Specificity of Language

In reviewing your exams with your professors, you might have noticed that your exams lacked specificity or included vague and meaningless phrases. This is a relatively common error, and something that can easily be fixed. When working with hypotheticals, and when writing your exams, it is important to remember that the language of the law is precise, and your use of it must be equally precise. You must use the language of the court or the words of the statute. You should not substitute your own words.

Suppose your exam question requires that you evaluate a state’s basis for jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant and your discussion centers on an evaluation of the defendant’s “minimum contacts” with the forum state. In the course of your discussion, you’ll use such specific language as “continuous and systematic,” and “fair play and substantial justice.” This language comes from Supreme Court cases and it’s “the law.” You’re expected and required to use it – just as it is. Paraphrasing is not acceptable, so you just have to learn it.

You can avoid vague and meaningless phrases by learning legal vocabulary and using it correctly. If you do this, you won’t end up with an exam full of colorful, yet incorrect, language. But more essential to curing this problem is to truly understand the rules: if you know what the rule means, you won’t write legally meaningless sentences.

The Gap between Questions in your Classes and on Exams

By now, you have probably discovered the difference between what is discussed in class, and what will appear on your final. It’s easy enough to get lost in the theoretical and philosophical aspects of class discussions and hard to know what to expect on the exam when you spend most of your class time being questioned on cases. As you have probably discovered, you’re asked to judge the cases that you read – sometimes in your very first law school class. You’re asked whether you think the court was correct in reaching its decision or whether you would have found differently. Then you get to the exam and there’s nothing about cases. Or at least nothing that’s obvious. Many of you have stopped by our offices this semester, and asked: why does the exam seem so different from what went on in class?

The gap, if indeed there is one, comes from the style of the process more than its substance. Most law professors don’t lecture and present the law in neat little packages for you to digest. Instead, they rely on the Socratic Method and ask questions. They ask lots of questions and only sometimes give answers. Supplying the answers is your job. Professors assume that you’ll do the reading, learn the material, and put it all together in a way that’s meaningful to you. They did it when they were in law school and they expect you to do the same. Some students make the mistake of waiting all semester for the professor to tie it together and this just doesn’t happen. At least not usually. It’s pretty much up to you to make the connections.

Making these connections is the first step in learning to think critically. Law school asks you to think about things you’ve never thought about before and in ways that are new to you. This is the stuff of a legal education. It’s about figuring out how the rules work, what they mean, why we have them, and questioning everything about them. So if you think about it - what goes on in class is related to what’s on the exam. In class, you talk about the cases. You dissect them. The professor hurls questions at you to test your understanding of what you’ve read and your ability to use what you’ve learned. Then she changes the facts and asks another question. And yet another. The professor’s goal is for you to learn to ask the same kinds of questions for yourself. On the exam, the hypos are longer and more complex but they’re pretty much like the ones you discussed in class. They’re just new problems for you to solve.

The Benefits of Testing and Practicing with Hypos

Last semester, we discussed the importance of studying by writing out hypotheticals. That process of organizing and synthesizing material is what helps you remember the material, and is more beneficial than just reading over your notes and outlines.

This study approach was discussed in a recent New York Times article, and is worth reading and incorporating into your study habits. See Pam Belluck, To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test, N.Y. Times, January 21, 2011, at A 14 (available at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general).

Spring Teaching Assistant Program

The First-Year TA program will continue this semester for day and evening students, beginning the week of January 31st. Much like last semester, the TA program will have a small group dynamic, and your TA group will focus on the first year doctrinal classes - specifically, contracts, torts, civil procedure, and property.

For the students wishing to continue, you can sign-up for your Spring TA group beginning Monday, January 24th at 9:00 a.m.; registration will remain open until Friday, January 28th at 3:00 p.m. on TWEN - register for "First Year TA Session Sign-Up - Spring 2011" and select your group. All registration will be handled first come, first served, and all information is confidential. We will send an email confirmation to your Touro email account with the room assignment for your group before the first day of TA sessions.

We look forward to working with you again this semester!

Preparing for the Bar Exam - Essay Questions

The essay portion of the bar exam is another important aspect of the bar exam, and you are the one in control of the question when you write. Unlike a multiple choice question where you have to match up your analysis of the problem to fit one of the answer choices, here you have some flexibility. While there are limits determined by the issues set up in the facts, you can take a slightly different path and still accrue significant points.

