...of an LLM student in the UK?

Hi all those who currently study or did study for an LLM in the UK,
What course does your normal week take, besides (I assume) lots of homework? Are there any academic events to attend beside the (4x2 hour?) weekly classes? Incidentally, is class attendance mandatory at your university?

Thank you in advance for your answers,

lawstudent2010

Homework for an LLM?

...of an LLM student in the UK?

Hi all those who currently study or did study for an LLM in the UK,
What course does your normal week take, besides (I assume) lots of homework? Are there any academic events to attend beside the (4x2 hour?) weekly classes? Incidentally, is class attendance mandatory at your university?

Thank you in advance for your answers,

lawstudent2010

I totally agree with P_Martini. There were quite long reading lists and LLM students were supposed to read at least most of the articles and text book excerpts presented on these lists. In addition, there was also usually a textbook to read through to get the necessary background. For example for European Law and Remedies there was Craig&DeBurca, EU Law, to read in the first term. Considering also the weekly attendance in class, I'd say the average workload per week was around 40-50 hours (depending on ur ambition of course). In some courses, eg Private International Law, we also had homework to do, which could consist of presentations or preparing case scenarios.

I did my LLM at Nottingham Law School (NLS) - Nottingham Trent University (NTU).

...of an LLM student in the UK?

Hi all those who currently study or did study for an LLM in the UK,
What course does your normal week take, besides (I assume) lots of homework? Are there any academic events to attend beside the (4x2 hour?) weekly classes? Incidentally, is class attendance mandatory at your university?

Thank you in advance for your answers,

lawstudent2010

Much of the response depends on where you will be taking the LL.M. In my experience, yes, there was a lot of work. The expectation is that you read up and join the intellectual debate, and so, while at LSE there was a ton of work (in fact, so much that it was unlikely, if not impossible, that you would complete each week's work), there was also more intellectual freedom within your chosen specialisation than I had experienced to that point in my education. You will likely find yourself drowning in information until you figure out how to prioritize it, based not only on what is critically important for you to know in order to succeed on the exams, but also based on what interests you and what you feel you are "good at". That process can be a little disorientating, and it takes some time to acclimatise to, but, ultimately, it was the aspect I appreciated most because it meant that I did, in fact, have quite a bit of freedom to explore the material - not necessarily at my own speed, but, to a degree, at least in my own way.

Yes, you are expected to attend the lectures. There was no attendance requirement in any of my courses, but, quite honestly, I wanted to go. Theoretically, you know, you're supposed to be interested in this stuff!

There were also many academic events and public and private lectures, and you could not attend all of them if you tried. Of course, there was also the little matter of having a great year in a new country and getting as much out of the cultural experience as possible. That, especially, you should make sure you do.

I hope that gives you some sense of one program.

I think that it cannot be taken for granted that there are 4 weekly classes everywhere.
AFAIK that is true for UCL and KCL (where there might be some extra small classes in some courses with very many attendants), but classes at QMUL and many other places you have 3 courses; in Bristol classes are only fortnightly; in Exeter you have 5x3h per term per course and in Glasgow you have 15x2h per course over 2x11 weeks, just to give a few examples.

Good Gosh:
I don't want to bail out on giving you an answer, but it is really difficult to put even a ballpark number on it.

In my experience, the aggregate reading list made up by your four courses was not realistically feasible. You could read 24 hours/day and still not get through all the required and suggested reading. If I had to put a number on it, I would say that to do well, you're easily going to have to do 60-hour weeks, which basically means that you're going to be working as much as you can tolerate. Everyone has a different speed and a different limit, and, yes, life will intrude on the otherwise peaceful process of self-improvement through study, and that's a good thing. You have to take advantage of London (or wherever it is that you're studying) if you want to get the full benefit. But, again, in my experience, that kind of thing got worked in on weekends mostly and primarily as a result of not being able to put up with myself if I didn't go do something.

Hopefully you will be able to get other opinions from some of our compatriots here, but, given the amount of material offered to you, if you want to do well, the bottom line is that there is always something you can do - whether it's reading another article, starting on your dissertation research, or starting on your summaries for exams. For me, at least, it was not as if there was any point at which I had done everything I thought I should have completed or felt that my work for the day was completed satisfactorily. That's not to say that I never reached a point where I felt I had put in a good day's work; but it is to say that even my best effort felt wholly inadequate given the amount of material.

I'm sorry to give you somewhat of a bullshit answer, but it's really the best I can do to describe it accurately.

Thank you, guys, for taking the time and volunteering some insights from your study life. It is much appraciated.

So, basically, as I understand it, I might expect cutting heavily on my social life for 1 year...

Incidentally, what kind of assessments did your courses/modules have; Was it essays, exams or a combination of both?

So, basically, as I understand it, I might expect cutting heavily on my social life for 1 year...