t14 people - any unusual exam/grading formats? Forum

[billyisdead]

Can any of the t14 people comment at on how their profs do their exams? I'm a 1L at a lower ranked school and we don't have a final in one of my classes, just closed note quizzes over the course of the semester and some group assignments. I think it's absurd. Do these sorts of things still happen at higher ranked schools? Comments w/r/t 1L classes only please.

[random5483]

Many classes are graded in non-traditional formats, but "bar" courses always have finals. Some non-bar upper division courses are graded on participation, papers, or other metrics. Your core bar classes though (Contracts, Civ Pro, Property, Con Law, Crim Law, Evidence, Crim Pro, Business Associations, etc) generally have finals. As a 1L my legal writing class did not have a final exam (final memo). Also, I had one skills based class which was graded without a final (oral argument for final).


If your core courses are being graded purely on closed book quizzes, your law school is not representative of most schools. I have friends in various law schools in the T2-T14 range, and all of them seem to have finals for their core classes.

[r6_philly]

All classes final exam only.

[ahduth]

All classes final exam only.

I have Lawyering (legal writing plus!) which is pass/fail?

Otherwise it's all just one fuck you, work on your typing speed, final. That's civ pro, crim and contracts.

[r6_philly]

All classes final exam only.

I have Lawyering (legal writing plus!) which is pass/fail?

Otherwise it's all just one fuck you, work on your typing speed, final. That's civ pro, crim and contracts.

I am only counting doctrinal, and we also have property. I am more concerned about issue spotting than typing fast at the moment lol

[Detrox]

All classes final exam only.

I have Lawyering (legal writing plus!) which is pass/fail?

Otherwise it's all just one fuck you, work on your typing speed, final. That's civ pro, crim and contracts.

I am only counting doctrinal, and we also have property. I am more concerned about issue spotting than typing fast at the moment lol

You will not get all the issues, something people seem to have a hard time accepting. Get as many as you can and put as much down about them as you can. You guys are studious, I think I was just starting to worry about exams this time last year, maybe a few weeks later actually...

[r6_philly]

You will not get all the issues, something people seem to have a hard time accepting. Get as many as you can and put as much down about them as you can. You guys are studious, I think I was just starting to worry about exams this time last year, maybe a few weeks later actually...

Haha I can accept it, I just want to work on it. Words can come as long as I can spot the issues. Typing isn't going to be a problem. Having stuff to put down probably would lol

My professor asked in class today "haven't you guys started reviewing yet?" So that's my que of starting to think about exams.

[swc65]

All classes final exam only.

I have Lawyering (legal writing plus!) which is pass/fail?

Otherwise it's all just one fuck you, work on your typing speed, final. That's civ pro, crim and contracts.

I am only counting doctrinal, and we also have property. I am more concerned about issue spotting than typing fast at the moment lol

You will not get all the issues, something people seem to have a hard time accepting. Get as many as you can and put as much down about them as you can. You guys are studious, I think I was just starting to worry about exams this time last year, maybe a few weeks later actually...

Eh, this totally depends. Some professors grade by checking off the number of issues you spotted (torts is one place where this is a substantial possibility) other professors will put fewer issues in the exam and grade more heavily on how you argued/handled them. Moral- check with your prof and practice the old exams with the professor's preference in mind.

[bdubs]

At NU all of the doctrinal classes are heavily weighted toward finals. Two of my professors had graded midterms, but they basically said that the final would determine the overall grade.

Exams generally: have no multiple choice, are open book, sometimes use short answer questions but mainly have essay format answers.