Bar examiners have the same expectations when reading an essay as did your law professors: one that demonstrates your ability to engage in legal thought and analysis. This doesn't mean there is a right or wrong answer, just that you provide a well-reasoned argument based on the analysis of the relevant issues and application of the law to the facts, followed by a legal conclusion. In fact, as you review sample candidate answers, you will find examples of answers that reach opposite conclusions yet have been selected as above average answers. You should pay particular attention to such examples because it’s tangible proof of what we’ve been saying all along – that it’s the reasoning that counts and not the bottom line conclusion.

The following are the steps you’ll take for writing “bar-right” essays:

1. Know Your Audience

Bar exam graders read a large number of essays and evaluate them according to strict criteria. They know what they are looking for and the easier you make it for them to find it, the more points you will accrue. Generally, you can count on writing clear, concise, and focused exam answers which conform to the basic structure of legal analysis — in other words, IRAC. This may require you to make certain adjustments in your style and presentation if you are more accustomed to broad, generalized discussions.

It is important to review released essays from the state’s bar examiners. While your bar review course includes a good number of simulated practice tests and essay writing exercises, there is no substitute for the real thing.

2. Know Exactly What is Tested and How

Some questions will lead you to the issues to be discussed and others will leave it open and require you to “issue-spot.” Only thorough preparation will let you know what to expect.

3. De-construct Exam Questions and Sample Answers

You might be wondering how “de-constructing a question” differs from “reading a question.” Generally, your focus when reading a question is to determine what is required of you to answer it. You are concerned with the information relevant to your task — evaluating whether the defendant committed felony murder, whether the statement was admissible, whether a contract was formed, and so forth. But when you are studying and trying to learn from the questions, your purpose in de-constructing a question is to analyze its organization and content for patterns and consistencies. There is a natural connection between certain topics and with preparation, you will become familiar with the questions and able to recognize the issues. Bar examiners are adept at weaving procedural questions with substantive issues in ways you might hardly notice — that is, unless you were looking for them.

Remember, the bar examiners are incredibly efficient at using a single word or short phrase to convey enormous meaning. Only careful reading of essay questions will allow you to recognize key words and phrases. The bar examiners are similarly adept at using language to signal non-issues. Only the careful, observant reader will know not to discuss such matters, saving time and effort for the real issues.

Now that you have de-constructed exam questions, it’s time to de-construct exam answers — an equally important part of your preparation. Here, rather than studying past exams to see what you can expect from the bar examiners, your goal is to learn what they expect from you. As you review sample candidate answers, you may find examples of answers that reach opposite conclusions. This is proof that it’s the reasoning that counts and not necessarily the bottom line conclusion. Certainly, the correct answer gets the most points but it is possible to get points if your argument is based on law and grounded in the facts.

4. Follow a Formula: Write IRAC

It should be clear from the de-construction process that your answers will follow a basic IRAC structure and it’s okay to be obvious about it. IRAC allows you to organize your response and remain in control, whether addressing a narrow issue-driven essay or a general question. With slight variations to account for the type of questions in your jurisdiction, you can make IRAC your blueprint for answering any essay question.

Begin your sentence with “The issue is whether.” It’s okay to be obvious; use the “whether, when” construction to lead you to connect the legal question with the specific facts in controversy. When you use this approach to formulate an issue, you avoid overly general statements and provide a path to follow in your analysis. This leads to an essay that connects the rules with the questions presented rather than one that rambles.

After your identification of the issue, your statement of the rule of law is probably the single most important part of your exam essay. First, it lets the reader know that you have identified the legal problem and second, it shows that you know the relevant law. And in writing the relevant law, be sure to write the law of your jurisdiction. Even if you could answer the question using the common law, if there is a state rule on point, you want to be sure to apply that law. Never forget that you are seeking admission to practice in a particular jurisdiction: you want the bar examiners to know that you know the applicable state law. Writing the rule consists of two parts: first, writing enough of the rule, and second, writing the rule in a logical order.

The whole rule is enough rule to provide the context to analyze the facts. The rule and the facts are inextricably linked. Your analysis of the facts will not make sense unless you have first identified the rule which determines the relevance of those facts. You must use the facts of the problem to guide your discussion of the law, and you should strive to present your statement of the law in its logical order. Generally, there is a “natural” order to writing the rule which is based on a hierarchy of concepts. This means that when you write the rule, you work from the general to the specific. Your analysis should begin with a statement of the general rule and then move to the exception, not vice versa. The general rule provides a context for understanding and appreciating the role of the exception or distinction.

