BPP LPC help. 3Days?

[Jane Smith]

Thanks. That is the reason I post them. It baffles me why BPP cannot just email people with those "Announcements" which seem to be about six clicks into the depths of the Hub when they are about such important things as exam dates.

I only came on here first ages ago when I was trying to find out likely LPC term dates to fit a possible family event around the dates, but seem to check in quite regularly now (as the "helicopter mother from hell" or helpful lawyer parent who is paying the LPC fees for the twins - however people want to view me ...laughing as I type). I became slightly interested in the new SQE too first because a couple of year ago it was not that clear whtn SQE becomes compulsory and because three of my siblings' children are considering law who are at or almost at university stage so they certainly will come under SQE not the LPC.

I hope everyone is getting on okay. Good luck for the forthcoming mock exams.

I saw that students were warned they would not be in the same group for the "elective term". I think the electives' teaching starts on something like 28 March and before that, but after the January exams, there are skills type sessions until then. So I am not sure if the term starting in January is with your current Group (probably is) so skills sessions will be with your current group and then you move to a group with your elective choice cohort only once the electives' teaching starts OR if from January you move into electives groups (which seems much less likely as you won't be studying for electives by then). There are about 2 months from end of January exams to electives' teaching starting. I think that might be a relatively easy 2 months, but I might be completely wrong. I am certainly no expert and I did the course before LPC existed - the Solicitors' Finals where all subjects were compulsory and every exam was in late July (and none other than mocks earlier than that) so it was a very long year.

So my guess is you keep your current group (my twins are on 2 days a week) until teaching of electives starts on 28 March.
That does mean being told groups change in the "electives term" is a bit confusing of BPP as electives start in term 2 just before the Easter break so in that sense there are two elective terms or 1.5. If I were BPP I would keep current groups right through to 28 March.

I think my twins have chosen their subjects which I would roughly call "commercial law" choices although they have not yet finally decided. I hope they can discuss it this weekend as they probably need to know what the other is doing certainly if they want to continue to travel in (one hour each way) together.
Those who are sponsored don't choose their electives and will be told as was my older daughter in her day.

 

[Jane Smith]

There are two new messages (24 Oct) on the Hub's programme information. In my view they just confirm the earlier too - cjhoice of electives and also mock exam times/dates (although one says the mocks are week of 1 Nov (but then below gives the 22 Oct to 3 Nov dates we already had) so I am pretty sure you can sit them now if you want to do so.

 

[AOD]

My group (and not only) has issues seeing the announcements so thank you @Jane Smith for posting, it's helpful.

 

[Jane Smith]

No problem. I hope everyone's mocks are going okay. [No spoilers...... here].

 

[Jane Smith]

By the way if anyone did the PGDL last year with BPP (who may now be on the LPC course) it seems that to obtain your paper certificate for the PDGL you need to raise a query on the hub and they reply sending you a link to the "survey" where you can give your full name to appear on the certificate and home address. It is very useful to have paper certificates and sometimes employers like to see the original. This is not the same as the transcript of your marks. It then takes I believe many weeks after that to receive it but at least you will have put it in train to obtain one.

And a reminder to everyone that this weekend if not already done you should choose your elective choices (even if the firm chooses them for you in most cases you still need to notify BPP),

 

[Jane Smith]

Just another announcement for BPP LPC people on the announcements board in case people have not spotted it:
"As a result of student feedback following the Civil Litigation mock assessment in Inspera, we have taken the decision that the drafting question in the summative (final) Civil Litigation assessment will be either a particulars of claim or a witness statement only.
You will now not be required to draft a defence, although a defence could still be examined in a different way, such as in a multiple-choice question.
Please note also that it is possible to extend the size of the PDF panel which appears on the left-hand side of your screen. To do this, you need to grab the three dots at the bottom of the panel and the drag downwards. Please see the screenshot attached. (This is also referenced in the Proctored Inspera User Guide at paragraph 2.6.) We hope that this will reduce the amount of scrolling which is required in order to view the documents in the PDF panel while typing an answer in the answer panel."

