Exam and Outlining Tips from Upperclassmen



Exam and Outlining Tips from Alumni

****

Note: the tips below represent the opinions of a diverse group who volunteered to share their views. These views DO NOT necessarily reflect or conform to your professors’ views. If you have any questions about how to prepare for exams or outline for class, always consult and defer to your own professors.

******

Tips from Dan Lupo (2009)

1. Do what works for you. The first thing to remember is you already know how to study, and not to adopt study methods that do not work for you. Remember to do what works for you. Do not follow the other lemmings right over the cliff.

2. Outlining. It’s talked about a lot in law school, but people are hard pressed to say what outlining is. That’s because it’s different for many people. Outlining is the process where you summarize your readings, class notes, and synthesize and organize them. Outlining has two benefits, one far more important then the other:

• To mentally organize and understand all the rules, policies, and the few facts that make the cases turn one way or the other. (Far more important). Puts everything in its place. Captures where there are 2 or more different law theories (Comparative v. contributory negligence).

• To provide an easy lookup during exams.

One person may make a 25 page outline of a three credit class, another’s outline may be over a 100 pages for the same class. Because I have a poor memory, my outlines tend to be longer, rather then shorter. What is important is to create an outline that helps you put it all together. If you are not sure where to start with outlining, get exemplar outlines, read a bit of each, and find a format that seems to have the right dept and feel for you. Use commercial outlines after you have integrated your notes on the case book and class notes, to fill in the holes, but not before using the class material, and not as a substitute. Commercial is invariably inferior, contains mistakes, and does not emphasize what the professor emphasized.

3. Gun for class participation bumps, they are free points, and forces you to keep up in your readings. One bump a semester for a night student can raise your GPA by 0.1.

4. Prepare with practice exam questions – from your professor or a study guide. If your professor posts exemplar exam questions, or has posted them in the library, work them completely. Pester your professor to post some if they do not, and get exemplar answers. As a night student, I found little time to work practice exams and questions. One useful shortcut is to get an exam question book (Like Spiegel), read the essay questions, think and outline, then read the answer. You can cover 3 an hour this way. I have found it helps frame the questions on exams, and gives additional angles that can be used on the exam.

5. Answering exam questions: Read the question, make notes, sketch ideas, use as much as a third of the time on an essay question. You are more likely to formulate your argument and spot issues this way then just starting to write.

Tips from Miranda Jones (2008)

1. Write your own outline. This should go without saying, but you need to synthesize all of the material you have studied over the entire semester. The best way to do this is through outlining. Do not just copy an outline prepared by another person! It is the act of preparing the outline that will help you prepare you for the exam. That being said, once you have written your own outline, do not be afraid to compare it to commercial outlines or previous students’ outlines to ensure that you have not overlooked anything important or misstated any aspect of the law. Some student organizations provide its members with access to outline banks, which are essentially a collection of outlines prepared by your predecessors. The outlines in these banks can be very useful, but keep in mind that these outlines are prepared by other students and may not be completely correct. Also, make sure that you leave enough time to study your outline so that you can answer questions without looking at it to find the answer. After outlining, you are ready to begin taking practice tests.

2. Take practice tests. Take practice tests, especially if your professor has given you practice questions. When taking practice exams, time yourself, use only the materials to which you will have access during the exam, and try to simulate exam conditions. Also, find an approach to answering the questions that you can use during the actual exam. For instance, some people find it helpful to outline the question first, other people chart questions, and still others just dive in. Please note that this last approach is not recommended. When you take practice questions develop your own approach. Be aware of time constraints and determine how much time you can spend on preparing to write your answer. You will have to learn which exam approach works for you and the best time to do that is before the exam.

3. Use online resources and commercial resources to help you prepare. Your professor, while the best source of practice questions, is not the only source for practice questions. CALI is an excellent source of practice questions. The Examples and Explanations series also provides a wealth of practice questions. Additionally, if you are enrolled in Barbri, they have practice exam materials.

4. Take care of yourself during the exam period. Nothing will affect your performance on an exam more than being sick or sleep-deprived. Set a studying schedule and stick to it. Staying up all night to cram a few days before the exam is not going to help you retain the information or achieve top scores. Make sure you get enough rest and eat well so that you feel well and can perform your best on the day of the exam.

Tips from Stacey Pratt (2008)

1. Outline as you go along. Schedule one day of every week to be the day that you work on your outlines for all of your classes. If you outline weekly, you will have time to read through it when it comes time to take finals, and this is also like a weekly review. In your outline, you should combine your personal notes from the reading as well as notes from class. Since outlines can get very long, you can also create an abbreviated outline that has all the basic information, but is easier to handle for the exam itself. Then you can include cross-references to your longer outline so you can easily find the more detailed information.

