2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

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Jessica Booker

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In previous ACs I found that I'am really bad at doing written exercise and often struggle to finish my write up before time's up. I think it's most likely due to lack of practice (I often panic during the test), but I can't seem to any good resource out there... How do people prepare for their AC written exercise?
Most exercises are designed so a significant number of people will not complete it in the time allocated. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if you don’t complete it.
 
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gg332dd

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Most exercises are designed so a significant number of people will not complete it in the time allocated. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if you don’t complete it.

Can you elaborate on this please? What do they assess exactly with written exercises, and why is it ok if you don't complete it?

I always struggled with these too as my handwriting is generally very slow
 
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conniekatherine

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Sep 30, 2019
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Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! Don't worry about it too much though, you'll deffo have other opportunities. What was it about the interview that tripped you up? Were there any particularly hard questions?
Honestly I thought it went quite well! Probably just didn’t stress why Jones Day over other firms enough / why the non-rotational TC
 

law230

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Jan 20, 2021
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Anyone who applied for Shearman Spring Scheme still waiting? I understand that Paul has made it clear the large amount of application reviews and interviews that the Grad Rec are conducting but the Spring Scheme is very soon! Seems likely it will be a PFO :(
Same still waiting. No overly hopeful. Hopefully we'll here back today bc I cant stand another week of this.
 

cryingoverTCs

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    I'm trying to prep a commercial awareness story for an interview and I have already prepared a Fintech one and a COVID related one and now I wanted to prep one to do with ESG but I can't find too many specific news stories recently - do you think it's ok to just talk in general about the rising importance of ESG factors and drop in some examples? And then connect it to how law firms can be involved?
     

    Dheepa

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  • Jan 20, 2019
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    In previous ACs I found that I'am really bad at doing written exercise and often struggle to finish my write up before time's up. I think it's most likely due to lack of practice (I often panic during the test), but I can't seem to any good resource out there... How do people prepare for their AC written exercise?

    Agree with everything that's been said about practicing under timed conditions.

    I think you should also ask yourself if perhaps the issue is with how much you are trying to cover in your response. It's more important to be thorough with the analysis of the points you do cover rather than trying to cover too much. Perhaps something you can focus on is ensuring you are discussing your main more substantial points first so that even if you do run out of time the analysis firms look for with written exercises is still present. Not saying it's always going to be acceptable to not finish your points but it's happened to me on more than one occasion and although in my feedback calls I was told I did get marked down for that, I was still successful because of the depth of my analysis.
     
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