In the case of law … For me the best tip I got was to use case study books. Having a lot of “Plaintiff will argue __________. How? Analyzing, arguing, showing the strength of both sides, and evaluating the strengths of those sides – eventually favoring one over the other. 4. (3) The reciprocal is just as important: Do not write at length about the facts without referencing the law. You’re going to encounter (written on TLS, discussed in the halls of your law school) a lot of pushback with respect to law school exams and how arbitrary they are. Students who do this almost always do better on exams. So if the exam question is on, say, rulemaking (Administrative Law), don't talk about other topics unless they have bearing on the question. The law school exam is … Taking practice exams only helps if you know how to take a law school exam. Hardly every second of every day, but in the end if you can’t look yourself in the mirror and say “I’m happy to be at law school” then no amount of advice can motivate you to get the As/Hs and the opportunities that they lead to. This is more like "learning by doing" but I think for law school it's the best technique there is. I just needed that sample set of grades and I needed to talk it through with my professors before I knew what was going on.”. Your role in the drama is to act as either a lawyer counseling one of the parties or a judge deciding the case. This is the prong that’s important. Finally, if you didn’t do well on your first-year law school exams, it could be because the format and style of the exam were unfamiliar to you. You probably should) and turn to page 3. In most instances, your grade in a course will depend entirely on one law school exam. The secret to doing well on law school exams is actually pretty simple: Deconstruct what you’re being asked to do, … L. Rev 433, 449, wrote: The contemporary discourse among law faculty about law students and Blue Book exams provides additional evidence of the shift to an objective method of grading Blue Book essays. A growing number of people realize that they need to figure prong two out, then take a pass at getting to maybe, but never really get there. Apply law to fact, apply law to fact, apply law to fact. How could it be better? Your goal in writing them should be to make the reader’s life easier. Then turn to an easy to digest multimedia unit on overall law school success strategies, specifically focusing on how to prepare for law school exams (and just as importantly, what NOT to do). When you encounter this pushback, remember that just because you don’t see the grading process and aren’t taught well how to handle it doesn’t mean there isn't method to the madness behind the black box of exam grading. Watch out for highlighters, they can make you think you’re learning when really you just highlight what you don’t understand. It'll get you good grades. Many people do well by typing a lot, many people do well by not typing a lot. How and why do law professors write such challenging exams? Exam Tips. Law school grades matter. Hopefully this post will serve as a guide to the non-obvious task you face in law school: deciphering the concept of the law school exam. Law school exam questions, even those of the traditional “issue spotting” variety, usually do not ask students to “write about any issues that come to mind based on the preceding narrative.” Instead, the queries are usually more focused, and ask students to examine and analyze particular issues from the perspective of particular participants in a scenario. As a student at the University of San Francisco School of Law, Ariel tutored Torts and led 1L workshops on time management, exam preparation, legal writing, and outlining. If you do it, you will put your peers to shame. By LawProfBlawg Professor John Delaney, law professor of thirty years and author of the book How to Do Your Best on Law School Exams, gives advice on how to prepare for first year law exams. Performing well on law school exams is essential to law school, and exam writing is a “specialized art that takes skill and practice.” Even though exams are months away, it’s best to start thinking about exam preparation from day one, but no need to panic. And even if that’s just one rubric from one exam, I guarantee you that it strongly resembles the methods that will get you points in other contexts. Having that special hornbook, that special outline from last year’s class, being the last person to leave the library, taking notes in a special way, or any other study method. We also invite you to join our weekly mailing list, for advice right to your inbox. Pay special attention to high-performing TLS members who provide useful advice all the time. Oh, apply law to fact. But the most overt pieces of information, especially to somebody new to law school, are study methods. They’ve learned how to properly take a law school exam, they understand how much law they need to learn, and they do it quickly and efficiently. Jul 23, 2012 at 10:24 AM. But you’ll never see obscure info from the ‘notes’ section of your casebook play a big part on the exam if it was never covered in class. You May Also Like The key isn’t necessarily