2. Take practice exams. No matter whether you will be taking an essay exam or a multiple choice exam, taking any sort of practice exam will help you get in the mindset you need to be in for that class. What is more important is not whether you get the answers right or wrong, but that you review the actual answers and why those are correct. Practice exams are particularly helpful for issue-spotting exams because it trains you to catch the little things.

3. Bounce ideas off someone else. I personally do not get much out of the group study experience. But what I found very helpful was to have one or two people who I could get together with a few days before the exam to discuss any issues that I or they are still a bit unclear on.

4. Have a study schedule. Studying takes up a great deal of time and exams may be scheduled close together, so it is important that for the two weeks prior to exams and during exams that you schedule when you are going to study which subject. You know which classes you need to focus on more, so plan your time accordingly, and then stick to your schedule, or tweak it if need be.

5. Organize your study materials. Since many class exams are open note, it is always good to know what you have and where you have it. Use tabs to indicate section breaks and include a table of contents. You can also cross-reference within your outlines to other materials, so you know where to look if you need more information.

6. Study throughout the semester. While you are doing your weekly outlines, it is good to also read through what you already have in your outline, that way it helps begin the process of ingraining the material in your brain, so that when you go back to studying later, you can more easily remember the beginning of the semester and relate it to what you will be doing in the future in the class.

7. Ask your professor questions. If you are unsure about a subject or have a particular question, most professors are very responsive to email, especially before the exam. Don’t hesitate or worry about what they will think of your question, it is more important that your question gets answered, and remember, your exam is blindly graded anyway.

Tips from Elizabeth Bradshaw (2008)

1. Make your own outlines. Try to obtain several outlines from upperclassmen to get some good ideas as to how you’d like to outline (don’t hesitate to ask how they did in the class—you want to make sure that what you obtain worked for someone else). BUT…do yourself a favor, MAKE YOUR OWN OUTLINES! The best way to learn the material is to figure out what is important on your own. Similarly, if you work in groups, be careful about breaking up your outlining responsibilities. You don’t want to rely on the accuracy or quality of someone else’s work (especially your first semester).

2. “Don’t miss the forest for the trees”—As you start preparing your outlines, know the specifics of cases you’ve read and discussed in class, but make sure that you look at how the course materials fit together. Law professors are not going to explain everything for you. Instead, they will often expect you to piece together the course materials to determine what the law really is. Exams will ask you to do more than recite your case briefs.

3. Ask professors about study guides & old exams. Find out what study guides the professor recommends. He or she likes certain study materials for a reason and may even structure exam questions much like those in a particular study guide. Also ask about, or obtain copies of a professor’s old exams to know what you are getting into before you take your exam. If a professor tends to ask questions based on his in-class discussions, it is best to know this as early as possible. Also, ask your professor for the exam format and exam cover instructions in advance. You don’t want any surprises on exam day, nor do you want to waste time reading through the instructions if you don’t have to.

4. Base your study plans on your own needs. For example, though many of my classmates formed study groups their first year, I studied alone. I found this resulted in the most productive use of my time. Also, don’t base your study patterns on the recommendations of another 1L—your classmates don’t know what works for you, nor have they ever taken a law school exam! (Warning: 1Ls tend to get very anxious prior to first semester exams. If you don’t respond well to other students’ anxiety, stay away from the law school during reading days—I studied anywhere but the law school and it kept me sane.)

5. Start studying early and pace yourself—you don’t want to leave yourself too little time to study for an exam because you spent too much time preparing for another. Also, don’t make yourself-pull all-night study sessions in between exams.

6. Don’t blow off your economics class! Many people forget that it is worth 3 credits and devote little attention to preparing for the exam. It may not be a legal course, but it will factor into your GPA as much as your contracts and more than your LRWA courses! I know too many economics majors who did fairly mediocre in the economics course because they didn’t study enough prior to the exam.

Tips from Anne Loomis (2007)

1. Start outlining early. Even if you think you don't really know what you're doing yet, remember that you can go back and edit or revise your outlines. But you want to make sure you have time to study with your completed outlines before the exam so that you really know the material well.

2. Find upperclass students who have taken the classes you're in from the same professors, and find out what each professor's exam is like. Different professors use different formats, test in different styles, and are looking for different things in exam answers. The more you know about what to expect, the better.

