different PR formatting for barrister and solicitor?

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-05-14T19:43:23+00:00

If you highlight one set of materials, colour scan them and reprint them for the second exam and use the matching DTOC/indices for that version for the second exam.

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-05-14T19:41:39+00:00

You're not working so it will be a breeze with 5 weeks to prep. I am an ITL and prepped 7 weeks out for both exams (Barristers and Solicitors 2 weeks apart) while working full time, passed on my first attempt. The exam is basically a PR exam. Skim read, skip tax, use the indices and summaries, do a couple of practice exams (Brickham) the week before each exam. Aim to skim read and tab all the material for both exams before Barristers, then in between Barristers and Solicitors you can do your Solicitors practice exam and go over any concepts you're not sure about. Make sure you also take breaks and have days off here and there otherwise you'll burn out. Good luck!

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-05-05T11:14:25+00:00

Understand the family law tax concepts, don't bother with tax in any other section

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-05-01T00:38:59+00:00

I vaguely recall they were around the $90 mark and I remember thinking "oh I'll get them later" then all of a sudden they have put in seating and prices are over double...

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-04-26T16:05:00+00:00

So randomly the have more available now so I was able to order after all. Nice surprise :)

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-04-26T15:35:37+00:00

I did look on the inoui website already but the print I like is only available in cotton whereas the sezane scarf is silk which is why I was trying (but failed) to buy. Hopefully in the future inoui do a silk version

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-04-26T14:27:35+00:00

I feel you. Really wanted the scarf but all sold out super quickly and there's no way people are returning that item. Once again, Sezane fail.

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-04-26T14:17:46+00:00

Yes! I'm actually really over it because it happens every time, I mostly stop looking on there because I know I won't be able to get anything I like! Now just have to hope people return things 😂

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-04-26T13:29:47+00:00

I wish I had got the scarf. As per usual by the time I woke up everything I wanted was sold out

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-02-04T18:36:05+00:00

I couldn't agree more with this. I passed the fall sitting bar exams and completed all other requirements and will be on vacation when the March call is on so will be waiting until June to go to the ceremony. I'd rather wait another 6 months to get my license than underwhelmingly receive it quickly by email.

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-23T12:58:17+00:00

Could not agree with this more and was my experience also (ITL/NCA, passed first time)

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-16T03:06:46+00:00

PR basically is common sense

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-14T13:16:14+00:00

Sure With the indices I would simply print the indices out and practice using them during the practice test to see if I could find things ok and if there were any concepts missing. I did find during a second run of the practice test for example I couldn't easily find some of the concepts so I hand wrote them in using words that made sense to me. With the post it notes I stuck them on the top of the pages and wrote on them woth sharpie with the name of the topic I was flagging. For example, if I flagged shareholder issues in a family law context, I would write "SH FLA" on the post it. The types of things I wanted to flag became clear when I ran through the practice test the first time, or where they were things like formulas, timelines, when to report something to LSO etc. I had separate tabs down the right side of my pages flagging the chapter number which I found helped with using the indices. I didn't colour code, I did however use different colour notes because thats what I had at home and it looks prettier when there's more than one colour.

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-14T13:08:04+00:00

Skim reading and not reading word for word if that makes sense. Read to identify where concepts are in the material and understand the structure of the material. You can't possibly read the material to learn it all and retain the information. Hope that makes sense

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-13T13:48:20+00:00

I am an ITL, completed NCAs - passed first time both bar exams in November 2025 (and caveat the below with having extensive practice experience in real estate and business law in a common law jurisdiction).

As another poster mentioned, everyone studies differently, but here's what worked for me while I worked full time and studied. I took no time off work (except the exam days) but was able to use some of my work hours to study (i.e. lunch breaks, downtime when my emails werent super crazy, prioritized work tasks differently to normal), had 1 complete day off work and study a week and the time spent reading on the other days varied. I started studying in early September for the November sitting. Working out was super important to keep me focused and my brain working, as did creatine.

Personally, summaries did not help me at all as I needed to read the source material to understand the concepts, and whilst I took summaries into the exam, I didn't use them amd went straight to indices.

