1L grade waiting thread Forum

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Nicely put, JCougar. I also won't be surprised if I do well, since I did very well on the midterm and felt good coming out of the finals. If I don't, I'll change it up. My real problem is forgetting about last semester and getting motivated to apply for internships and to gear up for next semester.

[dudders]

well at least we're getting the disappointment over with early. got my memo 2 grade back today, below median and lower than my draft grade. (apparently, following your professor's editing advice means your grade goes down.) looks like a C in LRW for me!

i seriously got graded down for not including a citation. for a sentence that had a citation. FML.

[wreckem]

I really need to stop reading this thread. It makes me sick to stomach. My expectations are so far down the shitter now I wouldn't be surprised if I got straight C's (God, I hope not). I don't feel strongly either way for Torts or Crim, but I hope to at least be at a B. I worked my ass offffffffff (but so did the rest of my class. Fuck me.)

My school's mandatory curve: 5% A's, 10% A-'s, 20% B+, 20% B's, 20% B-'s, and 25% gets C+ and lower. 25% C's is terrifying. Seriously.

Better than a suggested C+ curve.

[colts18]

well at least we're getting the disappointment over with early. got my memo 2 grade back today, below median and lower than my draft grade. (apparently, following your professor's editing advice means your grade goes down.) looks like a C in LRW for me!

i seriously got graded down for not including a citation. for a sentence that had a citation. FML.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I carelessly forgot to include a required word count at the end of my memo. Just a stupid stupid stupid mistake. Haven't got the grade back yet but I know I'm probably screwed.

[3ThrowAway99]

I wouldn't be totally shocked if I were in the top 5% or so, but I'm also willing to have my expectations smashed. If I were to bet even money, though, I'd put that point at top 20%.

I feel like I did the best I could have done, and that's all that matters. I'd like to know my grades, but at the same time, I'm not as anxious as I felt waiting for my LSAT score. On the LSAT, a lot is based on luck or your mentality on one certain day. On law school exams, it seems like either you understand the material fluidly or you don't, and therefore you can better predict how you did.

It's hard to know, though. I had no midterms, so I could only compare what I did on exam day to how I did on practice exams with answer checksheets and/or model answers. And I did pretty well on those, and I feel like I did even better on the finals. Thinking back on the exams and talking to some who had taken the same, I haven't found anything major that I've missed on any exam.

I really don't mean to sound arrogant or dismissive, but I feel like I did my best, and that's all that I could have asked of myself. And if I end up below median, than I have nothing to feel sorry about...and that's just life...I will struggle on.

Redacted: Good luck!

[BenJ]

Contracts
This was a 5-hour exam with strict word limits: 8 multiple choice qs, 4 100-word answers, 1 1000-word answer. So you'd expect everyone to be done early, right? So did the TAs, who had taken the same professor in the same format last year. They said almost everyone would be done and gone after 3 hours. Last year, the very last person to finish had taken 4 hours.

Come the 4-hour mark, no one had left the room. I did finish about a half hour before time was up and left, and was around the fifth person to leave out of my ~50-person room (section split between two rooms). There were actually people who didn't finish. It was brutal, especially since everyone thought this was going to be our easiest exam.

I've kept a pretty strict policy of not discussing exams, but a lot of people did comment that his signature hidden issue, penalty clauses (and our professor was very cunning at hiding potential penalty clauses in innocuous hypos) didn't seem to be on the exam. Fortunately, I did spot the penalty clause, so that makes me feel good about this one. I'm guessing an A-.


Torts
Ugh. Our professor did a poor job of explaining the material and generally spent more time teaching us the old rules of Torts, but only wanted us to know the modern rules. (We spent three classes on Rylands v. Fletcher and related ancient Tort law, then he told us later that he didn't want us to cite outdated cases like Rylands on the exam.) Also, on the final day before the exam, after reassuring us that there would be no policy question a few weeks beforehand, he told us there would in fact be a policy question.

Fortunately, I typed a ton on this 3.5-hour exam, so I think I got out everything I needed to. The policy question turned into a huge bullshit fest--the question was, more or less, "Strict liability and negligence: Discuss." No idea on grades, though. Anything from a B to an A would be unsurprising.


Civil Procedure
For the class worth the most credit hours, we had the shortest exam, just 3 hours, shorter than all the other NYU sections, too. Our professor was wonderful, and our TAs were even more wonderful. Without the TAs, no one would have seen that you should analyze 28 USC 2072(b) using the RDA analysis, but that was what she wanted.

Of course, I realized afterward that, after on the last practice exam realizing how to analyze a general personal jx question using Asahi and explaining to fellow study-groupers, I completely forgot to mention stream of commerce in my general jx answer. But otherwise I think I covered everything else relevant. On the one hand, I felt like my answers were very rote--there was little room for creativity (other than a weird question about service of process internationally, which we had never discussed specifically and where I think she just wanted us to give five minutes of open-ended thoughts--it was the second half of a question where she had suggested a ten-minute time to answer, and the other half, quasi in rem jx, was straightforward). But, having studied a lot with others, I think my rote answers and understanding was better than most, hopefully good enough for an A- but I think definitely enough for a B+.