3. Practice issue-spotting. The best way to do this is with your study group. Get a study guide that has sample exam questions in it, or an old copy of an exam on reserve in the library. Talk with your study group about how you'd answer the question. Keep running these drills as much as you can - you'll get comfortable with having to articulate the issue and the arguments on each side. Being able to do that will get you lots of points on essay exams.

4. Draw up an exam-study schedule. By the time late November rolls around, you may feel overwhelmed with how much there is to do. It's important that you don't spend too much time studying for one exam at the expense of the others. I recommend taking a few minutes to decide what you're going to accomplish each day. Write it out in a schedule, post it somewhere you'll see it often, and follow it!

Tips from Andrew Zoltan (2006)

1. Do all the reading, go to class, and pay attention. You get the most out of a lecture if you have already done the reading. Even if you did the reading, you should go to class to hear the professor’s take on the cases. If a professor thinks an assigned case was wrongly decided, you don’t want to rely on that case for the exam. Most importantly, pay attention in class. Don’t IM your friends, play solitaire, or read blogs during a lecture. There is plenty of time to hang out, play games, and read for fun outside of class. If you’ve put forth the effort to read and go to class, you should make the most of it and listen to what the professor has to say. Wait until you’re a third year with job and/or clerkship lined up before you start zoning out in class.

2. Compartmentalize your study time from your social time. In other words, treat it like a job. When you are reading for class, that’s all you should be doing. Turn instant messenger off. Go to the library or read at home. Don’t try to do real work in the atrium; you’ll end up getting distracted. Once you’re done with your reading you can hang out. Also, stay sober. In college you can get away with going out on a random Wednesday night and showing up to class hung over. Law school is all about reading and understanding what you have read. This is already a difficult task, and it becomes much more difficult when you are still buzzing from last night, your head feels like it weighs 20 pounds, and your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth. You can still go out and have a good time, but remember that you need to be able to function at a high level the next day so keep your drink intake to a minimum.

3. Find the facts, the rule, and the rationale for cases. When you read for class, first figure out the relevant facts for the case (many of the facts are irrelevant to the holding). After that the judge will state the rule; this is the legal principle the judge will use to decide the case based on the facts. For example, the opinion might say “promissory estoppel arises when a promise is made which the promisor should reasonably expect to induce action by the promisee, which does induce such action, and results in injustice if not enforced.” If you have read an entire case and don’t know what the rule is, then you need to re-read the case. Sometimes the court will describe a test with multiple parts; you need to note this as well. Finally, the court will apply the rule or test to the facts of the case and explain their decision. This is important – you should study the application of the rule so you know how to apply it yourself on the exam. If you understand the rule and the application of the rule, you can figure out the issue from the facts. In class you may be asked about the procedural posture and the claims, but that stuff is useless when studying for the exam.

4. Study the cases as they are grouped in the case book. One case by itself does not tell you much about the law. They are grouped in the case book for a reason, namely to show you how the law affects different sets of facts. For example, your Contracts case book likely has two general promissory estoppel cases with slightly different facts and different holdings; promises made between family members; promises made by employers to employees; promises to donate to charity; promises to insure; and cases involving preliminary negotiations. You need to understand how the law of promissory estoppel is applied in these different contexts, and to be able to spot these scenarios on an exam. Exam questions typically have bizarre fact patterns. Your Contracts prof may use a fact pattern involving two brothers (family members) where one works for the other (employment) and the brother who is the employer promises to indemnify the other brother for something (promise to insure). You don’t have to figure out which form of promissory estoppel controls, but you do need to address all three scenarios (employment, family, insurance), state the rule for each scenario, and apply the rule in a coherent manner. Unless you don’t want full credit.

5. Don’t freak out. It’s just law school. Thousands of people have done it without suffering a nervous breakdown; it’s not that hard. To put things in perspective, I read a letter to the editor in a college newspaper right before I went to law school, replying to a letter a law school alum had written about how much he hated his law school experience. The reply letter was from a Viet Nam veteran, who wrote that he greatly enjoyed law school after his military service because “it took place indoors, required no manual labor, and no one was trying to kill me.” If you feel like you’re starting to freak out, remember that there are hundreds of thousands of men and women our age under much more stressful conditions than those experienced in the friendly confines of Hazel Hall. Get a grip – no one is trying to kill you, they’re just trying to educate you.

Tips from Aimee DeFilippo (2006)

1. Prepare for the exam throughout the semester.  It is very difficult to assimilate 14 weeks of reading and class materials in the tiny span of time between the end of classes and the start of exams.  Procrastination and all-nighters do not work well in law school, so it’s best to avoid them by making sure you’ve started your outlines by mid-semester at the latest.  Then, update your outline faithfully each week with your latest notes, and re-read your entire outline every few weeks so that it starts to stick in your head.  Preparing this way not only saves you time at the end of the semester, but it allows you to use the time right before finals to really hone in on the difficult areas of the course, which can make a big difference on the exam.

