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Hey, guys. I'm a 0L and thinking of working on my typing/composing speed before starting classes. I work on the internetz and figure that my typing speed is pretty good. However, when you're actually composing, raw WPM is not the only factor. What's the most you've written in 1 hr of an exam? I frequently write for extended periods of time, so this would let me gauge my effective writing speed. Thanks!

+1 this is relevant to my interests

MachineLemon wrote:Hey, guys. I'm a 0L and thinking of working on my typing/composing speed before starting classes. I work on the internetz and figure that my typing speed is pretty good. However, when you're actually composing, raw WPM is not the only factor. What's the most you've written in 1 hr of an exam? I frequently write for extended periods of time, so this would let me gauge my effective writing speed. Thanks!

If you can average near 2000 words per hour, you should be fine.

The most I've written on an exam is 7,500 in 4 hours.

don't know how many words it was, but 11 single spaced pages in 3 hrs.

I think my most last semester was 8000 words on a 3 hour contracts exam.

ETA: Typing speed is obviously a pre-requisite to writing a ton of words, but something that helps at least as much is being used to typing quickly about the issues (ie: writing a lot of practice exams)

Thanks, folks. Any thoughts on text expansion/autofill software? Would it work with exam software?

http://www.phraseexpress.com/

I've shit out like 1500 words in 40 minutes.

The most I ever wrote in the span of 1 hour was the last hour of a 2L exam in which I wrote about 3500 words for the last hour.

Writing a lot =/= a top grade. I didn't write as much as other people did and yet I got top grades. I definitely wrote less than 2000 words a minute. It's about throwing as much law as you can at an issue spotter (talking about alternatives), but dealing with each claim/cause of action/alternative very succinctly. People tend to ramble and write as much as possible. Instead, they should be concise about as many topics as possible.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Writing a lot =/= a top grade. I didn't write as much as other people did and yet I got top grades. I definitely wrote less than 2000 words a minute. It's about throwing as much law as you can at an issue spotter (talking about alternatives), but dealing with each claim/cause of action/alternative very succinctly. People tend to ramble and write as much as possible. Instead, they should be concise about as many topics as possible.

Are you sure?

MachineLemon wrote:Thanks, folks. Any thoughts on text expansion/autofill software? Would it work with exam software?

http://www.phraseexpress.com/

Won't work. You can't even cut and paste...at least in EBB.

johansantana21 wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Writing a lot =/= a top grade. I didn't write as much as other people did and yet I got top grades. I definitely wrote less than 2000 words a minute. It's about throwing as much law as you can at an issue spotter (talking about alternatives), but dealing with each claim/cause of action/alternative very succinctly. People tend to ramble and write as much as possible. Instead, they should be concise about as many topics as possible.

Are you sure?

obviously meant 2000 words an hour.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Writing a lot =/= a top grade. I didn't write as much as other people did and yet I got top grades. I definitely wrote less than 2000 words a minute. It's about throwing as much law as you can at an issue spotter (talking about alternatives), but dealing with each claim/cause of action/alternative very succinctly. People tend to ramble and write as much as possible. Instead, they should be concise about as many topics as possible.

Yeah, but I can almost guarantee if you got a scatterplot of word count v. grade, there would be a strong correlation.

8,500 words in 3hrs.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Writing a lot =/= a top grade.

Might not get you book award, but it sure as hell is the key to an A-

LeDique wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Writing a lot =/= a top grade. I didn't write as much as other people did and yet I got top grades. I definitely wrote less than 2000 words a minute. It's about throwing as much law as you can at an issue spotter (talking about alternatives), but dealing with each claim/cause of action/alternative very succinctly. People tend to ramble and write as much as possible. Instead, they should be concise about as many topics as possible.

Yeah, but I can almost guarantee if you got a scatterplot of word count v. grade, there would be a strong correlation.

I think the difference is that if you have to sit there and think about shit you are wasting time and thus end up writing less.

Thinking quickly is the advantage. The typing part, unless you really suck, isn't what is holding you back. As long as you can type 40ish words per minute you should be fine.

Desert Fox wrote: Thinking quickly is the advantage. The typing part, unless you really suck, isn't what is holding you back. As long as you can type 40ish words per minute you should be fine.

40wpm=appx 8,000 words, most 3hr exams average 4-6,000, so 40wpm consistently is writing a lot.

In addition to thinking quickly, pre-writing where permissible is a great strategy.

Cupidity wrote:

Desert Fox wrote: Thinking quickly is the advantage. The typing part, unless you really suck, isn't what is holding you back. As long as you can type 40ish words per minute you should be fine.

