OFFICIAL 1L Exam Prep & Motivation Thread (CSWS) Forum

[fosterp]

My Civ pro exam was the most bizzare thing I've ever seen. It looked nothing like any of the professors old exams, nor like any exam I pulled up from other profs at the school or anywhere else. You know the standard TLS advice to not worry about knowing the cases? The ENTIRE test was about random nuances from cases we read: "in x v x the court held that...." 30 multiple choice questions which seemed like they were written by a 10 year old since half of them could have been answered "maybe, it depends on xyz...." NO fact patterns, NO application of laws to facts, and a final essay which seemed like it was pulled straight from a history test and had nothing to do with current law.

What the fk?

Well law exams aren't really based on current law. Was it maybe a policy related question?

I take Civ. Pro next semester (assuming I pass this one). Did you listen to BarBri lectures?

Yes the barbri lectures were good but completely inapplicable to this test. Basically every question was pulled from the "notes" section in the casebook. What was even more bizzare was that the mid-term took the form of what people would expect from a civ pro exam based on his past exams, it was a collection of short answer hypos and one long hypo...and then he threw this at us. Having an outline/memorizing it was completely useless because all of the BLL was irrelevant. You were basically completely screwed if you didn't have a collection of briefs from all of the cases that were assigned. I luckily had decided to print out my unorganized notes which had mini briefs of all the cases but I still struggled to try and remember the details of the cases.

[BearsGrl]

My Civ pro exam was the most bizzare thing I've ever seen. It looked nothing like any of the professors old exams, nor like any exam I pulled up from other profs at the school or anywhere else. You know the standard TLS advice to not worry about knowing the cases? The ENTIRE test was about random nuances from cases we read: "in x v x the court held that...." 30 multiple choice questions which seemed like they were written by a 10 year old since half of them could have been answered "maybe, it depends on xyz...." NO fact patterns, NO application of laws to facts, and a final essay which seemed like it was pulled straight from a history test and had nothing to do with current law.

What the fk?

Well law exams aren't really based on current law. Was it maybe a policy related question?

I take Civ. Pro next semester (assuming I pass this one). Did you listen to BarBri lectures?

Yes the barbri lectures were good but completely inapplicable to this test. Basically every question was pulled from the "notes" section in the casebook. What was even more bizzare was that the mid-term took the form of what people would expect from a civ pro exam based on his past exams, it was a collection of short answer hypos and one long hypo...and then he threw this at us. Having an outline/memorizing it was completely useless because all of the BLL was irrelevant. You were basically completely screwed if you didn't have a collection of briefs from all of the cases that were assigned. I luckily had decided to print out my unorganized notes which had mini briefs of all the cases but I still struggled to try and remember the details of the cases.

Ohhh so it was open book/note? At least you had that.

[minnbills]

Just realized I threw the wrong heading on one of my issues for my conlaw exam. FML.

[lakerinstl]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

[Learned Scissorhands]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Thank them for occupying the bottom of the curve.

[20130312]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Thank them for occupying the bottom of the curve.

lolokay

[gobuffs10]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Yeah my class had some odd stuff. One guy left an hour early, another didn't start typing his response until two hours into the exam. And the kid next to me got up and left the room no less than seven times, which was slightly distracting. No idea what the hell was going on.

[SportsFan]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Don't think anyone in either of my 2 exams so far left early, but plenty of people seemed to be leaving to go to the bathroom and whatnot, which really surprised me...

[Jsa725]

.

[minnbills]

KK my K's final is tomorrow. Felt pretty sick yesterday so I didn't study.

To do list for today:

-review outline
study parol evidence rule
clarify acceptance of option Ks
damages
battle of the forms.

Create a rule page to speed up the essay

and review the model answer and multiple choice from the practice exam.

Need a good grade out of this one. Going to work through the afternoon and then stop to cool down so I can go in fresh tomorrow.

[shredderrrrrr]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Yeah my class had some odd stuff. One guy left an hour early, another didn't start typing his response until two hours into the exam. And the kid next to me got up and left the room no less than seven times, which was slightly distracting. No idea what the hell was going on.

Yeah, in my first final, people started leaving an hour early. In my second, people were leaving two hours early. For my second exam, it was only me and two other people there at the end of time. Considering it was an issue-spotter exam, this made absolutely no sense. Hell, you could write about a single issue for 4 hours if you really put your mind to it. When you have 10+ issues and 10+ defenses, why would you not say every last possible thing you could? And then re-read it as many times as possible to make sure it is flawless.

[Learned Scissorhands]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Thank them for occupying the bottom of the curve.

lolokay

20 minutes is a ton of time on an exam.

[shredderrrrrr]

Did anybody else see a bunch of classmates who "finished" early? In all of my exams I would see people leave 20+ minutes early before the end time for the exam. I was dumbfounded when I saw that, especially in the Contracts final. There was no way they could have finished that exam with absolutely nothing to add with 20 minutes to spare.

Thank them for occupying the bottom of the curve.

lolokay

20 minutes is a ton of time on an exam.

Yeah and I don't buy for a second that a professor would give an exam that could be completely and totally covered in every respect in a polished, error-free essay within the time-limit.

[20130312]

20 minutes is a ton of time on an exam.

My Civ Pro teacher told us this story about how last year, technical difficulties caused the exam to start 20 minutes late. She gave everyone an extra 20 minutes as a result. Some students didn't get the memo and turned it in at the original time. Two of the top three grades were turned in early. You can't predict that people are gonna be at the bottom just because they skipped 20 minutes. The top grades aren't perfect papers, they are simply better than the others.

[shredderrrrrr]

20 minutes is a ton of time on an exam.