 

2.  Attend class, and pay attention while there.  This is ESPECIALLY important if you’re a night student.  Going to class forces you to keep up with the reading and attempt to follow along.  It’s also important to learn what the professor’s issues of interest are so you know what he/she might focus on for the exam.  Most importantly, resist the temptation to be online during class.  Use the class time to focus on what the professor is saying, and if you don’t feel like the professor is saying much, use the time to re-read old notes, work on your outline, read ahead for that class, etc.  Just use the class time efficiently. 

 

3. If you have a long commute, listen to law tapes/CDs.  It’s tempting to use your commute time to listen to the radio and decompress from your work day, but commuting time is actually a great way to get some studying done!  Buy audio tapes/CDs (I’ve found PMBR or Sum & Substance tapes are best) for some of the classes you’re taking, and force yourself to listen to them every time you’re in the car.  The sheer repetition of doing this will literally imprint the blackletter law in your brain and is an invaluable way to learn the material if you’re an evening student who doesn’t have time to read the hornbooks.

 

4.  Do not be intimidated by the people in class who seem to command the material and impress the professors.  Most of the time, these people are not the ones who wind up at the top of their class, so don’t let them freak you out.  

 

5. Use all of the time allotted for an exam.  Spend a good amount of time reading the fact pattern and the question, outlining your answer before starting to write, and then proofing and re-reading once you’ve written.  If you do this, you likely won’t finish your exam way ahead of everyone else, and that’s a good thing.  More often than not, your entire semester’s grade depends on your exam performance, so use every minute of that time to make sure your answer is the best you can do.  Resist the urge to just finish the exam and get out of there.  But be careful with this… do not ramble on forever if you feel that you’ve already provided a thorough answer to the exam question.  

Tips from Matt Spengler (2006)

1. As much as they test your knowledge of the class subject (contracts, torts, etc.), law school exams test your ability to organize and recall a vast amount of information. You need to organize all the information you have gathered over the course of the semester--mainly your readings, class notes, and case briefs-- into something you can understand. A good outline enables you to pull together all the important information into one document so you can step back from the minutiae that was discussed each day in class and get a better idea of what the law is in a given area.

2. Some outlining suggestions:

* Start with the professor's syllabus, or the book's table of contents, and then add details from your notes, the book, and your cases.

* Review the cases as you go through, but don't put too much detail in the outline, just a few bullet points.

* Don't start outlining too early in the semester. The great thing about outlines is they help you see the big picture. If you start too soon, there's no big picture to see.

* Always make an outline, even if you can't bring it into the exam.

* You don't need study aids. They can be a help. But just use them to assist in understanding the material.

3. Exam tips

* Prepare for every exam the same way--regardless of whether it is open-book or not.

* If it's open-book, bring your book, your outline, a copy of your class notes, and a printout of your case briefs.

* Outline your answer before writing.

* If you're confused by a question or don't know an answer, skip the question and come back later. I've found that writing answers to other questions helps generate ideas for those difficult ones.

* Pay careful attention to the directions, particularly line or word limits for short answer questions.

* Bring a stop watch. Exams are very time intensive. Figure out how much time you should spend on each section/question and then stick to it.

Tips from Erik Beard (2005)

1. Find your own system for studying. Some people work well in study groups, others find it annoying and distracting. Some people have to brief every case in detail, while others can download briefs off Lexis and know the material just as well. The important thing is to figure out what works best for you. This may take some experimentation, and it may not be until first semester grades come in that you realize your system didn’t work as well as you hoped. That’s OK. While first semester is important, first year is more important. If first semester does not go as well as you hoped, evaluate your system and make changes for second semester.

2. Get organized about preparing for finals. Preparing class outlines is really only half the battle; the other half is giving yourself adequate time to actually use those outlines to study. Set a due date for yourself to finish your outlines several days before your first final. Start looking at your time commitments sometime around the middle of October for the rest of the semester, and decide how and when you will work on your outlines, while not falling behind on the rest of your work.

3. I find it very helpful to make charts and summaries to use during an open book final. The plain truth is that you will not have time during an open book final to actually open your book very much. I have found that using my outline to prepare a one page summary or chart of each major topic is a great way to reduce many pages of reading and outlining into one quick reference tool that can actually be effective in jogging your memory during the exam itself.

4. Talk to second and third year students about the finals they have taken. With the exception of Economics, we have all taken finals from the professors you have now, and can give you an idea of what to expect. Most of us are more than willing to share a few horror stories, but we are rarely asked.

