By Alfred Muyaaka

LDC is hard, but hard is what makes it fun. The Bar Course is likely to take everything from you, but I guarantee you, it will quadruple whatever it will take from you. There is no hard and fast rule for passing LDC but try out any of these.

1. You can agree with me, most of us if not all spend almost 12 hours of our time on WhatsApp per day, so open INDIVIDUAL WhatsApp groups for each subject taught at LDC.

2. Open one for Civil Litigation, one for Corporate and Commercial etc, do this by Joining one person in your WhatsApp group and thereafter removing him or her, you will then remain one person in your WhatsApp group.

3. Then keep sharing all the materials you receive in its respective group, like all the materials you receive for Civil ligation, share them to your civil litigation group, do the same for Corporate and Commercial and all the other subjects.

4. By doing this, you will always be sure to easily locate your reading materials as and when you need them. Then ensure that you read all the materials you send in your group.

5. On your laptop, Create folders for each subject, one folder for Civil litigation, one for Corporate and commercial etc. Then keep all the reading materials related to each subject in its respective folder. This will help you easily locate all your reading materials with ease.

6. At the end of the week, go to your folder and look at all the materials you shared there and make sure you read all of them , or atleast ¾ of them

7. Ensure that you read the law, read those ACTS, there is no other option. For each week, ensure that by the end of the week, you have read the MAJOR ACT covering that week, like if you are in the partnership wk, ensure that by Friday, you have read the entire Partnership Act.

7. Then on top of that, read the locus classicus case on the topics/ learning outcomes you are covering in that week. 8. MAKE NOTES, do not copy but make notes. Get the learning outcomes of the week and do your personal research on all of them.

9. Do not think that just because the exams are open book, you will refer to the Act in the exam room, I guarantee you, you may not even have time to look at the Act in the exam room, instead, your well researched made notes will save you.

10.When it comes to documents, make sure that you have the best drafted documents in your book. reach out to one or two practicing lawyers to share with you “precedents” of well drafted document you can use as guide to draft correct documents in your book.

11. Then as you advance with the course, learn how to draft some commonly used documents like a Plaint, notice of motion, Chamber summons and agreements off head without necessarily referring to your book. This will help you save time in the exam.

12. While reading the facts of the exam, test or workshop, read them like a lawyer, not like a person reading a newspaper. Lawyers are very mean with their words, so read the facts as you try to figure out the law you are being led to.

13. Beyond attending discussions, ensure that you also teach/discuss something in the discussions, we can all agree that you cannot forget what you discussed or taught.

14. Finally, PRAY, pray too hard, pray, please pray, pray like you haven’t read and then read like you haven’t prayed. You are free to think that somethings are impossible, but when you KNEEL DOWN TO PRAY, PRAY FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE, PLEASE PRAY.

The writer is an Advocate.