NCA Exams
 

Sorry, I can't remember all of your who I've been in touch with through this forum about sitting NCA Legal Exams but I just wanted those people to know that I recieved my results from the first four exams sat in October and I passed them all! Good start to the New Year, but I sit the next four in less than two weeks time so no chance to stop and celebrate - well maybe just a little one:drinkwine: Thanks all!

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Well done so far. Now get back to the books. ;)

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Congratulations! A few questions if you have time to answer ...

Which exams did you do and how did you find them?
Have you only just got the results from them now?
How long did you spend studying for them? Did you just use the recommended texts?

Thanks.

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Many congrats :thumbup:

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Congrats. Best of luck with the remainder, although I am confident you won't need it.

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I did Foundations of Canadian Law, Consitutional Law, Administrative Law and Canadian Criminal Law last time round. They were quite straightforward although I have heard of plenty people locally who have struggled with them. For many people sitting these, English is not their first language and I can't begin to imagine how difficult that would be. There was quite a lot of overlap in three of these exams which helped. I did use the recommended textbooks but for one of my next four I am not, as it proved extremely difficult to get hold of a couple of them. I do think that it is probably not necessary to use the exact books as a lot of the basic books have similar content. I do know though that at least one of the subjects is marked by the book's author and I'm sure he's looking to see his opinions in the answer paper. It's difficult to say how much I studied - most evenings for about 6 weeks together with a few weekends. The next four seem to have more content to them and have taken some more time but until I sit the exams I don't know if it was really necessary. And yes, I only just got the results, - NCA say the wait time is 12 weeks and mine was 13. I suspect there is no real reason for such a wait other than because they dictate the terms and like their wee bit of power!

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That's really helpful, thanks.

I have 10 exams to do and am taking a year at a law school in Canada to get 6 of them - the other 4 I will challenge independently this summer. I am encouraged by your account (and very impressed - it seems like you did really well!) as I wasn't sure I could manage to prepare for them in the time I have allotted.

I was hoping the 12 week period was an outside estimate as I will be planning to start articling as soon as I am done. It seems like a crazy length of time to wait and your point about the power thing may have some validity.

If you're still in the UK and having difficulty sourcing material, let me know.

All the best with the prep for the rest of your exams and thanks again for your reply.

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hi everyone i am new to the site and like to wish everyone sitting the NCA exams good luck and well done, i am preparing for the May exams and wanted to know if anyone remembers some of the exam questions for the constitutional exams? in need of exam prep and any and all information will be most valuable.

Thanks

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Yes. When I took mine in 2007 I specifically recall a section that had 4 or 5 "true or false" type questions. Remember, this is a 3 hour exam and the total of the marks available is 100.

Each question was worth 5 marks so, by my limited intelligence, should take 5% of the time i.e. 9 mins.

The heading simply stated "Please answer true or false to the following questions:"

They were all nonsense and most on here could have answered them. The one that particularly stuck in my mind was:

The Prime Minister is Canada's Head of State.

Clearly, the answer is "No" But 5% of the total marks for such an answer seemed ridiculous so I qualified my answer somewhat.

This is the degree of difficulty of Canadian Law Exams. Don't worry, you will be fine.

I am led to believe that the NCA now publishes past papers on its website. I suggest you have a look there.

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Thanks Almost Canadian, the NCA only have a sample exam which is based on 2009, hope to hear from others who may have taken the exam in the last 2 years, thanks again for your input, it was most appreciated.

Cheers

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The problem is that one wass not permitted to remove the exam papers from the room (they had to be returned with the answer booklets - immediate fail if they weren't). I don't know if this is still the case.

I have just looked at the sample one on the NCA's website. Parts I & II were from the exam I took, albeit with more helpful notes. My example question did not have the qualify your answer note, that the sample one did. Hence why I thought the question so strange.

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Dear all

Question on the official 'deadline' to register for May 2012 exams, compared with the real 'deadline' - any flexibility in there, given, yes, that it is the NCA we are discussing here.

They seem to be willing to accomodate all those who can stump up the $ therefore I wonder really about these published 'deadlines'.

I ask as it seems likely that they will be issuing their Assessment too late for the May round of exams, although it should be in fact issued prior to that exam week.

Further as it appears that everyone these days gets at least the 4 x compulsory exams, may one simply register for these in advance of the Assessment, in the full knowledge that it is a given.

Yes - there I go using some logic again in relation to the NCA. When will I learn.

Any experiences?

FROTSUK

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Hi,

Does anyone here have books for the Criminal law paper that they want to sell?
Also, did anyone sit for the Property Law NCA papers. Can someone let me know how the paper is?

Also, does anyone have any comments on the exam questions for all the core NCA papers? Are they similar to the ones in the sample exam?

I;m really nervous bout my exam. Hopefully someone can give me some tips.:fingerscrossed:

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The NCA exams are straightforward, especially the 4 set ones - don't stress too much. Although I didn't have any that seemed as straightforward as the one AC describes, that was probably just bad luck. I did take the wrong book into my first exam (my excuse is I'd never done an open book before...) and still passed. I did mine in two sets of four and passed them all. I didn't have to do property though.
Just sat the NS bar on Monday and Tuesday though and that was tough, plus another three month wait for results.
Good luck - I'm happy to answer any questions if I can. Do you know which province you want to end up?

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Hi,
Thanks for the prompt reply.

I was wondering if the exams are anything close to the sample questions the NCA provided. Or are they hardwr or easier? Some of those questions on the NCA sample question sheet seem pretty tricky and don't seem very straight forward. Do advise.

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I am planning to have my credentials evaluated soon and was wondering what sort of qualifications people had before sitting them. I have read that a lot of people only have to do the 4 Canadian specific exams. I have a LLB from England and am a fully qualified English solicitor.