How you set up the rule now drives the structure of the analysis. Your statement of the rule provides a blueprint to follow for your discussion of the facts. Work from your articulation of the rule to guide your application of the facts. Match up each element/factor you’ve identified in the rule with a fact, using the word “because” to make the connection between rule and fact. This ensures that you write facts “plus” the significance of those facts.

And after you finish the analysis, you are on to the conclusion. If the call-of-the-question asks for a specific answer, then be definitive. State your conclusion as to that issue. If there are multiple issues, then once you’ve completed your analysis of one issue, move on to the next.

5. Gain Familiarity with the Questions

The key to success in any endeavor is preparation. Familiarity with the structure of the essay questions and how you respond to them will go a long way in alleviating your anxiety on test day. You job is to practice the approach we’ve just outlined so that it becomes so automatic by test day that you move from one step to the other without missing a beat.

6. Work with Sample Answers

Finally, whether you’ve written out entire essays or only outlined the issues and rules, be sure to read the sample answers. Read all of them, even when there are several candidate samples for each question. However, be careful to read with a discerning eye toward the rules of law expressed in student papers: the bar examiners are careful to point out that they are only “sample” answers, not “model” answers. Consequently, you may find what you consider errors in statements of the law. Use this to your advantage: if you’re reading the answers “actively” as indeed you should be, then you will identify these errors and be sure to articulate the correct rule of law. Further, you should compare each sample answer to the IRAC model and fully analyze the construction. Then you should compare the sample to your own answer, element by element, taking the time to evaluate what you’ve written.

If you need additional pointers or are looking for a more in depth discussion of the bar exam, Professor Darrow-Kleinhaus' books, Acing the Bar Exam (Thomson West 2008) and The Bar Exam in a Nutshell (2d ed. 2009), are great resources.

Preparing for the Bar Exam - Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple choice questions can be tricky because your answer is either right or wrong, and the MBE poses a challenge for even the best students because there are so many questions and so little time -- the MBE tests your knowledge of the substantive law, your reading comprehension and reasoning skills, your ability to work quickly and efficiently, and your capacity to remain focused and functioning over a long period of time. But, don't worry, your bar review course should provide you with all the substantive law you need to know; and your law school education has taught you how “to think like a lawyer” -- the MBE questions require that you put the two together, and the best way to do this is to practice!

There are countless places to get practice questions - for example, your bar review courses include hundreds of practice questions, and the bar examiners also release old MBE questions for you to practice. Do not forget about the released questions because the experience in working with actual MBE questions is invaluable in helping you gain familiarity with the bar examiner’s specific use of language and framing of issues.

Practicing the questions is no substitute for knowing the black letter law. A superficial understanding of broad concepts won’t be enough to allow you to distinguish between the answer choices; instead, you will need a detailed understanding of the rules. Your analysis begins with articulation of the issue in the fact pattern, and from there you need to know the rule of law.

The more questions you answer, the more comfortable you will be with the process of answering multiple choice questions, and the more prepared you will be for them on bar day. Ideally, you should answer thousands of questions. But just “doing questions” is not enough. There is a right way and a wrong way to “do” questions and you need to know the difference.

What does it mean to “do” questions? When using the multiple choice as a practice tool, there “right way” to work with the questions. You must read carefully and actively to spot signal words and legally significant facts. Pay attention to the bar examiners’ particular use of language. The bar examiners carefully construct MBE questions to contain all the facts you need to answer the question. You must rely solely on these facts to answer the question. Of course you may draw reasonable inferences from the facts but you cannot fabricate your own or create “what if” scenarios.

In addition to keeping to the facts, don’t let yourself go off on tangents based on possible theories you see raised in the facts. This is one of the very reasons you’ll read the question stem before you read the fact pattern — to keep from going astray.

Next, just as you must remain focused on the facts as presented in the question, you must apply the rule of law to the facts without hesitation. You cannot substitute your instincts for what you know is legally correct. Your job is to follow the law and apply it to the facts mechanically.

Remember, there are four basic steps for answering a multiple choice question. You will follow this sequence for every question you practice. After a bit of practice, the process will become second nature to you to approach a question this way. You’ll soon see that it yields results.

For each question, you will:

1. Read the call-of-the-question or stem and then read the fact pattern
2. Find the issue in the facts
3. Identify the rule that addresses the issue
4. Reach a conclusion without looking at the answer choices

And don't forget, it is important to recognize that analysis of the answer choices deserves as much of your time and attention as the fact pattern. There is a lot of valuable information to be found within the answer choices.

Update: See also Preparing for the Bar Exam - The Multistate Bar Exam ("MBE").