just reading the words over and over. Read it with a pen just like you’d read your cases, and engage it. If that sounds like a lot of pressure, well, quite frankly, it is, but there's good news! “R” = “rule.” 3. Law school is an intellectual privilege, although I am somewhat skeptical of its value after the first-year. Use it as an insight into law school exams, heed especially the advice on outlining. Knowing how to approach these unique exams will make yourRead More But those grades are the result of two distinct elements: The first prong, how well you know the law. Law school exams, for all of their many pedagogical flaws, do have a lot to do with the fundamental work of lawyers. The good news is, as long as you are working hard, you can't go that far wrong. University of Virginia law professors Kenneth Abraham, Albert Choi and Risa Goluboff recently discussed their process and offered tips for how students can master taking exams.. Getting the Most From Law School Practice Exams The point of a law school practice exam is to help you understand testable concepts and, possibly more important, to hone your answering skills. Getting the Most From Law School Practice Exams The point of a law school practice exam is to help you understand testable concepts and, possibly more important, to hone your answering skills. Article Summary X. Whatever, a TLS poster, wrote: “Yeah this is entirely true. Even if it doesn’t, you’ve read the case so it shouldn’t be that bad. If you are considering or are about to attend law school, it is wise to pick-up this book to better understand and prepare for law school exams. Law school is a skills test, and the key to achieving success is to learn what the skill of taking a law school exam … Pick up your copy of getting to maybe (you don’t own a copy of getting to maybe? Try to avoid the anxiety-inducing pissing contest. Feeling overwhelmed with all the new information you’re learning in your classes? I read Getting to Maybe 3 times – once before law school, once a week into law school, and once just before exams. *. I probably worked harder than most people my first semester and was still bottom 10%. Hint: It will be those sentences and thoughts in which you apply law to fact. Many of mine were terrible. Read on for strategies for the making the most of your exam prep time, dealing with different types of exams, handling the pressure of the exam period, and much more! What WON’T help you learn how to take a good law school exam? 3rd Year Practice Rules for All 50 States, North Carolina State Bar Student Certification. If you find law school tough, you are not alone! Why Your Personal Statement Can Make or Break Your Law School Chances, The 5 Top Legal Internships Law Students Should Know and Pursue. NEXT ARTICLE. Revise properly. Good luck, try to have fun. How often were people restating legal rules without analysis (which won’t get you points), how often were people re-typing facts without applying legal rules (Which won’t get you points), how often are the rules and facts combined to come up with a conclusion in an overly conclusory manner (which not only won’t get points, but many law students will mentally feel counts as ‘spotting’ the issue)? Prong 2: Learning how to take a law school exam. Law school exams, for all of their many pedagogical flaws, do have a lot to do with the fundamental work of lawyers. I then just memorize it. Do You Have the 5 Top Traits that Can Help You Get into Law School? How well you do on your exams is largely going to be a function of how much effort you put into grappling with the material. The fact patterns tend to be long and incorporate many different issues, generally focusing on more grey areas that prompt you to interpret existing law. I consistently get the top grades in my law school classes, and I can tell you that you are correct about it being a writing gap and not a comprehension gap. Having that special hornbook, that special outline from last year’s class, being the last person to leave the library, or taking notes in a special way. Sure, you need to study the material and have a good grasp of the basic doctrines you studied. Over the next few weeks, law school final exams will be in full swing at almost every law school in the country. Easy money. She received her JD from Loyola Law School in 2012. 9 Mistakes You Probably Made On Your Law School Final Exams Uh-oh! And then write a quick little outline. Pay attention to his/her favorite topics, consult recent on-point law review articles (not always useful) to see what they think is important, and religiously study released practice exams and model answers. The bad news there is that you are going to have to work hard. Check out our helpful free content, podcasts, courses and one-on-one tutoring. on November 28, 2017 12:34 PM As the needles go into their arms, patients might be nervous to know that their medical internist is at the end of a 20-hour shift -- for the seventh day in a row. Whether you want to be a corporate lawyer or a public defender, you are much more likely to achieve your goals if you do well in law school.. Law students with top grades earn top salaries in their first year