D1 study tips
There are 25 weeks (about 6 months) left until Paper D 2022.
Instead of just starting reading and doing random D1 questions, I have a few tips for you:
Create an excel sheet or any kind of table (I just simply put it in my calendar) and plan which topics you will cover every single week. You will be surprised how many topics there are, you will easily find a new topic for every week. No matter how much time you have each week, you have to respect your plan and study that topic that week, at least for an hour. This way, you have a chance to go through all topics and will not miss the difficult parts such as PCT or appeal that are usually the last topics.
You may want to create your plan so that you study all topics in about 4 months, leaving you 2 months to refresh the topics and do previous D1 exams. (This is how I planned our D1 study group schedule as well.)
Start with PCT!
If you plan carefully like I suggest in the previous point, this might not be necessary, but I want to emphasize the importance of spending enough time with studying PCT.
In 2021, Paper D1 had two PCT questions (from six questions in total), worth 18 marks. That's 36% of the marks available for D1, which is a lot compared to other topics.
Yet, most candidates are not really good at answering PCT related questions, because they study PCT in the last weeks before the EQE and therefore do not have time to cover it thoroughly.
Do not forget to attend EPO Daily D course from 27 September. If you can, do each question on the day it is posted, otherwise you will not do them later (my friends’ experience). This course will include one question every workday for 12 weeks (free of charge), and it more or less covers every topic (1-2 questions for each topic)
Practice answering the questions by typing in a basic text editor. Write short statements and always cite the legal basis. Do not use and formatting, get used to simply using one font and one color.
Practice how you can write time calculations quickly. [This is how I wrote it: 22 Feb 2019 + 2 m. (R.131(4) and Art.108 EPC) –> 22 April 2019 Easter, so extended to –> 23 April 2019 Tuesday (R.134(1) EPC)]
Make notes of your mistakes and the most frequently used legal basis and keep them on your desk for a few weeks/months until you don’t need to look at them.
Good luck!