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So earlier today I took my crim law final and now I'm stressing a bit. It was one essay and although I feel I stayed on topic the rest of the time I wrote 2 small paragraphs on issues that I don't feel in retrospect were relevant.

Irrelevant issue one- the fact pattern dealt with a person getting angry and killing another person in response to being provoked...I obv discussed involuntary manslaughter, murder, mpc arguments, argued both sides, etc. however at the very end I wrote a small side note that it would be helpful to know the angry killers mental state to see if he qualifies for an insanity defense.......in retrospect again I feel like this was outside the call of the question...I didn't discuss it at length but I did mention it.

Irrelevant issue 2.-a married man is kissing a woman at work...I mentioned another side note about this fact in the essay that it would be helpful to know the age of the woman. If she is under the requisite age in the jurisdiction it could be attempted rape or attempted statutory rape. Both times I feel like what I said was a little out of scope but all I did was mention these as side notes. Is this going to cause damage to my score or am I just having post test anxiety?

Viper12 wrote:So earlier today I took my crim law final and now I'm stressing a bit. It was one essay and although I feel I stayed on topic the rest of the time I wrote 2 small paragraphs on issues that I don't feel in retrospect were relevant.

Irrelevant issue one- the fact pattern dealt with a person getting angry and killing another person in response to being provoked...I obv discussed involuntary manslaughter, murder, mpc arguments, argued both sides, etc. however at the very end I wrote a small side note that it would be helpful to know the angry killers mental state to see if he qualifies for an insanity defense.......in retrospect again I feel like this was outside the call of the question...I didn't discuss it at length but I did mention it.

Irrelevant issue 2.-a married man is kissing a woman at work...I mentioned another side note about this fact in the essay that it would be helpful to know the age of the woman. If she is under the requisite age in the jurisdiction it could be attempted rape or attempted statutory rape. Both times I feel like what I said was a little out of scope but all I did was mention these as side notes. Is this going to cause damage to my score or am I just having post test anxiety?

most professors give points and don't deduct them. so if you were off-topic you just wasted time getting no points.

I wouldn't worry about those things at all. Just relax and get ready to move on to the next exam. And if you're done, start celebrating.

well it isn't going to help it..

What will hurt your grade is the fact that you discussed involuntary manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.

cerealdan wrote:What will hurt your grade is the fact that you discussed involuntary manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.

this.

no one's gonna take off points, the only bad thing is that it detracts time from hitting other issues. Oh, and the insanity thing could only be relevant if it is product of mental disease/defect so if you brought in that aspect you might get a tiny bump

Can't do anything about it now. Go have a drink and try to forget about it.

cerealdan wrote:What will hurt your grade is the fact that you discussed involuntary manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.

meant voluntary...sorry id been up since early yesterday morning and my brain was fried....yeah maybe since i spent like 4 sentences on each irrelevant issue and labled them as asides it wont be a big deal...i felt okay overall so hopefully im on the right side of the curve.

Viper12 wrote:

cerealdan wrote:What will hurt your grade is the fact that you discussed involuntary manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.

meant voluntary...sorry id been up since early yesterday morning and my brain was fried....yeah maybe since i spent like 4 sentences on each irrelevant issue and labled them as asides it wont be a big deal...i felt okay overall so hopefully im on the right side of the curve.

yeah if you didn't waste a bunch of time it won't be a thing

JamMasterJ wrote:

cerealdan wrote:What will hurt your grade is the fact that you discussed involuntary manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.

this.

no one's gonna take off points, the only bad thing is that it detracts time from hitting other issues. Oh, and the insanity thing could only be relevant if it is product of mental disease/defect so if you brought in that aspect you might get a tiny bump

Different professors grade differently, of course. Not all of them just add up checkmarks/points.

Raising issues by assuming facts is so pro

lukertin wrote:Raising issues by assuming facts is so pro

What do you mean?

Viper12 wrote:

lukertin wrote:Raising issues by assuming facts is so pro

What do you mean?

You discussed issues that didn't exist. You are a professional law school exam taker. And an extremely neurotic one at that.

Not sure if this is light sarcasm haha? But I was just unsure if I'd done something that could lead to a point deduction.

You did fine. 1L exams are horse races particularly in crim law and torts. The more the better.

Viper12 wrote:Not sure if this is light sarcasm haha? But I was just unsure if I'd done something that could lead to a point deduction.

Nobody can say for sure. But bringing up and issue, analyzing it and say "well close but no cigar" will almost definitely not get you points removed. You may even get points.

The only reason you don't want to do it is because time = points. If you spend 5 minutes doing attempted statutory rape (is that even a thing for strict liability) when it's not what the prof wants, you might spend 5 minutes less doing something the prof wants.

And I'm guessing the prof may have wanted insanity defense, depending how the fact pattern was.