My Civ Pro teacher told us this story about how last year, technical difficulties caused the exam to start 20 minutes late. She gave everyone an extra 20 minutes as a result. Some students didn't get the memo and turned it in at the original time. Two of the top three grades were turned in early. You can't predict that people are gonna be at the bottom just because they skipped 20 minutes. The top grades aren't perfect papers, they are simply better than the others.

While it's true that not using all of the time doesn't necessarily mean doing poorly, I would predict that if you analyzed all the scores in multiple classes, the students who used all four hours on average did better than those who used less.

[minnbills]

20 minutes is a ton of time on an exam.

My Civ Pro teacher told us this story about how last year, technical difficulties caused the exam to start 20 minutes late. She gave everyone an extra 20 minutes as a result. Some students didn't get the memo and turned it in at the original time. Two of the top three grades were turned in early. You can't predict that people are gonna be at the bottom just because they skipped 20 minutes. The top grades aren't perfect papers, they are simply better than the others.

Two people left minutes early on my civ pro exam. Sure, they could get great grades. But where the rest of the class was facing a huge time crunch because there were too many issues to discuss- so many that some of them didn't get to all the questions, I think it's more likely that the people who left early didn't get to everything they could have.

[20130312]

I think the more likely explanation is that some students just "get it" and others wouldn't even turn in an A paper if you gave them eight hours to do the same test.

[shredderrrrrr]

I think the more likely explanation is that some students just "get it" and others wouldn't even turn in an A paper if you gave them eight hours to do the same test.

Did you not use all of the time?

I'm pretty sure most students taking the exam "get it," at least at the top schools. I don't think this is like UG where some students go into the test without sufficient knowledge/comprehension of the material. Sure, some students can put down their thoughts and responses quicker than other, but I think the notion that those that take the full time often do so because they don't "get it" is ridiculous. Maybe that's true for five people. But I think you underestimate the knowledge and dedication of other students. I went into law school erroneously thinking I was hot shit and have been blown away by how equal the playing field is.

[Blumpbeef]

I think the more likely explanation is that some students just "get it" and others wouldn't even turn in an A paper if you gave them eight hours to do the same test.

While I agree with the latter part of that statement, I very much disagree with the idea that you should ever leave a test early. There's always points on the table.

[minnbills]

There are only a handful of students who don't "get" the material. But there's a difference between learning something and knowing how to use it.

My guess is the separation comes in the ability to spot issues, efficiency in getting to them, and strong analysis.

[20130312]

I think the more likely explanation is that some students just "get it" and others wouldn't even turn in an A paper if you gave them eight hours to do the same test.

Did you not use all of the time?

I'm pretty sure most students taking the exam "get it," at least at the top schools. I don't think this is like UG where some students go into the test without sufficient knowledge/comprehension of the material. Sure, some students can put down their thoughts and responses quicker than other, but I think the notion that those that take the full time often do so because they don't "get it" is ridiculous. Maybe that's true for five people. But I think you underestimate the knowledge and dedication of other students. I went into law school erroneously thinking I was hot shit and have been blown away by how equal the playing field is.

Going to say some douchey things right now, but here goes: I do not go to a top law school. I have not been blown away by my peers. The issue spotter given in my Torts exam was a little over half a page, with a finite number of issues that could be discussed within the time limit. I skimped on some issues, thinking that I wouldn't have time for everything, but when I got to the end I went back and filled them in. Still had a half hour to spare. I sat around reviewing for a half hour because I didn't want to turn in early and be that guy.

Feel free to tell me that there were probably more issues that I was just missing.

[minnbills]

Feel free to tell me that there were probably more issues that I was just missing.

Now I'm going to say something douchey: you missed some issues.

[Learned Scissorhands]

I felt incredibly rushed in every exam. I found it difficult to tell when I was spending too much time going in depth with an issue instead of just spotting every single issue and checking off points on the rubric. The only exam I didn't run out of time on was K's, I had about ten minutes to spare so I went back and just cleaned everything up a bit.

[Tiago Splitter]

1.5 hours to finish essay with 500 word limit; left early

[shredderrrrrr]

I think the more likely explanation is that some students just "get it" and others wouldn't even turn in an A paper if you gave them eight hours to do the same test.

Did you not use all of the time?

I'm pretty sure most students taking the exam "get it," at least at the top schools. I don't think this is like UG where some students go into the test without sufficient knowledge/comprehension of the material. Sure, some students can put down their thoughts and responses quicker than other, but I think the notion that those that take the full time often do so because they don't "get it" is ridiculous. Maybe that's true for five people. But I think you underestimate the knowledge and dedication of other students. I went into law school erroneously thinking I was hot shit and have been blown away by how equal the playing field is.

Going to say some douchey things right now, but here goes: I do not go to a top law school. I have not been blown away by my peers. The issue spotter given in my Torts exam was a little over half a page, with a finite number of issues that could be discussed within the time limit. I skimped on some issues, thinking that I wouldn't have time for everything, but when I got to the end I went back and filled them in. Still had a half hour to spare. I sat around reviewing for a half hour because I didn't want to turn in early and be that guy.

Feel free to tell me that there were probably more issues that I was just missing.

I don't understand why you're getting so defensive. We are just saying that you typically shouldn't leave a test early because you can always improve an exam. Yes, you are correct that some students who leave early still do well (and some that stay the whole time do poorly). We're talking general principles. If a teacher gives a one question true/false test, clearly it is permissible to leave before 4 hours. Pointing out specific situations is pointless.

It's like our final memo where we were given 3 days to complete it. Yes, you could do so in two if you really wanted. But why would you?