NCA Grad Tips: Excelling in the Foundations of Canadian Law Exam
Greetings to all current and prospective NCA students! I hope you are taking some time out of your study schedule to rest and enjoy the holiday season.
In this blog, I will share my experience and offer valuable tips for acing the Foundations of Canadian Law exam, which is a core exam for all NCA candidates. Regardless of any previous studies, completing this NCA is necessary for obtaining your certificate. Please note that I wrote my Foundations exam in October 2018, and while there have been recent syllabus changes, the course's substance remains largely the same.
Initial Insights
Although this course is called "foundations," NCA Tutor™️ recommends completing this exam either alongside or after the Constitutional and Administrative NCA exams. Personally, I took this exam as my first NCA sitting to gain a feel for how NCA exams worked. However, I had a firm grasp of Canadian Constitutional Law from my LL.B studies, and Foundations was the only exam I completed in that sitting.
Difficulty and Key Focuses
The Foundations course covers an expansive range of topics and is primarily comprised of legal theory. Predicting question topics can be incredibly challenging since the exam is primarily (if not exclusively) essay questions. Therefore, it is essential to have a broad understanding of everything in the course, which can make it feel overwhelming. Completing this exam as a stand-alone, like I did, can be beneficial. However, given the overlap between the Constitution and Administrative law exams, tackling all three at once can also be advantageous.
If you choose the latter approach, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to study. I spent about 5 weeks studying part-time for Foundations alone, as the extensive reading required in this course takes up a lot of time.
Things to Look Out For
The syllabus for this course is dense, and since everything is fair game for exam questions, skipping anything is not recommended. However, focus on understanding concepts rather than getting lost in details. Make sure you grasp the main arguments and conclusions of each assigned article; often, reading the abstract, introduction, and conclusion paragraphs will suffice. Concentrate on how you can connect all the readings or compare them in an essay question.
It is advisable to read the articles assigned on Hart and Dworkin in detail, as the foundational legal theory covered here is essential to understand thoroughly. Regardless of the topic, avoid spending time on the additional suggested readings listed in the syllabus. The primary articles assigned provide more than enough material to understand.
One of the densest readings in the course is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report Summary. Despite its "Summary" title, it is quite lengthy, and it is easy to get lost in it. Focus on understanding the purpose of the commission and the broad strokes of its recommendations. This material is certainly fair game for an essay question, although on my exam, it was a small, low-value short-answer question.
Resources
I would personally use the NCA Tutor™️ notes; they have been updated to match the June 2019 syllabus, contain everything you need, and are easy to understand. The NCA Foundations Sample Exam is also a good resource and is fairly reflective of what to expect on exam day as far as question types go; but not necessarily topic-wise.
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