What is your worst law school finals experience? Forum

[Kobe_Teeth]

My friends and I have a rule. If you talk too much about exams we call "shenanigans" and anymore talking about the exam will result in the buying of a beer for the caller of "shenanigans" by the rule breaker. Its worked out well so far. I would advise the rest of you to do the same if you actually want to enjoy ANY of your break.

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

[MBZags]

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

Was he using a Mac?

[BarbellDreams]

My Mac has crashed twice before both of my exams but once the software started running it was fine. I am rolling the dice again on my third exam tomorrow, I just make sure to start the software 15 mins before the exam to let it crash the 2-3 times it needs to crash before starting up. Gonna have this comp till next year at least, and there is no way I can get anything above a B+ by handwriting compared with my typing speed so I am out of options.

[Baylan]

My friends and I have a rule. If you talk too much about exams we call "shenanigans" and anymore talking about the exam will result in the buying of a beer for the caller of "shenanigans" by the rule breaker. Its worked out well so far. I would advise the rest of you to do the same if you actually want to enjoy ANY of your break.

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

This is the best idea ever.

[OGR3]

My Mac has crashed twice before both of my exams but once the software started running it was fine. I am rolling the dice again on my third exam tomorrow, I just make sure to start the software 15 mins before the exam to let it crash the 2-3 times it needs to crash before starting up. Gonna have this comp till next year at least, and there is no way I can get anything above a B+ by handwriting compared with my typing speed so I am out of options.

I'd let you borrow mine, but I'm such a gunner I want to ruin the curve in other sections as well.

[BarbellDreams]

My Mac has crashed twice before both of my exams but once the software started running it was fine. I am rolling the dice again on my third exam tomorrow, I just make sure to start the software 15 mins before the exam to let it crash the 2-3 times it needs to crash before starting up. Gonna have this comp till next year at least, and there is no way I can get anything above a B+ by handwriting compared with my typing speed so I am out of options.

I'd let you borrow mine, but I'm such a gunner I want to ruin the curve in other sections as well.

You're much better off letting me get that A than some of the characters in our section. But we all know you mega-gun just so you can be deemed worthy to get a seat in gunner-row next year.

[BriaTharen]

My friends and I have a rule. If you talk too much about exams we call "shenanigans" and anymore talking about the exam will result in the buying of a beer for the caller of "shenanigans" by the rule breaker. Its worked out well so far. I would advise the rest of you to do the same if you actually want to enjoy ANY of your break.

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

This is the best idea ever.

[ntugwater]

when people talk too much about the exam, I simply tell them how I almost didn't realize that the pages were double-sided (they weren't). This usually causes a minute of panic before they realize my point

[3ThrowAway99]

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

Was he using a Mac?

That happened to me too- when I clicked "begin" for my first final my mac screen went blank.. the proctor didn't know what to do.. I just hit power and then was able to correctly start the program because it gave me 'exit' or 'o.k.' options and when I clicked o.k. it took me to the test. It was scary but no big deal.. actually that test went way better overall (I think- I guess until grades there's no way to be positive) than the test I had today...

[onthecusp]

During our section's first exam, the student sitting next to me, his examsoft software malfunctioned and everything he wrote disappeared with 10 minutes left to go. I have no idea how it turned out. After time was called and I turned my materials in I was trying to make him feel better when I was instructed to leave and that "there was nothing that I could do." I felt like I was leaving him dead on the operating table. And I barely knew the guy....

You know what's funny, he probably could have hit "control z" and it would have all came back. Same thing happened to me during my Civ Pro exam using Exam Soft, control z, crisis averted.

[onthecusp]

.

[3ThrowAway99]

I took my K final yesterday with literally no sleep.. I haven't been sleeping well and I thought it would be better to go straight through into the 8am test without sleep rather than getting just a few hours... I don't know what I was thinking.. It was absolutely a horrible experience. I did complete all the questions, but I feel like I was nowhere near the top of my game to say the least (and actually the way the test was set-up it would have been hard to run out of time on this one anyway). It just seemed like it was a super hard test to me and that I was in really bad shape to take it. A few of the other students afterward seemed to have really struggled with it too which I at least found mildly comforting (though there were a couple who said they thought it was easy, but they seemed to admit that maybe that meant they were missing some things). The bottom line is that I was (and still am) hoping for all As and I don't think it will happen due to the K test (though obviously it is not guaranteed in the other classes either).

