Merry

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 Thanks all!

ann m

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

redmoose

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.

mandymoochops

Many congrats

Almost Canadian

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

Merry

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!

redmoose

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.

theelitigator

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

Almost Canadian

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.

theelitigator

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

Almost Canadian

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.

FirstRatofftheShipUK

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

Lav

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.

Merry

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?

Lav

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.