Can you get points off for wrong things?

[corporatelaw87]

Or do most professors just award points for what's on their checklist and do not take off if you write something that's not correct

[joobacca]

professors usually tell you if they will take points off for wrong stuff. in my experience, my professors just add. and silence seems to mean that they will add.

[missinglink]

My professors have said they won't take off for anything wrong or for discussions of topics not at issue, but you're wasting valuable time doing that.

So it really ends up the same. If you're wasting time talking about wrong things, or things not relevant, you aren't earning any points.

[BriaTharen]

Depends on the professor. Most of mine have been silent on the issue, but the one that has been vocal said that he gives points for correct issues, no points if you didn't mention it at all, and takes away points if you are wrong.

And wrong doesn't necessarily mean that he disagrees with you. It means you got the BLL wrong, not that he just didn't agree with your conclusion but analysis was okay.

[Rico Suave]

one of my professors said he would take off points if you tried to bring up a concept that was not applicable because it demonstrated that you did not understand that concept. makes sense.

[BriaTharen]

one of my professors said he would take off points if you tried to bring up a concept that was not applicable because it demonstrated that you did not understand that concept. makes sense.

I like that. There is a torts professor at my LS (fortunately, I don't have him) that wants an outline dump. In the CALI answer from last year, a ton of concepts that had nothing to do with the question got brought up and he gave points for it.

I seriously think for his exam you could do barely any analysis, just type out your outline, and ace the class.

[20160810]

I proceed shamelessly as if they don't. On some exams, I've literally written things like "Considering facts X and Y lead to conclusion Z if the court follows the precedent established by case C. Alternately, it is entirely possible that I'm misremembering the holding in C, in which case the court would come to conclusion B." I'm not sure whether to recommend this course of action or not, but not is probably TCR.