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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

iklawapps

Star Member
Premium Member
Mar 1, 2025
31
25
Hi @iklawapps while I do not think there is much you can do in terms of actual adjustments you can ask from the firm, I would not be too worried. In my view, generally 3-4 days dedicated entirely to AC preparation is more than enough to be able to do well in it - in fact, this is exactly the time I ended up taking to prepare for my first final VS interview, and I ended up converting it. Of course, you will hear about people taking one or two weeks to prepare, and you may think they will have a substantial advantage over you. Nonetheless, you should keep in mind that:
  1. Many of the people that claim that they prepare for an AC for that extended of a period will not be the spending 10+ hours of focused work on it every day. Instead, they will often invest only a couple of hours everyday and will be using the rest of the available time on other things. As such, when calculating the total amount of time invested in preparation, the numbers may not end up looking very different from yours. If this is so, arguably, it is actually better to prepare more intensely in a shorter period, as all that you learn will be a lot fresher in your mind.
  2. Even in the rare cases where candidates will take 7+ days to focus entirely on AC prep, there are diminishing returns in investing more and more time in preparation. In my opinion, after some point, just doing the same things again and again will not contribute much in terms of making you improve your skills and increasing your chances of success, but will just increase your anxiety and the risk of burnout before you even get to the AC.
Hi Andrei, I'm sorry for the delay, but thank you so much for that! I really appreciate the reassurance a lot! We'll see how it goes, but your message definitely helped with the nerves so much, so I really appreciate it < 3
 

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