It is felt by the students of the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Strathclyde that the Civil Litigation exam sat on 14th December 2015 was much more difficult than students had been given fair notice of.

Namely:

1) The Exam Part A consisted of 3 detailed case/problem questions, rather than previous formats where objective questions were more numerous. This meant that reading and digesting the questions alone took up a substantial portion of time, in an already time-intense exam setting.

2) Exam Part A was fundamentally more difficult in nature than previous papers. Previous year’s questions were general, and included questions such as the constituent elements of an Initial Writ, the fundamentals of written pleadings, etc., whereas the 2015 paper contained questions which were far more narrow and intricate in nature. This meant that a more detailed analysis of the procedural rules was required, which again added an element of time pressure.

3) Students were directed to rely on the examples of the past papers provided as an outline of the nature of this exam. These were misleading when compared with the nature and substance of the December 2015 exam.