Welcome to LearnLawBetter.
Wondering what a law school exam is all about.
Curious why everyone says they are so hard?
Stay to the end, and learn what to expect on a law school exam, how they are graded,
and how to do well on them.
Don’t forget to hit the like button if you find the episode useful, and click the subscribe
button and bell if you don’t want to miss any future episodes.
Hi, this is Beau Baez, and today I want to explain how law school exams work.
Almost every law school exam is made up of essay questions, and many also include bar
exam style multiple choice questions.
Most exams are proctored, with a specific time limit.
You will have to keep track of time yourself, since you will have a block of time to answer
all the questions.
If you spend too much time on one question, that could mean you don’t get to every question.
First, let’s discuss essay questions.
A single essay question can be several pages long, though the more common essay questions
each fit on one page.
The question is comprised almost exclusively of facts.
For example, the facts might describe how someone went to the grocery store and was
injured by a banana that somebody dropped on the floor.
After the facts there's a short question.
The question might be very broad and ask you to “discuss all issues reasonably raised
by the facts.”
Or if your professor is feeling generous, it might say something like “discuss whether
Peter is liable for murder.”
Law school essays are not looking for you to merely recite all the law you know—that
is what most of you are used to doing from your college courses.
Instead, a law school course essay requires students to use a skill needed to practice law: reading
a set of facts concerning a client, determining the legal issues, and then applying the law
to the client’s problem.
Second, let’s move to multiple choice questions.
Again, these are not the type of questions you saw in college.
In college, you might have had a question that asked you to provide the year in which
the Magna Charta was signed by King John of England, and then you would have four choices: 1066, 1215, 1776,
or 1848 (the answer is 1215 in case you were wondering).
A law school multiple choice question is a paragraph or two long, and you will have to
choose the best answer.
This means that you will often have more than one answer that is technically correct.
The key is to find the best among two, three, or even four technically correct answers.
Also, you might have four wrong answers, but again you need to find the best answer choice
from what you've been given.
Law school essays are graded differently from college exams, because you are not being primarily
tested on knowledge retention.
Though there is no one standard grading rubric, all law professors will grade you on how well
you did using four categories: correct rules, application of facts to law, organization,
and technical writing skills, like grammar and writing.
Unfortunately, professors are all over the place on how many points they assign to these
categories, and few will tell you how they assign points.
What you do is you get a grade at
the end of the semester and that’s it.
So how do you succeed on a law school exam?
Hard work by itself isn’t enough.
First, you need to create a strong law school outline, which is where you capture all
the rules you will need for the exam.
Second, you will use the IRAC method in writing your essays—I for Issue, R for Rule, A for
analysis, and C for conclusion.
Third, you must write practice essays, starting towards the beginning of the semester
because cramming two weeks before the final will not do.
Fourth, for multiple choice questions, you also must start practicing them at the beginning
of the semester.
Because law school exams are testing you on new skills, and you must start learning how to
master these skills early in the semester.
If you wait to the end, you will be disappointed in your grades, or find yourself academically
dismissed.
If you liked this episode, hit the like button.
Also, to avoid missing any future episodes, hit the subscribe and bell button.
For more resources to help you get ahead, including my blog, newsletter, and exam bank,
check out LearnLawBetter.com.
Thanks for watching.