Want to know how to achieve a Band 6 and ace HSC Legal Studies?
Well, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to make it a little bit easier for you! We’ll cover some of the best ways to help you get that Band 6 in HSC Legal Studies including how to write effective notes, how to scaffold an essay, how to keep up with the news and way more.
So, let’s get started!
Tip 1: Writing Effective HSC Legal Studies Notes
Tip 2: Perfect Your Short Answer Responses
Tip 3: Learn How to Write a Legal Studies Essay Scaffold
Tip 4: Understand How to Find Cases
Tip 5: Choose Your Plan of Attack Before the Legal Studies Exam
Tip 6: Stay on Top of the News!
Tip 7: Make the Most of all the Practice Questions and Past Papers
Tip 1: Writing Effective HSC Legal Studies Notes
We understand that writing study notes can often feel like a bit of a challenge, especially when there’s so much content to know like in Legal Studies — it can take a very, very long time. On the up side,by actually writing your own notes, it will be easier in the long run because you have something to look back on when it comes to prepping for the exam,plus the actual process helps to consolidate what you’ve already learnt.
We’re going to take you through a few steps when it comes to writing effective Legal Studies notes that will help you achieve a Band 6.
We’ll take you through the steps on how to write your study notes at home. Be sure to take a look atthis guideto find out how to write effective study notes in class and before an exam!
Study Notes at Home
When you’re at home, you have the time tomake really, really detailed study noteswhich means once you’ve written them up, you can refer to this set of detailed study notes to revise before an exam and look over anything you may have forgotten.
Here are our tips on how to write them up:
Step 1:Use large, bold headings for the syllabus dot points — make use of the Legal Studies syllabus by turning the dot points into headings. It will make your life a lot easier when you’re trying to revise before an exam!
Step 2:Jot down any information you deem relevant — you can always refine your study notes so if there is any information or content that you think is important, just write it down.
You can also make a shorter version of your study notes by summarising them. Also, don’t forget to include at least one legislation and case for every dot point!
Step 3:Don’t be afraid to use colour — if you can see something, you’re going to remember it a lot easier and that’s the same when it comes to organising by colour. So, get out those highlighters and different coloured pens to make the important information really stand out.
Did you know that usingcolour can actually speed up the time it takes for you to recall graphs and charts?! Checkthisout for an example of how you could colour code your notes!
Tip 2: Perfect Your Short Answer Responses
Understanding how to answer those short questions in Legal Studies so that you can maximise your marks is tricky. In fact, it’s actually really tricky, however, it can really make a difference in marks!
So, we’ve got a step by step guide outlining how to best tackle those dreaded short answer questions in HSC Legal Studies.
Step 1: Highlight the Key Words
You’ve first got tounderstand what the question is actually asking you so you can start to answer it.The way they want you to answer the question lies within the question!
So, whether they ask“explain how”or“use an example to show…”, gives you a pretty clear indication of what they’re after.
Step 2: Use the Mark Worth as an Indicator for Structure
如果你有一个2-3 mark question, don’t waste any time writing a mini essay. We suggest writing about 2-4 sentences and don’t forget to target the key points.
Now, for5-6 mark questions, you’ll spend a little bit longer and you should aim to write about 150-200 words. For these kinds of questions, you have to work out what is your argument and include real-life cases.
Be sure to have a lookhereto see two short answer examples!
Tip 3: Learn How to Write a Legal Studies Essay Scaffold
These 5 steps will help you tackle your HSC Legal Studies essay so you’re one step closer to achieving a Band 6.
Instead of writing one full essay which can take a long time, what you can do to maximise your study time, iswrite scaffolds for a few different essay questions(so, basically you’re planning how you would structure the essay if you were to write it).
That way, yousave time and have a better idea of what content you would include in different essay questions.
Step 1:Analyse the question — find the buzzwords because they’re the key to how you should answer the question!
Step 2:Come up with a thesis — you have to develop a point of view in your essay and think about how you’re going to argue that!
Step 3:Structure your argument — come up with the main themes for your argument and use a separate paragraph (or perhaps two if there’s a lot to talk about) to discuss the relevant content related to these themes!
