All right, I have been receiving quite a few queries from current fifth year students who cant understand what subjects to take as their optionals in the 5th year.
Here is free advise like always:
Criminology:
This subject is offered by all the affiliated law schools. Hence, more competition, but makes the exam questions predictable. The syllabus is awesome for avid readers and who have a general liking or interest in this subject. The syllabus is simple and based on how perceptive and smart you are in understanding the various theories, or how well you can rote learn the subject. So, if you are good at mugging up theories, choose this. But if you enjoy the subject, criminology is a breather. It is scoring for sure, but unpredictable also. You must have heard the story of my batch and the petition that we filed in 2010.
Banking:
Simple subject, lot of law. Not a technical subject, it is extremely simple and involves reading a few sections from different bare acts. This subject is also scoring. It is a good choice if your grasp over Economics-II was good. There are simple concepts and extremely predictable questions.
Indirect Tax:
I didn't take this subject. But my batchmates who did, cried. They cried because the paper was out of syllabus too technical and it was just too unexpected. Mainly because they didnt study what was asked in the paper. It is a technical subject. It is scoring, but if you want to take it because you think you will learn something about tax law, then forget it. The knowledge imparted through the miniscule yet massive syllabus is nothing at all to help you. Though the syllabus is tiny, the volumes that you might cram up are massive. However, this subject is known as a scoring one (especially after kids cry after giving the paper-dont ask me how it happened). But, yes there are too many definitions to learn, you cant study this subject the night before the paper, you will almost certainly cry or have a nervous breakdown. It is technical with hardly any legal aptitude.
For indirect tax, I might have a biased opinion based on what I saw. It is possible the same thing doesn't happen with you. I didn't take this subject, so you can ask someone who did for a fairer insight.
oye..thats not true..indirect tax is about indirect tax..u cant study a tax subject without going into the intricacies of tax..its a decent amount of law..we were unlucky with the paper..but the previous batches weren't..plus since its technical..if a 12.5 mark question has a one word answer..u get at least 10 if your right..its not a descriptive paper..but yeah, studying for it was a lil harder than most other subjects..and then if the same guy is taking classes this year as well..be prepared for random classes..sometimes more than a month apart..and towards the end of the semester..on saturdays and sundays..plus since there is hardly anything to study in units III and IV..he will tell u what all to study..excise and customs law require maximum attention..
ReplyDeletebut i dun regret taking it up..if u have the slightest interest or inclination towards tax..opt for tax..its very interesting..
Yes Manvi! I was looking for your opinon here, as i mentioned mine is a biased opinion. As you rightly said, you need to have an interest in this subject and it requires harder work. And the other thing is, if you dont know the definition, you lose 12.5 marks straight away you can't faff in the answer script, unlike in banking/criminology which you can.
ReplyDelete