Harvard Law School Class of 2018 Forum

[Mack.Hambleton]

[

Do you know what percentage of of the class in 1L courses gets an LP?

Between 0% and 8%.

Thanks. How do visiting professors work does HLS just give them a grading scale?

[S.Lee2018]

omg in Section 1's Civ Pro class 25% of your grade is "quality of cold calls"

I would be very surprised if that ended up being the case. HLS profs aren't supposed to grade class participation in 1L courses.

May I know where this rule locates? I glanced over the Handbook of Academic Policies, but didn't find anything like this.

It would be nice if these types of rules were documented publicly. The best we have are private conversations with professors who divulged the types of standards they are held to.

We know there is a recommended curve for classes over 30 students (this means LPs) and that this curve is more strictly enforced during 1L. We also know that professors giving an exam generally must engage in blind grading, which is why you have a unique exam ID every term and are specifically disallowed from indicating on your exam who you are. There are exceptions to blind grading, most obviously when you write a paper for a class instead of taking an exam.

In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students? You can read about how this was a big issue five years ago. General consensus is they've clamped down on participation grading a bit since that fiasco. But, as mentioned above, we don't know for sure.

A lot of visiting professors for 1L classes like to say they grade participation to frighten students into participating. It's a common visiting theme. But you probably don't have any tenured professors telling students they grade cold calls when they don't because they're figured out it's just a mean thing to do. (And lying to students isn't a good way to establish credibility.)

In other words, I have nothing to reference. It's just conventional understanding. It could be wrong. It probably shouldn't affect how you prepare for class either way.

Thanks for the clarification! Then I guess my professor just doesn't follow the crowd

[tonysoprano]

What login do we use for reading group sign up? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here...

[foxes]

What login do we use for reading group sign up? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here...

helios

[polareagle]

omg in Section 1's Civ Pro class 25% of your grade is "quality of cold calls"

I would be very surprised if that ended up being the case. HLS profs aren't supposed to grade class participation in 1L courses.

May I know where this rule locates? I glanced over the Handbook of Academic Policies, but didn't find anything like this.

It would be nice if these types of rules were documented publicly. The best we have are private conversations with professors who divulged the types of standards they are held to.

We know there is a recommended curve for classes over 30 students (this means LPs) and that this curve is more strictly enforced during 1L. We also know that professors giving an exam generally must engage in blind grading, which is why you have a unique exam ID every term and are specifically disallowed from indicating on your exam who you are. There are exceptions to blind grading, most obviously when you write a paper for a class instead of taking an exam.

In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students? You can read about how this was a big issue five years ago. General consensus is they've clamped down on participation grading a bit since that fiasco. But, as mentioned above, we don't know for sure.

A lot of visiting professors for 1L classes like to say they grade participation to frighten students into participating. It's a common visiting theme. But you probably don't have any tenured professors telling students they grade cold calls when they don't because they're figured out it's just a mean thing to do. (And lying to students isn't a good way to establish credibility.)

In other words, I have nothing to reference. It's just conventional understanding. It could be wrong. It probably shouldn't affect how you prepare for class either way.

Thanks for the clarification! Then I guess my professor just doesn't follow the crowd

For now.
One of my professors tried something similar.
I don't know whether someone officially complained to the registrar or whether the word just got out, but he came to class about the third week and explained how he would be revising the grading scale from what was printed in the syllabus (getting rid of cold calls). These sorts of "innovations" have a way of getting knocked out well before exams come up.

[heythatslife]

In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students?

Seems to me you've never taken a class with Jeannie Suk? She has a TA come in every class to keep a meticulous record every cold call, and the call list is generated in random sequence in advance. We were under the impression that it could adversely impact your grade if it was clear that you hadn't done the reading or made no effort to come up with a half-way decent answer, and nobody thought she was bluffing. But yeah, most profs would not go to this length.

[TripTrip]

Seems to me you've never taken a class with Jeannie Suk?

Suk is the exception that proves the rule. And not just with her treatment of cold calls.

[AnMzungu]

Fork over my grades.

[ChemEng1642]

Anyone else pushing the panic button?

[radio1nowhere]

Anyone else pushing the panic button?

For me it's kinda just the "ah shoot I guess I better try harder" button. Sub-median grades don't really foreclose good outcomes out of HLS

[downbeat14]

How's everyone liking second semester? Better, worse, same old? Easier or harder? More free time or less?

[Mack.Hambleton]

Better for me since my electives are ez

[downbeat14]

Better for me since my electives are ez

Same. Really glad I listened to 2Ls and took anal meth (even though it's all review for me ).

[radio1nowhere]

Better for me since my electives are ez

Same. Really glad I listened to 2Ls and took anal meth (even though it's all review for me ).

I have brutal memories involving regressions from my undergrad Econometrics course; how intense is the stat in anal methods? Do you guys have to use the dark, twisted pit of despair that is STATA?

[Indifference]

Easier in that I feel like I get what I'm doing.
Harder in that I have much more trouble caring.

[downbeat14]

Better for me since my electives are ez

Same. Really glad I listened to 2Ls and took anal meth (even though it's all review for me ).

I have brutal memories involving regressions from my undergrad Econometrics course; how intense is the stat in anal methods? Do you guys have to use the dark, twisted pit of despair that is STATA?

We haven't started the statistics unit; but based on the softness of the other anal meths we've covered, I would be shocked if STATA is even mentioned.

[foxes]

How's everyone liking second semester? Better, worse, same old? Easier or harder? More free time or less?

i have 20000% less motivation and basically do the bare minimum, it's been amazing compared to 1st semester

[Indifference]

Just wanted to put this out there.
If any of you was the one to upload the outline for Anderson's Public Intl. Law to Dope today, you are a wonderful person.

[downbeat14]

Has anyone else still not gotten their upper level grade? Will this come in before the other 1L grades, or can it come in after?

[tonysoprano]

Does anyone know a good E&E for Parker's fourteenth? I was looking at this but was unsure b/c it's "individual rights" - haven't really been keeping up this semester so idk how well that'll fit the class. Thanks!