 

[Jane Smith]

Also this one - my twins are on the list which is just a list of registration numbers (not of groups or your choices).

"Please find attached a list of the SRNs of students from whom we have received elective choices.
For students whose SRNs DO NOT appear on the list, please raise a query via the Student Query Form using the "General LPC/LLM LPS Queries" dropdown option.
In your query you should include your 3 preferred elective choices and details of your firm if relevant (sponsored students only).
If you have not notified us of your choices by 5pm on Friday 26th November, your electives will be selected for you based on availability."

 

[Jane Smith]

For anyone doing the LPC with BPP and we has been checking for the mocks marks since Friday afternoon...... we saw this announcement about a delay which was put on the Hub announcements section recently (not emailed to people). I don't think it was there on Friday afternoon as we have checked the announcement page since then but anyway it is there now.

September 2021 Full-time London​

CPA Mocks - Feedback release delay​

CPA Mocks - Feedback release delay
- Friday, 10 December 2021, 4:05 PM

Dear All
Unfortunately the release of the CPA mock feedback has been delayed. We now aim to release the feedback at 4pm on Monday.
I understand that this will be disappointing for you and I am very sorry for the late notice.
Notwithstanding this delay, I do hope that you manage to have a nice weekend.
Best wishes

Centre Programme Leader,
This looks useful too as there is a mocks and exam procedure lecture which was a link within the message I posted above and it comes with a 4 page pdf on how to :-

September 2021 Full-time London​

Mocks and Exam Procedure Lecture​

Mocks and Exam Procedure Lecture
Friday, 10 December 2021, 12:51 PM


Dear All
Two important bits of information for you today.
Mocks
Your CPA mock feedback will be available on Inspera from 4pm this afternoon.
Please see the guide attached on how to access your feedback.
Exam procedures lecture
On Wednesday 15 December at 3:30 we will be running a live exams procedures lecture using Teams Broadcast. You can access the lecture by clicking on the link below:
https://tinyurl.com/Exams-Procedure
The lecture is designed to answer any questions you might have about the CPA assessments including:
· how they will be conducted;
· where to find information on the Hub about them; and
· what to do if “things go wrong” and you are unable to attend the exam.
Further, .... our Head of Inclusion and Learning Support will provide some tips on managing the stress that the exam period inevitably brings.
If you are not able to attend the lecture live, a recording will subsequently be available by clicking on the same link.
Many thanks

 

[Jane Smith]

Good luck to everyone for the mock results and more importantly the January real exams. I know the property law mock marks are not out yet but hopefully will be soon.
It would be useful to have the timetable for next term soon. I think after the January exams there is a period from end of Jan to something like 25 March of other subjects until the electives then start so perhaps people stay in the same groups they have had this term until end of March but we shall see......

 

[Jane Smith]

We found the dates of the elective exams and the results of the January exams and elective exams (and hopefully not needed - the rough dates of resits of January exams - August).
Next challenge is both our home internet lines (I pay for two separate ones) cut out for about a minute once or twice a day so hopefully if that happens mid January proctored exams you can just log right back in rather than invalidate your whole exam.

We did find this " -The ‘Additional resources’ area, at the bottom of the screen. It is very important that you click to
load these at the start of the assessment, so that if you lose internet at any point during the
assessment you will still be able to access these versions of the PDF documents. Please note that
unlike the PDF panel, any additional resources will appear in their own screen." https://www.bppstudents.com/pageass...es/assessments/inspera/IEP-Guide-16th-Nov.pdf 16 Nov 2021

 

[Kubed]

Hi all, I won't be starting the LPC at BPP until next September but does anyone have any idea whether it will remain open-book post-covid? And what materials are permitted during the exams?

 

[George Maxwell]

Hi all, I won't be starting the LPC at BPP until next September but does anyone have any idea whether it will remain open-book post-covid? And what materials are permitted during the exams?

Hi @Kubed,

Apologies if you know what I am about to say already if you have/are currently completing the PGDL! I am currently doing the PGDL currently (at BPP) and I have not been told anything about this officially.

