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Hi everyone. I'm wondering if one can actually fail a law school final, or class in general.

I go to a T2 school, and had a really bad day for finals, I am freaking out now because I really think I might have failed it. There were some multiple choice questions and an essay. The essay was not very hard, but it was definitely an unexpected topic for me. But it's not hard, so I think most people might have nailed it. The main thing is that I was running out of time when it came to the essay, so I didn't have much time to plan it out. Although I cited some cases that were applicable and analyze them, I believe I have misused them because I mistakenly believed the case would go one way while now, after thinking about it carefully, it would go another way. This mistake also led me to miss further rules of laws, etc. Although I was able to finish the essay, it was done in a rush, and these mistakes were made... The essay is weighed more than the multiple choice section, and I'm usually not great at multiple choices either, so I would not expect a full score on that section.

How likely is it that I will be getting a F in this class? I've heard that it's not that often one can fail a law school class, but I don't know if that's true or not. Would a D/D+ even be considered passing?
Besides from the final, we had small assignments during the semester, in which I did fine in, but they did not account for much, just 10%. If I do fail, being a 1L, would I get suspended or anything? Can 1L mandatory courses be repeated, and would the F still count if a better grade is reached? I am very depressed right now, and in great fear that I will fail the class. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

Retake.

Relax and ride the curve. I'm sure half of your class is feeling the same thing. There's no use in freaking out until you get the grade. I don't think they fail any 1Ls because they want next years tuition. The last part is a joke, probably

Students do fail out of T2s, but the majority do not (some T3s/T4s have horrible attrition to academic performance). Overall, don't worry about it. Chill out, have some fun, and wait for grades. I know, hard to say when I am worried about my grades as well! Every time I worry about my Ks grade this semester (brutal exam), I just remind myself that the two classes i booked last semester were the two classes I thought I did worst in. You can never tell how "badly" you did till you get the grades back.


With that said, in the future, be aware of the time. Don't spend excessive time on any given section of the exam. Moreover, don't spend excessive time on any specific questions or issues within a section. Hard to do sometimes, but time management is important, especially in the racehorse type exams that some professors like to give.

Ty Webb wrote:Retake.

Ty will now be taking a quick Time Out. Clear policy is clear:

Nightrunner wrote:LEGIT ANNOUNCEMENT:

"Retake" isn't funny anymore. Moreover, if you drop it in the Lounge (or in an applicable LSAT thread), then so be it...but stop posting it in response to legit questions in on-topic forums, e.g., choosing between two law schools. You're not funny; you're being an asshole.

Please consider this an open warning - vacations are my first reaction to future instances.

There were at least two 2Ls in my CivPro section. Hope they did better yesterday than same time last year.

At many schools, C/D/F are discretionary; at others, you have to at least give some Cs. Take a look at your 1L curve (somewhere in the student handbook) to see how that goes. Also, I believe at NYU at least you can actually look up the past grade distributions for specific professors. If your school does that, you can see if your professor is in the habit of failing a couple people every semester or if he just gives the gentleman's B-. But remember that people can be failed for things like not coming to class ever, so even if there are a couple C/D/F grades it may require more than a terrible exam to earn them. And, as always, remember that you didn't necessarily do as bad as you think you did.

Thank you all so much for your input! I felt bad about it for a while, but I got over it soon enough so that I can prepare for other finals. Hopefully it wouldn't turn out to be as bad as I imagine it to be...
Thanks again everyone~ Good luck on your exams too, if you're still in school that is!