When choosing what subjects to take for Year 11/12, Legal Studies was top of my list, despite many people telling me it was “lots of work” and required lots of memorisation.

Turns out it was true - Legal Studies is VERY content-heavy, and there was definitely memorisation involved with LCMI’s (Legislation, Cases, Media, International Documents - every Legal student has this engrained in their brain).

But, Legal Studies is also about understanding complex societal issues, and how the law tries to address these in a just way for all. It ended up being one of my favourite HSC subjects, once I figured out the right way to study the mountainous load of content the syllabus required.

Long story short, Legal Studies doesn’t have to be daunting - for me, some simple adjustment to my study habits helped me (a) find my passion for Legal Studies and(b) score a 95/100 in my HSC exam.

Today, I’m going to share 7 of these tips to help ace the subject as well!

1. Handwriting vs. typing notes - Which is better?

Truth be told, there is no “one size fits all” approach.

Instead, here are some benefits of each method. The most important part is that the notes are thorough, and constructed in a way that makes sense to you.

Benefits of Handwritten Notes

Strengthens your hand muscles to prepare for the HSC (which are written)
Aids memorisation
Studies show handwriting increases focus (over typing)

Benefits of Typed Notes

Easy to adapt and edit with new information
Time efficient when needing to take notes quickly (e.g in class)
Can be easier to format with tables, images, headings etc.

I’d like to emphasise the importance of practising handwriting at SOME point, even if your notes are typed. Your hand muscles needs strength training if you’re going to write for 3 consecutive hours in your HSC exam.

2. How to structure Legal Studies notes

Follow the syllabus down to a T - that is probably the single most importance piece of advice when structuring your Legal Studies notes.

This is true for any HSC subject, but particularly true for content-heavy subjects such as Legal Studies, where there is so much information to keep track of. You can only be assessed on syllabus content in exams, therefore using the syllabus as a roadmap means you’ll be thoroughly prepared.

Don’t forget to use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and tables to visually represent the information in an easy-to-digest way.

Here’s an example from my crime notes using this system:

Note: Use the left hand side of the table to structure the bulk of your notes BUT don’t ignore the right hand side - it provides the basis for the questions that could come your way in an exam and also may give some more insight into what you need to learn.

3. Should I memorise everything?

No! Whilst it might be tempting to memorise 18 essays word-for-word to “be prepared” for your Legal Studies exams, this can actually backfire.

Unless they ask you the exact question you memorised an essay for, pre-memorised essays typically don’t answer the question sufficiently. Markers look for is your ability to answer the SPECIFIC question on the page, not the sample question you wrote 3 weeks ago.

Instead, you can memorise content that can be ADAPTED to multiple contexts. For example:

Memorise a generic essay skeleton that easily moulds to different questions (more on this in Tip 6)
Memorise a case that applies to multiple syllabus dot points, instead of separate cases for each dot point

4. The “traffic light” system

Naturally, there’ll be parts of the syllabus that you become very comfortable with, and other parts that you struggle with. The traffic light system is a highly efficient way to PRIORITISE what dot points to study, and allows your study sessions to be focused.

This system involves printing out your HSC Legal Studies syllabus and grabbing three highlighter colours. Then, go through the syllabus and highlight each point based on your ability to answer a question on it (closed book).

Red = I can’t at all
Orange = I can, but it won’t be perfect
Green = I can, and it’ll be perfect

Here is an example:

When studying, focus on the red, then the orange. If you have time, go through the green.

5. Legal essays - How are they different from other subjects?

Legal essays are slightly different from your average English essay, as there are a few more elements you need to include. You still need to answer the question directly using keywords, and follow the NESA verb requirements. But there’s a bit more to it!

Here’s a rough break down with a simplified example:

If you need a refresher on NESA’s directive verbs, check this out.

6. Prepare as many practice essays as you can!

Whilst this may sound tedious, preparing essays to every possible question that could feasibly be asked (following the syllabus) is a great method of studying to prepare for your exams. You could even just write the skeleton/outline of each, without writing the full thing out for every question.

This minimises the element of ‘surprise’ in exams that many find quite daunting and also allows you to structure ‘template essays’ for future responses. Keep in mind, you don’t need to memorise these every essay verbatim - just having a crack at the structure, LCMI’s, and phrasing, will be great for your progress.

7. Keep up to date with current affairs

By watching/reading the news and keeping up to date with current cases you are able to then use this information within your responses. This makes your response stand out compared to students using older cases and shows the marker you are keen about Legal Studies and have the skills to link these new cases with the concepts you’ve learnt at school!

It can even be something as simple as:

Turning on the radio on the drive to school
Reading the headline articles on the bus
Seeing what your friends are talking about

Conclusion

Legal Studies is an extremely interesting subject and by following these 7 tips, you’ll be well on your way to understanding the nuances of the legal system that myself and many others have come to love.

Still looking for more help? Sydney Scholars Tutoring has expansive resources, and a qualified and passionate team of Tutors.

Hopefully you found this article helpful! Stay tuned for more content like this.

7 Simple Tips to Ace HSC Legal Studies