The "taking as many practice exams as possible" strategy worked out pretty well for me last semester. Now trying to pick the best approach to prep for a take-home final that one of my professors is giving.
Should I spend a lot of time on old/commercial exams? If so, should I be writing out entire answers?
I've never taken a take home law school exam, but it seems to me that it should be enough to read the hypo and then thoroughly go through my outline constantly asking myself "does this need to be addressed?/is this an issue?".
Am I wrong?
Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep? Forum
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Helmholtz
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
This thread is relevant to my interests. Mine is in crim, so the subject material isn't going to be that difficult to grasp. Fearing the curve.
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DeSimone
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LurkerNoMore
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
How long is the exam? This is an important piece of information.
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DeSimone
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
About 6-7 hours.LurkerNoMore wrote:How long is the exam? This is an important piece of information.
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smittytron3k
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
3/4 of my exams last semester were like this. if there's a word limit, you need to be more selective about what issues you talk about and cut out unnecessary fluff. professors also expect slightly deeper analysis and better organization/writing. make sure you spend a good chunk of time reading the question and figuring out what to say, because it will prevent you from getting stuck and/or spinning your wheels.
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Helmholtz
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
+1DeSimone wrote:About 6-7 hours.LurkerNoMore wrote:How long is the exam? This is an important piece of information.
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LurkerNoMore
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Re: Take-Home Issue Spotter: Best Way to Prep?
Have you taken open book exams before? The prep shouldn't be any different. That time allotment isn't going to allow you to really slack on your prep. You will probably be expected to write more cogently than if you were taking a 4 hour exam. Rather than just coughing up everything you remember, you will probably need to make sure that it is organized and goes into more detail on each point.
Take a look at past exams -- how long are the fact patterns? Has the professor given any model answers?
Be sure to carve out a really quiet, distraction-free space to take the exam. Consider doing it in your library if it is generally quiet. Complacency is probably the biggest concern. It may feel like you have a ton of time to write the exam, but as you get into it you will likely find that you need every minute.
Take a look at past exams -- how long are the fact patterns? Has the professor given any model answers?
Be sure to carve out a really quiet, distraction-free space to take the exam. Consider doing it in your library if it is generally quiet. Complacency is probably the biggest concern. It may feel like you have a ton of time to write the exam, but as you get into it you will likely find that you need every minute.
