Qlts School
About QLTS Prep By BARBRI QLTS Prep by BARBRI courses, MCT and OSCE, employ an integrated “Active Adaptive Legal Learning” system to expedite the learning process, increase retention and heighten comprehension. Learn More About The Courses. OSCEsmart is a QLTS training provider specializing in preparation only for Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The course is developed by successful QLTS qualified solicitors and offers a unique methodology of preparation, covering: Concise and focused materials, to save your time on making notes and focus you on the key subjects.
1) Unlocking Criminal Law
2) Unlocking Land Law
3) Unlocking Torts
4) Unlocking Trusts
5) Unlocking Human Rights6) Core text series on Contracts
7) Core text series on Constitutional and Administrative Law
8) Core text series on Company Law
9) St James Place Tax Guide
10) Conversion Course Companion for Law
11) Key Facts and Key Cases Series on Law
12) Law in a Nutshell series
13) Business Law by Oxford University Press
14) Foundation for Legal Practice Course by Oxford University Press
15) Accounts for Solicitors by College of Law Publishing
16) English Legal System by Ward and Akhtar
The above texts deal with the core aspects of law, accounting and professional ethics relevant for 1st stage (Click here or here to see the outcomes for this stage; Part A is relevant here).
I have also bought the following books in addition:
1) Civil Litigation published by Oxford University Press
2) Criminal Litigation published by Oxford University Press
Greatschools
3) Property Law and Practice published by College of Law Publishing4) Lawyers' Skills published by Oxford University Press
5) Advocacy published by Oxford University Press
6) Conference Skills published by Oxford University Press
7) Drafting published by Oxford University Press
8) Opinion Writing published by Oxford University Press
9) Case Presentation published by Oxford University Press
Uk Qlts
10) Legal Practice Course Companion by Motogue and Weston
These books are relevant for 2nd and 3rd Stage (Click here to see the outcomes for these stages; Part C, D and F are relevant). But, they deal with the procedural / practical aspects of law and therefore cannot be read in isolation. They should be read along the books listed for 1st stage which deal with the substantive law :(
You dont have to be baffled by the number of books involved. You should know what to read and how much read in each book (Easier said than done!!). Some books may require in-depth study (eg Unlocking Land Law) and some only a cursory glance (eg Conference Skills). A thorough understanding of the day-1 outcomes prescribed by the SRA will guide you through this mysterious journey.
I am not recommending any book as there are many which are equally good or even better than the ones I have bought. I picked these books and will rely on them, for: (a) most of them are written for students, (b) many of them are prescribed texts for law degree / diploma, etc, (c) I got them cheap on the internet (all are used ones and I got many for a penny! Check out amazon.co.uk and you may also find few good bargains). You can buy any book written for students as they all come in reasonable size which is important for focused preparation.
I will keep posting summaries, important facts, cases, my analysis etc as I keep reading these books for your benefit. If I bump into any useful reading materials on the net, I will post them here. So keep checking for my posts.
I ALSO ENCOURAGE VISITORS TO USE ‘COMMENTS’ SECTION TO POST ADDITIONAL READING MATERIALS, MCQs etc, SO THAT THEY CAN BENEFIT ALL.
Before you leave this page, click here for the sample questions relevant for QLTS exams.
A lot of people asked me why I wanted to be qualified in England and Wales when I was already qualified in New York and Philippines. Sometimes I’d try to be witty and quote a famous mountaineer – “Because it’s there.” Halfway through the QLTS (when it was too late to back out), I read that the mountaineer who said that had died while climbing Mount Everest. The good news is that I passed the QLTS in one piece. Many people helped me along the way, and I thought I’d pay it forward by passing their advice along and adding some bits I learned.
1. Prep school? To pay or not to pay extra
I signed up with QLTS School (Basic Course) to prepare for the MCT. They ship you books to read and you can take mock multiple choice exams online. They also release bulletins on recent changes in the laws which may have taken effect after their books were printed. I found the experience somewhat like Barbri review for the NY bar – study all the books they give you and do as many of their mock exams, and you should be in pretty good shape. Was it worth the extra expense? For me, it was. It meant that I didn’t have to spend time researching which books to study, or cross-checking if a case mentioned in a book was still good law, which I think is especially important because the MCT tests you on the law as of the date of your assessment.
I also signed up with QLTS School (OSCE Basic) to prepare for the OSCE in November 2017. They will assign you a tutor who will work with you on the mock tests. However, they don’t provide you one complete package unlike for MCT, and you need to spend a fair amount of time compiling all the materials. You have to buy books from OUP, check the OUP website for supplementary materials and case studies, log on to your QLTS School account for updates and mock tests, and check your tutor’s emails for more mock tests. I did find the QLTS School’s legal skills video workshop extremely helpful and worth the extra cost. If you’ve been working as a lawyer for a few years, you probably don’t have to read the “Lawyers’ Skills” book from OUP if you watch the videos. I did not sign up for additional prep courses, nor did I look at past CILEX papers – I decided to focus on the materials from OUP and QLTS School.
