Last Minute Outlining

As the semester comes to an end, students scramble to complete their course outlines. If students fail to understand the purpose of outlining, however, these efforts can be a waste of time. First and foremost, outlining is part of the review process and should be done on a weekly basis throughout the semester. But, if you haven’t been outlining diligently throughout the semester (which can be quite common), don’t despair! Here are few tips that can help you get back on track.

Focus on Rules, not on Cases – The most common mistake I see when reviewing course outlines is documents that are full of facts about the cases. If you don’t know already, most professors do not require you to reference the facts from individual cases on your exams. There are, of course exceptions, so ask your professors for more detail on this point.

Assuming for a moment that your professors follow the majority approach, they will want to see correctly defined legal principles on your bluebook exams. If that’s true, then having lots of details from the cases in your outline is not very helpful. This is particularly true if your outline looks like a series of case briefs where the cases dominate and the holding is buried somewhere in the middle of the brief.

Instead, flip this orientation on its head. Reduce the case down to a single sentence that represents your takeaway message. This takeaway message will be some variation of the rule announced by the case. Do not simply delete the facts (or reasoning) from the cases, however, because they still have a role. Once you have extracted the rule, the material facts from the case act as an illustration of when that rule will apply. The facts, in a sense, define the rule, but do not include every fact from the case in your illustration. Before including additional material from the cases, ask yourself a simple question. Was this information relevant to the court’s resolution of the case? In most instances, all you need is 2-3 sentences from a case to help illustrate the rule. Don’t be afraid to cut out unnecessary material. Because making these sorts of judgments is an important step in developing your analytical skills.

Create an Outline that is Relational, Not Chronological – Particularly when they are pressed for time, students tend to create an outline that chronologically lists cases in the order they were discussed in class. This may be appropriate in some instances, but keep in mind that professors often have pedagogical reasons for teaching material in a certain order. For example, my contracts professor – a long, long time ago - started the course with the concept of damages. This made sense because it was a relatively straightforward concept that we, as new 1Ls, could handle early in the semester. It made no sense, however, to begin my outline with this topic because damages are the end of the contracts story.

The processor of organizing an outline chronologically and logically is much easier if you follow my first step of focusing on rules, not cases. With the rules at the top of each case discussion, it is much easier to see which rules are related to each other. In some instances, the relationship will take this form - a rule, exceptions to that rule, and jurisdictionally different approaches to the rule. This is the simplest level of organization.

Another level of organization might, for example, illustrate the order in which you should address concepts. Using civil procedure as an example, the general idea of subject matter jurisdiction would come before the individual concepts of arising under jurisdiction and diversity jurisdiction. Then, I would address diversity jurisdiction and its attendance principles – domicile and its definition, complete diversity, corporate diversity (dual domicile), amount in controversy, etc. Once I have completed this section, I am ready to work on arising under jurisdiction as a separate, but related, concept.

This approach of categorizing and organizing will help your exam performance in two important ways. First, it will be much easier to remember the concepts if they are organized in a logical way as opposed to a long list of several dozen ideas. Second, exam answers will follow, at least partially, the organization in your outline. The organized principles will act like a path or trail in the woods, which will keep you (and the professor reading your bluebook exam) from getting lost.

Include the Hypos – Be sure that your outline includes every hypo used in class. Organizationally, the hypos act like the cases – they are just another illustration of the application of a rule to a set of factual circumstances. The hypos may be even more valuable than the cases, however, because they are strong indicators that your professor thinks a rule needs further explanation. If a rule is worthy of further explanation, a fact pattern addressing the issue is worthy of inclusion on an exam.

Shorten the Outline as Exams Approach – A long outline is not a problem as long as you have been diligent about removing irrelevant material. Initially, a longer outline will help you reconnect with principles that were covered weeks, or even months, earlier in the year. As exams approach, shorten the outline. You can save the larger version as a reference tool in a separate file. Eventually, a 40+ page outline can be reduced down to a couple of pages in the days immediately before an exam. These few remaining pages represent the course’s key ideas and organizational concepts. Finally, memorize this “skeletal” outline and use it to organize your examination answers.

Professor Herbert N. Ramy

ASP Director

Suffolk University Law School

Prof. McKinney’s “TOP 10 Things That Get In Your Way When Reading in Law School”

1. Reading with a closed mind.

2. Panicking over confusion.

3. Reading for too long in one sitting without a break or consciously (or unconsciously) rewarding yourself for studying for long hours rather than rewarding yourself for studying efficiently and effectively.