Was your final exam disorganized?

Lack of organization in your answers might be another issue that led to a less than stellar grade on an exam. There are many reasons why your exam could have been disorganized, but the bottom line is disorganization probably came from disorganized thinking.

The first question to ask is If the disorganization stemmed from an issue of not knowing the law or misstating the law. If you know that was not the issue, and you’ve done all the necessary prep work, and you’ve still come away with the dreaded “disorganized” comment on your test booklet, then it wasn’t so much a question of knowing the material, but rather how you handled the presentation. So let’s take a look at how we can impose some order.

First, you might want to ask yourself if taking a minute to outline your answer before you started writing would have helped you organize your answer. Even though it’s appropriate to jump right into the analysis once you start writing, it’s never a good idea to jump right into the writing without a plan. As Professor Darrow-Kleinhaus discussed in the chapter in Mastering the Law School Exam on exam writing, this means that you must spend some time outlining your answer beforewriting it. You need a few minutes after reading the problem to outline the issues and come up with an approach for handling them. In your exam, it might be obvious that the you had not spent the time necessary to construct a working outline, and it will be obvious from all that’s missing in the answer.

Next, it is important not to commingle parties or issues. Never, ever, commingle your parties or your issues. Each deserves and demands separate treatment. Also, it’s a sure bet your professor included multiple parties to test multiple areas of the law. You’re just missing the point (in more ways than one!) if you overlook this frequently used test strategy. Another reason you should avoid commingling is the possibility for error.

Another question you might want to ask is whether you used a "he said, she said" analysis that went horribly wrong. While this might be effective when used by an expert, the ping-pong patter of “he will argue, then she will argue” can be disastrous for inexperienced law students. The going back and forth between parties inevitably leads to problems since the writer has to
juggle as well as engage in legal analysis. These problems can be avoided by using subheadings, which would encourage separate discussions of each party with respect to the issues and the parties - in the beginning, it is important to focus on one point of view at a time and rely on the rule of law to organize your answer.

Remember, using the rules as an organizational tool leads to a more focused and complete analysis.

Avoiding Conclusory Statements

In our last blog post, we gave the basic framework for what you should do if you got a disappointing grade last semester - in the post, we discussed that one of your professor's comments might be that your analysis was conclusory. What does this mean, and how can you fix it?

Typically, if your work suffers from a conclusory-style analysis, you’ll just see the comment “conclusory” on your paper. But there are really two types of “conclusory” statements. It’s important for us to distinguish between them because each presents a different problem for the student and requires a different response.

• The first kind of conclusory statement is one that states a legal conclusion. This occurs when there’s an insufficient legal foundation to provide authority to support the statement.



• The second kind states a factual conclusion. This appears as either a restatement of the facts in the hypothetical or a judgment about what the facts mean without explaining the basis for the judgment.

Typically, however, the lines between the two blur and the sentence is conclusory for one or both reasons. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s one or the other except to recognize why it’s conclusory and to fix it.

For example, does your analysis start with a "yes" or "no" answer? If you hadn’t already figured out, it’s not the conclusion you reach, but the way you get there that’s of interest to your professor. It’s a pretty safe bet your professor isn’t looking for a “yes” or “no” response unless you’re answering a short answer question. Even assuming this problem called for a direct answer, it would be unlikely you’d begin with one. Instead, you’d have to work your way through an analysis of the facts in light of the relevant rule before you could even suggest a possible outcome.

Remember, without the legal definition to provide a context, there’s no legal basis to form your analysis; and second, without applying the facts to show how the law applies, all you have is an assertion. Using facts instead of merely reciting them can be a remedy to this problem. Be aware not to simply make declaratory statements, and also beware - it’s rarely a good idea to begin a sentence with such words as word “clearly” or “obviously.” Typically, the facts in your exams are so purposely ambiguous that nothing is ever “clear.” Chances are if you’re finding clarity, you’re missing the real issue!

Like our last blog post pointed out, by following our suggestions, as well as making use of the suggestions in Mastering the Law School Exam, you’ll be able to make the changes necessary to achieve the success that your hardwork deserves.

What to do if you get a Disappointing Grade

It’s hard to be on the receiving end of a poor grade, and there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to figure out what went wrong. It’s hard to understand and even harder to explain how hundreds of hours spent in attending classes, reading required materials, diligently writing case briefs, and preparing a course outline could possibly result in a low grade. But it can and it does, leaving you feeling bewildered, disheartened, and somewhat betrayed. So we're not about to minimize your disappointment if you received a low grade – it really hurts – but what matters now is what you learn from the experience. It’s okay to take a couple of days off to console yourself, but absolutely no more. We must get back to work. Only now, we work differently.

