The NCA Edge Blog
Study guides & exam strategy for the NCA
Practical, examiner's-eye guidance on how the NCA exams are marked, how to write answers that score, which subjects to fear, and how to come back from a fail.
How NCA Exams Are Marked: An Examiner's-Eye View
The 50% pass mark surprises people. Here are the four criteria NCA examiners actually score on a written answer — and where marks quietly leak away.
8 min readNCA Administrative Law: How to Answer a Standard of Review Question
The Vavilov presumption, the routes out of it, and the trap that costs marks even when your answer is right — with a worked problem and a model paragraph.
17 min readAre NCA Exams Open Book? How to Write Answers That Score
Open book fools people. Here's how to structure an NCA answer, budget your time, and build notes you can actually find in three hours.
7 min readThe Hardest and Easiest NCA Exams, Ranked (and What Order to Sit Them)
Which NCA subject is hardest, which is most manageable, and the order to sit the five core exams.
8 min readNCA Criminal Law: A Worked Problem (Where Marks Are Won)
A fictional assault fact pattern, worked the way the NCA marks it — proving application, not recitation, is where the marks live.
10 min readFailed an NCA Exam? A Calm, Strategic Re-Sit Plan
A calm, practical game plan for re-sitting an NCA exam after a fail — the facts you need, and how to fix the real problem.
8 min read