4. Not scheduling enough reading time to understand the material, or failing to skim less important information and slow down when hitting key language.

5. Not scheduling at all – “reading until I get it.” Students who adopt a “reading until I get it” mantra sometimes also reward themselves (consciously or unconsciously) for working long hours rather than for working efficiently and effectively (a better goal).

6. Reading cases in isolation from one another and from surrounding material in the casebook (most especially, from Notes and Problems).

7. Reading as if you are still in your prior discipline. Different disciplines benefit from different reading strategies and have different purposes. Look, for example, how lawyers use policy v. how political scientists might view policy.

8. Looking for the rules in exact words – often rules have to be inferred from the action the court took.

9. Perfectionism: (a) Writing perfect briefs. (b) Striving to have the perfect answer in class. (c) Writing down everything during class (d) Reading sequentially without being willing to take some guesses as to meaning and test them as you read on later.

10. Lack of attention to either (a) detail (what’s the “exact” legal question in front of the court – what did the court expect the parties to show to establish a claim or defense in this court?); or (b) the big picture (how does this case help me better understand this area of law? What are the broad-sweeping issues that courts are influenced by in this area of law?)

This posting was submitted by Ruth Ann McKinney, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Professor McKinney has served as Director of UNC Law's first-year legal writing program and its academic success program for over twenty years, including three as Assistant Dean for Legal Writing & Academic Success. She is the author of Reading Like a Lawyer (Carolina Academic Press 2004), Core Grammar for Lawyers (an online, self-instructional tool available at www.coregrammarforlawyers.com), and Legal Research: A Practical Guide and Self-Instructional Workbook (5th ed. with Scott Childs 2009).

Copyright 2011 by Professor Ruth Ann McKinney, the UNC School of Law. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

Prof. McKinney’s “TOP 10 Ways to Save Time and Net Better Results when Reading in Law School”

1.Never, ever read when you’re too tired to get it. Take a break.

2. Read in an enjoyable spot that is conducive to efficient work and a sense of serenity and security. Don’t read where you’re likely to fall asleep.

3. When reading a case, find the exact legal question in front of the court, how the court answered that question, and what other legal options the court rejected. Take good, efficient notes that succinctly summarize the important take-away points. If you’re confused, hang on and read surrounding cases and supporting material included in that section of the casebook before giving up.

4. Read the notes and problems before class so you can clarify confusion AND discover areas that are beyond your present ability to comprehend.

5. Don’t park your common sense at the door. Bring your prior knowledge and common sense into what you’re reading. Embrace your thoughts and reactions (“hear” what you’re thinking about as you read – lots of valid ideas lurk in the questions you’re asking yourself or the associations you’re making).

6. Separate confusion over language and writing style from confusion over content/subject matter. If it’s the language that’s a problem, try rewriting the material, using a dictionary, drawing inferences from context, reading more slowly, or talking it through out loud. Once you’re past any language barriers, try making lists or charts, or restate the rules to solidify your conceptual understanding and identify questions blocking your progress.

7. Make it real. Don’t let the study of law become an esoteric mental game. It is about real people who had a real conflict. A judge (or several judges) eventually resolved that conflict. See the conflict in your head. Relate the rules applied by the court to situations you’ve experienced, have heard about, or can imagine.

8. Know when the material is over your head. Write down the questions that are blocking your understanding and move on as best you can, or turn to a treatise, your professor, or a friend. Get the answer eventually – don’t just drop it – if common sense tells you it’s important.

9. Before class, you only need to build a “working hypothesis” to polish in class about the cases and about the area of law being examined. Don’t expect to know all the answers before you get there. Understand what happened in each case AND know the core concepts in the area being explored before you go to class and then work on (a) correcting misconceptions, and (b) exploring the outer limits of the relevant concepts in class.

10. Embrace confusion. Confusion is a great tool and a great sign that you’re thinking hard about complex issues. Use a treatise when an area of law feels like it’s over your head or beyond your present ability to understand fully. Talk to your professor and ask your friends about the questions you have. If you can’t “see” a rule well enough to apply new situations to it consistently after class, you need to explore it further.

And #11— What We’re Tempted to Forget: Limit your study time, no matter what. No one can study (read, think, be engaged in class, meet with teachers, work in study groups) effectively more than 55 hours a week, on average, for an entire semester. There are some weeks you won’t have to study that hard; other weeks you may study a tiny bit more. Write a schedule and stick to it. Take advantage of 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there to knock out a case. Spend your non-study time in activities that replenish you and bring joy to your life. If you’re working significantly less than 45 hours a week, consider if that’s enough.

