Key points
- Practise the whole method or isolate one stage such as issue spotting, application or timed planning.
- Use tutor-created and institution-permitted scenarios, not hidden authorship of a live assessment.
- Learn when IRAC is useful, when it becomes mechanical and how to adapt structure to the legal issue.
- Carry an optional private study brief into a transparent cost range or genuine consultation slot.
What a law problem question is asking you to do
A problem question presents facts that need legal analysis rather than a topic that needs a discursive essay. The Open University describes a process of identifying relevant facts, researching the applicable law, applying the law and reaching a conclusion. The challenge is that these stages are connected: an inaccurate issue map sends research in the wrong direction, while an overlong rule statement leaves too little space for application.[1]
The assessment is not a memory dump. It asks you to decide which facts are legally significant, organise advice for the relevant parties and explain how rules operate in a situation that may be incomplete or contested. Tuition can slow that process down, observe it and then rebuild it under realistic time constraints.
- Identify parties, claims, legal elements and possible defences before drafting.
- Distinguish facts that trigger a rule from facts that provide narrative background.
- Reach a qualified conclusion where an issue turns on missing facts or competing interpretations.
Use IRAC as a reasoning aid, not a rigid template
IRAC can provide a useful sequence: identify the issue, state the relevant rule, apply it and conclude. It becomes less useful when every sentence is labelled, when the rule section becomes a mini textbook or when application simply repeats facts. The Law Tutors’ existing IRAC guide explains how problem questions differ from discursive essays; this service page has a different purpose. It explains how one-to-one practice can diagnose and improve your execution.[2]
A tutor may ask you to create a short issue heading, select only the authorities needed for that issue and argue the application from both sides before deciding what conclusion the facts support. For some questions, a nested structure is clearer: a larger claim contains several elements, and each element needs its own rule and application. Structure should serve the analysis, not replace it.
- Keep rule statements proportionate to the disputed point.
- Use authority to establish or qualify a proposition, not to decorate the paragraph.
- Connect the legal test explicitly to particular facts and competing interpretations.
- Avoid false certainty where a court would need more evidence or authority is unsettled.
Diagnose the stage that is limiting the answer
Students often describe the problem as an inability to do problem questions, but that description is too broad to guide a useful session. One answer may miss issues. Another may identify everything but spend too many words on undisputed law. A third may know the authorities yet make unsupported factual assertions. A short diagnostic can reveal which stage is actually constraining performance.
The tutor can ask you to think aloud through a fresh scenario, produce a five-minute map, explain one case without notes, write one application paragraph or self-review against published criteria. That evidence supports a focused plan. It also prevents a programme from becoming a sequence of general lectures that feel useful but do not change the next answer.
- Issue spotting: a material claim, party, element or defence is omitted.
- Selection: many true propositions appear, but they do not resolve the scenario.
- Application: facts and rules are stated separately without their legal connection.
- Judgment: counterarguments, uncertainty or a reasoned conclusion are missing.
- Execution: the method is understood but cannot be completed within the assessment time.
A practical session and independent practice cycle
A useful session begins with one objective and ends with one transferable next step. You might annotate a tutor-created question, compare two issue maps, revise a paragraph after oral questioning and then complete a new timed plan independently. At the next session, the tutor can inspect whether the method transferred rather than simply repeating the same explanation.
Practice can be adapted to contract, tort, criminal, public, land, equity or another area only where the matched tutor has relevant expertise. Subject knowledge still matters: technique cannot repair an incorrect rule. Equally, more doctrine will not repair an answer that never applies it. The consultation and study brief help identify both dimensions before the scope is confirmed.
- Before: choose the subject, format, time limit and one reasoning objective.
- During: make decisions visible through annotation, explanation and short drafting.
- After: complete a fresh task without live tutor intervention and record what changed.
- Review: compare the new work with the objective rather than relying on confidence alone.
Clear boundaries for live and assessed work
Academic support must protect the student’s authorship. The QAA explains academic integrity as a core higher-education expectation and provides sector resources on appropriate support and misconduct. Individual institutions and assessments set their own current rules, so those rules must be checked before any live task or draft is discussed.[3]
A tutor can teach a method, create a separate scenario, question your analysis, discuss feedback from completed work and provide formative comments where your rules allow. A tutor should not draft, rewrite or complete a live answer, provide undisclosed collaboration or imitate your writing. If a take-home task prohibits external assistance, use a separate practice question instead.
- Tell the tutor whether material is a practice task, completed task or live assessment.
- Remove confidential or unnecessary personal information before sharing permitted materials.
- Ask your institution when the assessment brief does not make the boundary clear.
- Use feedback to create your own checklist rather than copying replacement wording.
Move from a private brief to a proportionate programme
You can start without an account or email address. The tuition planner turns your subject, goal, difficulty, format and timeframe into a rules-based study plan. If you choose, compatible parts become a local study brief. Signing in is optional and only needed if you want cross-device continuity or to save a qualified cost snapshot.
The cost planner combines session length, weekly cadence, duration and optional written-feedback time with the published hourly range. It explains every assumption and labels the result as indicative, not a quote. When a real consultation host and availability are configured, you can open the existing London-time booking flow. Otherwise, an enquiry allows the team to confirm tutor fit and scope before any commitment.
- Use one diagnostic session when you do not yet know which stage needs attention.
- Choose a short practice cycle when the method is clear but needs repetition and review.
- Add written feedback only where it is permitted and provides a distinct benefit from live discussion.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Can a tutor teach me IRAC?
Yes. A tutor can explain and practise IRAC while showing when a nested or adapted structure is clearer. The goal is reasoned application, not mechanically labelling every sentence.
Can I bring my university problem question?
It depends on the assessment status and your institution’s rules. Completed or formative work may allow feedback; live summative tasks may restrict it. When uncertain, use a tutor-created scenario and ask your institution first.
Which law subjects can problem-question tuition cover?
Coverage depends on the matched tutor’s expertise and your level. Include the exact module and topics in your brief so the team can confirm fit rather than assuming one tutor covers every subject.
Can sessions include timed practice?
Yes. A tutor can set a realistic planning or drafting interval on legitimate practice material, then review issue selection, time allocation, application and conclusions.
Is written feedback included?
Only if it is selected, appropriate and agreed. The cost planner treats separate written-feedback time explicitly so it is not hidden inside a programme assumption.
Will this service complete my assessment?
No. The service teaches and practises the method. It does not create, rewrite or complete assessed answers, and it does not promise a particular mark.
One-to-one support
Build a problem-question practice brief
Identify the subject, bottleneck, assessment format and timeframe privately, then decide whether to explore cost, enquire or book genuine consultation availability.