After Grades - What did we learn? Forum

[esmagalhaes]

i don't know what i learned. i've gotten two grades - a B and a B+. Both of which I consider quite shitty. but i have no sense whatsoever about what i did wrong in terms of method or process and therefore how to rectify whatever the problem may be. the higher grade was in legal writing, and i got more feedback on that. and i have some idea what happened with that. i have a meeting with the prof to discuss further. there it seems i failed to mention arguments that needed to be addressed in the memo. i guess i can see why those arguments might be valuable tto mention, but i need to understand what was the process that should have led me to that argument. what question did i fail to ask or not answer adequately that would've led me to that argument? and then with the B i have no idea whatsoever. i felt good about the test, actually. hopefully, the professor will give some substantitive feedback on the grade.

very depressed at the moment. and feeling like perhaps i am not cut out for law school. also trying to console myself by telling myself that there are more important things in life than law school. which is true, but it's a convenient thing to hang on to at the moment.

[Pretzel_Logic]

Uh, I don't know what school you go to, but I'm hyped beyond belief about my B+ in Civ Pro...haha. That's above median and I am content, especially since the test was a royal beeyotch.

[rbgrocio]

After going through half of my law school journey, I am more convinced than ever that U CANNOT PREDICT HOW WELL OR BAD YOU DID!

[esmagalhaes]

Uh, I don't know what school you go to, but I'm hyped beyond belief about my B+ in Civ Pro...haha. That's above median and I am content, especially since the test was a royal beeyotch.

thanks for the sentiment. i suppose it might be wise for me to adjust my aims. well, i should surely study like i'm hoping for an A or hoping to learn everything or something in that vein. but then it would be good not to count on an A.

as far as where i go - we have a curve like everyone else. so i take it a B+ means here roughly what it means elsewhere, that you were above a certain percentage of people and below a certain other. i guess i just don't think of myself as being in the 75th percentile of this group or many other groups.

i have a hard time understanding why the difficulty of the test would make a difference if your grades are curved like i gather law schools typically do. if it is curved then everyone had the same hard exam. f

[esmagalhaes]

After going through half of my law school journey, I am more convinced than ever that U CANNOT PREDICT HOW WELL OR BAD YOU DID!

since i got my torts grade Sunday i've been awaiting some further comments or feedback. waiting. and waiting. and waiting. nothing! it's rather crazy if we don't get anything. the whole grade riding on one assignment on which you get one single comment - a grade. nothing about why you got that grade. sounds like a system cooked up by someone who didn't care about student improvement but cared a lot about making sure professors had time for research.

i'm sure i would've still been annoyed about that even if i'd got an awesomer grade, but some of it is due to the crappiness.

as far as prediction of grade. i think there is this inherent difficulty with a curved grade - feeling that you got most answers right doesn't help that much in predicing where you're gonna land if everyone else felt the same way.

has it been others' experience that you don't get comments on exams?

[Pretzel_Logic]

Uh, I don't know what school you go to, but I'm hyped beyond belief about my B+ in Civ Pro...haha. That's above median and I am content, especially since the test was a royal beeyotch.

thanks for the sentiment. i suppose it might be wise for me to adjust my aims. well, i should surely study like i'm hoping for an A or hoping to learn everything or something in that vein. but then it would be good not to count on an A.

as far as where i go - we have a curve like everyone else. so i take it a B+ means here roughly what it means elsewhere, that you were above a certain percentage of people and below a certain other. i guess i just don't think of myself as being in the 75th percentile of this group or many other groups.

i have a hard time understanding why the difficulty of the test would make a difference if your grades are curved like i gather law schools typically do. if it is curved then everyone had the same hard exam. f

That was the one exam where I fully expected to get pwned, so that I did not was a welcome surprise.

And i had a ridiculous GPA in undergrad but knew going into this whole law school thing that As were probably a thing of the past, and I was going to work hard and put in an effort which leaves me without regrets. I think I achieved that. (Obviously, I am not gunning for big law firm life. I actually...would really hate that, I think. Not that I wouldn't jump at it for a few years to pay my bills, but it's not what I ultimately want...)

