Law Optional Modules UK: How to Pick Strategically

Law degrees are full of optional modules in years two and three. Most students pick them based on which topics sound interesting or which lecturers they liked in year one. That's a fine approach if grades don't matter to you.

If they do — and given where law graduates typically end up, they probably do — there's a better way.

Why module choice matters more in law

Law is one of the few subjects where assessment format varies enormously between modules. Some modules are 100% coursework. Some are 100% closed-book exam. Some are 50/50, or use oral presentations, group projects, or open-book assessments.

That variation is a lever. Students who know how they perform under different assessment conditions — and actively choose modules accordingly — consistently end up with better outcomes than those who don't.

On top of assessment format, law modules vary significantly in grade distribution. Some modules have far higher rates of first-class marks than others. This is rarely due to the difficulty of the material; it's more often a function of how tightly the mark scheme is written and how many students the module tends to attract.

FOI data pulled from UK universities shows consistent variation in First rates across modules within the same law department. The spread is wide. There is no such thing as a "standard law module difficulty".

The five things to find out before choosing a law module

1. What is the assessment format?

This is the single biggest factor. Find out:

Is it coursework, exam, or a mix?
If coursework: how many pieces, what word count, is it a research essay or a problem question?
If exam: is it open-book or closed? How long?

Most university module handbooks publish this. If they don't, ask the module convenor directly.

The relevant question is not "which assessment is easier" — it's "which format suits how I perform". Some students write excellent timed exams. Others produce significantly better work with extended thinking time. Knowing which camp you are in is worth more than any amount of last-minute cramming.

2. What do recent grade distributions look like?

Module handbooks do not publish this. It is not available anywhere on your university website. But it is the single most useful data point for understanding how a module actually plays out.

What you can do:

Check if your university has FOI-disclosed grade data (some have). Search on WhatDoTheyKnow.com.
Ask final-year students about the module reputation.
Check GradeHack if your module is covered — the platform surfaces banded grade distribution signals for UK law modules from FOI data.

You are not looking for a "soft" module — you are looking for a module where your work will be fairly and consistently rewarded.

3. What is the reading load?

Law reading loads vary by a factor of ten between modules. Land law typically carries a heavier background reading expectation than something like Legal Theory or Law and Society. That is not a reason to avoid it — but if you are taking four modules in a semester, balance matters.

4. Does it align with your career path?

Certain law modules carry practical weight:

Solicitors/barristers: Contract, Tort, Property, Equity and Trusts, Company Law, and Procedure are flagged in LPC and Bar Course applications.
Corporate/commercial: Corporate Law, IP, Competition Law, and International Commercial Law are directly useful.
Public sector/policy: Public Law, Human Rights, Administrative Law, Criminology.
Academic route: Jurisprudence, Legal Theory, Comparative Law signal scholarly interest.

If you have no clear career direction yet (many students don't), default to modules that overlap with your strongest subjects or assessment format.

5. Who is teaching it?

In law, the difference between a great and a poor lecturer can materially affect how much you understand and therefore how well you perform. Check student feedback through your union or Rate My Professors equivalents. Ask second and third years.

Assessment types decoded

100% coursework modules

Best for students who think well on paper with time to research. The risk: you have one or two pieces to get right, often at the same time as other deadlines. Strong time managers perform best here.

Watch for: vague rubrics that reward essay structure over substance. The first-class mark often goes to students who are rigorous about answering the exact question asked, with clear signposting.

100% exam modules

Best for students who retain information well under pressure. The risk: a bad day produces a bad result, and there is nothing to offset it.

Watch for: whether the exam is open-book. Open-book exams test application and structure, not recall. Many students do much better in open-book conditions than closed, even though both formats are technically "exams".

Mixed coursework and exam

These modules give you two bites at the result. A strong coursework piece can cushion a mediocre exam performance. Many students find these offer the most reliable outcome.

Assessment type	Student profile best suited	Risk factor
100% coursework	Structured writers, good time managers	Deadline clustering, vague rubrics
100% closed-book exam	Strong memory, performs under pressure	One-shot result, no safety net
100% open-book exam	Good application thinkers	Overloading notes, losing structure
50/50 mixed	Most students	Requires sustained effort across semester

Which law modules have the highest First rates?

The honest answer is: it varies by university, and it varies year to year. No specific module is universally "easy" — the grade distribution reflects a mix of how the module is taught, how the mark scheme is applied, and what kind of students self-select into it.

What FOI data does show is that seminars-heavy modules with specific, bounded problem questions tend to produce higher first-class rates than broad essay-based modules with ambiguous assessment criteria. If a module requires you to apply legal rules to a specific scenario (rather than write a discursive essay on a wide topic), first-class markers are often higher.

Equity and Trusts, Company Law, and IP are frequently cited by law students as assessment-clear modules where the path to a first is well-defined.

Making a module combination work

A good combination balances:

One module you find genuinely interesting — you will do better work when you care.
At least one module where assessment format plays to your strengths.
One module with career relevance — for applications and interviews.
A manageable total reading load — do not take four heavy reading modules in the same semester.

If you are targeting a first overall, check the credit weighting of each module and prioritise higher-credit modules for your best work. A 30-credit module dissertation or major coursework moves your average more than a 10-credit assessed seminar module.

For module credit weighting explained, see how credit weighting affects your degree class.

The data angle

Grade distributions in UK law faculties are not public. Universities do not publish them voluntarily. But they have been disclosed in response to Freedom of Information requests — and the pattern is clear: significant variation exists between modules in the same department at the same university.

That is useful information. It means the choices you make in week one of term matter more than students generally realise.

Access module-level grade signals for UK law degrees through GradeHack's waitlist — we're building the tool that makes this data searchable, not just available buried in FOI PDFs.

For more on choosing modules strategically, see what modules should I take at university and how module choice affects your degree class.