40wpm=appx 8,000 words, most 3hr exams average 4-6,000, so 40wpm consistently is writing a lot.

In addition to thinking quickly, pre-writing where permissible is a great strategy.

I was assuming you aren't typing anywhere near the full amount of time, which I think is fair. If you spend half your time thinking, reading, jotting down notes, you need to be able to type fast enough to still spit out 4K words.

Really you just gotta type faster than you think.

Desert Fox wrote:I was assuming you aren't typing anywhere near the full amount of time, which I think is fair. If you spend half your time thinking, reading, jotting down notes, you need to be able to type fast enough to still spit out 4K words.

Really you just gotta type faster than you think.

Well, this is going to be interesting. I'm used to writing philosophy papers and thinking things out as I go along. Writing 1 double-spaced page (of quality writing) in 30 minutes was really zipping for me.

As I mentioned in the OP, I think I could write quickly if I were adequately prepared. Anybody out there who's vastly improved their writing speed? Any tips tricks other than lots-o-practice exams.

You know, the most important thing to understand is your professors grading philosophy. Generally, for issue spotters, there are two types: holistic, and check-mark graders - with the latter being the most common.

With a holistic grader, it is inadvisable to go for the high volume approach. With the check-mark graders, who simply tally up every point you score and only deduct for overwhelming stupidity, your goal should be to vomit every case cite, rule, and fact that you can onto the paper, in the hopes that it will be credited. I got an A in the class of every professor who used check-mark style grading by going for insane word counts, while it only garnered A- grades in classes with a holistic approach.

MachineLemon wrote:Anybody out there who's vastly improved their writing speed? Any tips tricks other than lots-o-practice exams.

Prior to law school, I typed using two fingers. I also used the caps lock key for capital letters instead of shift. Just never learned how to type. I knew that typing speed was huge in law school, so I spent the summer before 1L teaching myself to touch type. It really didn't take too long. First, use a simple, cheap or free program. I used typeracer.com and some other program I found that had viking characters. It was on my old computer so I don't know what it was called, I may have paid like 10 bucks for it. But you can find one that works for you. Second, when you begin to teach yourself to do it, don't revert back when you are not in the lessons. In other words, when shooting the shit on g-chat or whatever, just try to touch type, it will suck for a couple of weeks but practice is the real key. Lastly, once school starts, make sure to keep up the touch typing in class while you take notes. If you take a couple of months over the summer to teach yourself, you'll get the hang of it before school starts. Typing in class will be all the practice you need to maintain your new skill.

Geist13 wrote:

MachineLemon wrote:Anybody out there who's vastly improved their writing speed? Any tips tricks other than lots-o-practice exams.

Prior to law school, I typed using two fingers. I also used the caps lock key for capital letters instead of shift. Just never learned how to type. I knew that typing speed was huge in law school, so I spent the summer before 1L teaching myself to touch type. It really didn't take too long. First, use a simple, cheap or free program. I used typeracer.com and some other program I found that had viking characters. It was on my old computer so I don't know what it was called, I may have paid like 10 bucks for it. But you can find one that works for you. Second, when you begin to teach yourself to do it, don't revert back when you are not in the lessons. In other words, when shooting the shit on g-chat or whatever, just try to touch type, it will suck for a couple of weeks but practice is the real key. Lastly, once school starts, make sure to keep up the touch typing in class while you take notes. If you take a couple of months over the summer to teach yourself, you'll get the hang of it before school starts. Typing in class will be all the practice you need to maintain your new skill.

Great, that's encouraging. Starting off at a more advanced place, but I think a program is the way to go. Also, vikings!

MachineLemon wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:I was assuming you aren't typing anywhere near the full amount of time, which I think is fair. If you spend half your time thinking, reading, jotting down notes, you need to be able to type fast enough to still spit out 4K words.

Really you just gotta type faster than you think.

Well, this is going to be interesting. I'm used to writing philosophy papers and thinking things out as I go along. Writing 1 double-spaced page (of quality writing) in 30 minutes was really zipping for me.

As I mentioned in the OP, I think I could write quickly if I were adequately prepared. Anybody out there who's vastly improved their writing speed? Any tips tricks other than lots-o-practice exams.

Well just know that quality writing means virtually jack shit in law school exams. So make sure you just start writing without trying to make it sound pretty.

MachineLemon wrote:Anybody out there who's vastly improved their writing speed? Any tips tricks other than lots-o-practice exams.

Fantastic way to waste time at work/school with other people:

http://play.typeracer.com/