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 at our guide on 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 to make really, really detailed study notes which 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 using colour can actually speed up the time it takes for you to recall graphs and charts?!
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 to understand 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
if you’ve got a 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, for 5-6 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 look at our 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, is write 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, you save 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 our Legal Studies Essay Scaffold!
If you’re looking for support writing Legal Studies essays, get in touch with our Hoxton Park tutoring team.
Tip 4: Understand How to Find Cases
Now, this is important because you’re going to need to know how 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!
We’ve created an essential list of all HSC Legal Studies Crime Cases for you to use for your study!!
Step 1: Identify the Topic
When you get that question, you’ve got to highlight 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
You’ve really got to stay up-to-date with the latest 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 of cases you know well.
Step 3: Conduct Your Research
Make sure you do some of your own research outside of the classroom to stay up-to-date with the cases and laws you’re writing about! Check out AustLll and NSW Caselaw are 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!
Don’t wait until it’s too late! Our Hills District Legal Studies Tutors can support you with tutoring at our Castle Hill campus, in your home or online across NSW!
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 to figure out your plan of attack before the exam so you’ve got a good plan.
Here are four 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. That way, you can make an informed decision and practice 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 can provide timely, real-life examples and keep track of all the changes to legislation.
It’s highly likely that you’ll impress the markers if you’re able to include some recent cases into your responses!
Be sure to have a look at our guide on the Top 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 HSC Legal Studies Practice Questions and Past Papers
Completing practice questions and past papers is not only the best way to practice for the exam but also test your knowledge and fill in any gaps!
Make sure you’re completing practice questions and past papers as you go — don’t wait until the week before the exam.
We’ve compiled a list 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 some HSC Legal Studies Crime practice questions. Fear not because we’ve got 20 questions for you so you can practice those 15 marker questions as much as you want.
We’ve also compiled 20 Human Rights practice questions for you and questions for each Legal Studies elective! So, there’s definitely enough questions for you to practice and get comfortable.
Looking for some tutoring support to help you ace Legal Studies? Check out our Hills District tutors!
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
Checking this article out the night before your HSC Legal Studies exam? Our guide for the night before your Legal Studies exam will be a lot more helpful!
Are you looking for some extra help with HSC Legal Studies?
We have an incredible team of HSC Legal Studies tutors and mentors!
We can help you master the HSC Legal Studies syllabus and ace your upcoming assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills! If you’re in the Blacktown area, we’ve got tutors who can support you.
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Tanna Nankivell is 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.