2. Struggling with taxation /solicitors’ accounts / financial regulation
If you can’t seem to understand a subject even after reading the textbook three times, read another textbook to give you a fresh perspective. Aside from reading the QLTS School’s Taxation book for MCT, I also read the tax discussion in the book “Foundations for the LPC”, as well as the UK government’s website on taxes (https://www.gov.uk/browse/tax). Same as with some of the civil litigation discussion in the OUP book – I referred to discussions on the same topics in Thomson Reuters’ Practical Law.
3. How much time do you need?
Start as early as possible, but not so early that the principles (such as computing taxes!) that you had started studying would have changed by the time you take the test. I studied one month part-time (every weekend) and three weeks full-time for the MCT, and two months part-time and two weeks full-time for the OSCE. It is extremely helpful to have a few days before the exams doing nothing but taking mock tests and reading revision notes. If possible, use your vacation days and carry over un-used vacation days from the previous year.
4. How soon after the MCT should you take OSCE?
I took the MCT in February 2017 and learned that I passed before the end of the month. I had intended to take the June 2017 OSCE and was feeling pretty confident when I had finished reading the Probate and Property books by the end of March 2017. On a vacation to New Zealand in April 2017, I packed my Business Law and Civil Litigation OUP books so I could squeeze in some study time and … you can guess how many times I actually opened those books. On hindsight, I recommend not taking the OSCE immediately after the MCT because you’ll have just three months to study. Three months is not a lot of time if you’re working full-time – what if things suddenly get busy at work and you have to work on weekends? Someone advised to start studying for the OSCE immediately after taking the MCT even before getting the MCT results so you can take the OSCE as early as possible. Fair point- you want to make sure that the things you reviewed for the MCT are still fresh in your mind for the OSCE. Personally though, I think it’s a bit sad to start studying for the OSCE, only to find out later on that you actually have to study the MCT again.
5. E&W vs. Philippine vs. New York bar – which is hardest?
I’d say the QLTS is harder than the Philippine and NY bars because had to study for the QLTS part-time. Looking back, I think every Philippine law student has an advantage with the Philippine bar because we studied most of the subjects anyway in law school. With QLTS, there’s a whole lot of things to be studied for the first time by a foreign lawyer, especially those not from Europe (solicitors’ accounts, EU law, human rights law, etc.).
I also found OSCE more difficult compared to the essay parts of the NY bar. The OSCE will test you on your ability to identify, on the spot, any missing facts or documents that you should ask from a non-lawyer client (in addition to identifying the legal issues). In an essay question on the NY bar, you’ll be more or less supplied with the relevant facts so you can identify and discuss the legal issues. There’s also more memorization required in the OSCE – you must have mental checklists of questions for every type of probate or property interview, or you might forget to ask for the essential facts and documents (such as “Did the deceased have a will?”). You should also memorize the elements of each civil or criminal claim for the advocacy assessments.
6. Overseas Candidates – Where to live in London?
Try to stay in a comfortable place. It is bad enough to be fighting jet lag, having anxiety attacks and studying as many things as possible at the last minute – imagine if you had to experience all these in a cramped and noisy room for 11 days. I stayed in a nice serviced apartment in Pimlico along the Victoria Line. The Victoria line passes both Euston station (near the OSCE Part I venue) and Highbury & Islington station (near the OSCE Part II venue) so I did not have to change trains when traveling to the exam venues.
7. Prepare your war chest.
Taking the QLTS is not cheap. Exam fees, prep courses, books, and Lexis Nexis/Westlaw access, plus air tickets and lodging in London, can add up. Set aside money for expected expenses, plus a 20% buffer.
8. #goals
Do not just aim to score above the pass mark. Aim to get as high a score as possible because pass marks and pass rates vary greatly. For example, for the November 2017 OSCE, the pass rate for the 14-16 November Part 1 cohort was 63% whereas the pass rate for the 24-26 November Part 1 cohort was just 51%. It’s true that you won’t get any prizes if you get a perfect score, but after all the effort, time and expense, isn’t it much better to score 20 points above the pass mark and feel bad about studying too much, than score 0.5 point below the pass mark and have to take the whole test again?
Finally, if you haven’t, join QLTS Study Group on LinkedIn. It is chock-full of great advice, especially if you are studying on your own. https://lawyerinconversion.wordpress.com/ is pretty useful too.
Good luck!
Qlts School Review
*All info above was based on my experience in the February 2017 MCT and November 2017 OSCE, the July 2012 NY bar and the 2006 Philippine bar. Test formats, etc. may have changed since then.