Multiple Choice or Essay First? Forum

[JDot]

I have my torts exam thurs afternoon. My teacher said the test will be 1 section of 75 MC questions and 1 big essay question (MC counts for 50%/Essay counts for 50%). He said we could do either section first. Which section would you do first?

I'm thinking the essay...

[hephaestus]

How is it weighted? I would do the multiple choice first (assuming it's 50% or more of the exam). Here's why: you can essentially spend an unlimited amount of time on the essay, spotting issues, explaining both sides of the decisive issues, applying cases etc. The MC, on the other hand, has a finite end and you want to complete all the questions.

[JDot]

How is it weighted? I would do the multiple choice first (assuming it's 50% or more of the exam). Here's why: you can essentially spend an unlimited amount of time on the essay, spotting issues, explaining both sides of the decisive issues, applying cases etc. The MC, on the other hand, has a finite end and you want to complete all the questions.

True, my only concern is that on the LSAT I was so exhausted after doing all those multiple choice questions that my essay was garbage at the very end. My logic is that I'll need to be more attentive and sharp issue spotting on the essay than on the MC questions so I don't want to be burned out after doing 75 MC questions first.

[KD35]

I'd recommend doing MC first because I feel like it would be easy to work too long on the Torts Essay portion and not give yourself sufficient time for MC.

[cynthia rose]

Do whichever one you think you're less likely to spend too much time/not leave yourself enough for the other part. For most people that would be the MC, but if you feel more comfortable tackling the essay first then by all means do that. Just be sure to keep an eye on your time.

Personally I would read the essay first to issue spot/outline it quickly, then stick it in the back of my mind and do the MCs, then go back to write the essay. That is just me though and not at all advice lol

[waxecstatic]

I guess ideally you would just be able to do everything in some kind of sequential order, but consider the worst-case scenario if you do MC first: you leave yourself about 30 minutes for a 90 minute essay, or even just 60 minutes, because you were stuck between A & B on a few MC questions. That can be really rough. I'd go through the MC first, just cause it's there first, but at a certain point, you gotta move on. Each issue you leave out in the essay might be equivalent to the credit given for a correct MC.

[NotMyRealName09]

What do you like more? MC or Essays? Start there.

The answer really doesn't matter because if you are smart you will spend no more than 50% of your exam time on the first section, then move onto the second section at the half-way mark regardless of whether you feel you finished the first section. You will set your timer and literally move on to the next section at the half-way point. IF you finish the second section early, only then may you revisit the first section with your remaining time. (This is all contained in the 8 Secrets of Top Law School Exam Performance by Prof. Whitebread - BUY IT NOW).

Exams are points scrambles, a game. You could spend 75% of your time writing a perfect essay, but lose out on tons of points rushing through the MC. Or you could get bogged down in the MC, lose track of time, and miss out on the low-hanging fruit points in the essay. Time is Money (or Points). If half the exam is half the points, only spend half your time on it.

It doesn't matter what section you start with - limit your time to 50% and be faithful to that limit. This will maximize your odds of accumulating the most points.

Remember - you're not going to score 100%, ever. You just want the most points you can get in the time allowed.

[JDot]

What do you like more? MC or Essays? Start there.

The answer really doesn't matter because if you are smart you will spend no more than 50% of your exam time on the first section, then move onto the second section at the half-way mark regardless of whether you feel you finished the first section. You will set your timer and literally move on to the next section at the half-way point. IF you finish the second section early, only then may you revisit the first section with your remaining time. (This is all contained in the 8 Secrets of Top Law School Exam Performance by Prof. Whitebread - BUY IT NOW).

Exams are points scrambles, a game. You could spend 75% of your time writing a perfect essay, but lose out on tons of points rushing through the MC. Or you could get bogged down in the MC, lose track of time, and miss out on the low-hanging fruit points in the essay. Time is Money (or Points). If half the exam is half the points, only spend half your time on it.

It doesn't matter what section you start with - limit your time to 50% and be faithful to that limit. This will maximize your odds of accumulating the most points.

Remember - you're not going to score 100%, ever. You just want the most points you can get in the time allowed.

exactly, I'll be spending 50% of the time on one or the other first, and then moving on no matter what after that time limit has run out, that's a given.

I guess my question is more geared towards which one out of the 2 (MC or essay) do you think you would get more fatigued doing first?

[horriblegb]

I don't know if this would work for everyone but when I had exams like this I would always do the multiple choice first. I hate multiple choice (weakest part of bar exam by far) but doing so would often jog my memory to minute points I may have missed on an essay. The times I did the essays first, I would see things in the multiple choice that I would remember for the essays. If that makes any sense. Maybe that just makes me not a great test taker or I was never prepared enough, but that is what worked for me FWIW

[dannynoonan87]

ESSAY

[Zensack]

Generally, whichever one is worth more (usually essay). If they're equally weighted, do the one that will yield more points per minute (usually essay). Another advantage to doing essay first is that you can use a letter of the day if you're running out of time to salvage some points on MC, but you probably won't be able to do anything comparable on an unfinished essay (an outline or canned rule statement might snag you a couple, but also takes more time than letter of the day'ing your scantron). Obviously, ignore the letter of the day part if your professor penalizes wrong answers.

[sublime]

..

[martymoose]

I have a prof that breaks them up, so you don't get a time advantage if you're good at MC. But, when I have a choice, I prefer doing the essays first. Writing out issues and rules warms my brain up. Also, if I run out of time at the end of the test, I figure it's easier to rush through a couple of MC questions than it is to rush through the end of an essay.

[Gefuehlsecht]

First, you need to have the testicular fortitude to abide by the time limit you set yourself for whatever section you shall attempt first.

If you call time and and the section is not quite complete, well, so be it. Don't make the mistake of stealing time from the second section.

If you know you might be at risk of doing so even though I told you not to do that, then you'll elect to do the essay first followed by the MC part. Guess the answer to the last MC questions if time runs out. It's easier to guess five questions in ten seconds than it is to write five paragraphs in that time.

[ph14]

Credited response here is:

1. Start on the multiple choice first. Go through and only mark down answers that you are certain are correct.
2. That means you are skipping questions. Circle the number of the skipped question on your test booklet (and make sure you aren't entering it in your documents).
3. Do the essay.
4. Return and re-examine the questions you skipped again, with a fresh set of eyes. Answer questions until you are done.
5. If time leftover, return to #3.

[Zensack]

Credited response here is:

1. Start on the multiple choice first. Go through and only mark down answers that you are certain are correct.
2. That means you are skipping questions. Circle the number of the skipped question on your test booklet (and make sure you aren't entering it in your documents).
3. Do the essay.
4. Return and re-examine the questions you skipped again, with a fresh set of eyes. Answer questions until you are done.
5. If time leftover, return to #3.

Skipping questions wastes too much time. In torts I didn't even have enough time to completely finish both the essay and MC, let alone track down a bunch of blanks to reread and try again.

[Cellar-door]

Set a time for the MC, do them all in that time then move to the essay, don't get bogged down on single questions, if you don't know, guess and move on quickly.