This posting was submitted by Ruth Ann McKinney, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Professor McKinney has served as Director of UNC Law's first-year legal writing program and its academic success program for over twenty years, including three as Assistant Dean for Legal Writing & Academic Success. She is the author of Reading Like a Lawyer (Carolina Academic Press 2004), Core Grammar for Lawyers (an online, self-instructional tool available at www.coregrammarforlawyers.com), and Legal Research: A Practical Guide and Self-Instructional Workbook (5th ed. with Scott Childs 2009).

Copyright 2011 by Professor Ruth Ann McKinney, the UNC School of Law. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

Top Three Do's and Don'ts for Taking Notes

Top Three Do's and Don'ts for Taking Notes

Don’ts
1. Don't write down everything the Professor and students have to say. Remember this is NOT college. We do not require you to regurgitate, word for word, the professor’s brilliant speeches - we want you to solve problems.

2. Don't, on the other hand, space out and not take a single note. Last year, we had a student who did not do very well his first semester. We had occasion to observe him in class where he spent most of his time, reading his cases. He didn't take a single note during the entire 50 minutes!

3. Do try to separate out the relevant information from the irrelevant. What is relevant? Think back to IRAC (Issue Rule Application Conclusion) - we want to continually focus on IRAC as our problem solving technique - therefore you should take notes in three general categories:

Dos
Case Brief - During class most professors will take you through each case and in that process they are taking you through the legal problem solving method - FIRAC (Facts, Issue Rule Application) or IRAC (Issue Rule Application Conclusion). At this time you want to correct your case brief - your brief is your attempt to understand how the court solved the problem in that case - your first order of business should be to check your brief for mistakes. Make sure you identified the relevant facts. Did you include too many facts? Too little? Did you get the correct issue? Rule? Listen for statements made in class that explain or define the rules in your brief. The note might be a better statement of the rule, or a new rule that has developed since your case. Were you able to identify the court's rationale (and understand the application)? Be harsh on yourself. Do not say, well, that's not quite it, but I was close. Precision matters in law school. Listen closely and edit your brief extensively.

Hypotheticals and examples - After discussing a case, your professor may change the facts or present a hypothetical situation - if so you want to write this information down. Hypos are additional examples of how to solve problems using IRAC - when the facts change or when you are given a new set of facts; you need to go through IRAC to solve the problem. Here the issue and the rule may be the same (as the one discussed in the case at hand) but the application or reasons why the outcome is the way it is will be different (because of the difference in the facts). Hypos and the reasoning or rationale are examples of the application part of IRAC and you should write these down to study later for the exam. Again, the law school exam does not test you on whether you really remember a case inside and out. Instead, it will test your ability to take a rule you've learned and apply it to different facts. So, when your Professor poses hypotheticals, she's doing just that - she's taking the rule you learned in a case and is asking you to apply it to a different set of facts. You should treat hypotheticals like mini-exam-like questions posed by your professor. All hypos should be written down.

Other stuff
Magic words. Some legal concepts, which take many words to explain, can be summed up in one word or phrase, for example, proximate cause or constructive eviction. When you hear one of these words or phrases used in class, write it down. These are magic words. They can be legal terms of art (res ipsa loquitor) or terms a professor uses to refer to a concept (victimless crimes). You will get points on the exam if you know what these terms mean and can use them correctly. So write them down and look them up later if you need to.

Review. Some professors begin or end the class with a summary of what happened last time. WRITE THIS DOWN. This review will be an invaluable guide to how the Prof. wants a problem to be analyzed. ORDER MATTERS. Legal analysis is very orderly. Elements must not only be analyzed separately, but in a certain order. Make sure you know both the elements, and the order of analysis.

Other Stuff (there is always more). Finally, the professor may also discuss different topics that seem unrelated to the case. These include things like social policy, insurance concerns (who pays for what) or whether this issue should be decided by the courts or the legislature. In these instances you need to stay focused and try to think - how does this relate to IRAC - how can this information help me solve another legal problem in the future (i.e. on the exam)? Does this information concern the rule? Will social policy change the rule? Does it concern the application of the rule? Are there other reasons, besides the facts, that should make the court find differently? You should think about this information, jot it down and try to make some connection to IRAC and the problem solving method.

By Charlotte D. Taylor, Assistant Dean for Student Services at Touro Law and co-author of Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: Strategies for Success (Carolina Academic Press 2001, 2009)

What should I expect in law school?

Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: What should I expect in law school?

First, it is impossible for me to tell you everything that you can expect in law school, so I will tell you what to expect during your first semester of law school. I will let you know how law school is taught and why. Second, I will recommend what you can do to prepare, or if you are already in law school, who to see out for assistance. Almost any lawyer will tell you there is no one thing you can do, no one book to read or college class to take to FULLY prepare you for law school, but I believe that even if you KNOW what is coming and what to expect, you can do a little bit to prepare and that will make a difference.

Unless you worked for a lawyer, have lawyers or judges in your family or took pre-law classes from practicing lawyers, you probably think that law school will be similar to college. Perhaps an extension of the work you did in undergraduate school or even in a master’s program. WRONG! Law school is a very different learning process. Yes, it is composed of reading and writing, but we are asking you think and process information in a way that is much different than you did in high school or college or any master program. We want to you solve problems in a very specific way.

The professor does not start class by saying, let’s look at a legal problem and solve it. Instead the professor simply begins by asking you about a case. A case is a legal problem that has been already solved by the court. The professor will ask you about the facts, what happened? What is the law in the case? What was the decision (who won)? Why? You may go into great detail about all of these parts of the case and then begin to talk about another case, perhaps a hypothetical that is not resolved. The facts will be different, but is the outcome different or the same? Why or why not? The professor will never tell you if you are giving the right answer or not, but simply continue to ask you or other students more questions. The professor will never say the answer is X or Y, but you will continue to be asked questions. This method of learning is called the Socratic Method, or more correctly, the Langdellian Method of teaching (named after Christopher Columbus Langdell, a past dean of Harvard Law). It is a method where you “dissect” a case, similar to “dissecting” a body in medical school, to learn about the parts of the case and how the court decided on the resolution. You are asked to dissect cases to discover the law and how it is applied. Again, you will not really know if you are right or wrong and this can be frustrating and confusing.

Also, you will not be tested until the end of the term. That means you will only have one exam at the end of three months. So there are limited opportunities for feedback. The reason for this is you need to know all of the aspects of contracts and all of the rules (not just a few) because a lawyer never knows what the client’s problem is. Using another medical analogy, similar to diagnosing an illness that doctors do, lawyers must be able to get the facts from their clients and “diagnose” the problem so that they know how to solve it.

Finally, since there are a lot of new legal terms that you might not be familiar with (such as proximate cause, constructive eviction, or Latin terms like res ipsa loquitor) you will spend quite a bit of time looking up new language in a legal dictionary and understanding the case. Simply reading a three page case may take over three hours.

So, the first semester of law school is usually frustrating, confusing and daunting. However, you should know that all of your colleagues are in the same situation as you. They are confused as well. You are not the only one. If you can read something recommended by your school before you start law school, do so. If you have already started law school, then seek out help. Participate in your school’s Academic Development or Academic Success or Academic Support Program. Reach out to upper-level students to get advice on reading for class, taking notes, and preparing for finals. Make an appointment with the Dean of Students or your faculty advisor to get advice on how to approach studying for classes. Certainly reading this information and seeking tips online will help you too, but don’t stop there.

Most importantly, keep up with your readings, seek out help when you need it and ask the professor questions after class or during office hours. You need to make certain you understand as much as possible so that you can prepare for that first set of law school exams. Now that you know some of what to expect in the first semester of law school and what to expect in class, I hope that you are excited to study law.

By Charlotte D. Taylor, Assistant Dean for Student Services, Touro Law Center and co-author of Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: Strategies for Success (Carolina Academic Press 2001, 2009)

Guest Bloggers

You may notice that we have started featuring “guest bloggers” alongside our blog post — these bloggers are experts in their respective teaching areas, and we are thrilled that they have agreed to contribute to the Touro Law Center Academic Development Blog.

Our first guest, Professor Herb Ramy, the Director of ASP at Suffolk University Law School and author of Succeeding in Law School, shared tips about law school exams. His tips are just the beginning of exciting things to come . . .

In the coming weeks and months, makes sure to look for other guest bloggers, and you can always check out older post from these experts under the "guest blogger" label.

The need to practice MBE questions begins immediately

One of my bar exam students expressed a very common concern during a study session. She said she was afraid that she didn't know the law well enough to start answering questions. She said, "I need more time with my notes." I told her that she would never feel as if she knew the law "well enough" — and even if she could remember all the law, the rule alone would not help her answer an MBE question if she had not practiced answering MBE questions.

