Nana Maisuradze

I receive more calls from recruiters. Periodically, I have to update my job search, and, obviously, I see the difference now because I get more calls from job recruiters.

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And as far as I work on various legal projects, I believe, that when this project is finished, there will be another one. And the fact that now I’m qualified as a solicitor I think it would help me as well to get promoted in future.

I was qualified in Georgia as a lawyer and once I moved to the UK in 2018, I thought maybe I should try to qualify here as well. 

I tried twice to pass this exam. The first try was in 2020 and unfortunately, I wasn’t successful. The second try was in 2021 and I was successful. If I compare my preparation for the previous exam and the last one, it was very different from each other … 

As to my first exam, I would say that I was not that well prepared. I even did not have time to do mocks – only a few mocks, as I remember. I only had time for reading the books and not even to revise. So, when it comes to such a serious exam, I think it’s better to take your time, and if you feel that the plan you had to study is not accomplished better not try this time, and try another time.

The provider which I used for my first exam prep – I think was a bit general and it would be helpful if it was more specific and more oriented. For my second exam, I just followed the exact instructions and slides that are given in the slides of OSCEsmart platform. First of all, I read these books once again and then I started watching slides from Olga which I believe are really very very accurate and very detail oriented. So, once you read this book it’s easier to understand these slides and easier to memorise.

I believe that it’s very essential to go through the slides … Because you understand the topics in a different way and you have more questions if going through them before reading the book. Secondly, I believe that this practical advice about drafting and about interviews and all these practical pdf files which you have with suggestions were very helpful because if I had reviewed this before my first exam and studied so well I believe I would have passed it at my first attempt.

These pdf files where, for example, for presentations, you have different topics and literally you need to memorise them because there are such tests which are very helpful. If you have this topic and you apply this test you will pass this exam with 90%, I guess. As to client interviews, what I found a bit surprising if I compare my first exam and the second one is that this time clients did not seem that eager to share information with you. So, you literally had to ask questions about everything, and these 10 minutes that you have to prepare for the interview are really essential.

When it comes to the exam you never feel hundred percent prepared, you always have this internal stress. When I sat my last exam, I was more confident. I felt that now I’m better prepared, at least, I did my best.

In general, I would say that the difficulty of all the tasks is more or less the same. All of them are challenging. The research was a bit more difficult compared to other tasks because I knew that it was difficult I practiced really a lot regarding research. … And I think that I did the research well.

For the first sitting, I just did two interviews and one presentation. For the second one, I took additional mocks. I remember I had five or six interviews and two presentations. I also had drafting, writing and research. All the mocks are really similar to the exam and they’re very helpful.

My second sitting was in November, and I started my preparation in March. So, if I take over the whole period of my prep, I would say that for my first and second preparation it was one year and two months. And this one year and two months were like intensive preparation – it means that sometimes you should say no to watching Netflix in the evening or some socialising on weekends.

Actually, when I started the preparation I had a newborn baby; my husband supported me very well. Support from the family is important because there are circumstances when you may be down or you really need some more time. It’s very important if there is somebody to help you with this.

So, my suggestion is that if you decide to take this exam, which is called solicitors exams, it’s better to eliminate some additional tasks, just try to focus on this exam because it’s quite important.

I believe, this school [OSCEsmart] and this preparation really improve your knowledge and your skills as a professional lawyer. That’s why this exam is so difficult because it requires a lot of work on yourself and your knowledge. You get knowledge from many different various areas of law which are company law, property, criminal, civil, and for sure you will need this set for future practice – so yeah, it’s very helpful.

They had to change my computer. I don’t remember exactly what was there but the screen was frozen or something like this. You raise your hand and they come immediately. It was not only me who had the issue. 

What I found very helpful at the exams – they are offering you earplugs. On my first exam day, I did not take this, and the noise of typing from other candidates could be really disturbing. On the second day, I decided to take it, and it was a very big difference – you are more focused on your tasks. So, my advice is to take these earplugs that they offer.