Didn't do as well as hoped; grades come back good? Forum

[Hikikomorist]

There is literally no correlation between how you feel about an exam and your grade.

Plenty people felt "confident" and got lower grades than they thought they deserved.

Plenty people are also "confident" and book the exam.

There is no inverse relationship between how you feel about an exam and how you did. There is no relationship between how you feel about an exam and how you did.

Like, at the extremes, if you didn't talk about negligence on your exam and it was 1/3 of your course, then yeah, you're not getting an A, but I'm pretty sure that's not what people mean when they say "omg I failed!"

There's probably some correlation, and I really don't get why you make posts like the above.

[zot1]

The thing that made me feel better was discussing your exams with friends and classmates. Make sure to compare which issues you guys spotted. It gives you a good idea of where you stand in terms of your grades.

Savage.

[PeanutsNJam]

There's probably some correlation, and I really don't get why you make posts like the above.

Pretty tired of all the anecdotes of "the exams I felt I booked, I actually got the lowest grade on" as if that actually means anything.

There's 0 correlation because your grade depends on how the rest of the class did. And your impression on your performance in a vacuum has nothing to do with how well other people did.

Not sure what you mean by "posts like the above."

[Hikikomorist]

There's probably some correlation, and I really don't get why you make posts like the above.

Pretty tired of all the anecdotes of "the exams I felt I booked, I actually got the lowest grade on" as if that actually means anything.

There's 0 correlation because your grade depends on how the rest of the class did. And your impression on your performance in a vacuum has nothing to do with how well other people did.

Not sure what you mean by "posts like the above."

Yeah, the correlation is probably weaker because of the curve, but I have trouble buying that people are so delusional that there is really no correlation. But we don't know for sure, which was my other main point, so it's just weird to be so definitive about it.

[BigZuck]

It doesn't matter but there was seriously no correlation for me.

OP- you got an A+. Or an F. Or something in between. We don't know, you don't know, you'll find out soon enough. Don't worry about it for now, go do something enjoyable.

[perfunctory]

Thank you everyone, I feel better. I will get drunk.

[hangold]

Thank you everyone, I feel better. I will get drunk.

This is always the best solution. Cheers!

[A. Nony Mouse]

There is no inverse relationship between how you feel about an exam and how you did. There is no relationship between how you feel about an exam and how you did.

Eh, looking back I consistently had the inverse thing happen - exams I thought were really hard I did well on, exams I thought were easy I got median pawned. I'm not saying that happens to everyone and it's not a reliable predictor - certainly not first semester is 1L - but I think it's a thing for the reasons given above: if an exam is easy it's hard to hit enough points that no one else is going to get to push your grade to the top.

(though I should probably add that thinking an exam was hard wasn't the same as walking out and realizing I didn't address issues X, Y, and Z.)

[dabigchina]

There's definitely an inverse relationship. "Hard" exams usually have a well developed curve. Easy exams usually have everyone clustered around median.

My favorite exams are ones where the professor gives you something like 1000 words to try to cover a race horse topic like torts. At that point you might as well put the class in a random number generator to get the curve.

[clshopeful]

Has anyone felt like they didn't perform as well as they hoped on finals/know they got a few questions wrong for sure after the exam, but received A/A-s?

Yes. During 1L, I freaked out a lot after exams. I'd start to think of things I missed and I would get really bad anxiety at home. Despite feeling this way, I still came out with As and A-s. It is hard to tell yourself to stop thinking about the exam, but try to move on.

[perfunctory]

Has anyone felt like they didn't perform as well as they hoped on finals/know they got a few questions wrong for sure after the exam, but received A/A-s?

Yes. During 1L, I freaked out a lot after exams. I'd start to think of things I missed and I would get really bad anxiety at home. Despite feeling this way, I still came out with As and A-s. It is hard to tell yourself to stop thinking about the exam, but try to move on.

Do you go to cls? honestly, i know some of you here are just smart and your standards cannot be compared with mine lol

[clshopeful]

Has anyone felt like they didn't perform as well as they hoped on finals/know they got a few questions wrong for sure after the exam, but received A/A-s?

Yes. During 1L, I freaked out a lot after exams. I'd start to think of things I missed and I would get really bad anxiety at home. Despite feeling this way, I still came out with As and A-s. It is hard to tell yourself to stop thinking about the exam, but try to move on.

Do you go to cls? honestly, i know some of you here are just smart and your standards cannot be compared with mine lol

No; was at a TTT and transferred to UC Berkeley.

[rwhyAn]

OP, my 1L crim exam was half multiple choice and two essays. The multiple choice was very tricky, and I felt I got half of them wrong. For the second essay question, I used a defense to a charge completely wrong (wasn't even close), and I had to bullet point several issues at the end without analysis because I ran out of time. Grade: A-. If I felt bad, then some of my classmates must not have had a clue. In my 2+ years now, I haven't seen any correlation between how I feel and how I did. I felt good on some and got median, bad on others and did well, and on others I got the grade I thought I'd get. There's no way to tell for sure. What's done is done. Try to relax and enjoy the holidays without worrying about grades.