And yeah, one of my profs noted that the majority of the class would feel some measure of disappointment with their grades. My writing prof, who is an AUSA and apparently sailed through LS, said to be careful to not let our grades define us. I subscribe to that POV (and yes I understand that they matter).

That was rambly. tl;dr As are not the be all/end all.

[vamedic03]

After going through half of my law school journey, I am more convinced than ever that U CANNOT PREDICT HOW WELL OR BAD YOU DID!

since i got my torts grade Sunday i've been awaiting some further comments or feedback. waiting. and waiting. and waiting. nothing! it's rather crazy if we don't get anything. the whole grade riding on one assignment on which you get one single comment - a grade. nothing about why you got that grade. sounds like a system cooked up by someone who didn't care about student improvement but cared a lot about making sure professors had time for research.

i'm sure i would've still been annoyed about that even if i'd got an awesomer grade, but some of it is due to the crappiness.

as far as prediction of grade. i think there is this inherent difficulty with a curved grade - feeling that you got most answers right doesn't help that much in predicing where you're gonna land if everyone else felt the same way.

has it been others' experience that you don't get comments on exams?

If you want comments, contact your professor and ask her to go over your exam with you.

[esmagalhaes]

After going through half of my law school journey, I am more convinced than ever that U CANNOT PREDICT HOW WELL OR BAD YOU DID!

since i got my torts grade Sunday i've been awaiting some further comments or feedback. waiting. and waiting. and waiting. nothing! it's rather crazy if we don't get anything. the whole grade riding on one assignment on which you get one single comment - a grade. nothing about why you got that grade. sounds like a system cooked up by someone who didn't care about student improvement but cared a lot about making sure professors had time for research.

i'm sure i would've still been annoyed about that even if i'd got an awesomer grade, but some of it is due to the crappiness.

as far as prediction of grade. i think there is this inherent difficulty with a curved grade - feeling that you got most answers right doesn't help that much in predicing where you're gonna land if everyone else felt the same way.

has it been others' experience that you don't get comments on exams?

If you want comments, contact your professor and ask her to go over your exam with you.

that was my plan. but it still seems crazy that it's not part of the normal procedure for them to give you comments.

btw, got an A- in contracts. which before i got more other grades i would've been disappointed with, but now -- and for now - the bar has been lowered.

[NYC Law]

Bumping this for the new school year.


I'm also curious to find out how Snooker did on his finals.

[dabomb75]

I disagree. I've encountered most of the answers to my exams prior to taking them... in K's, the teacher had around 6 of her past exams/model answers on Lexis. One of her long fact patterns is always on contract formation and the UCC. Just about every contract formation question had the same issues, same problems, but with diff facts. I memorized every single issue in said problem (UCC 2-205, 2-207, 2-206, Offer, Acceptance, etc... and used the same exact language she would use. Literally, the same exact language. I did the same thing for Torts. I received an A+ in torts. (I do not know my K grade, but I feel as though I did pretty good).

The only test I encountered with some weird curve balls was Civ Pro.

I know this post was from about 10 months ago, and the OP hasn't visited the site in over 3 months, but does anyone else know how to do this? I only have 1 or 2 practice exams for 2 of my professors and it would nice if I could find more.

Thanks for everyone's posts, I have about 7 or 8 posts bookmarked and will definitely be following the advice given in this thread

[rbgrocio]

After three years of doing this, I still think the same: no way to predict grades; the class where you try the hardest does not translate into your best grade.

[DreamsInDigital]

Haven't gotten grades back, but I feel all over the board about my exams.

Crim - eh, could be anywhere on the curve.
K - feel good about the test, think I did exactly what the professor wanted.
Prop - feel like I missed a ton of issues and didn't cite a ton of cases.

It is going to be interesting to see how I actually end up doing.