I'm sure I'll get over it, and it's definitely not the end of the world, but I really was surprised by what a bad experience it was- really felt like a nightmare after finishing it. I think I'm a bit of a poster child though for not going to a school that wasn't toward the top of your list- I'm hoping to transfer to a T14 and so I've been putting a ton of pressure on myself to get all As. The expectations really backfired because all the stress has interfered with my sleep, and the time I spent pouring over the K material one last time through the night would have been much better spent at least trying to sleep or even just watching t.v. and relaxing. The test was a rude reminder that it's not what you know (in terms of having a comprehensive or technical knowledge of the law, although obviously that can be a starting point)- it is really simply about how well you can address the hypos by spotting the issues and using the lingo for the most part. Studying the class material actually seems to have quite limited benefit in helping with that (I knew this ahead of time but I feel like it is hard to accept that it is the truth of the matter).

In terms of the school I'm at, I think I will be satisfied in the long-run with graduating from here (lower T1 on a more than half-scholly), but I definitely wanted t14 when I was doing applications and I think that desire is kind of haunting me. I guess I just have a lot of pride (in terms of not wanting to accept less than the best and wanting to have my abilities fully recognized), though I also do think that perhaps I really would fit better socially and intellectually at a T14. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but regardless, it has been my hope to break t14 and I think this K test is threatening my chances of such a transfer (for instance, I was hoping to apply to Georgetown early action transfer, and think I would need all As this semester to have a shot). I feel like I should have retaken the LSAT (though I did prepare quite a bit for the one administration I took). To get to where I would have likely been in a position for a T14 admission as a 0L I think I would have needed to take another year before going to law school to have time to make the improvement I would have needed (and I really didn't want to take another year due to my circumstances). I took the December test last year and I think I should have at least retaken in Feb nevertheless- I felt like it wouldn't give me enough time to have a likely improvement, but my score could have gone up, and the way admissions work it really wouldn't have mattered if the score went down.. I think working on LSAT retakes is definitely in the long-run a less stressful approach to aim for t14 than aiming to do it through transfer.. It's one thing for someone who ends up in a position to do it, but going into 1L exams with that dual-contingency expectation I think has really been a bad plan for me...

[solotee]

Finishing the exam with 15 minutes to spare. Looking back over the essay facts trying to discover what I must have missed. Drawing a blank. Feeling like I did OK.

The next night (not the night of mind you, a full 24+ hours post-test) laying in bed and suddenly: HOLY CRAP! I missed a very obvious point that I could have written for 20 minutes on, and may very likely have been the whole point of the question.

The sad part is, my first instinctual though was "Maybe I can email him and write this paragraph of the essay, explaining to him that I missed it during the final and could he please consider giving me at least partial credit. I mean I know it, isn't that what matters?" Now I'm trying to put it out of my mind since I can't control it, but it sure sucks. I understood the class pretty well, and missed a major point. Dangit.

It would have been much better for me if I would have just not realized it, and gone on in ignorant bliss.

this has happened to me on both of my finals so far, the last one literally kept me up all night, and was still making me sick to my stomach the next morning....

the feeling of knowing you KNOW the material well enough to get all the points, but just making bone-headed in the pressure of the moment mistakess is just the most disgusting feeling ever

If i don't know something because I didn't study it enough, I can get over it really easy, but when I go into that room and leave points on the table because of momentary brain lapses, ya... fml

PS - our examsoft does auto-saves every so often, it actually freaks me out because i'll be in the middle of typing a huge response, and the program will freeze for a split second while auto-saving, every time it does it I think my comp is about to lock up and crash

you think i'd get used to it by now, but no

Dude I wouldn't stress too much. I missed a major issue (that I knew cold) on a graded midterm that was worth about 45 points out of 120, still got into top 1/3 (A-). Chances are either your analysis on the other issues are good, or other people in the class missed issues as well.

[BobSacamano]

I'll check back to this thread when my Admin Law final is over in about 7 hours.

Never take that class. Ever.

[BarbellDreams]

I got rocked by Crim yesterday. It was terrible. He never taught us anything so the class was basically "Who can buy the most supplements and teach it to themselves the best.". I thought I had a decent handle on it, but when I sat down to the first question I didnt even know what I was writing, I just rambled on for 12 pages and then went home. A B+ would be Christmas, and my career goal is to be a DA too haha. Never thought I would hate Crim this much, worst professor ever.

[BobSacamano]

I got rocked by Crim yesterday. It was terrible. He never taught us anything so the class was basically "Who can buy the most supplements and teach it to themselves the best.". I thought I had a decent handle on it, but when I sat down to the first question I didnt even know what I was writing, I just rambled on for 12 pages and then went home. A B+ would be Christmas, and my career goal is to be a DA too haha. Never thought I would hate Crim this much, worst professor ever.

