Tips for Take Home Exams Forum

[gnarlyfingers]

Have a Conlaw 2 take-home exam coming up in a week or so (24 hr-long test). Given that it's my first take home, I'm not too sure as to what will work best. For all you students who've done well with these types of tests: what worked best for you? Did you outline at all? Do you recommend doing anything differently that you would not have done for the other traditional in-class exams?

Thanks!

[ph14]

Have a Conlaw 2 take-home exam coming up in a week or so (24 hr-long test). Given that it's my first take home, I'm not too sure as to what will work best. For all you students who've done well with these types of tests: what worked best for you? Did you outline at all? Do you recommend doing anything differently that you would not have done for the other traditional in-class exams?

Thanks!

Interested in this as well-- I have an 8 hour take home.

[Breezin]

Also interested. My test is in a month and I don't plan to outline fwiw

[goosey]

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will have 8 hours [or 24 or whatever it is] to take a normal 3 hour law school exam. it will be 8 hours of exam...you will be writing up until the last minute, and you will not have time to flip through pages of notes----it is like a regular exam, except 500 times as painful. thats been my experience [and that of my peers. Of my two take home exams last year, nobody [that admitted it, at least] finished in the allotted 8 hours. btw one of my closed books was con law...i outlined, made a table of all the standards of review, had an outline of just cases, etc...I basically studied the way I would have if I was taking it in class. I could have prepared EXACTLY how I would have for an in class exam and the fact that I didn't reflects in my grade. I did well but I could have done better if I got the chance to write more than 3 sentences for the last question. time is an issue...the less one prepares, the more time becomes an issue.


prepare as you would for an in class exam.

and be prepared for the most painful 24 hrs ever. I hate take home exams. in class exams are like a straight bullet to the head. take home exams are like being repeatedly stabbed with plastic knived and toothbrushes...

[ph14]

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will have 8 hours [or 24 or whatever it is] to take a normal 3 hour law school exam. it will be 8 hours of exam...you will be writing up until the last minute, and you will not have time to flip through pages of notes----it is like a regular exam, except 500 times as painful. thats been my experience [and that of my peers. Of my two take home exams last year, nobody [that admitted it, at least] finished in the allotted 8 hours. btw one of my closed books was con law...i outlined, made a table of all the standards of review, had an outline of just cases, etc...I basically studied the way I would have if I was taking it in class. I could have prepared EXACTLY how I would have for an in class exam and the fact that I didn't reflects in my grade. I did well but I could have done better if I got the chance to write more than 3 sentences for the last question. time is an issue...the less one prepares, the more time becomes an issue.


prepare as you would for an in class exam.

and be prepared for the most painful 24 hrs ever. I hate take home exams.

Thanks for the tips. Was your exam not word limited?

[goosey]

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will have 8 hours [or 24 or whatever it is] to take a normal 3 hour law school exam. it will be 8 hours of exam...you will be writing up until the last minute, and you will not have time to flip through pages of notes----it is like a regular exam, except 500 times as painful. thats been my experience [and that of my peers. Of my two take home exams last year, nobody [that admitted it, at least] finished in the allotted 8 hours. btw one of my closed books was con law...i outlined, made a table of all the standards of review, had an outline of just cases, etc...I basically studied the way I would have if I was taking it in class. I could have prepared EXACTLY how I would have for an in class exam and the fact that I didn't reflects in my grade. I did well but I could have done better if I got the chance to write more than 3 sentences for the last question. time is an issue...the less one prepares, the more time becomes an issue.


prepare as you would for an in class exam.

and be prepared for the most painful 24 hrs ever. I hate take home exams.

Thanks for the tips. Was your exam not word limited?

both were word limited. that was a major issue. because not only are you running out of time, but you are out of words..and you need to try and edit previous answers to allow for new answers, which is super stressful at 4:54 if the exam is due by 5.

[gnarlyfingers]

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will have 8 hours [or 24 or whatever it is] to take a normal 3 hour law school exam. it will be 8 hours of exam...you will be writing up until the last minute, and you will not have time to flip through pages of notes----it is like a regular exam, except 500 times as painful. thats been my experience [and that of my peers. Of my two take home exams last year, nobody [that admitted it, at least] finished in the allotted 8 hours. btw one of my closed books was con law...i outlined, made a table of all the standards of review, had an outline of just cases, etc...I basically studied the way I would have if I was taking it in class. I could have prepared EXACTLY how I would have for an in class exam and the fact that I didn't reflects in my grade. I did well but I could have done better if I got the chance to write more than 3 sentences for the last question. time is an issue...the less one prepares, the more time becomes an issue.


prepare as you would for an in class exam.

and be prepared for the most painful 24 hrs ever. I hate take home exams. in class exams are like a straight bullet to the head. take home exams are like being repeatedly stabbed with plastic knived and toothbrushes...

