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How accurate is the portrayal of law school from the film, The Paper Chase, whree they professor call s on students to answer questions in front of everyone?

Does this happen routinely in law school? Only rarely? ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Depends on your professor.


Answers to your questions in order: Semi-accurate. No. Yes. Latter.

scifiguy wrote:Does this happen routinely in law school?

every class

scifiguy wrote:Only rarely?

some professors spend most of the time lecturing, others spend most of the time calling on people. Even the professors who called on students the least managed to go through the entire list

scifiguy wrote: ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

allegedly they'll adjust your grade up or down a notch (e.g. B to B+ or A to A-) based on your in-class participation. Some professors say it matters more than others, but I couldn't tell you how true this is.

dingbat wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Does this happen routinely in law school?

every class

scifiguy wrote:Only rarely?

some professors spend most of the time lecturing, others spend most of the time calling on people. Even the professors who called on students the least managed to go through the entire list

scifiguy wrote: ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

allegedly they'll adjust your grade up or down a notch (e.g. B to B+ or A to A-) based on your in-class participation. Some professors say it matters more than others, but I couldn't tell you how true this is.

I think it is a little sad that anyone could experience an entire undergraduate career absent the Socratic method or something similar. Law school shouldn't be the first time someone is singled out in front of the class to think on his/her feet.

Laba - It's happened in my Eng. Lit. classes. Mayb enot full on Socratic method, but I've had some profs call you out and ask a question or two and maybe ask for elaboration. One of my lit profs was kind of notorious at that. She kind of scared students a little.

It's not practical in a large universitiy though. At least if you're trying to get every student involved, the class sizes can be way too big. I've been in classes with 300 students and there's just no way the prof. can get to know folks and call everyone out for a turn at answering.

scifiguy wrote:How accurate is the portrayal of law school from the film, The Paper Chase, whree they professor call s on students to answer questions in front of everyone?

Does this happen routinely in law school? Only rarely? ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

I never finished the film, but from the parts I saw I would say it is fairly accurate. Frequency and severity vary by professor, but I don't think I ever had a class where the professor didn't call on students. I had one class where the professor made students stand when called on.

scifiguy wrote:Laba - It's happened in my Eng. Lit. classes. Mayb enot full on Socratic method, but I've had some profs call you out and ask a question or two and maybe ask for elaboration. One of my lit profs was kind of notorious at that. She kind of scared students a little.

It's not practical in a large universitiy though. At least if you're trying to get every student involved, the class sizes can be way too big. I've been in classes with 300 students and there's just no way the prof. can get to know folks and call everyone out for a turn at answering.

I've never had a class with more than 80 students (law school), and even that I think is too much. Once classes are that big, you don't gain anything compared to just reading the book (except for your professor's personal view)

scifiguy wrote:How accurate is the portrayal of law school from the film, The Paper Chase, whree they professor call s on students to answer questions in front of everyone?

Does this happen routinely in law school? Only rarely? ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Depends on the professor and the school. At UT, we were routinely called upon that first year, like every day and for the entire class, not one student, but a few students. although I can remember one time in civ pro where I spoke the entire class. It was incredibly nerve racking. It caused you to prepare thoroughly in case you were called on so you wouldn't look like an idiot in front of your classmates.

These were large classes of 105 students. The calling on students facilitated classroom discussion. The large class sizes seemed surprisingly small. Students would often times volunteer to interject points or rebut the contention of another student. Those classes allowed you to see issues from various perspectives. And that led to a better understanding of the material. But it also gave you a chance to see if your thoughts stacked up well against the professor and your classmates. I quickly gained confidence in my thought process because of this.

dingbat wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Laba - It's happened in my Eng. Lit. classes. Mayb enot full on Socratic method, but I've had some profs call you out and ask a question or two and maybe ask for elaboration. One of my lit profs was kind of notorious at that. She kind of scared students a little.

It's not practical in a large universitiy though. At least if you're trying to get every student involved, the class sizes can be way too big. I've been in classes with 300 students and there's just no way the prof. can get to know folks and call everyone out for a turn at answering.

I've never had a class with more than 80 students (law school), and even that I think is too much. Once classes are that big, you don't gain anything compared to just reading the book (except for your professor's personal view)

That may be a good cutoff. I had a hard class in undergrad with 72 students, and the teacher was notorious for his Socratic Method, singling out students for 20-30 minutes at a time. At 72, it was small enough still to keep everyone on their toes. I guess much more than 80 would be too many.

LaBarrister wrote:

dingbat wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Laba - It's happened in my Eng. Lit. classes. Mayb enot full on Socratic method, but I've had some profs call you out and ask a question or two and maybe ask for elaboration. One of my lit profs was kind of notorious at that. She kind of scared students a little.

It's not practical in a large universitiy though. At least if you're trying to get every student involved, the class sizes can be way too big. I've been in classes with 300 students and there's just no way the prof. can get to know folks and call everyone out for a turn at answering.

