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Taking A Law-School Examination: You Must Monitor Your Time

The document provides guidance on how to effectively take a law school examination. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring your time to fully answer every question, organizing your answers with a clear structure, carefully reading all instructions and facts, directly answering the specific question asked, and writing answers clearly. Key points include spending enough time on each question, organizing answers by legal issues or other logical structure, focusing on the issues and standards specified in the questions, and leaving space to ensure legibility.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
92 views2 pages

Taking A Law-School Examination: You Must Monitor Your Time

The document provides guidance on how to effectively take a law school examination. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring your time to fully answer every question, organizing your answers with a clear structure, carefully reading all instructions and facts, directly answering the specific question asked, and writing answers clearly. Key points include spending enough time on each question, organizing answers by legal issues or other logical structure, focusing on the issues and standards specified in the questions, and leaving space to ensure legibility.

Uploaded by

ACDC
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1Taking A Law-School Examination

The general thoughts are not mine, but rather are collected from various sources. They are sound
and accord with my views. I’ve added “Personal Notes” after my review of some of the practice exams.

You Must Monitor Your Time


You must give yourself enough time to answer, and to try to answer completely, every question
on the exam. Failing to answer a question will always have a severe negative impact on your grade.
Moreover, merely listing a number of additional issues as time is expiring will not entitle one to full or
even partial credit for those issues. Because the listed issues are not discussed, the instructor cannot
assume that the student could discuss the issues adequately; at most, only a little credit can be given due
to the absence of analysis and discussion.

Personal Notes: Some did not answer Part (B) at all or with more than a few brief sentences.
Based on the indicated time allocation, this part was worth 25% of the total exam. Earning few points
on this section means that you would have to perform nearly perfectly on Part (A) just to do adequately.
Obviously, this is not an effective exam-taking strategy. The extra few minutes spent finely polishing
your answer to the first question will never yield as many points as spending that time beginning and/or
completing the next question. Every essay exam question requires more time than you are given. Do
the best in the time you have, and move on.

You Must Organize Your Answer


The failure to organize an answer is perhaps the most costly mistake an examinee can make.
The answer written without a plan will invariably fail to address issues and connections between issues.
Moreover, the student will often be inconsistent in his or her treatment of the issues. The student who
organized before answering is less likely to omit essential matters. In addition, answers that are not
organized will tend to rambling or repeating relevant points.
Answers may be organized by legal issues, parties, dates, events or some other pertinent
attribute. There is no perfect organizational method applicable to all subjects and all questions; the best
plan will often vary depending upon the nature and facts of the question. In general, exceptions to rules
or counter-arguments should closely follow the main rule or argument, and the application of the facts to
a particular legal rule should follow the statement of that rule.

Personal Notes: There were some answers that made many excellent substantive points, but
presented the material in a disorganized and/or unstructured way. The forcefulness and effectiveness of
these answers were negatively impacted by the absence of an organization strategy. They also tended to
miss key points. The extra few minutes spent organizing your thoughts (and perhaps quickly outlining
your answer) before you start writing will usually pay dividends in your final product.

You Must Read The Instructions And The Facts


Every sentence, every word on an examination may have (and probably does have) significance.
Be sure to read everything. Professor Langbein of Yale Law School once stated that he was “staggered
by the amount of abject carelessness that is exhibited by examinees.” That is virtually a universal
observation. Not reading the facts fully also can lead to problems. A student may spend considerable
time discussing an issue which simply is not raised by the fact situation of that question, only to find that
the next question focuses solely on that issue.
Personal Notes: Some spent time talking about provocation in Part (A). These facts were in the
exam primarily to be addressed in Part (B). Everyone had the right instincts when reacting to these
facts, but recognizing in which part of the question they should have been discussed was key. Also, in
Part (B), some people wrote (explicitly or implicitly) about issues relating to utilitarianism — or at least
did not focus primarily on issues of retributivism — even though the question expressly called for you to
give attention solely to retributivist arguments.

You Must Answer The Question


Not only should you read the question, you also should answer the question. That may sound
simple, but you probably would be amazed at how many people fail to answer the question. Rather, they
write a mini-treatise on the law, jurisprudence and legal history, commencing with the Norman Conquest
(or the murder of Abel) without ever addressing the specific question.
Correct statements or conclusions are not correct answers unless you show why they are correct.
You may state your conclusions, but justify your statements. Do not state legal conclusions without
giving your reasoning. Even when the answer is right and explained, is there another possible answer
which you should mention and/or distinguish? An excellent answer not only suggests the preferred
result and explains why, but also addresses each side of the problem.
Pay attention to the assigned role. Write what is requested. Do not pad your answer by restating
the facts, stating the approach you will take in answering the question, or inventing facts. One must
identify issues, analyze facts, and apply the law to those facts. If the question leaves open an issue about
which law applies, discuss that point. Analyze the issue and any conflicts in the law on that issue.
Do not answer questions that are not asked. If there is no question on mens rea or rape or white
collar crime, then the world’s best essay on that (or those) topic(s) will gain you nothing. On the other
hand, negative issue spotting can be appropriate. If you note that a criminal rule of law is not breached
because an element of the crime is missing, state that fact and briefly demonstrate why you reach that
conclusion. But do not go on to explain why some crime not even on the exam also was not broken
because none of its elements are present.

Personal Notes: Some spent significant time and energy making arguments about whether
Bosco had acted recklessly on negligently. Though a very brief reference to the recklessness standard
might be appropriate to support arguments that Bosco did not act “knowingly,” an extended discussion
of the range of mens rea standards was unnecessary. Further, some exams invented facts to support an
argument, especially in Part (B). Though such creativity is encouraged in class and can suit you well as
an attorney, it is not appropriate or productive on an exam. Each question should provide more than
enough facts to support your points; concentrate your time and energies on the facts that are provided.

You Must Write Clearly


Not only should your answers be articulate and succinct, you should write legibly. If an answer
cannot be read by the instructor, the answer is not there for the grading. If you plan to use abbreviations
or symbols for particular actors or events or terms, be sure to indicate clearly their meaning.

Personal Notes: Skip lines, write on only one side of the page, do whatever else it takes to
ensure that none of your insights get lost in the translation. Most written exams were legible, but many
did not take advantage of all the space that the bluebooks provide; most typed answers were had dense,
lengthy paragraphs. For those hand-writing, leaving white space not only makes your writing easier to
read, it also gives you room for additions if you later think of new issues or arguments.

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