Thanks in advance

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Have a search for my previous posts and you'll find a whole range of experiences. I qualified in Scotland in 1994 but only practiced in an office for a couple of years. I worked health policy after that and came to Canada in 2010 as FSW (manager in healthcare). I was asked do 8 exams and was told it was because I was coming from a hybrid jurisdiction but eight (albeit not the same 8) is not unusual. A cynic might think there was a financial reason for this;)
Good luck!

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I was called to the Bar in 2006 and had been in criminal practice pretty much since then. I have to do 5 in total (first is August 27th!)

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With a Scottish LLB and an English LLM I was granted absolutely zero advanced standing by the NCA. Nevertheless, I now have two Canadian lawyers reporting to me, and am co-authoring a book on Canadian law.

I'm now finding that I'm stuck in my career and need to be a qualified Canadian lawyer to progress any further. Strangely enough, I'm actually toying with the idea of doing more UK law courses and possibly a new part-time "executive LLM" (GPLLM) at the University of Toronto that includes up to five courses recognized for the Certificate of Qualification. Studying full-time at a Canadian law school is just not financially possible for me at this point (they make it so difficult for people who have careers or who are of relatively modest means to study law over here).

I applied to the NCA six years ago, but I'm hoping my quasi-legal work experience and the legal writing I've done, combined with additional UK and Canadian legal qualifications, will get me some advanced standing. From what I understand, the NCA has relaxed their requirements somewhat in recent years.

I feel so envious even when I hear about people who have to sit 10 NCA exams! If I had to sit all of them I'd do it in a heartbeat! :frown:

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I have a Scottish LLB too (from Aberdeen actually) but never practised in the UK. I have to do 10 exams here, which I thought was fair enough. I will hopefully be done next month.

It is, however, a bit of an expensive and/ or time consuming process. As others have mentioned too, getting an articling position can be the biggest challenge. I didn't experience any problems though so it definitely can be done - some employers, especially in smaller markets, value maturity and experience more than others.

As Merry mentioned above, it takes a long time to get anywhere with the FLSC so be ready for a bit of a wait if you decide to proceed.

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Same PQE boat, different paddles, fished and landed (7) exams in the end... so count yourself lucky.;) Crap shoot as has been mentioned before.

FROTSUK

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Thanks. It took a while to get my first recommendation from them six years ago. It's going to be a long haul if I do decide to proceed.

The thing is my legal qualifications seem to be holding me back in my other career, I believe because of (mostly correct) employers' assumptions about law being my true passion. However, at least I have a relatively decent job for the time being that allows me to use my legal background and my other business qualifications and experience.

When were you at Aberdeen University? I suspect I might be a bit older than you, but I was there from 1990 to 1993.

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Hi, I am hopeing to write the four mandatory exams in Jan 2013. Is anyone else planning on doing the same?

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Hi,
I have just registered for the 4 core exams and corporate law for January 2013. Trying to find somewhere to buy the books second hand/cheaper. Have you bought books yet? Any ideas?

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Not strictly on topic but just wanted to update my own thread - I was admitted the Nova Scotia Bar this morning!

Totally unreal as I never, ever thought I'd practice law again - came to Canada as skilled worker (manager in healthcare).

Happy to help anyone else out on this journey if I can.

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Very well done - congrats.

Now of course, if you remain on this forum, and now that you are "legal", you must be prepared to be tarred and feathered on a regular basis. :p

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Congratulations:thumbsup:

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Toni, I bought the books direct from the publishers. I think there is a new edition of the Hogg Constitutional Law book out but the 2011 can still be used. Good luck!

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Well done. Wrote all of mine in August in one sitting (not too prohibitive and can be done) and now just waaaiiiitttting on the slug NCA...:thumbup:

FROTSUK

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I am doing criminal and corporate in January; waiting for the results from the August foundations...
I'm over on a SOWP and we haven't even applied for PR yet so no rush as I can't be admitted to the Bar for a while yet (sigh).

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Trouble is the nonsense 9th November deadline to register for January exams, that could (in reality) actually pass by before August results arrive :blink:

Thoughts on 'deadline' flexibility anyone?

FROTSUK

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Absolutely no deadline flexibility according to a guy who was doing the August exam with me.

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Hi everyone,

Has anyone sat for the property law exams? Does anyone have any notes or guidelines for it. I'd deeply appreciate any help on this. Please let me know.

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Thanks all.

I was worried about the deadline issue too but NCA assured me they were flexible - it's always worth a try if necessary. Bar exams also had three month wait for results.

Lav - I sent a PM

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Hello Merry - are you saying that the NCA permitted you to register for exams after the technical deadline had past by?

I had always sensibly assumed that as long as the numbers registered were not too high for a session, that the NCA would gladly take $ from late registers?

Thoughts or experiences welcome.

FROTSUK

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I didn't need to in the end but I asked the NCA and they said that the deadline was flexible. Given that for 7 of my 8 exams I was the only one sitting them in Halifax, space was not an issue.

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Hello, I just got my NCA review back. They want me to write 12 exams b/c my law degree is over 10 years old (UK). I was absolutely gutted at first but now I am gonna give it a go. Your post gave me some inspiration. So thank you. I wanted to let you know, that perhaps you should attempt to get another evaluation, as they more accepting of overseas qualifications in recent times. Thanks

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Hi, I am writing Torts and Professional Responsibility in January 2013. Would love to hear from anyone else doing same. thanks

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Any of those who wrote at end August 2012 see any results, or any correspondence to date? :zzz: ... thought not.

FROTSUK

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I'm not even expecting to see anything until the full 12 weeks is up!