The process of answering an MBE question is analytical. It requires you to use the rule you have learned to answer the question. You need to practice the process of reasoning with the law which is not the same thing as reciting it. Memorizing your notes does not develop this critical skill.

Do not wait to answer questions. As soon as you have reviewed your bar review notes in a subject, it is time to get to work answering questions in that subject area. Answer one question at a time and work your way through the question carefully and thoughtfully. Look up the rule if you cannot recite it completely and correctly --- now is the time to do so because you are working through the question. This will help you remember the rule in a way that simply reading your notes does not allow because you will have a factual setting for the rule's application. This is the key to memorization.

Be sure to articulate your reasoning for your answer choice. Now check your answer. If it is correct, read the explanation. Make sure you got it right for the right reason. If you answered incorrectly, make sure you know where your reasoning was incorrect. This is key to getting the right answer the next time you have a similar question. Also, take notes on the law if you need to do so. This will supplement your notes in a meaningful way because it is connected to the reasoning process involved in answering the question.

It should take you about 2 hours to answer 10 to 15 questions if you follow this approach. This is "studying" and not simply "doing" questions. You are using the questions to learn the law. This is very different from when you will be taking the exam. Right now, you are not concerned with timing, but with learning. When you have sufficiently covered an area, then you can take timed practice sessions. But not now. Now you are focusing on learning the law and the way it is tested. The more you practice and the comfortable you become with the process and the rules, your speed will naturally increase.


Professor Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus
Director of Academic Development
Touro Law Center

Doing your best has to be good enough

Not surprisingly, studying and taking law school exams produces a great deal of stress. For many, this stress is rooted in the fact that students tend to emphasize external measures of success when appraising their academic performance. When we measure ourselves based on factors over which we have little if any control, stress and even depression can result. As I note in my book, Succeeding in Law School, there is another way.

Students can deal with stress rooted in grades by channeling it into a more effective form of competition. For example, many students want to be in the top 10% of their class. The need to achieve this goal is often perpetuated, both explicitly and implicitly, by faculty, administrators, and placement offices. If every law student “needs” to be in the top 10% of the class, then 90% of them are doomed to failure by their own standards. Instead of striving for a particular spot in the academic pecking order, students should attempt to achieve their personal best.

Asking the best from oneself is no small task. It requires that you do everything within your power to succeed. Consider this for a moment. How often in your life have you done everything possible to succeed? Keep in mind that your personal best may not translate into “A’s” or even “B’s” on your examinations. However, by definition your personal best means that you had nothing left to give. Anyone whose grades represent their best work [should] be satisfied.

Organizing Your Answer on a Law School Exam

When it comes to law school examinations, all students struggle to organize their writing. Even students who are quite proficient at responding to the hypotheticals posed in their classes can struggle and even freeze when confronted with a multi-issue, multi-party question on an examination. Experienced lawyers rarely encounter this problem because organizing their answers has become second nature. So, how do you accelerate your time table and handle the organization of legal issues like a seasoned pro? The answer is easier than you may realize because, in the end, there are only a few things to keep in mind.

• Point #1 – Finish reading the problem before you start writing. You cannot organize your answer to a lengthy problem after reading only a small fraction of the facts, but this is a common mistake made by first-year students. There may be an issue contained within that first sentence, but the resolution of that issue may be impacted by material contained further into the problem. Look at it this way. If a client came into your office, sat down across from you, and said “My neighbor saw me raking in my yard the other day and walked up to me . . .” would you shout out “Trespass to land!” or would you wait to hear the rest of the story. You cannot begin organizing until you hear the entire story. Once you do, you can begin organizing by creating a list of all the different issues suggested by the facts.

• Point #2 – You should walk into the examination with one level of organization already in your mind. I encourage students to review and outline throughout the year. First, it is the best way to ensure that you understand each of the concepts covered in class. Second, and more relevant to this conversation, outlining helps you see overarching organizational structures within each area of the law. For example, as you outline materials from your contracts class, a pattern should start appearing. The pattern is based on the reality that much of contract law is about whether there was an agreement between the parties. To assess whether there was an agreement, a good starting point is whether there was an offer, which requires an understanding of how one establishes the existence of an offer. Next, was there acceptance of that offer, a rejection of that offer, or counteroffer? There are, of course, additional steps in determining whether there is an agreement between the parties, but you should get the picture. You then memorize this overarching structure and apply it to each potential agreement between parties that appears on your contracts exam.

o Creating these organizational patterns will be more obvious in some course than in others. While large scale organizational patterns do appear in contracts and civil procedure, similar patterns are not as obvious in torts and criminal law. That’s OK because you can create smaller scale patterns with the material in these courses that will still help you organize your exam writing. For example, 1st degree murder, 2nd degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and any other crime where someone dies can all be placed together under the heading “Homicide.” This will help you see what truly differentiates the various homicide crimes from each other and will create a structure that you will apply whenever someone dies on a criminal law exam. So, when someone dies in your criminal law final – and someone will – you would address each homicide crime independently, though not necessarily equally.

