Written by Orlando Ye
Illustration by Anonymous
The LSE Law School is not for the uninitiated. Amid the pressure to establish a career, build social networks and achieve good grades, students find themselves with their work cut out for them. This is made even harder by the academic rigour of the law school, where achieving a 73 is tantamount to climbing Mount Everest.
On module selection
Students are very cautious about module selection. The students I spoke with both agreed that course difficulty strongly influenced what students in the LLB programme in general selected come September time. One said, “I know of people who didn’t choose a module despite being interested in it, just because it has a low median mark,” whilst another observed that “juniors ask me whether to take (or avoid) certain courses due to the previous year’s average.” On the other hand, interest does play a factor as one student said they “err on the side of choosing courses that genuinely interest me rather than ‘easier’ courses.” The debate has additional nuance, as one student said: “there is a stronger sentiment of avoiding courses with anomalously low averages … than choosing courses with very high averages that one is not interested in.” This suggests risk-minimisation and loss-aversion behaviour rather than purely an attempt to maximise the upside. Worries on course selection day are also widespread. Given the bias towards choosing a lower-risk portfolio of subjects, certain courses become incredibly popular. However, because most courses are capped, “it really is a race to select the most popular courses on the day.” The queue is randomised; therefore, it is very common for people not to get the courses they want. Another student adds that the “whole process is just too stressful and you don’t know what you would get”; however, they finish by saying that “most students did not complete the course selection survey which would’ve helped with this.”
Deferrals and exam schedules
Exams for law modules are backloaded towards the spring, since many modules are full units whilst those that are half-units often involve teaching in the Autumn and exams in the Spring. Placing 100% of the grade for a full unit often makes April and May “pure hell.” This has led one student to “choose courses in a way that avoids an excessive number of Spring exams.”What interested me most was how many deferrals I heard about during exam season. Several students I spoke to deferred exams, citing “mental health issues that stemmed almost entirely from exam season,” and the high level of pressure compressed into a few days. One student found it surprising to see how those seen as “academic high achievers… also found it difficult to handle and deferred.” If the academic stress within the law school and particularly around exams has proven to be too much for some of the best law students in the world, who are these exams for? Are we separating the wheat from the chaff, or tormenting them indiscriminately?
The move to closed book/semi-open book exams
Difficulties were increased by the announcement in late 2025 that the exams would now be closed book, partially open book or completely open book, and this would be at the discretion of the course convener. Practically, this has led to more exams being closed-book. For one of my interviewees, all the exams they had that were previously open book changed to closed book or a reference sheet ‘partially open book’ format. They said the change has made the entire exam process much harder by requiring students to now analyse AND memorise the content.” Another student corroborates this as “many students find themselves unsuited to [closed book exams],” leading many to defer.Additionally, students have issues with the way exams at LSE are conducted. A timed exam in an exam hall doesn’t “promote emphasis on being able to write in a polished manner,” compared to other universities like Durham, where students are given 24 hours but are expected to produce more polished work. Closed-book timed exams also “make the playing field uneven with getting a good grade compared to other universities that have take-home exams or coursework.” However, the broader student consensus is unclear. One student went on to state that although the way the changes were implemented was disheartening “especially given the little notice we were given about it,” it did not “meaningfully affect my exam experience.” Another student added that most law students plan to take the Solicitor’s Qualifying Exam in the future, which is “fully closed book so I understand why LSE would want to return most exams to a closed book format.”
The mental health aspect
The biggest concern from all interviewees was the direct effect on mental health that the stresses of the law school places on students. Most students understand that a “legal career in itself is extremely demanding, especially in the City,” and also that the law school must take measures to maintain “academic rigour.” But does exam pressure negatively affect students’ wellbeing?LSE can be perceived as cutthroat. One student attests to how “there’s a lot of pressure when people in your year are constantly talking about vacation schemes… but I think the stress I personally face is based on my own personal ambitions.” Because the law cohort were all top achievers in their own schools, it is only natural for some comparison to arise. Interviewees admit to comparing themselves to their peers, with one saying that “many law students don’t even hang out with other law students to avoid this kind of comparison.”Exams are a major driver of student stress. An interviewee said: “I also found that the atmosphere of stress and doom was incredibly infectious during exam period.” She describes how most students, even those doing well, have such high expectations of themselves that they believe that they are not good enough. They also described how this manifested in external expressions of anxiety and stress to a clinical level. One student said “the stress and pressure is quite insane… I had never properly experienced anxiety until I got to LSE.” Another student recounts at least 3 friends having “mental episodes” during the ‘25/’26 exam season. Even for otherwise healthy individuals, a combination of academic stress and the anxious environment one is exposed to on a daily basis can have a significant impact on mental health, as one interviewee attested to.
What changes do students want to see?
Bring back more open-book exams for subjects like property or company law.
Popular courses should have their caps increased to meet demand.
Students with low 2:1s are often discouraged by academic mentors from applying to vacation schemes, even though most schemes only require a 2:1 and success relies far more on passing tests and interviews than on grades.