However, based on what my tutors at BPP Waterloo said, it sounds unlikely that exams will return to being closed-book at BPP in the near-term. I think this is partly because scheduling online exams is a lot easier than in-person exams (at least, this is what my tutors said!). In my opinion, open-book exams are more realistic anyway as you have access to resources in real time in practice(!).

With regards to the sorts of resources available, on the PGDL you can use any resource you like. It is unrestricted as it is open-book.

Hope that helps!

 

[Nicktim]

Hi all, I won't be starting the LPC at BPP until next September but does anyone have any idea whether it will remain open-book post-covid? And what materials are permitted during the exams?

Hi, BPP have confirmed to current LPC students that they now have SRA approval for the LPC exams to remain online indefinitely (it was originally just a temporary COVID measure) so they will continue to be online in the future. However, unlike the PGDL exams, the LPC online exams are proctored and your computer screen is locked during the exam so you are only able to have hardcopy notes and can't use other devices or digital notes. All that means is you'll have to print all of your notes before the exam for use during the exam and there is no restriction on what hardcopy documents you're allowed access to during the exam.

 

[Kubed]

Hi @Kubed,

Apologies if you know what I am about to say already if you have/are currently completing the PGDL! I am currently doing the PGDL currently (at BPP) and I have not been told anything about this officially.

However, based on what my tutors at BPP Waterloo said, it sounds unlikely that exams will return to being closed-book at BPP in the near-term. I think this is partly because scheduling online exams is a lot easier than in-person exams (at least, this is what my tutors said!). In my opinion, open-book exams are more realistic anyway as you have access to resources in real time in practice(!).

With regards to the sorts of resources available, on the PGDL you can use any resource you like. It is unrestricted as it is open-book.

Hope that helps!

Hi, BPP have confirmed to current LPC students that they now have SRA approval for the LPC exams to remain online indefinitely (it was originally just a temporary COVID measure) so they will continue to be online in the future. However, unlike the PGDL exams, the LPC online exams are proctored and your computer screen is locked during the exam so you are only able to have hardcopy notes and can't use other devices or digital notes. All that means is you'll have to print all of your notes before the exam for use during the exam and there is no restriction on what hardcopy documents you're allowed access to during the exam.

Thank you both, that's helpful! @George Maxwell I completed the GDL in 2020 so this information is new for me - thanks. Also completely agree that open-book exams are much more realistic and assess application rather than memory so I'm glad to hear that they it looks like they may be staying that way.

 

[Jane Smith]

Yes, I agree with Nicktim and others above. On the LPC at the moment you do have a choice if you prefer to do the exams in an exam hall (eg you may not have good internet access at home or no quiet place in which to do an exam or might prefer handwriting your exams). BPP have just emailed current LPC students again who opted for in person exam hall exams to give them another chance to switch to proctored digital exams (with hard copy open book materials) if they want due to rise of covid rates in the UK. Those who did the GDL last academic year online need to be aware if they are now on the LPC that the LPC "proctored" exams are different from the PGDL online exams as pointed out above most importantly that you cannot print any materials presented to you on the screen in the exam and you can only refer to hard copy papers in front of you including your own prior notes but NOT look anything up at all during the exam on any electronic device, just the paper materials in front of you. No electronic devices other than your computer in the room, no phones, must have a web cam on etc. I believe you scan the room with your webcam at chest level and then floor level before you start and 5 minutes extra are allowed for that.. If the camera becomes blocked at any time during the exam your assessment is void. I hope that does not mean if your internet briefly cuts out the assessment is void.

Just to continue my boring LPC updates......... The property law mock results have apparently been issued on Inspera (see announcement of yesterday on the Announcements section of the Hub) and secondly there is a new 17 Dec notice from BPP on there about the exam procedures lecture which some will have already watched this week (for the Jan 2022 final exams coming up for this half of the course) and which attaches the slides from that lecture. I am not sure if it dealt with our issue - that the internet at home cuts out a few times a day briefly and might well do during the exam for about 1 minute. I think students can then just log back in immediately and the previous work or most of it will be saved but we would like a bit more certainty on that eg if you have to email the exam people as that happens to explain it. BT have tried to sort the fault out at least 4 or 5 times for us and neighbours without complete success over about 2 years so we just live with it.

