and your're. Just like 80% of people have trouble with 'loose' when they mean 'lose'. A bit like the 90% of defamation lawyers who seem to have very little idea of defamation law in practice. Just shows none of us are perfect I guess and it is how we learn from mistakes and the way we make amends which matters more.
Finally
Thank you for this sensible comment.. Unfortunately most of the people I have come across in this 'profession' are arrogant middle class clones from differing Russel Group Universities.. And it seems they're the ones who like to post glib remarks on unfortunate circumstances. Ps Not that there is anything wrong with being middle class!
You say "many professional
You say "many professional people do not know the difference between your and your're" - you want the exam papers to be perfect because it should be expected at that level, yet would you be happy paying a solicitor's firm £175 per hour to file papers at Court with basic grammatical errors?
Law Society Gazette
Andrew
Sadly I think I have to agree with you.
This is how these people interact here and I often wonder if they are like this with their clients. Many of the contributors here cannot have a sensible and intelligent debate on the articles. The one thing I have noticed about the group of solicitors who regularly congregate here is that they can never admit when they are wrong about something. So, when they know they cannot make a sensible and well thought out argument about an article they resort to sarcasm and insults.
They sit around moaning about everything and everybody all day long. I've already told them - if they and people like them don't get their act together soon and change their attitude they are going to find things very difficult in a few years time. The world moves on but the dinosaur school of thought still prevails in this profession.
Mind you - I do find some of their comments rather amusing and still recommend this site to everyone.
Ps Not that there is anything wrong with being a solicitor!
Kelly is straining every
Kelly is straining every sinew for the Hypocrite of the Year Award 2012 -
"The one thing I have noticed about the group of solicitors who regularly congregate here is that they can never admit when they are wrong about something"...
Ho hum...
You are forgetting that you
You are forgetting that you actually have to understand what the argument is in order to understand that you are possibly wrong. In Kelly's head, he/she is never wrong but that doesn't make him/her correct. In actual fact, it is almost certainly the opposite.
English
I find it odd that anyone seeking to enter the profession does not seem interested in how to use the English language properly. Any good firm would be horrified at the idea of a fee-earner (paralegal or otherwise) sending out letters which fail to distinguish between "your" and "you're" or which display an inability to understand the difference between "previous" and "previously". These things are basic English, not A-level English.