exam preparation book for property Forum

[unclej]

first week of property and I can already tell I am going to fail this class. we have dukenmier as our book, which sounds like I am reading Chinese...and I have no idea what the teacher is talking about either, he is one of those teachers that put you to sleep.

based on a suggestion from a very helpful user on this forum, I ordered "understanding property law" which I haven't received yet so I cant comment on it. I was also going to order Examples and Explanations and maybe Crunch Time and Nutshell but I am kind of broke and I dont want to be one of those people that blindly buy a bunch of books and read none.

ok maybe the previous 2 paragraphs are irrelevant because they have nothing to do with my question.

my question is, I am so lost that I cant even visualize what an exam would look like. How would the multiple choice questions be asked? how would the essays be asked? would the essay ask "tell me the difference between fee simple and fee tail"? how would a good answer look?

I am looking for a resource (a book or something online) that would have sample questions and answers for a typical property test. I found this book on amazon:
Siegel's Property: Essay and Multiple-Choice Questions and Answers

is this a good resource for this purpose, or do you know of something better?

[BVest]

Unless your prof is a complete sadist, you're unlikely to get anything related to fee tail.

As far as what property questions look like, your best bet is to see if the library or other on-campus source has old exams for your particular prof.

I don't recall having any property MC, but you could certainly see some that say stuff like:

1. Description of conveyance; subsequent action by grantee; "O's heirs bring suit to quiet title, who wins?"

2. Description of conveyance; "what type of interest does X party have in blackacre?"

Also those that require you to identify the reason:
3. Description of conveyance; suit to quiet title, "who wins?"
Party A because Rule Against Perpetuities
Party A because Doctrine of Worthier Title
Party B because there is an exception to the rule against perpetuities when A & B are [something]
Party B because of the Rule in Shelley's Case.

4. Description of conveyance; "If X brings a suit to quiet title and wins, what is the most likely reason?"

Or you may have some short answer questions like:
5. Description of conveyance identifying multiple parties. "Identify what type of present or future interest Abe, Bill, Chris, and Diane have in blackacre."

Essay questions tend to have a complicated set of facts often including:
transactions severing a property into multiple parcels or blocking of access and then asking what rights exist (testing primarily on easements);

or talking about different transactions and a series of trespassers possessing the land (testing on details of adverse possession);

or talking about complicated issues of contingent interests and asking who owns what and why.

In all such questions, the case will be a very close call and you'll need to make your case persuasively but also give a nod to the other possible outcomes and say why those are not the outcome.

[unclej]

Thank you, BVest, this is very nice.