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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................... 3 What to do before the exam ..................................................... 3 The Night Before..................................................................... 4 The Morning of the Exam ......................................................... 4 What to do During the Exam..................................................... 4 Read the Instructions Carefully .............................................. 4 Read the facts Carefully ........................................................ 4 Understand the question being asked......................................... 4 Throw the Pizza at the Wall (but dont go off the wall).................. 4 Write Legibly .......................................................................... 5 Write Clearly .......................................................................... 5 Outline your Answer to Essay Questions ..................................... 5 Relationship between Course & Exam Outlining ........................... 5 Sample Facts (from an old Torts exam)...................................... 6 Sample Answer Outline ............................................................ 6 Pat v. Bobbit & KU................................................................ 6 Prima facie case for Assault ...................................................... 7 Issue #1................................................................................ 7 a. Purposeful Desire............................................................ 7 b. Substantial Certainty....................................................... 7 c. Transferred .................................................................... 7 Issue #2 Reasonable apprehension of imminent harm.................. 7 a. contact imminent? .......................................................... 7 b. Bobbit able to carry out contact ........................................ 8 Issue #3 Damages are presumed.............................................. 8 Issue #4 Causation ................................................................. 8 Defences ............................................................................... 8 NOTICE that what you have done is IRAC and sub-IRAC!! .......... 8 What NOT to do during the Exam .............................................. 8 Do not abandon your common sense ......................................... 8 Do not stop at issue spotting .................................................... 8 Avoid the unjustified conclusion ................................................ 9 Do not regurgitate facts or statutes ........................................... 9 Do not invent facts.................................................................. 9 Avoid wordiness...................................................................... 9
Introduction
Even if your definition of success in law school does not include being in the top ten percent of the class, you surely want to do as well as you can on your law school exams. Most law school students receive law school grades that do not reflect their knowledge of the subject matter. Failure to obtain a good grade often has little to do with a students intellectual ability or mastery of the course. Rather, lack of proper preparation, poor test taking skills, and stress are the main reasons most students perform below their potential on exams. Please consider the following suggestions prior to taking the exam.
Throw the Pizza at the Wall (but dont go off the wall)
You are likely to spot many more issues within a set of facts than the professor is looking for. Some of the issues will be clearly important, some will be less important, some will be so peripheral to the main question that they wont be important at all. Although you want to make sure you spot all the important issues, you do not
5 want to spend much time resolving irrelevant, trivial, or peripheral issues. Outlining your answer will help prioritize the issues by their importance.
Write Legibly
Most professors do not grade by the pound. It is more important to write less information which is readable than to fill many blue books with hieroglyphics that professors cannot decipher. If the professor cannot read it, it is not there. If it is not there, you will not get credit. It is frustrating when you dont get credit for something you knew but didnt clearly communicate.
Write Clearly
A clearly written answer increases the likelihood the professor will find (and give you credit for) all the fine arguments you made.
Outlining the answer provides the structure needed to arrange an extraordinary number of complex and interrelated concepts into a comprehensive and coherent argument. The outline you prepare for a course will provide you with the basic way to organize your answer to a final exam question in that course. Following is a sample examination question. of an outlined answer to an
a.
Purposeful Desire
1. Plaintiff (P) will argue that Bs actions of coming toward her with a scalpel, together with his angry words demonstrate a purposeful desire to put P in apprehension of imminent harm; 2. Defendant(s) (D) will argue that Bs actions never included an affirmative threat and he never said he would hurt her. His actions may have been reckless but they do not demonstrate a purposeful desire to put P in apprehension of imminent harm.
Conclusion: Whether or not you believe there was a purposeful desire to put in apprehension of imminent harm.
b.
Substantial Certainty
1. P: yes, because 2. D: no, because
Conclusion:
c.
Transferred
1. P: yes, because 2. D: no, because
Conclusion:
b.
Conclusion:
Issue #4 Causation
a. Ps argument: b. Ds argument: Conclusion: Regarding whether P can state a prima facie case for assault.
Defences
If you have been asked to discuss defences, or if any defences apply, the arguments should be made separately.
What NOT to do during the Exam Do not abandon your common sense
Keep in mind what areas of law you have covered thoroughly in class and which were only superficially touched upon. Dont spend an inordinate amount of time on tenuous causes of action or issues leaving less time for more in-depth analysis of significant issues.
Avoid wordiness
Most professors do not grade by the pound. As a matter of fact, when you consider that professors often have more than a hundred exams to grade each semester, it is easy to understand why they appreciate answers that are clear, succinct and to the point. The opposite is also true, when the professor has been grading all day, her or his reaction to a four-blue-book answer is likely not going to be positive. Isaacs Law Society would like to thank Professor Rogelio A. Lasso of the Washburn School of Law. If you would like to find our more about Professor Lasso or read more of his useful guides please follow the links from the following web address. http://classes.washburnlaw.edu/lass/