Tips from Joe Decker (2005)

1. Don’t miss class – and if you do – get someone to take good notes for you. In a 14 week semester, each class represents 4% of what you’ll learn. The professor will often emphasize what he thinks is important, and those are principles or ideas you want to highlight in your notes and add to your outlines.

2. Find out as much as you can about WHAT the professor will test. If you haven’t asked yet and it is not explained in the course syllabus, ask the question. If it is explained in the syllabus, ask for clarification.

a. Specific Tip: If the professor says she will test you on black letter law, get a supplement with black letter law spelled out. When you work from casebooks, sometimes the cases obscure the underlying principle or leave it unclear.

b. Specific Tip: For some reason I have encountered a lot of three part essay exams. There are usually two long essay questions and a third question based on policy. The professor wants to test your understanding on underlying policy. Whenever your professor promises an essay exam, pay especially close attention to what she emphasizes as underlying principles or policy.

c. Specific Tip: Find out how much the professor wants you to identify principles with cases. Some professors and some courses require being able to cite the case that creates a rule – others do not. Determine the professor’s expectation early and gear your studying and outline accordingly.

3. Find out as much as you can about HOW the professor tests. This is not game theory – this is compensating for the fact that you get no midterm exam to provide clues as to how well you are connecting with your professor. Law school students face an innate disadvantage unless they can tell exactly what the professor wants from an exam question.

a. If the professor gives sample exams – take them. If the professor offers prior year exams as study materials, look at them. Many professors offer a prior student exam that they feel best answers the exam question. These are all guidelines to what your professor thinks is important. Use them.

b. Pay careful attention to what the professor says she expects. Know the scope of the test. Please don’t rely on your own knowledge of a subject: answer the questions with what your professor has taught.

c. Pay careful attention to the “rules of the test.” Do incorrect answers count against you – or will the professor include an answer that (if selected) indicates you truly don’t understand the material or have guessed? Is there a variable score (usually multiple choice) where more than one answer gets points, but there is only one “best” answer?

4. Multiple choice exams and applying the rules. If your final exam format is multiple choice, you will most likely be given a fact pattern and then asked a question requiring application of the law.

a. You might consider practicing for this type of test with flash cards. Flash cards can help clarify black letter rules of law, and get you used to thinking about the format. But be careful. Most flash cards do not go into enough depth; and flash card answers are not phrased the same way your exam will be. Shuffle them up – they will resemble your exam more closely.

b. Study materials like prepared outlines will often give you good practice exams in multiple choice format. They will go into a little more depth – but with fewer questions the coverage is not as complete. Using the two together is pretty effective

c. Understanding the way your professor asks questions is especially important in a multiple choice exam. Review of prior exams or sample exams can make a great difference.

5. Short answer tests and applying the rules. A student replies to a “short answer” best when they give something like a “short answer” from a legal memo. A simple Yes/No, Guilty/not Guilty, Liable/Not Liable followed by an application of the rule of law.

a. Be careful. Professors like to test depth of knowledge with these questions and most questions do “double duty.” Questions might focus on an exception to a rule of law, where the short answer must explain why the general rule does not apply; or questions might focus on a situation where two different principles collide and you must resolve them.

b. Study Guides and commercial outlines are very good for studying for this type of format.

6. Essay Exams and applying the rules. You will hear these called “issue-spotting exams.” The professor lays out a fairly long or complicated fact pattern, with useful and useless information, and then you must “spot” the legal issues, identify the rule of law that pertains to the issue, and apply it in order to give the proper advice or conclusion. Issue spotting exams are not classic essay tests. This is one area where practice taking this type of tests will help you a lot. I summarized some ideas below on how to handle the exam.

• Spotting issues is the first step. Here knowing what your professor wants is important –

some professors want you to read into their fact patterns and identify even remote possibilities – others prefer you don’t stray.

• Finding the rule. Professors like to give areas where a lot of issues collide – so often the rule itself will require analysis to see if it applies. Look for multiple rules in your fact patterns.

• Application – this is where you separate the lawyers from the future law school professors. (The old joke in law school is that the “A” students become professors, and the “B” students end up working at law firms … for the “C” students.) Professors love to set up fact patterns that require you to navigate through different possible rules– and usually you get top points by identifying them all, explaining why you choose not to invoke this rule based on the facts, but why the particular rule you selected is applicable.

• NEVER, NEVER modify facts. If the fact pattern is close to some rule, you can comment on the rule and why it does not apply for points. But don’t add or change a fact to get to the rule.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download