Great article, but scaring me and as well am sure i should be as i start this devilish course inseptember can't wait for the sleepless nights (God help Us all. I hope after all this hell we are well compensated)

Berlinda, London,

Atlast somebody who understands what it is like to do the GDL and (well i did the LPC) and what a nightmare of a time! A great summary of what life is like at law school and thankgod its all in the past would never dream of sleepless nights and endless red bull to get me through again a health hazard for sure! A great article

Rumi Gosal, Middlesex, UK

Having completed the BVC last year i couldn't agree more with you! What a hellish time. I was very grateful to get into work, it just seems so much easier and less stressful! You summed up the experience well. Anyway, better get on OLPAS and see whats about.

Adam, Cardiff,

I enjoyed the article

Paul Smith, nuneaton,

"... at least I’m never going to have to go through all that again."

Until your JAC selection tests!

pakman, Belfast,

I have also just finished the GDL. As a single mother of 2 children under the age of 6, I totally disagree with Student from London. You did the course part-time, which means only doing half the amount of exams each year. Sitting 7 consecutive exams (with no revision time in between them because the afternoons are spent doing spelling, teatime, bathtime and bedtime with 2 small kids), is enough to drive anyone to breaking point.
Naturally people doing the GDL are passionate about the law and want to do their best - that's why we all feel so stressed about the exams. Doing 3 exams one year and 4 exams the next is a totally different ballgame to having the whole lot in one week, even if you have no other responsibilities at all.
I found having to care for the kids helped me to keep some perspective about the whole thing, but there is no doubt that it is an extraordinarily stressful experience - certainly the hardest thing I've ever done academically, including finals at Cambridge.

Susie, Southampton, Hampshire

Having studied a language I loved for my first degree, I can testify that your enjoyment of the subject has absolutely nothing to do with the stress caused by exams! In fact, the more you ‘truly love’ a subject, the more depressing it is to have it reduced to nothing more than reams of highlighted, hand-written notes and formulaic, unimaginative marking schemes. Exams, by their very standardised nature, ask candidates to jump through hoops – there is no time for brilliant, passionate answers when your hand aches, your bladder’s bursting and your fountain pen just ran out of ink! I finished my law exams last week – thank you, Alex, for some light relief – HUMOUR is what we all need at these most TRAUMATIC of times!

Jo, Cambridge,

I have done GDL and now doing my LPC. Both part time whilst having a full time job. In addition, I had to pay for my studies which in turn forced me to do ridiculous amounts of overtime. I also have a partner and two stepchildren as well as other social responsibilities. Being a foreigner and thus having no direct support from my family I still feel this account of exam time is shameful exaggeration. Law is a subject to be chosen only if you truly love it, otherwise you are condemning yourself to a misery for the rest of your professional life. If it was so hard to study the subject maybe you should ask yourself if this is right for you.

Student, London,

Just finished my Law 101 exam and am relieved to find that I'm not alone in the "lunatic rhymes" department! However, I hope that, deranged sentences, such as:

"On unreasonable Wednesday, Lord Diplock, was in the grounds of GCHQ, when he spied a man acting illegally, irrationally and without procedural propriety. Is this a human rights violation, he cried - it is '84, or the reverse!

have worked out for me. PS I remebered to change Wednesday to Wednesbury for my answer...I think!

Saffron, Lancaster,