- What if I told you that there was one thing that you could
do in your 1L year that is scientifically proven to improve
your grade by at least a third of a grade in all of your
law school classes?
Well, that thing really exists and we're going to talk
about what it is and how you can use it to your advantage
to improve your grades in law school.
(upbeat harp music)
Law professors love to write academic papers, but unlike
other fields, few actually test their theories
in the real world.
But professors Dan Schwarcz and Dion Farganis at the
University of Minnesota Law School, ran a study that
suggests that law students who get individualized feedback
from their professors in one subject are more likely to do
better in all of their classes.
Think about that.
If you can get feedback on how to do better in a law
school final exam, not only will you do better in that
class, but you will do better in all of your
law school classes.
What the professors did is they ran an experiment on 1L
students in their first year classes.
What they found is absolutely amazing.
Their experiment consisted of a certain section of students
who were given individualized feedback on practice tests
versus a controlled group who received
no instruction whatsoever.
Controlling for all other factors like LSAT scores,
undergrad GPA, et cetera, the experimental group saw
their grades increase by one third of a grade in all
of their classes.
That is turning a B+ into an A- or an A into an A+.
And it was in every single one of their classes
on average.
You can find this study at The Journal of Legal Education,
it's called The Impact of Individualized Feedback on
Law School Performance.
This study is amazing, but it's not terribly surprising
when you think about it.
Traditionally, law school is an entire semester of not
knowing what the hell you're doing followed by a test
that is worth 100% of your grade.
And the worst part is that professors almost always use
issue spotting exams, so while the subject matter may
change, the tactics stay the same.
And the test doesn't look like what you talk about in class.
But look at the bright side, most students
won't get any feedback.
Most don't know that there are
repeatable strategies to acing
law school exams.
And most students put off taking practice exams until the
very last minute if they take any practice tests at all.
But the thing about practice tests, is that they give
you the feedback that you need.
Even if it's not your professor, him or herself, that is
giving you the feedback, you can other students give
you the feedback, you can self evaluate and get the
feedback from yourself.
You can learn the strategies of how to take
law school essay exams.
And what this study shows, is that once you take the leap
and you start taking practice exams, you will do better
not only in the class that you're taking practice exams,
but you will do better in all of your classes.
And remember, you're graded on a curve so you just have
to get better than everybody else.
Most people don't have the motivation
to take practice exams.
They're daunting.
It seems like it's a waste of time as opposed to learning
more subsitive law, but learning subsitive law
hits a wall.
You hit diminishing returns.
Most people don't spend any time learning how to take
law school exams.
And the way that most classes are taught is completely
antiquated, but you can turn that to your advantage.
Be one of the people that gets the insights and gets
the feedback with practice exams, and courses like
Legal Eagle and others.
Learning to do well in law school is a skill, and skills
can be practiced and they can be learned.
Or, in other words, it's like a muscle.
As long as you workout that muscle, that muscle will
get stronger and if you don't workout that muscle,
it will atrophy and law school exams
are exactly the same way.
You can do better in law school.
It's science.
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Thanks for stopping by.
(upbeat guitar music)