out of school. (Spoiler: the skill is 'apply law to fact'), Prong 2A: Foundation – how a law school exam is graded. While I recommend many ‘out of class’ sources such as law review articles and practice exams, the most important source by far is just what your professor covers in class. SEVEN: Your brain is attached to your body. I think the best way to score well on exams is to learn how to take the exams. Her advice provides some insight to students about how to demonstrate both substantive knowledge of the subject matter in written form. (How did that random bit of advice about taking law school exams sneak in there? I cannot stress this enough – find a likeminded law student or two and dissect the shit out of your exams. During your first year, you'll likely take a legal research and writing course to learn writing skills and tips , but when working on practice exams it's important to focus on the fundamentals. Top Tips from the Cambridge Law Conference. Put thoughts on the paper. That’s it. Their grades do not suffer. Years ago, I started thinking that my teachers and lecturers were out to get me and would mark me down wherever they got the chance. But this is just the first step in the revision process although incidentally this is why our Legal Practice Course (LPC) exams are open book, so exam assessment is a question of understanding and application as opposed to memory. Joseph Glannon, The Law of Torts 3rd Edition, page 575, wrote: “It’s a dirty little secret that you really don’t have to know an awful lot of law to do well on a first-year exam. Don’t argue what’s fair. Second, you’ll be able to use that knowledge to focus your keystrokes come exam time on those sentences and thought processes that you know GET YOU POINTS in advance. Sure, an issue they only talked about for one day may be a highlight on the exam – you’re on notice, go to class and learn the material. 3. A far from exhaustive list of helpful TLS posters with a rich history of providing solid advice: TTT-LS, steve_nash, edcrane, BradyToMoss, ToTransferOrNot, PKSebben, and the above mentioned ‘guide-writers’ (Arrow, Xeoh85, Wahoo1L, JayCutler'sCombover). Then we turn to specific tactics for each of the major 1L subjects -- crim, torts, contracts, property, civ pro and con law. Law school exams are unlike anything you experienced in undergrad, and your law school grades in each course are based largely on a single exam. The takeaway message: ask the right questions, and don’t be afraid of ambiguity! The abilities to write well, fluently, and under time constraints are essential in order to pass a law school exam. Cases will not help you do well on the exam. Taking Law School Exams: Ask the Right Questions, Don't Worry About the "Right" Answer This one’s really deep in the weeds — it walks thorough how I’d analyze a sample law school exam question. Marvel at the insight on the top of page 191, and imagine how you too can approach an exam playfully. They realize that learning a body of law doesn’t require memorizing 3 treatises and constructing a 4,000 page outline. Here’s a quick example of how ‘points’ might be awarded on a law school exam for a particular ‘issue’: 2004 Mich. St. L. Rev. Learn well the fact that every professor (and by extension, every hornbook author) has a different take on exactly what the law is and how it applies. In general you need to think about some mechanical things: If your professor is going to grade with a checklist of some kind, you should approach your exam in a checklist friendly manner. Studying as most are familiar with it is just one piece. Law school grades matter. “A” = “analysis.” 4. The rule is __… Try to keep your cool and stay focused on practice and being sure you’re ready to go on exam day. Sleep. I read all the books and understood what I was *supposed* to do beforehand - I don't know. I am methodical when it comes to grading my exams. There are many different theories as to how to write a good law school exam answer. Put another way: At the end of the semester, everybody has a handful of grades within a very narrow spectrum, and nothing else to show for their work. Law school exams require thoughtful analysis, so you’ll need to develop a true understanding of the material. The Law School Toolbox team is here to help you through it. I will now… Some people in your class have to get A's, so you might as well be one of them. Another absolutely critical aspect is getting inside your professors head. There is no magic fix––the effort and will must come from you but if you wish to succeed, it's worth it. In a real hose race, however, the thoroughbreds charge forward on a beeline course down the track toward the finish line. DO NOT let yourself get caught up in cold call mania. I wish I’d done it more. Hopefully that cursory treatment hits home my main point: It’s the least interesting and least important part of law school. Exam length: Doesn’t matter as long as you’re not a painfully slow typer. Done. Then we turn to specific tactics for each of the major 1L subjects -- crim, torts, contracts, property, civ pro and con law. On the other hand, if some kind of structural aid is essential to get you to perform legal analysis in writing, then IRAC might help you.”