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

[Jsa725]

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[Raiden]

Quick question for yall seasoned peppers out there, on closed book exams:

To what extent do you memorize cases?

I feel the conventional wisdom is no, don't do it, just worry about the rules...but they can be helpful in organizing rules (I already have most of my cases on an online notecard service, so its not too much extra work...)

[Jsa725]

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[swimmer11]

Yes, do what your professor says. Although I have had professors say they would want cases on the exams and then have TA who say it does not matter. I plan on knowing the important cases that developed a rule e.g Girouard (Crim Law) and of course Palsgraf BOTH of the dissents will be addressed in negligence.

I plan on saying something along the lines of As the court stated in Girouard, intentional homicide may be mitigated to voluntary manslaughter if it was committed in a sudden heat of passion, caused by adequate provocation, and before there has been a reasonable amount of time to cool.

Also, what are peoples game plans for taking practice exams and hypotheticals?

[gaud]

Brethren, if y'all are in need of practice exams shoot me a PM and I'll send you some links

[LetsGoLAW]

How is the team holding up?

Inch by inch, baby. The struggle is love, don't forget that. Do not lose sight of the long-term goal: one month for a lifetime of our dreams.

[Raiden]

Ugh, just got my midterm back, C+, 25% of the grade.

Thought I dominated, but gotta keep the chin up and work even harder & smarter.

[gaud]

What class bro?

[Raiden]

Contracts, professor has a no exam question policy...so its always hard to figure out whats on his mind, with no previous exams on file either. Teaches it strictly socratic as well

Final is going to be a single 800 word essay, and the rest being MC

[swimmer11]

Contracts, professor has a no exam question policy...so its always hard to figure out whats on his mind, with no previous exams on file either. Teaches it strictly socratic as well

Final is going to be a single 800 word essay, and the rest being MC

Get the Q&A for multiple choice, and the E&E talks about policy I have noticed as well as Understanding Contracts.

Does anyone care to share their gameplans for practice exams, practice problems, etc. Need advice on constructing mine.

Thanks my fellow brothern

[gaud]

Got any supps? Chirelstein on Contracts (something like that) is a small book I snagged and it's been really helpful.

He goes through major topics and cases, explains, and gives his opinion on them.

[swimmer11]

Got any supps? Chirelstein on Contracts (something like that) is a small book I snagged and it's been really helpful.

He goes through major topics and cases, explains, and gives his opinion on them.

I have this and it is fantastic.

GTM has a great policy discussion section on policy questions.

[gaud]

Does anyone care to share their gameplans for practice exams, practice problems, etc. Need advice on constructing mine.

I think I'm gonna start at the beginning of next week, take an exam for each class, and see how I do.

Hoping from there I'll be able to determine which class I should maybe spend a little more focus on (and have that be the tests I focus primarily on). I'm not really sure though. I'll see if I can get some upperclassmen to post their recommendations in this thread

[Raiden]

Thanks for the solid advice guys. I thought I followed GTM to the letter, but maybe I misread something on the question, I'll get a better sense when I pick it up tomorrow....But man, I really didn't see that grade coming.

I am planning on finishing outlines, and trying to get a big picture on the exams (e.g. Looking at the prof's style, seeing previous exams) to try to cater my studying. I know for my K class that I will need to make sure I nail the MC, so I will focus on Q&A and memorizing the material. Crim always has a homicide Q in one of the two essays, so try to make sure I understand the various homicides and their elements.

I feel like in all of our outlines, we should have a component to walk us through the various issues and laws, to help applying them to the facts.

[lbeezy]

Hey y'all. I graduated law school in May.

My best advice for practice exams is to work through a few of them with others -- not full written out exams (which I don't recommend doing a ton of anyway), but going through and issue spotting, tying issues to cases, etc. with a group of three or so people (too many is just distracting). Your colleagues will inevitably think of things you wouldn't, or explaining things to them will help you remember and understand issues yourself.

This isn't really helpful until your outlines are up to date, of course, so focus on that first.

If your professor gives MC questions, check out the Q and A books. All multiple choice questions, with detailed answers for why an answer is right or wrong. If an answer feels wrong to you, however, shoot it to your professor -- I had that happen on a few questions in the Con Law Q and A.

Also -- it's helpful to do a "plan of attack" for certain problems. There are some supplements that are really helpful for this (the Acing book for Civ Pro comes to mind), but really it's good just to write out the steps needed to answer a certain kind of problem -- even if the exam is closed book.

[gaud]

Raiden, did you argue common-law and UCC on the exam?

Sorry if that's a silly Q and the answer is, "uh, duh!" lol

[swimmer11]

Raiden, did you argue common-law and UCC on the exam?

Sorry if that's a silly Q and the answer is, "uh, duh!" lol

This is the credited question

[gaud]

Thank you lbeezy!!!

Very much appreciated

[shredderrrrrr]

Thank you gaud for posting this in the lounge. I will be needing this.

[gaud]

Thank you gaud for posting this in the lounge. I will be needing this.

No worries bro. Hopin we can all ace these exams!


In case some of you other posters aren't active in the lounge, dailygrind (a moderator) posted this:

Take a practice exam, go over it with another student who's taken the practice exam, then go to the prof to resolve any differences of opinion. Schedule the session with the prof beforehand.

[PennBull]

Contracts, professor has a no exam question policy...so its always hard to figure out whats on his mind, with no previous exams on file either. Teaches it strictly socratic as well

Final is going to be a single 800 word essay, and the rest being MC

Are you at Columbia?

[gaud]

Shrederrrrrr (lol i hope i got the right amount of 'r'), I PMed you some links to practice exams in case you're in need

[swimmer11]

Quality 1Ls in here, thanks for joining me thru this quest of hell

[Raiden]

It was an uber detailed question on the nuances in the UCC, so I don't think I need to talk about common law (at least thats what I hope!)

[gaud]

It was an uber detailed question on the nuances in the UCC, so I don't think I need to talk about common law (at least thats what I hope!)

That coulda been your problem bro. I'm of the impression that many contracts profs wanna hear about both even if the common law wouldn't apply. like:

Under the common law, last shot rule would apply... meaning blah blah blha

however,

under the Code, 2-207 would apply and blah blah blah


ETA: but you'll definitely be the better judge considering you read the question. It's certainly (I would assume) that your prof may not have been interested in hearing about common law