Who Needs Free Time? I've Got Flash Cards! - Law School Exam PreparationJun 15 '01 (Updated Jun 17 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line In part one of my series on approaching law school exams, I'll show you how law school exam prep is like eating a steak at Peter Luger's. Really.
Nothing frightens people (or at least, me) more than jumping into the unknown. Everything about law school is a question mark. No matter how many books you read or people you talk to, it will be new for you. When I graduated from college, I graduated at the top 1% of my class, so I was sure that law school shouldn’t change since my approach worked so well the first time around. That was a big mistake. Everything in law school is different than college, just as everything in college was different than high school (and, having gone to an all-girls high school, there were some college differences that I rather enjoyed). Having learned my mistake early on (although I almost made a fatal one during one of my 1L exams), I was able to succeed instead of making costly errors. This essay is a continuation of sorts of my one on the Socratic Method (see the Self-Aggrandizement section for the link). In this one, I want to explore that most dangerous of the law school species: the exam. How you prepare and how you take it will be crucial in determining your grade. And, since only the exam counts (with a minority of professors including class participation in your final grade), your approach is key. In this essay, I’ll discuss exam preparation. Then, in next week’s exciting conclusion, we’ll find out if Niles and Daphne … Sorry. I’ve been watching too many summer re-reuns (which are definitely not new to me). What I meant to say is that my next epinion will detail how you should take the exam. Preparation If you think your preparation for the exam begins a week before, then I think you need to sit down because this is going to hurt. Preparation begins in the first few moments of the semester. It has to. The breadth of material that you are going to be exposed to will be staggering if you attempt to digest it within a short period of time. So, what preparation should be done? (I’m so glad you asked because writing any more would be pointless if you didn’t care.) Notes Your notes are your best friends. If you don’t take coherent, legible notes, it won’t matter how knowledgeable your study group partners. If you don’t understand what you’ve written, then you won’t have anything to work from when you need them to study. So, to ensure that you won’t resort to Emmanuel’s for your exam preparation needs, I recommend that you type out your notes. Now, I personally take all my notes by hand since I am the world’s slowest typist (the fact that I produce one epinion per week should be an indication) and I tend to focus more on finding the next letter than listening to what the professor is saying. If you’re like me (there are several jokes that I could include here but I’ll let them go), you should continue to hand write if that is what you are comfortable with. Then, at the end of the day, transcribe the notes from your classes. Reserve a folder for each class and just expand on the notes by making that class one document, instead of making each day’s notes a separate document, which will make your job more difficult when you begin putting you outline together. Once the semester is finished, I print out the notes and put them in a binder to use for end-of-the-semester study groups and to refresh my memory on exam day. Which brings me to a final issue for this section: open-book exams. Don’t let this type of exam lure you into believing that you don’t have to study because your notes and/or casebook is in front of you. This is very dangerous thinking. The time to start learning new material is not during your exam. Writing everything you need to write is difficult enough to do when the information is (supposedly) in your head. You will only waste precious minutes that you need by spending them searching your notes for an answer. It will not work. A law school exam is more than just remembering that Johnson v. M’Intosh established that all land titles originate with the U.S. Government. It is being able to apply those facts to the hypotheticals/questions posed by your professor on the exam. If your professor allows you to bring your notes into the exam, I recommend that you approach the exam in the same way that you approach closed-notes/book exams. Don’t alter your approach in anyway. If the exam is open-notes (as opposed to open-book), organize your notes in such a way that, if you are trying to remember a certain case name or a definitive case in an area, you can find it quickly. I recommend doing two things. First, go through your notes and write down all the case names and their corresponding pages. Then alphabetize them and include them at the beginning of your notes. This way you can find a case quickly, without wasting too much time. Second, develop a table of contents, using your syllabus as a guide. Go through your syllabus and notes simultaneously, writing down the page numbers from your notes that match the topic on the syllabus. If you have time (this depends when you take up this exercise), include definitive cases as subcategories in each subject area. Again, place this at the beginning of your notes. However, I will emphasize again, do not substitute this preparation for studying for the exam. Your notes and casebook should be safety nets and that’s all. Please study. Please. Outline The one thing that everybody recommends for law students is putting together an outline. For many people, this is an entirely new experience. I never used outlines to prepare for exams in college and didn’t know the first thing about the whens, whys, and hows of outline creation. Here, in exciting Cinemascope and Technicolor, are the details. When To Do It: It’s Not Just For Prom Night Anymore There are a range of suggestions one when to start. Some say one month into the semester, others say half way through. I can’t give a definite number but I can give a guideline: You should begin your outline at the end of the first topic area. Look to your syllabus for guidance. If you don’t have a syllabus, use common sense. Let’s use Constitutional Law as an example: Your professor started the semester with the Commerce Clause and then transitioned over to 14th Amendment issues. Once he or she finishes the Commerce Clause topic, you start outlining and then use the same approach throughout the semester for each topic area. Why Outline? As I mentioned at the introduction, you are going to be introduced to a large amount of information in each of your classes. By outlining, you are placing it in a easier-to-digest format and, thus, making it easier to understand. How to Outline I can’t emphasize enough the importance of your professor’s outline. You should use those topic areas as the skeleton, the starting point for your outline. Then, as your professor goes through the topic, watch out for subtopics. Within those subtopics, listen for any cases that your professor emphasizes or focuses on. If, for example, your professor spends a significant amount of time on a case (my friend, Liz, who is a rising 2L at Tulane, told me that her professor spent two weeks on Bush v. Gore and even returned to it later in the semester), then you should be aware that the case could be crucial in any analysis involving that area of law. Always make note of these cases and focus on them in your preparation by including them in your outline. Flash Cards/Index Cards Since my earliest days of school, I have always used flash cards in my test prep. They are very helpful in digesting information by breaking a subject down to its smallest components (sort of the Gestalt approach to exam prep). For law school exams, I do not recommend making a flash card for every case. If you do this, you will end up with an extraordinarily large amount of cards and a nervous breakdown. Instead, use that list of definitive cases that I discussed in the last section and make cards for those. Then, go through your notes carefully. If there are any areas, definitions, or rules that you are unsure of, make a card for each of them. By having a stack of cards to study from, you will never waste time. During the weeks leading up to and including the exam period, I always carried a stack of cards with me so that I would never have a moment of the day when I would be at loose ends. So, when I stood on line at the post office or the supermarket or waited in traffic, I would just pull out a stack of cards and go through them, marking the ones that gave me trouble. Never a wasted moment (although, you should note, I didn’t say, “never a dull moment." I’m not that pathetic. I’m really not.) If That Fifteen-Year-Old Can Climb Everest, I Can Pass a Law School Exam. Can’t I? Nobody ever said that law school would be easy. However, if you break it down and take it step by step, you’ll be able to muddle through. Just like a steak at Peter Luger’s, everything goes down better with a bottle of wine. Wait. Sorry. Wrong epinion. I'm getting my restaurant and education reviews confused. Don't worry, this type of confusion won't happen to you. It's not as if law school did this to me. Self-Aggrandizement The Socratic Method http://nylawgirl.epinions.com/educ-review-5E02-10B19255-39C4CA72-prod3/tk_~CB003.1.18 General Law School Survival Advice (the real title is a lot catchier) http://nylawgirl.epinions.com/educ-review-5F4F-133D57F5-38FC1E46-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.34  |
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