I'm guessing you're in B or C. Whatever your answer, I hear B's professor is better for Crim Pro and C's is better for Crim, so you may have just gotten unlucky.

[BarbellDreams]

No, I'm actually in A aka the section that got an incompetent Crim professor who taught himself the subject every night before lectures from a supplement.

[BobSacamano]

Oh, hah, that's the only professor of those that I didn't have last year. I hadn't really heard much about him.

[BarbellDreams]

Oh, hah, that's the only professor of those that I didn't have last year. I hadn't really heard much about him.

Absolutely serious, if you gave me a month to prepare I would have been able to teach the class better. No joke, and thats not a tribute to me but rather a sign of just how bad he was and how much material HE knew.

[OGR3]

Oh, hah, that's the only professor of those that I didn't have last year. I hadn't really heard much about him.

Absolutely serious, if you gave me a month to prepare I would have been able to teach the class better. No joke, and thats not a tribute to me but rather a sign of just how bad he was and how much material HE knew.

But he's a law professor, isn't he paid to be an expert?

[Kobe_Teeth]

UPDATE on the student who had computer problems that I discussed earlier (his screen went blank). He was writing his next exam. I don't know him well enough to just go up and ask how it all turned out. Sorry. However, he didn't look like he was going /self or anything. So I think it'll be ok. Like someone said earlier, the IT people so they can USUALLY get the info back.

Was he using a Mac?

He was using a Mac and he was borrowing it from a friend. Someone told me things ended up working out for him. Not sure why he would use a borrowed computer on exam day. Just seems like an X factor that that no one should bring on themselves...oh well...

[ndirish2010]

I think I have a lot of these beat, sadly. With 30 minutes left in my contracts final, I was feeling pretty confident and I thought I had it all down. I was just preparing to look over the exam when I noticed one or two more things to write, so I finished it all up and clicked 'finish exam' on EBB...five hours later, I found out that there was a 4th hypo on the back page (allocated to 30 minutes out of the four hours), which I completely forgot to do. A nice way to lose at least 2/3 of a letter grade before getting started.

[Unitas]

I think I have a lot of these beat, sadly. With 30 minutes left in my contracts final, I was feeling pretty confident and I thought I had it all down. I was just preparing to look over the exam when I noticed one or two more things to write, so I finished it all up and clicked 'finish exam' on EBB...five hours later, I found out that there was a 4th hypo on the back page (allocated to 30 minutes out of the four hours), which I completely forgot to do. A nice way to lose at least 2/3 of a letter grade before getting started.

Wow, so sorry .. I thought all professors put dozens of warnings of how many pages and page numbers on each page and so forth... That really does suck.

It isn't /self bad at least. Just means you lost 1/6 (based on 30 minutes out of a 3 hour test if points and time setup to match) of the possible points. So you start at 84% or so... Still possible to do okay if you did well on the rest

[drdolittle]

I think I have a lot of these beat, sadly. With 30 minutes left in my contracts final, I was feeling pretty confident and I thought I had it all down. I was just preparing to look over the exam when I noticed one or two more things to write, so I finished it all up and clicked 'finish exam' on EBB...five hours later, I found out that there was a 4th hypo on the back page (allocated to 30 minutes out of the four hours), which I completely forgot to do. A nice way to lose at least 2/3 of a letter grade before getting started.

Wow, so sorry .. I thought all professors put dozens of warnings of how many pages and page numbers on each page and so forth... That really does suck.

This makes me worried if I missed any such hidden q's? But WTF, was the prof trying to save paper, or something?

[ndirish2010]

I think I have a lot of these beat, sadly. With 30 minutes left in my contracts final, I was feeling pretty confident and I thought I had it all down. I was just preparing to look over the exam when I noticed one or two more things to write, so I finished it all up and clicked 'finish exam' on EBB...five hours later, I found out that there was a 4th hypo on the back page (allocated to 30 minutes out of the four hours), which I completely forgot to do. A nice way to lose at least 2/3 of a letter grade before getting started.

Wow, so sorry .. I thought all professors put dozens of warnings of how many pages and page numbers on each page and so forth... That really does suck.

It isn't /self bad at least. Just means you lost 1/6 (based on 30 minutes out of a 3 hour test if points and time setup to match) of the possible points. So you start at 84% or so... Still possible to do okay if you did well on the rest

It was actually a four hour exam, so I start at 87.5%. There was a warning, but I got so into my exam (plus most of the practice ones we had were three hypos, so I had that locked into my head)...there's no excuse for it, but there's also nothing I can do about it. I'm thinking 2/3 of a letter grade is the likely penalty (I think the rest of the exam went fairly well).