It’s not enough to go through the exercise of looking over the exam with your professor or comparing what you’ve written to a sample answer – you need to know why what you wrote on the exam that didn’t earn the grade you think it deserved. To do this, we need to get inside your head to see where what you were thinking departed from what you should have been thinking.

First, reviewing your exam with your professor is essential to developing your written communication skills. If you think about it, your primary interaction with your professor thus far has been primarily oral – either you were called upon in class or you met outside of class to talk about the material. What you’ll learn from your written exam will probably surprise you. For example, you might learn that you “knew the law" but failed to receive credit because your answer wasn’t responsive to the professor’s question. Or you might discover that your reading of the problem was so flawed that you added your own facts or misconstrued them, either of which could have led to disappointing results. Only by meeting with your professor to go over the exam will you get a sense of how your thinking and response to the questions differed from what your professor had in mind.

From there, it is absolutely essential to learn how to help yourself. Not only are you in the best position to assess your own learning issues, but you are the only one who knows what you know and what you don’t. While it’s helpful to listen to questions asked by other students both in and out of class, it’s not always the question you need answered. Sometimes, you may find difficulty in framing the very question you need to ask. This is a very common problem. After all, articulating a question presupposes that you have a solid enough understanding of the material to identify the part you don’t understand. In short, you need to understand what it is you don’t know before you can get the help you need.

It’s possible to get sufficient insight into what you don’t understand to allow you to articulate the questions you need to ask. This requires some work on your part, but work that is well worth the effort because it puts you in control. Here, we have something concrete to work with – you can use what you wrote on your exam and your professor’s responses to it. Things to pay attention to include whether you are missing a discussion of the law, missing issues, relying on conclusory statements, lack an IRAC form, lack organization, or straying from the relevant issue. Each of these issues (and many more) can be fixed, and are discussed in depth in Chapter Eight of Professor Darrow-Kleinhaus' book, Mastering the Law School Exam.

While we might have moved quickly through what to do to improve, it is important to remember that there’s still a great deal which you can do to affect the final outcome. We know it’s not easy to get your energy and enthusiasm back after a disappointing grade but you must. By following the suggestions and approaches we’ve touched on here, as well as following the suggestions that are discussed in depth in Mastering the Law School Exam, you’ll be able to make the changes necessary in your studying, your thinking, and your writing to achieve the success your hardwork deserves. The key is that you go forward doing things differently than you did before. That’s the real point of what we’ve been doing – learning how to do things differently so you’ll achieve a different result.

And, as always, we are here to help!

Time Management for the Bar Exam

Congratulations - finals are over, and now you have some time to relax! However, for some of you, the bar exam is in the near future - the bar exam requires a huge commitment of time and effort. Your bar review course is structured to guide you through the material, but you must make the effort to learn it. It is completely possible to adequately prepare yourself during the bar review period if you devote your time exclusively to bar preparation.

It is important to realize that even if you had all the time in the world to study and prepare, there are still limitations on how much information you can retain and there is only so long that you can maintain the level of intensity required during the relatively short bar preparation period. For those of you that have started your bar review courses, it should be clear that studying for the bar exam is unlike any other experience - you must be prepared to put the time and energy into the process.

During the first weeks of your bar review, make sure to:

• Set a realistic work schedule that allows for going to the lectures, time for reviewing material covered in class, time to practice problems, and relaxation time;
• Refine realistic study goals based on your strengths and weaknesses; and
• Vary your study activities throughout the day to maintain your concentration level.

The following schedule might be a template that works for you; and allows you enough time to attend your lectures, review material, and practice problems:

• 9:00-1:00: Bar review course
• 1:00-2:00: Lunch break
• 2:00-4:00: Review notes from morning session; make flashcards of black letter law; consolidate notes
• 4:00-:4:30: Take a break
• 4:30-6:30: Work through MBE questions in the subject you have just studied
• 6:30-7:00: Dinner break
• 7:00-9:00: Work through additional MBE questions; essays from a released bar exam (or maybe a MPT, depending on your needs)
• 9:00-11:00: Review materials for the next bar review session or review notes from one subject covered earlier in the bar review period

Remember, there is not a one size fits all schedule, and there are a number of reasons why you might need to adapt the schedule to fit within your needs, including the possibility of having an evening bar review course. The key thing to remember is that you must make time to study, and you must plan ahead to give yourself enough study time.