I've never had a class with more than 80 students (law school), and even that I think is too much. Once classes are that big, you don't gain anything compared to just reading the book (except for your professor's personal view)

That may be a good cutoff. I had a hard class in undergrad with 72 students, and the teacher was notorious for his Socratic Method, singling out students for 20-30 minutes at a time. At 72, it was small enough still to keep everyone on their toes. I guess much more than 80 would be too many.

I think that's too big too. In UG I never had more than 30, and for my masters my biggest class was under 40. The classes I learned most had less than 20, where you can really argue with the professor, or get personalized attention when there's something you just don't get

My UG lectures had 300 students. There was just no way to have classroom discussion or get to know the professor.

dingbat wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Does this happen routinely in law school?

every class

scifiguy wrote:Only rarely?

some professors spend most of the time lecturing, others spend most of the time calling on people. Even the professors who called on students the least managed to go through the entire list

scifiguy wrote: ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

allegedly they'll adjust your grade up or down a notch (e.g. B to B+ or A to A-) based on your in-class participation. Some professors say it matters more than others, but I couldn't tell you how true this is.

Hmmm. Seems kind of wrong though if they don't officially state that in the syllabus. If they just do it behind your back, then that kind of sucks.

scifiguy wrote:

dingbat wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Does this happen routinely in law school?

every class

scifiguy wrote:Only rarely?

some professors spend most of the time lecturing, others spend most of the time calling on people. Even the professors who called on students the least managed to go through the entire list

scifiguy wrote: ....Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

allegedly they'll adjust your grade up or down a notch (e.g. B to B+ or A to A-) based on your in-class participation. Some professors say it matters more than others, but I couldn't tell you how true this is.

Hmmm. Seems kind of wrong though if they don't officially state that in the syllabus. If they just do it behind your back, then that kind of sucks.

Every prof I've had said it matters. Some indicated it mattered a lot while others downplayed it. One of my profs said that if you can't answe she will downgrade you, but you are allowed to pass twice during the semester (but must use the pass at the start of class!)

Just assume that it could give you a slight bump, but unless specifically told otherwise, there's no harm in passing (or fumbling)

scifiguy wrote:Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Professors “blind grade,” thus your participation in class is not taken into consideration. Not everyone agrees with this POV.

I know gunners with good grades, others not so much. Personally, I cannot tell — whatever I guess is going to happen with my grades, usually the opposite happens (no matter of my class participation).

All my professors blind grade. I heard the administration does not allow professors to take class participation into account in determining final grades at all, so the grade is solely based on your final exam.

Sheffield wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Professors “blind grade,” thus your participation in class is not taken into consideration. Not everyone agrees with this POV.

I know gunners with good grades, others not so much. Personally, I cannot tell — whatever I guess is going to happen with my grades, usually the opposite happens (no matter of my class participation).

At my school, they blind grade, but can tell the registrar to adjust up or down

dingbat wrote:

Sheffield wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Professors “blind grade,” thus your participation in class is not taken into consideration. Not everyone agrees with this POV.

I know gunners with good grades, others not so much. Personally, I cannot tell — whatever I guess is going to happen with my grades, usually the opposite happens (no matter of my class participation).

At my school, they blind grade, but can tell the registrar to adjust up or down

Samesies.

Half my classes revolved around volunteers or scheduled "on-call" days, half on cold calling a la Paper Chase. Main difference though is professors weren't total assholes like the movie prof when people said something wrong. Still made me fairly nervous to talk in front of 80 people though.

As for affecting grades, my highest was in a class in which I participated a good amount, but it's hard to know if that helped. The reason I spoke more was because I felt more comfortable with the material and therefore more confident that I did well on the final.

Had a 1L professor who was just as punishing and sadistic as the one in The Paper Chase. Pretty sure he used that film as inspiration.

All my professors do some version of this. One professor has "panels" so a certain group of students is on call each day of the week to do discussion. A couple do straight cold calling- that's crazy cause you never know when you're being called on.

Then there is my civ pro prof, who I swear is a demon from hell. The class is certain she has some sort of social disorder. She has no worries about crushing students.

So, in all, it really depends on the professor. But yes, you will have to deal with this.

I think the first year classes are more likely to be Socratic style (even then, it depends on professor). Its become part of the culture and legend of the law school experience, so some professos like to play it up. That said, you'll live through it and laugh at how little a deal it really is-- once you've finished 1L, that is.

InGoodFaith wrote:

dingbat wrote:

Sheffield wrote:

scifiguy wrote:Is your grade affected by it or is it still exams that are the basis of grades?

Professors “blind grade,” thus your participation in class is not taken into consideration. Not everyone agrees with this POV.

I know gunners with good grades, others not so much. Personally, I cannot tell — whatever I guess is going to happen with my grades, usually the opposite happens (no matter of my class participation).

At my school, they blind grade, but can tell the registrar to adjust up or down

Samesies.

Same here--though I got an A+ in a class where I was cold called only once and volunteered only once, so I'm not sure how much of a role participation really could have played.

I've had a very mixed experience. From one professor using a bingo-ball machine to pick your number to another absolutely never cold-calling. Another class went in order of where we were sitting, so you knew if you were talking on any particular day. It all depends on your professors.