Multiple Choice on law school exams Forum

[DeSimone]

One of my professors is planning to include multiple choice questions on the final, which will be worth about half of the grade. Many students, myself included, are pretty outraged.

Is having mc questions on law school exams common?

[sissyclark]

Extremely common. Stop whining about it.

[Gamecubesupreme]

Extremely common. Stop whining about it.

This.

Unless it's a 3 hour MC exam, there is no reason why your class should be "outraged."

[keg411]

One of my professors is planning to include multiple choice questions on the final, which will be worth about half of the grade. Many students, myself included, are pretty outraged.

Is having mc questions on law school exams common?

Yes. Why would you bitch about MC?

[DeSimone]

many students =/= entire class

But thanks for the responses.

[Adjudicator]

Outrageous!

[DeSimone]

One of my professors is planning to include multiple choice questions on the final, which will be worth about half of the grade. Many students, myself included, are pretty outraged.

Is having mc questions on law school exams common?

Yes. Why would you bitch about MC?

It's probably a good way to test ability to memorize, but I'm pretty sure it not's what law school exams are supposed to be about.

[Aberzombie1892]

I'm not sure that it is as common as other posters are saying, but it should be a good thing. It certainly beats short answer or issue spotters. In fact, I would give certain non-vital organs for a couple of my exams this semester to be 1/2 multiple choice.

[keg411]

One of my professors is planning to include multiple choice questions on the final, which will be worth about half of the grade. Many students, myself included, are pretty outraged.

Is having mc questions on law school exams common?

Yes. Why would you bitch about MC?

It's probably a good way to test ability to memorize, but I'm pretty sure it not's what law school exams are supposed to be about.

Then you've never seen law school MC. It's not just about memorization; especially since it's all probably open notes. (My Torts miterm was MC and I've had two contracts MC exams, so I've already seen LS MC more than once). Take a look at some bar exam-style MC questions and you'll see it isn't all that easy or just "about memorization".

[sissyclark]

My civil procedure professor spent 1 month drilling us with math equations/formulas to use during negotiations. It was the most worthless crap I've ever heard, and it had nothing to do with civil procedure. I wanted to whine about it (because I suck at math), but then I realized that the more time I waste complaining about my plight, the less time I would have to prepare for his exam.

[burtonrideclub]

My civ pro final is 40 multiple choice questions, 4 hours. Pretty much every question is its own separate ridiculously complicated hypo, and the choices are really hard. Apparently, 16 out of 40 was the median grade last year.

[nealric]

My civ pro final is 40 multiple choice questions, 4 hours. Pretty much every question is its own separate ridiculously complicated hypo, and the choices are really hard. Apparently, 16 out of 40 was the median grade last year.

Yikes. If that's out of 4 answer choices I think the prof went overboard on the difficulty. If the median is that low, I can't believe it's creating a good curve.

My civil procedure professor spent 1 month drilling us with math equations/formulas to use during negotiations. It was the most worthless crap I've ever heard, and it had nothing to do with civil procedure.

What on earth were they testing you on? I can't imagine how one would use math in civpro.

[jdubb990]

I have a split half multiple choice/short answer and the other half essay on one exam. I can't decide if its better strategy to tackle the mc first or the essay.

[king3780]

I have a split half multiple choice/short answer and the other half essay on one exam. I can't decide if its better strategy to tackle the mc first or the essay.

Do you have a choice? I have two split exams this semester and in both there's a time limit to finish the MC in and then you have to hand that in before you can get the essay questions.

[king3780]

Con Law prof showed us a single MC question and a single essay question (no old exams available) to give us a flavor for our split exam. Thing that stood out to me most was the MC question had choices a-h. That's a first for me; I don't think I've ever taken a test with more than five answer choices per question.

[usuaggie]

i have multiple choice on every final. each class seems to vary in difficulty. two finals have short answers as well. all have a hypo, one has an undergrad style essay section.

[3ThrowAway99]

My Civ Pro Final I think is going to have some multiple choice and some essays.. 20% of our grade will be from quizzes that we already had (multiple choice).. I was pretty outraged at first especially because I got 1 of 2 questions wrong on the very first quiz and I felt it was a very poorly worded question and answer prompt. However, since then I have gotten every single question right (maybe 20 questions total in 6 or 7 quizzes over the semester) and the prof says she drops the lowest one.. Now I'm just worried that she maybe mis-graded them (we didn't get them back- I'm actually thinking of confirming that I have 100% as far as my quiz portion of the grade with the one quiz she drops, but probably I won't bother). I have actually found Civ Pro material itself surprisingly enjoyable (I think because the material largely involves SCOTUS cases) but I have not been crazy about the teacher and definitely wasn't crazy about the quizzes until now that they are over with.. For Torts we had a graded mid-term (20% of grade) and 10% of grade is participation... I definitely have felt kind of outraged that all the classes weren't just the one final (as I expected they would be) but now that the quizzes and midterm are over I'm kind of glad to have that part of the grade behind me (I got an A on the torts mid-term). I still think if given the choice I would tend to prefer just the one final essay exam for each class (which I do have for K law), but I'm sure there are plenty of ways that depending on how it is presented or graded an essay final exam could be a frustrating experience.. I actually think if there were some multiple choice on all the finals this might work in my favor because I suspect I would do comparatively well- short question and answers like that tend to click for me. Then again it probably makes the curve tighter and the questions may not be worded clearly... In any case, I hope to excel with whatever format they end up being- hope it also goes well for you! (Don't get me started on legal writing grading- my school just started a 1 year legal writing and research class that is part graded and part P/F with extremely small sections.. definitely not thrilled about that..)

[onthecusp]

Multiple Choice is almost like taking a nap during the test. It requires less brain processing power and provides for a better curve.

[skoobily doobily]

I found out today that my torts exam is going to be 1 hour multiple choice (45 questions), a 30 minute 'thought' essay (?), and a 90 minute hypo on products liability.

In other words: the first 85% of our class will be covered by multiple choice. I'm actually kinda sad.

[Anonymous Loser]

Multiple Choice is almost like taking a nap during the test. It requires less brain processing power and provides for a better curve.

Have you ever taken a law school exam that involved multiple choice questions?

[Blindmelon]

Multiple Choice is almost like taking a nap during the test. It requires less brain processing power and provides for a better curve.

Have you ever taken a law school exam that involved multiple choice questions?

MC on LS exam is the worst.thing.ever.

[Baylan]

My torts exam is true/false, with explanations on false for why it is false, and short answer.

There is a special kind of torture in hell for someone who designs an law school exam like this, since theoretically... every answer in law school should pretty much be, "it depends."

[onthecusp]

Multiple Choice is almost like taking a nap during the test. It requires less brain processing power and provides for a better curve.

Have you ever taken a law school exam that involved multiple choice questions?

Yep, midterm. It was cake. And I aced it.

[Grizz]

Outrageous!

Sue for IIED.

[ToTransferOrNot]

Multiple Choice is almost like taking a nap during the test. It requires less brain processing power and provides for a better curve.

Do you understand how curves work?