VCE Legal Studies Question Thread

[lou0018]

Hi lou0018,
This is absolutely a doable goal! Units 1/2 are certainly important for background information, and it will be more work and holiday studies for you to catch up, but if you're a hard worker and have a good memory, Legal is quite a straightforward subject.
The 'style of learning' that I've found most effective in Legal is rote - there's a lot of information to take in, but much of it is just simple memorisation. Questions are typically straightforward, so as long as you know your stuff you'll be absolutely fine.
I recommend talking with your school's Legal teacher/s and flipping through both the 1/2 and 3/4 study designs. Good luck!

Thank u very much

[You dont know me]

Does anyone have any practice SACs for U4 AOS1 that they'd be kind enough to share? Thank you!

Check the VCE notes page on this site:

Spoiler

https://atarnotes.com/notes/?pag=1&state=3720&subject=4806&unit=3727&key=&sort=date

[lanitresidder]

How many hours of studying/revision do people do before a SAC?

[You dont know me]

How many hours of studying/revision do people do before a SAC?

It’s best to spread out the studying, over weeks really. Study’s show that a person that studies the same thing for 10 minutes a day for three days straight are much more likely to remember something than someone studying it for 30 mins in one day. If you left the studying to the last minute, I do 30-40 minutes of straight study, then I play a game of something that goes for like 10-15 mins, then I repeat for however long I can. It varies from person to person. If you left it to like the very very last minute, better crack down now and study your butt off my friend . Just don’t do like 2 hours of study straight, you’re capability to learn will decrease.

[crystahlll]

hey all, i'm taking legal studies next year and would love for any tips on memorisation and scoring well! i am interested in humanities but i didn't do too well for my final exams despite scoring A all year... so i'm quite worried honestly

[rayaalandrito]

hi everyone!!

i'm a year 10, who might be doing legal studies in year 11 and i wanna know kind of content is studied. what kind of sacs do we do? is it a heavy-content subject?

[Poet]

hi everyone!!

i'm a year 10, who might be doing legal studies in year 11 and i wanna know kind of content is studied. what kind of sacs do we do? is it a heavy-content subject?

Hey!
legal studies is a great option. It's quite straight-forward, and content-wise it's heavy but it makes a lot of sense. If you want to look at what's involved in SACs and what you'll study, read the Legal Studies Study Design for all units. Hope you can choose what's right for you. Good luck!

[lanitresidder]

Does anyone have any practice exams for the new study design (excluding VCAA's sample exams and those of the past) that they'd be kind enough to share?

[Poet]

hey all, i'm taking legal studies next year and would love for any tips on memorisation and scoring well! i am interested in humanities but i didn't do too well for my final exams despite scoring A all year... so i'm quite worried honestly

Hi there! Sorry I didn't see this question sooner.
Scoring well is all about doing what's best for you. In Legal Studies, the typical way of learning is just rote - copy down definitions from your textbook in your own words, make summaries for every study design dot point or chapter, and even make flashcards of things you need to know. Legal is about applying your learning, so make sure you don't just memorise simple definitions; look at case studies and ask questions. Follow the news and apply what you've learnt to present-day situations, or personal experiences. Ask your teacher for plenty of practice SACs. And overall, don't worry about what happened in humanities. Legal is a new start for you, and as long as you put the work in, you'll be alright. Good luck.

Does anyone have any practice exams for the new study design (excluding VCAA's sample exams and those of the past) that they'd be kind enough to share?

Hi lanitresidder,
Unfortunately, practice exams from different companies such as NEAP, TSSM or TSFX are all under copyright, and it is against ATAR Notes' policy to distribute copyright products. However, you could ask your teachers for more practice exams and typically schools will provide these for you. Sorry we couldn't help you more.

[Lear]

This is a question I've had throughout the year but only now decided to ask.
Do we even need to know cases for Legal Studies?
Other than the Unit 4 High court, referendum and section 7 and 24 cases, the study design makes no mention of needing case studies for any of the other dot points.
If this is the case, why do teachers push for students to memorise a number of cases for other aspects of the study design?
Do examiners even expect us to mention cases in answers not relating to the ones specifically mentioned in the SD? Is it not possible to receive full marks without referring to a case?

[dsabeta]

I just had a question about KK7 of U4AOS2, 'the significance of one High Court case which has had an impact on the division of constitutional law-making powers'. My legal textbook doesn't seem to include a case for this and is very unclear; it mentions the Roach and Rowe cases for Sections 7 and 24, then immediately goes to the external affairs powers and the Franklin Dam case.
Am I able to use the Roach case for this key knowledge point? If not, can someone please recommend a case that I can use?

[Poet]

I just had a question about KK7 of U4AOS2, 'the significance of one High Court case which has had an impact on the division of constitutional law-making powers'. My legal textbook doesn't seem to include a case for this and is very unclear; it mentions the Roach and Rowe cases for Sections 7 and 24, then immediately goes to the external affairs powers and the Franklin Dam case.
Am I able to use the Roach case for this key knowledge point? If not, can someone please recommend a case that I can use?

Hey,
The textbooks are a bit blurry in this regard, but the 'division of constitutional law-making powers' would be with the Tasmanian Dam (Franklin Dam) Case, as the Commonwealth encroached on the Tasmanian government's residual area of power via their environmental treaty.It's best to stick with the Tazzy Case for this point and the Roach case for sections 7 and 24.

[dsabeta]

Hey,
The textbooks are a bit blurry in this regard, but the 'division of constitutional law-making powers' would be with the Tasmanian Dam (Franklin Dam) Case, as the Commonwealth encroached on the Tasmanian government's residual area of power via their environmental treaty.It's best to stick with the Tazzy Case for this point and the Roach case for sections 7 and 24.

Thank you so much - this has confused me for ages!!

[lanitresidder]

Is it safe to presume that questions from VCAA’s sample exam definitely won’t be repeated on the end-of-year?

[Poet]

Is it safe to presume that questions from VCAA’s sample exam definitely won’t be repeated on the end-of-year?

Exact questions will most likely not be repeated - however, a sample exam is made as an indication, or practice paper, of the real final exam - thus, it's safe to assume that extremely similar questions or situations will come up in the end-of-year exam. Best to go over the sample exam as many times as you can.

This is a question I've had throughout the year but only now decided to ask.
Do we even need to know cases for Legal Studies?
Other than the Unit 4 High court, referendum and section 7 and 24 cases, the study design makes no mention of needing case studies for any of the other dot points.
If this is the case, why do teachers push for students to memorise a number of cases for other aspects of the study design?
Do examiners even expect us to mention cases in answers not relating to the ones specifically mentioned in the SD? Is it not possible to receive full marks without referring to a case?

And sorry, Lear, no-one's answered this so I'm just going to say my (speculative) view would be that cases act as decent examples to strengthen points we may make in an exam question. It may be difficult to be given full marks on a question that would be tied together with a case study - answers can seem kind of stilted without examples sometimes. I also use them to link specific points so that I can remember points that are referred to in the study design better. Sorry again that I have no sure answer, I've been waiting for meganrobyn to make a move haha

But my opinion is that we are being taught these cases for a reason - and that reason would, ultimately, be our end-of-year examination.

edit: why don't you ask your teacher about it? I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you, if not a little amused that this has been left for so long