[thesealocust]

This fuckin' thread. It was here before I started law school, I spent time being nervous in it as a 1L, and now I'm a 3L enjoying reading about 1Ls squirming. Circle of life / ah to be young again / law school sucks / etc.

[sf_39]

I'm giving this a bump from the grave because it was super-helpful for me going into my 1L year and I'm sure there are still some who would like to "give back" to the likely stirring 0Ls.

I read a lot on TLS prior to entering the year. I read almost all of the guides/a lot of advice threads/read GTM. I also talked to many upperclassmen when I started my 1L year and many of my fellow colleagues who did well following our year. I'm an info-vacuum in many contexts, but what I took away from 1L year is that there is a base knowledge you need to know, and then there's the variables.

Things I think (mostly) universally apply: Study to the exam, go to class, learn how to argue both sides and what good legal analysis is, full case briefs are likely not necessary, read your professor. That's probably it minus one or two things.

The rest.... what supplements to use, when/how to outline, how much to study, how to use free time, what amount/timing to do practice exams, class prep, how to do case notes, LEEWS/GTM, study groups, how to prep for exams etc. etc. are all things that are variable. The one thing I learned for sure from law school is everyone has their own view of how to do things.

I think you to read a lot (not as much as I did, but enough) to get a feel of the different options and choices, wait for the ball to get rolling in the semester, and make the best choice for you. Maybe you like studying in groups. Maybe your professor teaches clearly and when you look at an exam you understand the issues without a supplement (or maybe the exact opposite).

I think understanding there's some very really important things you need to know (highlighted above) and the rest really isn't as dire is something I wish I knew going into school.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Bumping this useful thread back to life

[rcharter1978]

i don't know what i learned. i've gotten two grades - a B and a B+. Both of which I consider quite shitty. but i have no sense whatsoever about what i did wrong in terms of method or process and therefore how to rectify whatever the problem may be. the higher grade was in legal writing, and i got more feedback on that. and i have some idea what happened with that. i have a meeting with the prof to discuss further. there it seems i failed to mention arguments that needed to be addressed in the memo. i guess i can see why those arguments might be valuable tto mention, but i need to understand what was the process that should have led me to that argument. what question did i fail to ask or not answer adequately that would've led me to that argument? and then with the B i have no idea whatsoever. i felt good about the test, actually. hopefully, the professor will give some substantitive feedback on the grade.

very depressed at the moment. and feeling like perhaps i am not cut out for law school. also trying to console myself by telling myself that there are more important things in life than law school. which is true, but it's a convenient thing to hang on to at the moment.

It sounds like you're putting in a lot of effort and understanding the material. If writing is potentially a challenge I think as you improve your writing, your grades may also improve.

First year are classes that all felt very element driven, with good professors. This means everyone understands the material, and when everyone understands the material, the A's are just going to go to the best writers. There is nothing you can do about that but to improve your writing, if thats an area that you can improve on. I think as you get into your second year, classes are a little less about strict elements and neat little buckets. And now that you can't leave or transfer out, you're gonna get the more "challenging" professors. This means that you'll have to do more independent work to understand (or thats how I saw it) and the A's don't automatically just go to the best writers. They can also go to the person who can set themselves apart in showing that they understand the material because its not quite as easy to understand anymore.

I don't think I got comments on my exams, but professors were always happy to see you in office hours and discuss the grade with you. And sometimes you'll find out that you did a good job, there was just someone who was a better or more coherent writer.

[A. Nony Mouse]

This thread is really old. Keep in mind that if you respond to a specific post, the author has probably graduated from law school by now.

[clshopeful]

Guess I'm the outlier here but I never used a supplement or other people's outlines... Just the book required for the class is all I read.

Crim: A
Torts: A-
K: A
Civ Pro: A-

[ewdrrg]

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[brother3]

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[zubizu100]

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[EzraFitz]

Lol, excited to see random posting of grades for validation. I actually hope this topic is used for its original purpose again though

[lawyersHATEhim]

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