• Point #3 – The examination fact pattern will suggest an organizational structure. Broadly, there are two major organizational patterns that are suggested by the facts on any law school examination – organization by party or organization by event.

o Organization by party requires you to address the actions of each person, one person at a time, and discuss the meaning of those actions. This type of organization seems to work well in criminal law and torts where each person may have created a number of crimes or is potentially liable for multiple torts.

o Organization by event, which typically works well in contracts and civil procedure, means organizing around some event. In this context, I am using the term “event” quite broadly to include things like negotiating an agreement, filing a lawsuit, or parking my automobile overnight in a garage. Under these examples, the event becomes the starting point for discussing the various legal issues that have been generated.

o Whether you proceed by party or by event, you will still be using the organizational patterns discussed in Point #2 to move the discussion along. For example, a plaintiff’s lawsuit might be the starting point for my discussion of subject matter jurisdiction (SMJ), but I walked into the examination knowing that whenever I talk about SMJ I must address the subsidiary points of arising under jurisdiction, diversity jurisdiction, corporate diversity, domicile, etc.

• Point #4 – When dealing with small scale organization, let the law by your guide. Once you have moved beyond large scale organizational concerns, you still have to organize your analysis of each independent issue. When analyzing an issue – such as whether an individual is liable for an assault – let the law provide you with your small scale organization. For example, the typical definition of an assault looks something like this – did the defendant intentionally place another in apprehension of an imminent battery. This rule is actually comprised of multiple elements, and each element is a separate mini-issue that requires its own analysis. The analysis of one element may be significantly longer than your analysis of another, but all elements must be addressed.

Succeeding on Law School Exams

Hello all!

I am Professor Ramy and I direct the Academic Support Program (“ASP”) at Suffolk University Law School. I’ve worked as an ASP professor for over a decade, and I have learned that my students have many of the same questions/concerns year after year. With that in mind, here are a few words of wisdom to help get you through your upcoming final exams.

• First, keep in mind that this is not your first experience with law school exams. You have been through this process before, so now you know what to expect. The unknown may cause us stress and fear, but known quantities can be planned for and dealt with in an effective manner.

• Do not rehash your exams with your classmates because it can only lead to more stress. Your classmates are not grading you, so who cares how they answered the first question! In addition, no one sees every issue on a law school exam. So, it is quite possible, even likely, that your classmates saw things that you did not see and vice versa.

• Students are notoriously poor judges of how well they did on law school exams. In fact, most students believe they performed more poorly than they actually did. So, you probably did fine even if you believe you bombed an exam.

• When you walk into your exams, know that you did everything possible to succeed. By the same token, do not let your experience with any one examination rob you of the confidence you spent a whole year developing. Your hard work has earned you the right to be confident, so do not give it up so easily.

• No one gets 100% on a law school exam, so do not beat yourself up over a question you’re sure you got wrong. Remember, most essay exams contain issues that are very difficult to resolve. At times, it does not even matter whether you believe that the plaintiff should prevail or the defendant. In fact, the final answer is often much less important than your discussion of why the issue is difficult to resolve.

• If you struggle to complete the exam in the allotted time, that’s a good thing! Exams are supposed to be hard and often take every minute of the exam period to complete. If you are running out of time and still have a few issues to analyze, consider listing the problems you did not have time to get to. I can’t guarantee that you will receive any credit for this list of issues, but you may, particularly if you did a good job with the other parts of the exam.

• Once an exam is over, let it go. Even if you could have performed better on an exam, it doesn’t make any difference once it is over. Remember, have the wisdom to know the difference between the things you can change and those that you cannot. Obsessing about an exam you just completed expends valuable energy that could be used in preparing for your next one.

Finally, it is perfectly reasonable to lean on others for a bit of support. The ASP folks at your school can give you valuable advice or just listen to your worries. It’s amazing how seemingly intractable problems are cut down to size when you share your concerns with another person.

Congratulations on completing your first year of law school and good luck on your final exams.

Prof. Ramy