Written by Siti Nur Hamizah & Irfan Affendy
Greetings everyone! I’m aware that everyone is struggling as I am especially during this pandemic. Occasionally, people would have the stigma and the perception that a future legal practitioner (ie. the one that is reading this article) would have an easy life because they were of the view that this course is easy peasy as it only requires you to read books, cases, statutes etc. Little did they know, law school is not some wonderland where they would have a wish-come-true factory and “happily ever after” stories because it takes sweat, tears, determination, countless sleepless nights and hard work to complete just one assignment, such as a case review. At first, you would have the thought that as you go through the semesters, you would get the hang of it but no, life does not work like that. The more semesters that you endure, the higher the tendency for you to quit school because you feel like you are in the darkest pit that makes you feel alone and unable to see the beautiful things in life. From having the goal of passing the examination with flying colours to just being grateful with the result as long as you pass, even if it is just on the borderline of passing the paper.
However, let's not lose hope yet. For all I know, it will surely be worth it once you have reached the end. Being in law school for some years has taught me some tips and tricks on how to survive in this harsh world. And today, I am going to share it with you guys!
Change the way you answer during examinations
Most of us have accustomed ourselves to ILAC since our foundation or diploma years. However, did you know that most lecturers, especially the senior lecturers, detest the way you answer your examinations by using ILAC because it indicates that you are immature and still stuck in your comfort zone, i.e. foundation and diploma years? Plus, as you go deeper, you will realise that not every question suits to be answered with the ILAC formula.
What actually is ILAC… why do we love using it during examinations? ILAC is an acronym that stands for Issue (I), Law (L), Application (A), Conclusion (C). ILAC was introduced to us at the foundation level so give us some guidance on how to answer law papers. It's a basic structure. Since we are already doing law at the degree level, it is obvious that we should impress our lecturers by providing the answer that they deserved from a degree student and suits their style. Therefore, we should improvise the way we answer by not using the same technique anymore and just combine our application with the law.
Of course, you need to include both law and application in your answer. But the structure of your answer is usually depending on your lecturer's preferences and the nature of the questions.
Sometimes you need to use ILALAC (Issue, law, application, conclusion) or sometimes you need to use IFLA (issue, facts, law, application).
Well, they say practice makes perfect, it takes you few tries to know what kind of answer structure best suits the question.
Below is a simple illustration to make it clearer:
“NJ Coulson writing in his book Succession in the Muslim Family makes it very clear the subject matter of the will must be something which legal and cannot be prohibited (haram) under Muslim law. Under Muslim Law also provided that in order to write a will, this position can only be applied or transferred to another muslim. This referred to case of Re Timah binti Abdullah where the Gordon-Smith J held that under the Shafie school which was the law applicable in Malaya, the deceased’s mother and brother who were non-Muslims cannot inherit or being excluded from the estate of the deceased as the deceased was Muslim at time of her death. So, kiting is Muslim can only write a will disposed her property to another muslim, not to a non-muslim. Hence, based on the facts given, Ali can challenge the validity of the will made by his late father as his aunt, Maggie was an atheist at the time of his father’s death. Here, Maggie shall be forbidden from inheriting the estate of her late brother in law property, Mohd.Som which his house in Subang Jaya that worth RM 1 million as she is not a muslim. This also can be referred to the case of Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan v Lim Ee Seng & Anor. In this case, it was made clear that the will or wasiat must follow the distribution of Faraid principle that is fixed, thus, non- Muslim was prohibited from inheriting the estate of a Muslim.”
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE AND CANNOT BE IMITATED
2. Always consult your lecturer
Most of the time, lecturers would leave several hints in the tutorial questions. Well, the ones who construct the questions are your lecturers, and they are human. They will most likely construct questions that they have asked during tutorials or use the same questions from past years. Hence, it is encouraged for you to do the tutorial questions and check the answers with your lecturers. I agree that some of us including myself would not take the tutorial seriously and would eventually skip or sleep during the session because it is only an hour and does not provide the knowledge of the law compared to the lecture session. However, the tutorial session is paramount to acing your papers because the lecturers would tell and guide you on how you should answer the question. Most importantly, they will tell you what kind of answers they expect from you so you know how to write the best answers that suit them. Certain lecturers prefer long and open-ended answers, certain lecturers prefer it to be short and concise.
So, make sure you put your focus to the pedal during the tutorial session because assignments and assessment are usually extracted from the tutorial questions. If you find yourself clueless or perplexed, then you should always, always consult lecturers. Verify the best structure on how you should answer the questions with them but keep in mind that you should respect their time and keep your questions during the tutorials or during working hours. Always remember that “the sign of a person who has had education is good manners.” -Sai Baba
3. Do not purely rely on slides
True, it is important for you to refer to slides to make sure you don't go astray and know what kind of answers/flow lecturers want from you. Nonetheless, if you want to have good grades and put a smile on your face, it is obvious that you must match your desired grades with your effort. It is significant for you to do an abundance of research and refer to various reading material. In answering the question, you cannot rely solely on the slides provided by your lecturer but you need to refer to books, do a lot of research on that topic and read the full case from LexisNexis or CLJ Law to have a better understanding of the case. As an undergraduate of UiTM, we should be grateful as we have been provided with an abundance of material. All we need to do is a little bit of effort by clicking the materials and reading them.
That is all from me. To those who are struggling, you’re not alone. Together, we can go through anything! Goodluck!
Cheers,
ALSA UiTM
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