Online exams and some tips

Published in

KCL-LLM

5 min readJun 16, 2021

One positive about this year has been taking online exams instead of being crammed into sweaty rooms. All my exams were 24h except for the private equity exam, which was 72h.

I had five exams in total starting from the end of April until the beginning of June. Five didn’t seem a lot when I signed up for modules. But I found them quite exhausting since you have to produce about 4000–5000 words for each exam, preferably with some original or creative thought.

There are no January exams on the LLM. So, I had to revise everything that was covered starting from September. Most modules allow you to submit a formative exam that doesn’t count towards your degree, and you’ll get some feedback. However, I’ve heard from other students that they received feedback only after exams took place, rendering the formative rather pointless.

Personally, I found it very useful to run through past exams and to discuss answers with other students.

Problem questions

Exams for the private equity and LOIF modules are based on problem questions. You are given a set of facts from a client and you have to give advice on their legal position or address their legal concerns. This is different from the problem questions I was used to during my bachelor’s because you are assuming the specific role of counsel, rather than making a neutral judgment call.

When possible, concise paragraphs and unequivocal language are often better than argumentative academic discussion. You still can use (and sometimes need to use) specialist legal language, but you would have to explain its meaning and practical/commercial significance.

For example, if I want to mention a director’s fiduciary duties when giving upstream guarantees in a private equity/leveraged buyout deal, I have to explain that the director needs to act in the interest of the company. I also need to explain why it is relevant in the specific circumstance and what actions a director has to take to comply with their duties. This could include analyzing the financial model or obtaining shareholder support. I would not go into the history, purpose, or merits of fiduciary duties.

A typical LOIF question is whether an issuer is exempt from filing an EU prospectus or a US registration statement. In addition to giving the legal analysis and outcome, I would mention what a client needs to do/adjust in order to benefit from exemptions. This could include only offering securities to selected investors or setting up an offering only accessible to non-US persons.

The classic (F)IRAC (issue, rule, application, conclusion) method still works as a starting point, but you always need to take the extra step to provide practical advice and keep it relevant to your client.

Essay questions

The blockchain and financial regulation modules are assessed with essay questions. These are short but very broad questions. On this basis, you are expected to write an interesting academic piece and produce a reasoned argument.

One of my professors gave the advice to write for intelligent but not necessarily specialist readers. So, you can assume that the reader knows what a contract is but not necessarily what an ISDA Master Agreement is.

Structure is more important in essay questions. A coherent structure is expected under marking guidelines and it will help in building a logical argument.

For example, a question in blockchain exam was to discuss the pain points of the current securities settlement system and potential blockchain solutions and challenges. I would structure my answer as follows:

Introduction (200 words): what is securities settlement, why is it intermediated, what legal problems does it create, a brief abstract with a concluding argument about blockchain
Securities settlement (800 words): intermediation, legal difficulties, unintended legal consequences, undesirable legal consequences, (case law) examples, regulatory solutions, regulatory failures, persisting problems despite legislative efforts
Blockchain solutions (800 words): what is blockchain, perceived advantages of blockchain, potential implementation in securities settlement, technological difficulties and choices, legal difficulties and choices, potential solutions for these difficulties, why (not) blockchain specifically, what needs to happen
Conclusion (200 words): what was the legal problem, how does blockchain solve it, why is it a good/bad solution

A question in the financial regulation exam was to discuss the Court of Justice’s criteria in distinguishing EU economic and monetary policy, and the constitutional framework. This would be my structure:

Introduction (200 words): relevance for the EU, historic development/integration, legal difficulties in practice, the Court’s view, abstract with conclusion
Relevance (400 words): constitutional relevance, constitutional design, constitutional intent, legal ambiguities in practice, economic ambiguities
Current criteria of the Court (400 words): the Court’s solution, legal consequences, remaining legal and economic ambiguities
Future problems and solutions (300 words): current/future legal challenges, problems of the court’s view, potential solutions
Conclusion (200 words): relevance, difficulties, the Court’s solution, problems, adjustment of the solution

Students are also expected to reference cases and literature that were discussed on the module. This is mostly to your advantage since you can discuss pros and cons of certain arguments. Also, you don’t need to come up with cutting-edge solutions that no-one else has thought of.

For more guidance on essays, see this previous LLM Guide blog.

What’s next?

I still have to finish the practice project in the next few months and then I’m done with the LLM around August. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes and if I do some fun stuff in the summer.

I couldn’t find an appropriate picture. But here are some pics of the Euro 2020 ‘football village’ at Southwark. They’re streaming most matches and they have some DJs and local artists performing in between.