Frequently Asked Questions
All the answers provided below are given by students at the University of Aberdeen. The answers we provide are not checked by the Law School. It is merely informational. Please make sure to get in touch with your personal tutor to discuss those further.
If you do not see the answer to your question, please submit it below.
Can I change degree in the middle of the year?
This might not be possible - it depends on the time from which you wish to initiate the process and the number of places left on the course.
If this is something you are considering, we recommend you contact your personal tutor as soon as possible. They may be able to provide you with the assistance you need.
Can I do a career in law without a law degree?
The answer is yes! Multiple options exist for those who have completed a degree in another discipline but still wish to pursue a career in law.
We will be soon launching a “How to become” series.
What is the difference between the LLB law degree and the Bachelor of Laws?
There is no difference between the LLB Law and the Bachelor of Laws; the LLB is an abbreviation of the Latin 'Legum Baccalaureus' which translates to a Bachelor of Laws degree.
How does the LLB usually work?
The LLB usually takes 4 years to complete. In Year 1 and 2, you are taught the general legal principles and legal techniques. Whilst in Year 3 and 4, courses are studied at “Honours” level. You receive advanced legal skills training and have the opportunity to specialise in an area if you wish.
If you are doing an LLB with a language, you will be going abroad in Year 3.
To read more, visit the University’s website.
What is the difference between compulsory, optional and honours courses?
All LLB students must sit compulsory courses if they wish to qualify as a lawyer. However, the grades of those courses do not count towards your degree. This means that if you have multiple Cs and Ds in 1st or 2nd year, this will not prevent you from getting a 1:1 or 2:1.
Optional courses are courses that you may select. These do not need to be law-related. As for compulsory courses, they do not count towards your degree.
Honours courses are courses that you select in your 3rd and 4th year. They are very important as they count towards your degree. They will determine whether you get a 1:1, 2:1, 2:2 or a 3rd.
What are the different class certificates?
Four types of class certificates exist: a first class (1:1), an upper second class (2:1), a lower second class (2:2) and a third class (3rd); first class being the highest and third class the lowest.
You usually achieve a first if the grades you obtain in your Honours courses average above 18 out of 22, an upper second if they average above 15 out of 22, a lower second if they average above 12 out of 22 and finally a third if they average above 9 out of 22.
Most of the time, a 2:1 and above is required when applying to law firms.
Do I have to sit honours courses?
You do not have to sit honours courses. They need to be sat and passed if you are wanting to pursue certain legal careers but if you simply wish to graduate with an LLB without Hons you can.
Do first and second-year grades matter?
Yes and no. First and second-year grades do not count towards your degree but they count when applying to the Diploma of Legal Practice.
If you want to work as a Scottish solicitor, you will have to do a year as a Diploma student, i.e. a fifth year of study. To do so, you will have to apply to universities in Scotland which offer the course. The application will not be based on your Honours courses, but solely on your first and second year courses.
How do assessed essays and exams work?
The year is divided in two semesters. Each semester you will be studying different courses. At the end of the first semester, in December, you will sit exams for each of your courses. In the second semester, exams are held after Spring Break at the end of April or beginning of May.
Some courses only requires you to sit an exam worth 100% of your grade but others will include other assessments. These may be summative or formative work. Summative means compulsory. In this case your exam may be worth for example 75% and your essay 25%. Formative means optional or compulsory but not marked. They will provide you with very useful feedback so we highly recommend you to engage with the topic.
What marking system does the University use?
Everything you do is marked using the Common Grading Scale. This is a brief overview of how your grade point translates into your grade but the full version of the CGS can be accessed here where it goes through the criteria to achieve each grade.
How to write an essay?
At university the essay-style expected is slightly different to what you may be used to doing at school. Our Treasurer Ailsa has a few useful tips to provide:
Try not to write in the first person. For example: “I am going to be arguing that A is a weak argument” or “I feel this is a good case”. Instead, you must ensure you stick to using the third person. For example: “X argues …. This is however a weak argument as shown by sources Y & Z who both argue strongly with evidence to support their arguments.” This is obviously a very basic example, but it is purely just to contrast the first-person writing style with third person.
Mark your own work based on the criteria required for an A band in the Common Grading Scale. This method ensures you have a strongly written piece of work. The most important quality of any A-band essay is analysing. The ability to be critical of the information from teaching and your sources is key in securing an A band essay. Through making analytical comments about what you are reading, you are showing the marker that you have a good understanding of the topic. When reading and incorporating sources make sure to ask yourself the following questions it easier to gain those analysis marks; is this a strong argument? If so how? What backs this up? Draw sources together to strengthen your own line of argument throughout the essay.
Be careful about which referencing format you are asked to use. Different modules may require different forms of referencing. Some may allow you to do your essays under ‘exam conditions’ which does not require formal referencing structures, but many will ask you to use the OSCOLA formatting. Make sure you have gotten to grips with how to use OSCOLA (an easy to digest guide can be found here).
How to answer to a problem scenario?
When dealing with problem scenarios which ask you to apply the relevant law, a slightly different approach is necessary. When first reading the problem scenario, our Treasurer, Ailsa, says:
Go through every individual line and mark the relevant information you need to be able to apply the law. There will often be more than one legal issue you need to deal with in a scenario so the best thing to do is split each legal issue up under different headings. Condense the information you picked out from the scenario under these headings. Then from your teaching and reading, find the statutes, case law or legal principals that you need and apply them to the facts.
More often than not, the problem scenarios you are examined on will relate directly to cases you have discussed in teaching or tutorials to allow you to draw comparisons and make analytical comments on why the decision in this scenario would be the same or different. So, make sure you are looking out for this as it will make your life a lot easier.
Refer as well to the points made for essays as those are relevant for problem scenarios as well.
Multiple Choice Questions: how to best approach them?
If any of your exams take the Multiple Choice Quiz format the best thing to do is revise in advance, our Treasurer Ailsa suggests. Make sure you have condensed your lecture notes with the required reading to ensure you have all the material you will need to answer all the questions.
For creating the condensed notes the best thing is to make sure they are easy to read but cover the main points. Read these over BEFORE opening the test. Then have these sitting open while you are doing the test so you can refer to them quickly if you need to refresh your mind about an answer.
You will not have the time to look up the answer to every question and if you attempt to do this, you will stress yourself out. So make sure you have revised In advance and the notes are only there as a refresher if you need them.
This is obvious and always said but make sure you answer every single question. Even if you are genuinely completely unsure of what the answer is, it is always better to make a guess then leave it black. You then at least have a chance you may have guessed right.
