Essay feedback and how to make the most of it
By now, you will normally have received some feedback on your first formative assessment for this academic year (probably some kind of law essay).
In my opinion, dealing with feedback, i.e. digesting it and implementing it, is one of the skills that separates top law students from the pack.
Let me start with the basics. If the feedback you received is either incomprehensible or incomplete, don’t be afraid to ask for clarifications. It is their (our) job to help you improve, and thus to help you understand what you did well and what you did not do particularly well. Don’t be shy. Ask, and you shall receive.
Now, assuming the feedback you received is neither incomprehensible nor incomplete, you will either feel satisfied or dissatisfied, depending on the work you put in and your expectations. If the feedback is, broadly speaking, “good”, you will probably feel satisfied. If it is rather critical, you will not feel the same way.
Please notice I talk about feedback and not marks. This is deliberate. Marking is more of an art than a science, and in any case frequently conceals the truth rather than revealing it. The actual comments on your essay matter, not the mark per se. A different marker could have given you a different mark for the same essay. However, if, say, you cited no secondary sources, if your essay was wholly descriptive etc, a different marker would have noticed the same shortcoming and made similar comments.
When the feedback sounds harsh, don’t take it personally. It is not directed to you, but to this particular body of work that you submitted. Try to understand what it means. Once you do, try not to repeat the exact same mistake again. For instance, if you keep getting critical comments on the way in which you superficially engage with the case law, try to see what you need to do to critically engage with it. Ask for help, both from your tutor and your fellow students. You will improve swiftly.
When the feedback is good, this is when things actually get...dangerous. This is the time when most students relax, get complacent, and think they can focus on their other courses, where the feedback they receive is more critical. Wrong! When you have an advantage in life, you press it. You stick with it, you improve even more, you try to get an excellent mark, you try to build on your strengths. In the words of Bill Gates, “success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose”. Your small “success” in, say, Contract Law, makes you think you’ve got it in the bag and will do well in the exams by default. This is not true. Your hard work made your essay a great essay. If the former goes away, so does the latter.
Let me conclude with a personal story. As a postgrad law student in Oxford, studying for the BCL/MJur, one of my favourite courses was on human rights law. I kept getting 70% for my essays, which in Oxford jargon is a “First”, i.e. a Distinction. I became complacent and started focusing on the notoriously difficult Conflict of Laws course, where my results were not impressive. After our last tutorial together, my law tutor (now a tenured Oxford law professor) took me aside. I thought he wanted to...congratulate me for my consistently excellent essays throughout the year! How foolish I was. What I instead got was a tongue-lashing. I was told, indirectly but clearly, that I had become complacent, that I was coasting, that I was not trying to break my own ceiling and that I might not get a First in my actual exam if my mentality remained the same. Coming from the leader of the course I considered my “best” one, this was alarming. It immediately touched a cord with me, and i started working twice as hard. In the end, I got a First in all of my courses and graduated top of my class that year, receiving the “Clifford Chance Prize for the Best Overall Performance”. To a large extent, I owe it to him; he woke me up.
So: take feedback seriously. Leverage it to your advantage. Don’t ignore it; and certainly don’t take it personally.