Eg BPP inspera guide says best to open pdfs in the exam in the pdf panel on left side of screena and also additional resources area in bottom of screen so that if you lose the internet you do not lose that pdf. Another bit of guidance says if you lose internet try to reconnect and Inspera saves previous answers. I thought I read something else which said email someone but may be I was wrong. For brief cut outs it is probably better people are just allowed to reconnected and carry on. I can see soething in 2.11 of one guide that if you are cut out and when relaunching Inspera to continue you are asked for a code it says enter ab1234 and if that does not work email [email protected] ASAP.

 

[Jane Smith]

It also sounds wise to download the IEP software in advance (not just the day before the exams)
I think you can then test proctored inspera in advance.
The verbal and typed questions with the recent exams video are useful eg someone asked if you could cut and paste parts of the exam question as you could in the mocks in proctored inspera and the answer was yes but "remember that you cannot use mouse commands and will need to use keyboard shortcuts instead".
Put a sticker near you with the code to put in if you get cut off during the exam.
No apple watches in the exam.
I would suggest people try to clear the room they are in of clutter if they can.
Also if you are cut off and have to contact inspera during the exam you can go to your phone to do so which I presume will not have been left in the same room as you are out of exam conditions then but they say explain what you are doing as you do it eg I am using my phone to email inspera because XYZ technical problem has arisen.
Don't however otherwise leave your seat and get up from the desk. So have papers in reach.
They are trying to help (by encouraging those setting the papers not to have too much scrolling requirements) with the big issue of how much time it takes to scroll up and down compared with an in person exam when all the paper is there in front of you. Open the pdfs on left and right side of page.

The above are just my rough notes - and the video says most queries people have on the day are things people would have read in the Inspera user guide for proctored exams had they read it in advance. Also I think there is a change this time so that your login may be you BPP login and you click on the SSO - single sign on button in inspera to start.
Another question was spell check - apparently Inspera has a US spelling spell check.
I believe about 2 days before the exam you are sent something but may be not login details this time round due to the SSO login I mention above.
Resits are in August . Someone asked a question about a training contract starting by or soon after then and the answer was there were some exams being taken earlier (April?) and may be someone could apply to take them then ie earlier than August for resits which is useful to know is possible. The reason the resits are not down for April however is people will be busy with the Electives by then.

 

[George Maxwell]

Yes, I agree with Nicktim and others above. On the LPC at the moment you do have a choice if you prefer to do the exams in an exam hall (eg you may not have good internet access at home or no quiet place in which to do an exam or might prefer handwriting your exams). BPP have just emailed current LPC students again who opted for in person exam hall exams to give them another chance to switch to proctored digital exams (with hard copy open book materials) if they want due to rise of covid rates in the UK. Those who did the GDL last academic year online need to be aware if they are now on the LPC that the LPC "proctored" exams are different from the PGDL online exams as pointed out above most importantly that you cannot print any materials presented to you on the screen in the exam and you can only refer to hard copy papers in front of you including your own prior notes but NOT look anything up at all during the exam on any electronic device, just the paper materials in front of you. No electronic devices other than your computer in the room, no phones, must have a web cam on etc. I believe you scan the room with your webcam at chest level and then floor level before you start and 5 minutes extra are allowed for that.. If the camera becomes blocked at any time during the exam your assessment is void. I hope that does not mean if your internet briefly cuts out the assessment is void.

Just to continue my boring LPC updates......... The property law mock results have apparently been issued on Inspera (see announcement of yesterday on the Announcements section of the Hub) and secondly there is a new 17 Dec notice from BPP on there about the exam procedures lecture which some will have already watched this week (for the Jan 2022 final exams coming up for this half of the course) and which attaches the slides from that lecture. I am not sure if it dealt with our issue - that the internet at home cuts out a few times a day briefly and might well do during the exam for about 1 minute. I think students can then just log back in immediately and the previous work or most of it will be saved but we would like a bit more certainty on that eg if you have to email the exam people as that happens to explain it. BT have tried to sort the fault out at least 4 or 5 times for us and neighbours without complete success over about 2 years so we just live with it.

