Q&A – About Self-studying Law

Sherise Goo

Aug 30

This post is written in response to the following message

"Hi Sherise
I am J, follow you almost one year and very inspired for your life style haha

I plan to self study for my Year 2 UOL
you have any suggestion or plan can share with me ? For example , without any local campus guidance , how you self register UOL and where to done the exam?

Any issue you faced when you self register for the UOL?"

-- 19th August 2022

Hello J,

Hope you're keeping well & so sorry for the late reply! Thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate them more than you know. To answer your questions:

"any suggestion or plan can share with me?"

To be able to self-study law, I would say it takes a lot of self-discipline and hard work on your part. Be prepared for that. My advice is to:

Keep a planner (any planner to your liking)

Make sure to have a well-structured study plan:

First, plan out which module you want to study each day and what topics. I don't know about others, but I usually plan things out in detail one month ahead. Before this, I advise you to first estimate how much time you have to study & make notes (just so you roughly know how fast/slow you should go).

Second, plan out not only the "framework" of your study plan (ie which module & what topics to study) but also the "substance". I will explain it this way - I made sure I knew not only what to study each day, but also what sort of specific things I had to do, it could be any one or two of the following tasks for any one day:

reading the textbooks
reading articles
doing research
making notes
writing essays/attempting past year questions

Make sure to read the UOL module guides. Those helped me enormously both in planning my study schedule and keeping me well informed of the examinable areas despite not receiving guidance from local teaching centres.

If you don't understand something (and have got no private tutors), try reading another textbook and another textbook and perhaps another textbook or any other reference books. I found out different authors tend to explain things in their own way, you get what I mean? So even if you can't get it by just reading textbook A, perhaps you will somehow find textbook B's explanation crystal clear. Or, you can just google it or try your luck finding some free lectures on YouTube.

Don't study at the eleventh hour! UOL exams are tough so be sure to put in the necessary hard work.

If things get too overwhelming (and they can be), always try to find ways to de-stress. Self-studying isn't mission impossible (and there are many people out there who are on the same boat), but undeniably things can get pretty intense and stressful. Remember to keep going and remember why you started this journey.

Earlier when I was an admin of a FB Group for independent/self-studying law students, I posted some study advice there (re-sharing it here):

"The following is my personal advice, please feel free to add on any more advice because some might have slipped my mind.

Visit the VLE often to make sure you're aware of any updates from our university but, very often, we will receive emails from our university regarding any updates. Emails come slightly later than the announcement published on the VLE though. Anyhow, make sure you check the VLE & your student email inbox regularly.

Visit VLE not only for updates but also to watch the recorded lectures and Lecture Plus videos! These can be very helpful in your studies or exam prep.

Start each module with the study guides. Do always start with the module guide if possible because it contains all the necessary guidelines for you to surf on this UoL LLB ocean. It's like a surfboard for us. Then, to be a good or great surfer, you must develop some skills yourself because obviously having only the surfboard will not do much if you want to surf well. These essential skills will include reading skills, writing skills, and also research skills. Never skip reading textbooks, and learn researching for more legal information online, utilise the online library to the fullest - LexisNexis, Westlaw, JSTOR, Heinonline etc. Regarding legal writing skills, I have a good book to recommend to you: https://www.bookdepository.com/How-Write.../9780198811152

Download past paper questions & examiners' reports from the VLE and print them out if that's your preference. Make sure to read the examiners' reports to get an idea of what's to be expected during the exam. However, I must say that the quality of examiners' reports has not been consistent."

If you need a list of recommended law books for your coming years, feel free to visit this page:

RECOMMENDED LAW BOOKS (LLB)

There's also a Navigation Guide for self-studying law students created by my co-admins & me last year:

navigation-guide-for-uol-ug-laws-by-students-for-students Download

"without any local campus guidance , how you self register UOL and where to done the exam?"

It's pretty simple. If my recollection is correct, the university will notify everyone when exam registration is open (usually via VLE or email). I forgot exactly how to register but I think it was through the Student Portal? I can't really remember haha oh dear. But, generally you don't have to worry too much about not being able to register. If you face any issues, just contact the University and they usually respond quite swiftly to urgent matters.

About the exams, for some reasons, they were conducted at different places. For my Level 4 exams, I went to HELP college in Pudu, KL. Then, for my Level 5 exams, I think I went to another University in KL (I can't recall the name). For Level 6 exams, they were conducted online so I was in my room typing answers lol. You will have to check the latest University regulations and updates to see where to sit for the exams (I am not sure whether it has now resumed its in-person exams or they are still having online exams).