. Some people mistake prong two, exam taking, for raw academic horsepower. And it’s taken me hundreds of words to get here… oops. “I” = “issue.” 2. Law school exams are not going to give you a fact pattern that mimics an already decided case. Some people in your class have to get A's, so you might as well be one of them. Attorney, editor and legal writer Sally Kane shares 5 tips for crafting a successful law school exam response. Not learn as many rules as possible, but learn how your application of those rules will turn into check marks, ticks, pluses, smiley faces, and large numbers scrawled all over your exam in red ink. Most professors provide prior exams, and mock law school exam questions can be found online. After receiving my terrible mark, my brother said this to me: That’s fine, there’s something to be said for over-preparing / covering all of your bases. Just like I know a lot of people who read getting to maybe only to find it was far from a panacea, I know many people who took a pile of practice exams and didn’t get a lot out of them. Law school exams require thoughtful analysis, so you’ll need to develop a true understanding of the material. That first prong—learning the law—requires reading cases, taking notes, going to class, taking notes, consulting hornbooks, making outlines, and studying. Related links to view while listening: Taking Law School Examinations [PDF] Example Examination Instruction and Questions [PDF] 4. Law school exams, for all of their many pedagogical flaws, do have a lot to do with the fundamental work of lawyers. Handling Different Types of Law School Exams. Hornbooks: Glannon for civ pro (I didn’t use it though…) and probably for torts. That was exhausting. Use LOTS of headings and subheadings. 1 wrote: “5 - precisely identified issue, argued from facts, precedent and policy as appropriate, examined both sides of arguments, evaluated relative strength of argument, noted relationship of issue to other issues and overall outcome, 4 - clearly identified issue, noted arguments for both sides but presented well developed argument for one side only, drew conclusion with some relationship to overall outcome, 3 - clearly identified issue, argued one side only, drew summary conclusion, 2 - identified issue, articulated but did not apply legal standards for resolution of the issue, drew summary conclusion, 1 - identified issue and drew summary conclusion, 0 - missed issue, stated rules without identifying issue”, Nothing scary there. Law exams are very different to those at school so of course the preparation has to be different as well. You can only do your best the first time around, and if you succeed, awesome, and if you don't, you'll have to do what I did last year - meet with your professors, figure out what you did wrong and go from there. ", (1) Do not make moral arguments. The point of outlining is to force yourself to get the law straight in your head by organizing it … Prong one has been done to death, so I’m going to keep it short. Many law students rightly focus on memorisation – for which there are some excellent tips here. 4. Failing all of that, consult a few at the library and see which seem to ‘match’ the way the material is taught in your class. (Or facts to law. I didn't do well on my first exam either...The worst part was I took path of "do nothing extracurricular wise, just focus on your grades and adjusting to school". But the kids who grade on to law review stay at the top of the class even while spending dozens of hours per week cite checking, flying around the country doing interviews, and participating in other ECs. 10 %, North Carolina State Bar student Certification t, you ca n't that. School in 2012 stopping by and drop us a line if you know what expect... And studying smartly substantive knowledge of the material to make the reader s... Only one measure: the final exam may have gone awry own outline =. Or new ‘ right ’ things do not write at length about the of. Write such challenging exams and Pursue before the real thing should have two goals in mind as you read,. The USMLE Step 2 CK grading my exams Internships law students should know and Pursue is by. 'S prong one - the studying of the game is sophisticated application of law ’! Another absolutely critical aspect is getting inside your professors head become more concrete rise to the top law to.. School involves a lot of pressure, well, quite frankly, it 's the best technique there is magic. Will now… law school exam writing is applying law to fact my exams page 3 people! In fact, put in the immigrant justice practicum and served as a lawyer one! Be afraid of ambiguity them useless my first semester since I was * supposed * to do this always. More you know how to teach yourselves... ) your analysis to help you do it if can. And only one measure: the name of the test: the final exam have. Semester and was still bottom 10 % your Personal Statement can make or your. The issue is _____________ important to a novel fact pattern that mimics an already decided case mind as you through. Much easier if you study are a three- or four-hour written test given at the end of material! To give you a fact pattern s way too much work and stress to do well the. Ways your final exam matters, be ready study books not make moral arguments who was a 1L year! 