Eg BPP inspera guide says best to open pdfs in the exam in the pdf panel on left side of screena and also additional resources area in bottom of screen so that if you lose the internet you do not lose that pdf. Another bit of guidance says if you lose internet try to reconnect and Inspera saves previous answers. I thought I read something else which said email someone but may be I was wrong. For brief cut outs it is probably better people are just allowed to reconnected and carry on. I can see soething in 2.11 of one guide that if you are cut out and when relaunching Inspera to continue you are asked for a code it says enter ab1234 and if that does not work email [email protected] ASAP.

It also sounds wise to download the IEP software in advance (not just the day before the exams)
I think you can then test proctored inspera in advance.
The verbal and typed questions with the recent exams video are useful eg someone asked if you could cut and paste parts of the exam question as you could in the mocks in proctored inspera and the answer was yes but "remember that you cannot use mouse commands and will need to use keyboard shortcuts instead".
Put a sticker near you with the code to put in if you get cut off during the exam.
No apple watches in the exam.
I would suggest people try to clear the room they are in of clutter if they can.
Also if you are cut off and have to contact inspera during the exam you can go to your phone to do so which I presume will not have been left in the same room as you are out of exam conditions then but they say explain what you are doing as you do it eg I am using my phone to email inspera because XYZ technical problem has arisen.
Don't however otherwise leave your seat and get up from the desk. So have papers in reach.
They are trying to help (by encouraging those setting the papers not to have too much scrolling requirements) with the big issue of how much time it takes to scroll up and down compared with an in person exam when all the paper is there in front of you. Open the pdfs on left and right side of page.

The above are just my rough notes - and the video says most queries people have on the day are things people would have read in the Inspera user guide for proctored exams had they read it in advance. Also I think there is a change this time so that your login may be you BPP login and you click on the SSO - single sign on button in inspera to start.
Another question was spell check - apparently Inspera has a US spelling spell check.
I believe about 2 days before the exam you are sent something but may be not login details this time round due to the SSO login I mention above.
Resits are in August . Someone asked a question about a training contract starting by or soon after then and the answer was there were some exams being taken earlier (April?) and may be someone could apply to take them then ie earlier than August for resits which is useful to know is possible. The reason the resits are not down for April however is people will be busy with the Electives by then.

Wow!

@Jane Smith this is really helpful. Thank you for sharing this with the forum and for taking the time out of your day to write such a detailed post.

This contains information in it that I was not aware of, so I will benefit too!

Feeling very grateful 😇

 

[Jane Smith]

I will keep posting for current LPC students as long as it is still useful.
Now on the Hub:
1. New document this week - important information for students sitting the drafting assessment in January (the only non-proctored Jan. exam) - this is a new email on the Announcements section giving information about that exam. It also tells you where to find the 15 Dec Briefing Sheet for this exam - a pdf under BLP module tile on "drafting summative assessment" and there is also a word doc there which is the format for the answer booklet for the drafting assessment.

2. A list of student numbers with the 3 electives the student has chosen against them. Eg my twin sons are both on there and their numbers show the correct elective choices for them - they are doing the same choices so hopefully can get into the same group to make travel easier etc. I believe the elective teaching starts around 25 March after the end of Jan to then post exam Skills part of the course.

3. Also on the announcement section on the hub is the latest minutes of student/academic staff meeting to discuss issues. Part of that includes a few points about exams which may be worth reading although it tends to confirm things we already k now - no printing out of anything in the proctored assessments, no additional time to allow for scrolling up and down. It does make me think a bigger screen is a very good idea. Some may want to buy a bigger screen and work from a computer. However I know at one of my sons is used to his lap top and will use that (despite small screen)
As a student mentions in those notes lots of students have chosen online exams because they can type the exam. I would certainly have preferred to type all my law exams in my day too. In real life as a practising lawyer I often print things off if that will be faster than scrolling down and do both so it is pity the exams ban printing off. I would certainly recommend as you read the questions in the exam taking some handwritten notes on paper of points that occur to you as I do in real life when reading long documents for clients - this is probably common sense. As we already know NO soft copies are allowed in the exam, no google searches, no electronic devices no extra screens, no mobiles, no electronic calculators etc allowed in the proctored online exam, You can use any hard copies including any notes you make by hand whilst reading the exam papers, any books, any course materials and folders although I would not make it too many or that will lose people time and you have to sit at the screen so cannot be getting up to go across the room to fetch another folder or book.