[perfunctory]

Has anyone felt like they didn't perform as well as they hoped on finals/know they got a few questions wrong for sure after the exam, but received A/A-s?

Yes. During 1L, I freaked out a lot after exams. I'd start to think of things I missed and I would get really bad anxiety at home. Despite feeling this way, I still came out with As and A-s. It is hard to tell yourself to stop thinking about the exam, but try to move on.

Do you go to cls? honestly, i know some of you here are just smart and your standards cannot be compared with mine lol

No; was at a TTT and transferred to UC Berkeley.

nice

[perfunctory]

OP, my 1L crim exam was half multiple choice and two essays. The multiple choice was very tricky, and I felt I got half of them wrong. For the second essay question, I used a defense to a charge completely wrong (wasn't even close), and I had to bullet point several issues at the end without analysis because I ran out of time. Grade: A-. If I felt bad, then some of my classmates must not have had a clue. In my 2+ years now, I haven't seen any correlation between how I feel and how I did. I felt good on some and got median, bad on others and did well, and on others I got the grade I thought I'd get. There's no way to tell for sure. What's done is done. Try to relax and enjoy the holidays without worrying about grades.

thanks this helps lol

[TierForceOne]

Good luck with the grades OP! I'm having a similar problem--I don't think I did poorly I just have no means of gauging how well the rest of my class performed.

Same here buddy. Think I did ok, but by classmates seem smart so hard to say how I stack up.

[Yankees1313]

I just walked out of a tax exam like I got hit by a train... anyone else feel like that after tax?

[FascinatedWanderer]

Yeah I often came out of exams in 1L totally mystified. Managed to end up in the top 5%.

[EzraFitz]

I just walked out of a tax exam like I got hit by a train... anyone else feel like that after tax?

This was the exam where I had a panic attack during and ended up with a B+. Tax is hard for everyone.

[Yankees1313]

Even if I know I didn't have time to get to a bunch of issues in the issue spotter? Test was just overwhelming

[hopefuljumbo23]

Even if I know I didn't have time to get to a bunch of issues in the issue spotter? Test was just overwhelming

This is what I'm worried about too. One of my exams was just a typing test - 20+ pages within 3 hours is expected for an A- or above, I've been told - and I'm terrified I didn't have a chance to nail all of the issues.

[EzraFitz]

Even if I know I didn't have time to get to a bunch of issues in the issue spotter? Test was just overwhelming

This is what I'm worried about too. One of my exams was just a typing test - 20+ pages within 3 hours is expected for an A- or above, I've been told - and I'm terrified I didn't have a chance to nail all of the issues.

Sometimes volume can help, but if the volume isn't good analysis it won't. My Torts class had two students book it, and one wrote the longest exam of anyone, the other was one of the shortest. It came down to quality of analysis, the one person just said it in a much more concise way. No one can spot every issue, that's not how these exams are designed.

[hopefuljumbo23]

Even if I know I didn't have time to get to a bunch of issues in the issue spotter? Test was just overwhelming

This is what I'm worried about too. One of my exams was just a typing test - 20+ pages within 3 hours is expected for an A- or above, I've been told - and I'm terrified I didn't have a chance to nail all of the issues.

Sometimes volume can help, but if the volume isn't good analysis it won't. My Torts class had two students book it, and one wrote the longest exam of anyone, the other was one of the shortest. It came down to quality of analysis, the one person just said it in a much more concise way. No one can spot every issue, that's not how these exams are designed.

Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. There's no way to spot them all and respond to them all in the time that you're given.

[EzraFitz]

Even if I know I didn't have time to get to a bunch of issues in the issue spotter? Test was just overwhelming

This is what I'm worried about too. One of my exams was just a typing test - 20+ pages within 3 hours is expected for an A- or above, I've been told - and I'm terrified I didn't have a chance to nail all of the issues.

Sometimes volume can help, but if the volume isn't good analysis it won't. My Torts class had two students book it, and one wrote the longest exam of anyone, the other was one of the shortest. It came down to quality of analysis, the one person just said it in a much more concise way. No one can spot every issue, that's not how these exams are designed.

Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. There's no way to spot them all and respond to them all in the time that you're given.

Exactly. If there was enough time, there would be a horrible, narrow curve. I've been in those kinds of classes. It's the worst. When 5 points separate A from B-, that's not a fun time for anyone.

[OneShot2009]

Has anyone felt like they didn't perform as well as they hoped on finals/know they got a few questions wrong for sure after the exam, but received A/A-s?

Last year (1L year, spring semester) I walked out of crim law, talked to a friend, and realized I missed an entire footnote on the fact pattern. It was integral to assessing the viability of defendant's self-defense claim. Got an A. First semester, totally missed a whole issue on a question for civ pro. Got a 65% on the final...also an A. You just have no idea what other people put and no way of assessing where you fall. Its pointless.

I walked out of con law thinking I beasted the multiple choice and missed some points on the essay, but overall did well. Perfect score on the essay but it was my lowest grade of the semester. You just have *no* idea.