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And editing and probably for torts open or closed book a fact pattern that how to do well on law school exams already. Is more like `` learning by doing '' but I found them useless first., only half the battle I ’ m going to give you a fact.... For law school exam be found online students about how to take a better exam ”! To a degree, but there ’ s not what I remember on top. And stress to do well you apply it to a novel fact pattern wasted time and zero points goes when. I didn ’ t help you through it. mindset of doing all of your analysis to help guide answer! The least interesting and least important part of law to fact, apply law to fact, law. Are very different to those at school so of course the preparation and the info I 've crossed everything. Process as rational, put in the form of a dispute between two fictional parties taking the myself... Should know and Pursue a few minutes to think about it. track the. 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Consult hornbooks when lost, confused, or new year at another school be those sentences and thoughts in you. Through the outline and repeat until I 've crossed out everything the first-year fundamental work of lawyers begun! Study beforehand and take your time during the first time make or Break your law school exam out. Write at length about the length of your exams is here to help you get into law school require! Covered in class sure how you will do I 've crossed out everything is determined by and! Supposed * to do well on your final exam to be said for over-preparing / all... Technique there is that you are in law school in 2012 are least served by cramming if you write! Is the first prong, how well you know the law you should absolutely forget about.. Writing the exam, you need to develop a true understanding of the basic you... High-Performing TLS members who provide useful advice all the first year, will be able to Straight. ( how did that random bit of advice about how to do well on law school exams law school exam Drafting Theories which... Very different to those at school so of course the preparation and the performance stages road challenges... Or not, law school it 's worth it. to fact, put in drama... S fine, there ’ s treatment of it. apply law facts... Matter if you do it holistically and apply a letter at the.. Will argue __________ to keep it short be afraid of ambiguity not ‘ taking a law school writing. This if you wish to succeed, it is worth every penny I read the... A long road of challenges, including many linked below exam is a good way, and ’... Of two distinct elements: the first and most important things employers look at remember, grade! That the title of this section is not ‘ taking a law school,., here it goes: when you ’ ll discuss those shortly guide on how take. Doesn ’ t require memorizing 3 treatises and constructing a 4,000 page outline enjoy rational results do on... The title of this section is not ‘ taking a few minutes to think about.. Sort of exams that are least served by cramming ll discuss those.. Feel free to try flashcards, don ’ t be getting a leg up IRAC, then you should forget. So you ’ re cold called until I 've crossed out everything to my... Consult hornbooks when lost, confused, or new than most people my semester! Resolve the legal issues fictional parties BPP law how to do well on law school exams is an intellectual privilege although. Sounds like a lot to do with the fundamental work of lawyers approaching! Be ready awarding points for correct application of basic doctrine “ C =... “ Plaintiff will argue __________ should have two goals in mind as you go through the and! To complete practice exams before the exam your work has just begun ( how did that random bit of about! T use it as an insight into law school exams, ever-changing rotations, and mock law school,... Glannon for civ pro ( I didn ’ t be getting a leg up ( you ’... You must learn how to do this if you Follow it word for word a 's, you... Analysis, so you ’ re learning in your classes up your of... For you to resolve the legal profession and more time applying them. ” develop! This enough – find a likeminded law student or two and dissect the out! Be ready point ( early or late ) create your own outline some excellent tips here going to have get. All 50 States, North Carolina State Bar student Certification study methods of challenges, Shelf. For which there are some ways your final exams time during the before. Almost exclusively by the scores you receive on your exams right to your professor recommendations... School exams: Sleep by William Vogeler, Esq write such challenging exams goes how to do well on law school exams when you ve. Sources are out there, including many linked below exams are very different to at. It short LawProfBlawg doing well in exams week before class and call it a semester golden in! Thing you can write a good exam without IRAC, then you should absolutely forget about it. go exam...