Shit just got real.

[dabomb75]

uh ohs. 3 take home exams next semester.....

was not expecting that response from goosey

[beachbum]

Two take-homes (8 hour and 24 hour) this semester. FML.

[quiver]

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will have 8 hours [or 24 or whatever it is] to take a normal 3 hour law school exam. it will be 8 hours of exam...you will be writing up until the last minute, and you will not have time to flip through pages of notes----it is like a regular exam, except 500 times as painful. thats been my experience [and that of my peers. Of my two take home exams last year, nobody [that admitted it, at least] finished in the allotted 8 hours. btw one of my closed books was con law...i outlined, made a table of all the standards of review, had an outline of just cases, etc...I basically studied the way I would have if I was taking it in class. I could have prepared EXACTLY how I would have for an in class exam and the fact that I didn't reflects in my grade. I did well but I could have done better if I got the chance to write more than 3 sentences for the last question. time is an issue...the less one prepares, the more time becomes an issue.


prepare as you would for an in class exam.

and be prepared for the most painful 24 hrs ever. I hate take home exams. in class exams are like a straight bullet to the head. take home exams are like being repeatedly stabbed with plastic knived and toothbrushes...

I have not had a take home exam yet but I recently talked to a bunch of 3Ls about it and they all seem to agree with goosey above. It will depend on the exam though: an 8 hour take home with a 5 page limit is different than an 8 hour take home with a 20 page limit. The former is somewhat less stressful and the hard part is usually the page limit rather than the time. One 3L said she had a 24 hour take home with a 15 page limit (or something like that) and it ended up being a perfect storm of time crunch and page limit. Sounds horrible.

[DoubleChecks]

I haven't felt take homes to be extra horrible, though I do take take home exams like a boss (in the sense that I sit down for my 8 hr take homes and work non-stop, I don't even piss or eat...and I don't even feel it. Must be the Asian gamer in me), and they were my best grades haha.

That being said, they generally have word limits so that you can keep your sanity, and some are better than others (depends on your prof). I did not study for it any differently than I would have for an in-class exam tbh. Know the stuff, you can't be sitting there READING chapters (or I guess you could but it'd be a waste of your time). That being said, my notes/outlines for take homes tended to be a bit more disorganized...or I did not make them as clear or visually appealing as I did for the in-classes.

edit: I have never had a 24 hr take home before...that sounds horrible, esp. if you're a perfectionist lol.

[ph14]

I haven't felt take homes to be extra horrible, though I do take take home exams like a boss (in the sense that I sit down for my 8 hr take homes and work non-stop, I don't even piss or eat...and I don't even feel it. Must be the Asian gamer in me), and they were my best grades haha.

That being said, they generally have word limits so that you can keep your sanity, and some are better than others (depends on your prof). I did not study for it any differently than I would have for an in-class exam tbh. Know the stuff, you can't be sitting there READING chapters (or I guess you could but it'd be a waste of your time). That being said, my notes/outlines for take homes tended to be a bit more disorganized...or I did not make them as clear or visually appealing as I did for the in-classes.

Oh man.

[holdencaulfield]

I had a totally different experience with the two take home exams I took. I thought they were generally much easier; I stayed on top of the material all semester. I tabbed the crap out of my books and had westlawnext on standby. Results: A and A-

Other than spending approximately 10 hours on 18 pages in one 24 hr period (which really blew), it wasn't that bad

[ph14]

I had a totally different experience with the two take home exams I took. I thought they were generally much easier; I stayed on top of the material all semester. I tabbed the crap out of my books and had westlawnext on standby. Results: A and A-

Other than spending approximately 10 hours on 18 pages in one 24 hr period (which really blew), it wasn't that bad

Why?

[holdencaulfield]

IMO, and for the class I was taking, it was the fastest way to find detailed explanations of certain topics. It was as easy as typing [class subject] and [issue] into the search box. Up pops [class subject] guide with a section for the [issue].

If was much quicker than flipping through the casebook, and I didn't have a great outline.

[smittytron3k]

My feeling is that take-home exams reward those who can write very concisely/clearly and who can properly allot time and words between issues and questions, whereas in-class exams reward those who can spot a ton of issues and spam out decent-to-good analysis on all of them. My outlines for take-home exams tend to be longer and more detailed than those for in-class exams, but then again I did a lot better on in-class exams than take-homes so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.