For Step 4 (Insert cases, median and legislation) and Step 5 (Explain cases, media and legislation) plus more information on the whole scaffolding process, check out this guide righthere!
Tip 4: Understand How to Find Cases
Now, this is important because you’re going to need to knowhow to find relevant legal cases to use as evidence in your essays— so have a read through these four steps which will make it way easier!
Step 1: Identify the Topic
When you get that question, you’ve got tohighlight the key terms to understand what you’re really being asked.That way, you can figure out which topic the question is referring to and which cases are most relevant to it.
Step 2: Select Cases to Use for the Essay
你真的要保持更新的晚了st developments!You don’t want to use a case which has a law that is actually outdated.
When your teacher hands out articles and reports in class about different cases, be sure to go through them and work out which topic they’re relevant to so you can compile a list ofcases you know well.
Step 3: Conduct Your Research
Make sure youdo some of your own research outside of the classroom to stay up-to-datewith the cases and laws you’re writing about! Check outAustLllandNSW Caselaware great places to start.
Step 4: Identify Legal Issues
You have to be able to identify the key issues associated with the case. Make sure you have a good brainstorm about this so you’re able to really talk about the case and its ramifications!
If you want more information on this, you better checkthis articleout!
Tip 5: Choose Your Plan of Attack Before the Legal Studies Exam
It’s important to think about your approach to the HSC Legal Studies exam —will you start with the easiest or hardest question? Will you start with the first question or last?
The way you approach the exam is completely up to you but you need tofigure out your plan of attack before the exam so you’ve got a good plan.
Here arefour possible ways that you could approach the exam(of course, there are pros and cons to each one so it’s up to you to decide what works best):
Approach 1:Chronological order
Approach 2:Back to front
Approach 3:Strongest to weakest
Approach 4:Weakest to strongest
It’s worth checking out the pros and cons of each approach righthere!这样,你就可以做出明智的决定和公关actice answering the exam with the approach that suits you before the exam.
Tip 6: Stay on Top of the News!
Either reading or watching the news everyday is going to help you stay up-to-date with information relevant to your topics. Now, this is important so you canprovide timely, real-life examples and keep track of all the changes to legislation.
It’s highly likely that you’llimpress the markers if you’re able to include some recent cases into your responses!
Be sure to have a look at this guide on theTop 5 Frequently Asked Questions On Legal Studies— there’s lots of useful information in there and it will probably cover some of the questions you may have!
Tip 7: Make the Most of all the Practice Questions and Past Papers
Completing practice questions and past papers is not only the best way to practice for the exam but alsotest your knowledge and fill in any gaps!
Make sure you’recompleting practice questions and past papers as you go— don’t wait until the week before the exam.
We’ve compiled alist of all the past papers from 2010 onwards, including the marking guidelines! So, it’s time to start working through these past papers to get you comfortable and ready for the HSC Legal Studies exam.
Now, you might also be looking for someHSC Legal Studies Crime practice questions. Fear not because we’ve got 20 questions for you righthereso you can practice those 15 marker questions as much as you want.
We’ve also compiled20 Human Rights practice questionsfor you and questions for eachLegal Studies elective! So, there’s definitely enough questions for you to practice and get comfortable.
And that’s it!
Those are all our tips and tricks to help you achieve that Band 6 in HSC Legal Studies. So, what are you going to do next?
Grab one of the past papers and have a go answering it to see what you know and what you don’t know — then you can go on from there! Good luck!
Now if you’re looking for a Band 6 guide for a different subject, check out our other guides for the subjects below:
- Maths
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Ancient History
- Biology
- Modern History
- English
- Economics
- Business Studies
- Visual Arts
Are you looking for some extra help with HSC Legal Studies?
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Tanna Nankivellis a Senior Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently in Germany completing a year of study for her double degree in Communications (Journalism) and Bachelor of Arts (International Studies). She has had articles published on Central News – the UTS Journalism Lab and wrote a feature piece for Time Out Sydney during her internship. Tanna has a love for travel and the great outdoors, you’ll either find her on the snowfields or in the ocean, teaching aqua aerobics or creating short films.
