NCA Exams Chat

[Dood]

I recently passed the NCA exams and found most anecdotal information and advice online to be helpful and generally accurate. I am getting licensed in Canada to expand my current niche practice in the U.S., and I guess also because I’m a hipster millennial that likes the vibe of your country (i.e. I’m looking forward to casually dropping pics of me in the barrister gown on social media/LinkedIn lol).

Here are some of my observations:

- It’s expensive - about the same as purchasing a busted 2007 Toyota Corolla rn. The NCA assessment is around $400. The exams are $400 each (I was assigned the minimum of 5 exams, but you’ll have to take more if straight out of school). I also didn’t want to install the remote testing software on my work laptop, so I bought a new MacBook to get through the process. The exam prep course was around $350, and I purchased the crim code for $100 or so.

- You don’t need the textbooks. I primarily studied the materials from an online prep course. The only book you actually need is the criminal code (the annotations were also super helpful on the exam itself).

- You can pass. I read that only 39% of folks complete the NCA process. That’s probably true, but the exams are pass-able. Kind of like getting a tattoo - it’s gonna hurt more than you think, but you can put up with it. I studied about 3-4 weeks for each exam and took them all around the same time (one week apart). Mostly listened to lectures during my lunch breaks, followed by reading the materials, and I then used practice questions to get comfortable applying the outline.

- Watch out for scammy behavior. The NCA Facebook groups are kind of hit or miss. Lots of fake accounts pushing study classes/material to Indian and African students. 

- For Admin Law, I also listened to Craig Forcese’s Administrative Law podcast. It’s free and awesome. Explained many of the concepts better than my prep course. Also, reading recent courts’ applications of some of the concepts like Dore’ makes the course material easier to unwind (you’ll get a free Lexis account - use it!).

- Con law was the hardest exam imo - especially the questions on fed and provincial legislative powers/overlap. Fundamentals of law was really stressing me out while studying, until I realized the more theoretical nature of the questions. I didn’t have time to fully read all of the academic articles, so I skimmed the intros and conclusions to make my own quick notes to refer back to on the exam.

- Get context. Having not lived or gone to school in Canada, I didn’t have a great grasp on some fundamentals - like knowing who the head of state is, or just how intertwined the legislative and executive branches are. I feel like certain things, like Section 33 of the Charter, would cause an armed rebellion if applied here in the U.S.

- Have fun. The first day I started studying, I was kind of tickled by the accent of the lecturer. E.g. I didn’t realize how y’all say the  hard “o” in “procedural” (I say it closer to “pruh-cedural”). I ended up hearing the lecturer’s voice in my head when I read the materials and exam questions for the entire process.

[Scribbleergosum]

Thanks for doing this!  Couple of follow up Qs if I may:

• How far out in advance of the actual exams did you begin the process of applying?  I.e., how much lead time would you recommend NCA test takers build in?
• What exam prep course did you use?  Is there a standardized one that the NCA refers you to or did you find your own?
• Do you have any sense - anecdotal or otherwise - as to how many years of practice you'll need under your belt to get assigned the minimum # of tests, or what factors they weigh in determining how many exams to assign you?

Some of these are probably basic so apologies in advance.  All I know right now is that I'm planning to take the exams next year so trying to figure out when I need to start getting my ducks in a row.

[Dood]

18 minutes ago, Scribbleergosum said:

 

• How far out in advance of the actual exams did you begin the process of applying?  I.e., how much lead time would you recommend NCA test takers build in?

I submitted my application in April and heard back that it had been approved in October. I took the first exam two months later in December.

I think the longer delay in processing was a direct result of Covid and offices being closed in Ottawa. I read other people saying that their assessment time was closer to 3 months. I would just call the NCA office and ask what the current situation is 613.236.1700.
 

23 minutes ago, Scribbleergosum said:

 

• What exam prep course did you use?  Is there a standardized one that the NCA refers you to or did you find your own?

There’s not a standardized course. But the NCA syllabi actually list all textbooks and readings (down to the page numbers) you are supposed to study for the exams. You could just self study that way also. I just used one that I found on Google after hardly any research (NCAExamPrep).

The textbooks from the official syllabi looked too expensive, and I wasn’t going to have time to do all of the readings and create my own outlines anyways. I would check out a couple of the official syllabi first before deciding what to do: https://nca.legal/exams/content/

 

43 minutes ago, Scribbleergosum said:

 

• Do you have any sense - anecdotal or otherwise - as to how many years of practice you'll need under your belt to get assigned the minimum # of tests, or what factors they weigh in determining how many exams to assign you?

I honestly don’t know. Based on what I read on some of the Facebook groups, it seems like a mix of your common law experience and law school grades/courses.

[Vengeance]

Thanks for the post!

Was wondering, what is a reasonable window of time in completing all the NCA exams? For instance, if I were to immediately begin self-studying full-time after finishing my LLB degree next June, how soon is it possible for me to finish all of the NCA exams, assuming everything goes well. 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Vengeance

[Dood]

3 months

[SoonBeLawyer123]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your journey 🙂

I just had a question in regard to: "Mostly listened to lectures during my lunch breaks, followed by reading the materials, and I then used practice questions to get comfortable applying the outline."  In the NCA exam prep courses, does it include the practice questions? Also, are you referring to reading material from the syllabus, if so was it not time consuming to read it all, how did you manage finish it?

I'm struggling on where to start for my revision, can you recommend where to star? I've seen people say to create answer frameworks etc.

[Dood]

14 hours ago, SoonBeLawyer123 said:

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your journey 🙂

I just had a question in regard to: "Mostly listened to lectures during my lunch breaks, followed by reading the materials, and I then used practice questions to get comfortable applying the outline."  In the NCA exam prep courses, does it include the practice questions? Also, are you referring to reading material from the syllabus, if so was it not time consuming to read it all, how did you manage finish it?

I'm struggling on where to start for my revision, can you recommend where to star? I've seen people say to create answer frameworks etc.

Start by looking at the official syllabi for each course.

Except for Foundations, I didn’t do much of the assigned reading from the syllabi, and I didn’t buy the textbooks (except crim law statutes which you need). I just didn’t have time, especially when the exams are lined up so close together - I was taking one exam a week for a month straight.

There are practice questions up on the official NCA website with the syllabi. Those are the best practice questions. The questions from my prep class were less similar to the actual exam, but they were helpful in getting familiar with my outline. They also gave me sample answers for the official practice questions which I found very helpful.

I did not create any answer frameworks and instead just used the outline from the prep course. Their outline wasn’t perfect, but I can’t imagine creating them from scratch for these exams.

There is a bit of a risk to taking a short cut with the prep classes, but that’s what I would recommend. The time and money savings were worth it for me.