Some may wonder what is wrong with the Legal Qualifying Board to warrant such a letter?

Last year saw an influx of letters to the editor complaining and more importantly, seeking an answer for the low passing rate in the examination and the difference of standards applied for foreign and local graduates. Many candidates requested to see and review the examiners' report to their answer sheets, only to have their request rejected.

A lot of us sitting for the examination this year, myself included, are resitting for the umpteenth time, not knowing where we went wrong previously.

As CLP students, we work hard, day and night, to memorise cases, to understand and apply the principles of law and this mammoth task has to be done in about nine months. We take this unfair burden in our stride because we know that this is what it takes to be a good and employable lawyer.

Permit me to highlight some of the "unfairness" we are put through in the examination:

• Firstly, a Statement of Claim is the foremost document that has to be prepared by any practising lawyer when starting a case. This important piece of document sometimes takes weeks to prepare. We, however, are required to prepare it in under 20 minutes.
• Secondly, we sit for five papers in the examination- the Criminal Procedure Code, Civil Procedure, General Paper, Professional Practice and Law of Evidence. If we were to fail one paper, we are allowed to resit that one paper in the following two weeks after the release of our results. However, if we were to fail two or more subjects, we are considered to have failed the examination, regardless of our other results and we have to wait to resit the examination the following year.

I have always believed that the whole concept of "unfairness" is a subjective issue to be determined by each individual. Some may say that we are sore losers while others may sympathise with our situation.

Regardless of all that has been said, this letter is in no way meant to ridicule or criticise the Legal Qualifying Board. We, the candidates and hopefully lawyers someday, hope that the board will be a little bit forthcoming with our request to view the examiners' report so that we can better prepare ourselves for the examination.

Hopeful candidate
Kuala Lumpur