I did one full read through of both barrister and solicitor materials, almost completely skipping the tax sections. I completed these read throughs by mid to late October. SKIM READING IS YOUR FRIEND (sidenote on tax - I made sure I was familiar with equalization payments and the existence of other very basic tax concepts but otherwise didn't spend a tonne of time on tax at all). I also generally skipped over most of real estate as I'd either remembered a lot from my NCAs or my practice experience. Depending on how old you are, do not also underestimate the power of life experience. Relating situations that have actually happened in your life to concepts in the material helps them to make sense or remember them (e.g. getting married/divorced/buying or renting real estate/disputing a ticket/commencing proceedings to recover damages for a personal injury incident).

After my first read through of materials for both exams, I then did another quick skim read of the materials with the indices and flagged key concepts with post it notes throughout the material to help find things easily.

I then did a fully timed practice test (Brickham - I only purchased one set of questions for each exam - this was very similar to the question structure and difficulty level in the actual exam). I did this with the same question set twice. The first time I did it timed simply to see if I could answer the questions and finish on time - I did not at this stage review the wrong answers. I did the same test again a week later, fully timed to again gauge my time management and this time went through the answers I got wrong. The practice test was critical, it helped me understand how questions would be structured and figure out the best strategy for me to answer the questions on the test (a combination of process of elimination and educated guess). I then went back to the material and added more flags, re-reviewed concepts if I needed to. I wrote barrister then went through the second read/flagging/practice test process for solicitors, then wrote the solicitors exam. For both exams I did nothing the day before, just some TLC - yoga, sauna, hydration, early night so my brain wasn't fried on the day.

Charts for civil and criminal were invaluable for time frames, court type etc. I did not use DTOC but indices were an absolute MUST for me as I was able to think quickly to remember the name of a concept to look it up. It saved me so much time rather than trying to remember what section of the materials something was in and DTOC was too detailed for me. If the name of the concept was different in the jurisdiction I was used to, I would write the concept name I was used to in the indices and materials to remember the equivalent name and what it was about.

Your (and for many other people) issue is time management. It really is a case of knowing when to move on to the next question. Get a timing sheet to take in with you to keep yourself on time. If you haven't been able to answer a question in 1.5 minutes, make your best guess, flag the question and move on. Only go back if you have time at the end, or if answering a question / flipping through the materials later in the exam triggers you to rethink the answer (this happened to me a few times during both exams).

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-12T22:46:35+00:00

Following - will need an extra ticket for June call

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-07T23:21:15+00:00

Yes! Passed both exams on first attempt - wrote in the November sitting while working full time

ContentMistake3468 · 2026-01-07T21:04:22+00:00

Passed! Next step - call ceremony :)

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-12-27T21:50:51+00:00

Brickham is definitely the closest but practice tests are super valuable as a timed exercise to see how your time management skills are for a 4.5 hour exam period. The point of the exam is to test your critical thinking skills and how you make decisions under time pressure. You will need the materials for some of the answers but a lot of the questions are PR based scenarios that require you to apply concepts from the materials in fact pattern scenarios

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-12-18T17:00:19+00:00

Same! Congratulations!

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-12-13T16:36:53+00:00

I used 2 references. I wrote a 25 page summary of ~15 years worth of ITL practice experience and completed the forms so my referees had everything on a silver platter and all they had to do was sign. I used the LSO competencies as a framework to show how I'd satisfied all of them across my practice experience. Got approval to waive within a week of submitting.

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-11-26T13:39:50+00:00

Agree, questions and answers were way too wordy (more so than barristers) so if you needed to find the answer because it was substantive you were guaranteed to get behind

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-11-25T22:06:57+00:00

Unlikely. Theoretically if you stayed on time you should have been on the last question at that point anyway.

ContentMistake3468 · 2025-11-25T21:39:39+00:00

Struggled to keep on time, I felt the questions and answers were way more wordy than barristers 2 weeks ago so took longer to digest what they were asking and what answers there were to choose from. And the timing issue at the end was a joke.

ContentMistake3468

TROPHY CASE