Who knows. Also, it is now Christmas Day, and I was just really bored/waiting for my parents to go to sleep so I could wrap their presents. Hope everyone did well!

Edit: B+ is the curve. Contracts professor is known to grade at the top of the curve; Torts professor fought with the administration to try to give more C+s than allowed last time he taught Torts. Civil Procedure somewhere in between.

[random5483]

I don't get grades back till sometime in Jan. Have been checking every few days just in case. The finals went well, I think. But, hard to say for sure. I did have a couple of midterms which I did well in (section high in one, tied for second highest in other), but midterms were a LONG time ago and I felt much more comfortable taking the midterms.

Hard to pinpoint an exact grade, but I shall try (also been 10+ days since last final).

Contracts: A or A-. I think I did very well in the test.
Civ Procedure: Somewhere between a B through an A. Felt a little uncomfortable with the second essay, but I think I aced the first one. Based on my grade on the second, I should get an A or a B.
Criminal Law: A or A-. I felt good about crim. I know I did not discuss few minor issues (especially if the specific crime was already discussed for another party), but the exams by the crim prof were racehorse exams. No way anyone could hit every issue/defense (historically, model answers never hit every issue in this profs exams).
Torts: Could be an A or a C. Class I felt the least comfortable with. Most other students in my section felt the same. I scored the class high on the midterm (20% of final grade) so hopefully I do well enough on the final to at least secure a B. Really scared about this exam.
LRW: No idea. 100% grade on 1 graded memo. No real idea what prof expects. Most of the section is clueless.

I know my estimates could be way off. Hell, I am just a 1L like the rest of you. But, I am hoping that I end up with all As. I know it is possible, but I am really afraid I might be overestimating my grades.

[BarbellDreams]

I feel like anyone who is estimating all A's is overestimating. The odds are HEAVILY against you.

[LAWYER2]

^^^^^


Good insight!

[Encyclopedia Brown]

I feel like anyone who is estimating all A's is overestimating. The odds are HEAVILY against you.

[keg411]

All of my relatives: How do you think you did on exams???
Me:

[Grizz]

Everyone I know: "How's law school?"

Me: "Ask me after grades, bro."

[dailygrind]

Everyone I know: "How's law school?"

Me: "Ask me after grades, bro."

i get this, and a lot of "how'd you do?"

i'm shrugging it off right now, but as time goes on grades occupy my thoughts more and more. it's not going to be good for my sanity.

[Kretzy]

What kind of professor posts a grade on Christmas Day???

[IAFG]

What kind of professor posts a grade on Christmas Day???

one who doesn't like his family

[plum]

.

[Kretzy]

What kind of professor posts a grade on Christmas Day???

one who doesn't like his family

Granted, I don't much care for my family, hence my checking, but jeebus. Cruel move, legal writing instructor...

[solotee]

i'm shrugging it off right now, but as time goes on grades occupy my thoughts more and more. it's not going to be good for my sanity.

as time goes on i'm caring even less and less about grades now that i see that my main hurdle is just how freaking lazy i am in terms of actual career searching/resume/coverletter type crap. i didn't attend any of the career events that went on, nor did i meet with a counselor, nor did i take any step towards getting a summer position yet. so as far as i'm concerned, the ability to motivate oneself to hustle is way more important than grades. even if i somehow get fantabulous grades that isn't gonna change. and if i get median and below it's even more problematic. sooo yah. really need to stop watching movies, and change something.

I took this whole freaking week off. I didn't even try to job search because I knew nothing would result from my attempts. Job searching, networking, and pro bono project begins Monday.

Boy was that the most refreshing week after all these months.

[beach_terror]

Boy was that the most refreshing week after all these months.

Feeling like myself for the first time in awhile. Catching up on sleep has been fucking amazing.

[dailygrind]

Cruel move, legal writing instructor...

definitely read that in a van wilder voice. it was great.

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Can someone applying to every internship in the mid-Atlantic region just throw my resume in with yours? TYIA.

[beach_terror]

Can someone applying to every internship in the mid-Atlantic region just throw my resume in with yours? TYIA.

Only if we can interview as a team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-j_LSWM_A

[Grizz]

Everyone I know: "How's law school?"

Me: "Ask me after grades, bro."

i get this, and a lot of "how'd you do?"

i'm shrugging it off right now, but as time goes on grades occupy my thoughts more and more. it's not going to be good for my sanity.

Honestly, my anxiety about literally everything in my life is out of control. Grades, 1L jobs, 2L jobs, women, and today I spent like 45 minutes by the mirror to see if I was going bald or not. It's like I've forgotten how to have fun. Literally.

[Grizz]

In response to my own post, IB "drink more"

[IAFG]

In response to my own post, IB "drink more"

nah you have choices
1) Jesus
2) booze/weed
3) prostitutes