Well I can't compare first year to any other years, but as far as subjects go, the warm fuzzy and introductory type subjects like foundations and lawyers, justice and ethics are boring as in the lectures, although the seminars (which focus alot on practical & discussion type activities) are good. The black letter subjects like torts and contracts I found really interesting, particulalrly as I liked both lecturers, and both the lecturers were enthusiatic about the subjects (sue tongue and daniel fitzpatrick). The tutorials for both subjects are practice exam questions, like answering hypothetical problems and advising hyopthetical clients.
Of course, it all depends on what your into, I know ppl who thought those subjects sucked and hated the lecturers style...
by 'what kind of things you would be looking at if u did a bachelor of law' do you mean what are you looking at doing when you finish uni? If thats the case, I am hoping to practice, not sure what area yet, will decide depending on who will hire me in 4yrs time and what subjects I do well in.... in terms of what you can do, if your marks are on the better side (like credits or higher) someone might hire you as a practising lawyer, otherwise you can do just about anything.... a law degree is quite often used to compliment another field as its seen as very general and more about developing a specialised way of thinking than drumming the law into students minds....
I think you have to work pretty hard to get a distinctions. I have gotten all distinctions in commerce without trying, I put all my effort into law (mind you when I say all my effort, I am pretty lazy, I have two jobs, don't do any of the reading, skip alot of classes and leave assignments to the last minute, so you can make your own mind up about the effort thing), and so far have managed one distinction in contracts, a highish credit in torts (I put those two marks down to interest) and mid-low credits in foundations and lawyers, justice and ethics (again, I put the lower marks down to lower interest).
I guess what it comes down to is that in commerce/arts/whatever you are competing against a cohort of UAI80+ and in law you are competing against 95+. They use a bell curve at anu, so to get a HD you need to be in the top 2-5% of a bunch of people who got over 95 in their HSC, to get a distinction or higher you need to be in the top 12-25% and a credit or higher you need to be in the top 42-75% of the cohort.