Caveat - these are my notes. I am not an expert in the proctored exams, have never sat one and I may even have things wrong above so do read particularly the Inspera proctored user guide. In fact the video/seminar on the exams session held in December recommends printing that Inspera guide ("Inspera Exam Portal (IEP) - Remote Proctored Assessment User Guide" (16 Nov 2021 seems to be the current version we have here) and taking it into the onilne exam along with your student card (you show ID at the start) and make sure you have the code on hand which you type in if you get cut out of the internet. Probably most people will not have an issue with internet lines cutting out but our internet line my twins will use in the exam cut out an hour ago today for about 40 seconds or so which is just the kind of issue they might have in the exam. The guide gives the download links for windows and for Macs and i nstructions (eg for macs disable Siri) They suggest testing the software at least 3 days before the exam so that would be by 7 Jan (I would It says you will see a "Test your system" appear on your IEP approximately one week before your first exam. I suppose that means you cannot test it now which is a pity. So about a week before would be around 3 January you might receive the "test your system" thing.

The most important thing people can do ( as well as revising) is read the Inspera proctored software user guide, download the inspera software including proctored versino of it early, not the day before the exams. Test it.

 

[Jane Smith]

1. Do check your BPP emails as there is a recent one about the exams along the lines of what I posted above. It does set out when you can test the IEP - proctored Inspera (do it at least 3 days before the exams ie by 7 Jan). I believe you can only test it once for 20 minutes and you have to uinstall earlier versions of inspera first and then download the proctored and non proctored versions I think. Anyway go by what the email says and the Inspera guides not what I put here.

2. We can see the timetable for lectures next term now up to the date of the electives starting but not after. So for my sons it is same group of people they had last term up to then and same 2 days when they go in to BPP which is very good and we were hoping for. They so far have sessions from 31 Jan on the new timetable in three separate weeks (so go in to BPP on 3 of the weeks unitil week of 21 Feb for (i) Accounts, (ii) Interviewing and (iii) Conduct sessions (with a week "off" on 14 Feb which is the week of the wills exam, legal research exam and the writing exam. I am not on the course so not aware of everything but the 14 Jan exam is Drafting - the only non proctored January exam so I assume that is different from legal research and writing exams which are in February. I am not sufficient a helicopter mother to have read the content of the various courses.

 

[Daniel Boden]

1. Do check your BPP emails as there is a recent one about the exams along the lines of what I posted above. It does set out when you can test the IEP - proctored Inspera (do it at least 3 days before the exams ie by 7 Jan). I believe you can only test it once for 20 minutes and you have to uinstall earlier versions of inspera first and then download the proctored and non proctored versions I think. Anyway go by what the email says and the Inspera guides not what I put here.

2. We can see the timetable for lectures next term now up to the date of the electives starting but not after. So for my sons it is same group of people they had last term up to then and same 2 days when they go in to BPP which is very good and we were hoping for. They so far have sessions from 31 Jan on the new timetable in three separate weeks (so go in to BPP on 3 of the weeks unitil week of 21 Feb for (i) Accounts, (ii) Interviewing and (iii) Conduct sessions (with a week "off" on 14 Jan which is the week of the wills exam, legal research exam and the writing exam. I am not on the course so not aware of everything but the 14 Jan exam is Drafting - the only non proctored January exam so I assume that is different from legal research and writing exams which are in February. I am not sufficient a helicopter mother to have read the content of the various courses.

Hi Jane, thank you for pointing us to this, just to clarify but I assume you mean a week "off" on 14 Feb for the wills, LR and Writing exams rather than Jan?