While you prepare for the bar exam, Professor Darrow-Kleinhaus' books, Acing the Bar Exam (Thomson West 2008) and The Bar Exam in a Nutshell (2d ed. 2009), are great resources.

(Updated) Law School Shorthand

We have gotten a lot of feedback about how helpful the prior shorthand post has been when preparing for class and taking notes in class. Below, we have added additional abbreviations to the list. As mentioned in the prior post, there is not a right or wrong way to do things, but making use of these abbreviations can be a time saver.

Π or P – plaintiff
∆ or D - defendant

Aff’d - affirmed
Rev’d - reversed

TC - Trial Court
AC - Appellate Court
Cir. - Circuit Court(s) of Appeals (i.e. 2d Cir.)
COA - Court of Appeals
DC - District Court
SC or SCt - Supreme Court

admin. - administrative (or administration)
alt. - alternative
Ame – Amendment
ans – answer
arb - arbitration (arbitrator)
arg. - argument
AE – assignee
AR – assignor
Ass'n - association
a/r - assumption of risk
atty - attorney
auth - authority

BR or bankr. - bankruptcy
bc or b/c – because
B – beneficiary
Bd. - board
BFP – bona fide purchaser
BoP or b/p – burden of proof (or bill of particulars)

CB - casebook
cent - central
CA - class action
CE - collateral estoppel
CL – common law
co. - company
CP – condition precedent
CS – condition subsequent
Cong. - Congress(ional)
cx - consideration
Con. – constitutional(ity)
K - contract(s)
CNeg - contributory negligence
© or (c) - copyright
Corp. – corporation
c-c - counterclaim
Ct. - court
cx-c - crossclaim

def. - defense
dem – demurrer
dept. or dep't - department
diff – different
disc or discrim - discrimination
dist. - district
div - division

EE – employee
ER – employer
Emp - employment
Ev – evidence

Fed – Federal
FRCP - Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
FRE - Federal Rules of Evidence

g/r or GRULE – general rule
gov or gov’t - government

HDC – holder in due course
H – husband

Inc. - incorporated
indem - indemnity (indemnify)
indep - independent
ins - insurance
Int'l - international

JMOL - judgment as a matter of law
JNOV - judgment notwithstanding the verdict
j/t – joint tenant
J - judgment
Jdx or jurisd - jurisdiction

L - landlord
l/c - letter of credit
liab - liability
ltd - limited
LLC - limited liability company
LLP - limited liability partnership
lit or litig - litigation

Maj. – majority
Min. - minority
MPC - Model Penal Code
MTD - motion to dismiss

Neg. – negligence
No. - number

OE – offeree
OR – offeror
op. - opinion
O - order
org. - organization

p’ship - partnership
PJ - personal jurisdiction
p/f – prima facie
PE – promisee
PR - promisor
Prop – property

Rxn – reaction
RE or R/E - real estate
® - registered trademark
reg(s) - regulation(s)
Req’d - required
R, R2 - Restatement of Law, Restatement Second
Rev - review
RAP – Rule Against Perpetuities

§ or s - section
SHolder or S'holder - shareholder
St – state
Std – standard
SoL – statute of limitations
SoF – statute of frauds
SL – strict liability
SMJ - subject matter jurisdiction
SJ - summary judgment

TRO - temporary restraining order
T - tenant
TP or 3rd P – third party
TPB or 3rd PB – third party beneficiary
™ or TM - trademark
Tr. - trustee

Unif. - uniform
UCC – Uniform Commercial Code
USC - United States Code

v - versus

W - wife
w/ - with
w/in - within
w/o - without

Exam Prep III

Now that you are in the exam, what should you do?

1. Allocate your Time

• Have a watch somewhere in plain view;
• Set up a timetable on your scrap paper - use the point allocations provided by your professor to set the time; or if there are no allocations provided, use your best judgment based on the number of questions, length of the questions, and time given for the exam.

2. Read the Question

• Begin by reading the interrogatory at the end of the question;
• Identify what you are asked to do;
• Read the facts "actively".

3. Outline the Answer

• Identify the issues;
• Identify the rule for each issue;
• Compile the building blocks for the rule of law by considering elements, definitions, exceptions to the general rule, relevant distinctions, etc.;
• Follow a hierarchy of concepts by moving from general to specific and defining each legal term of art.

4. Write the Essay

• Begin your statement with, "The issue is whether . . ." and include "when" to ensure that you include the relevant facts;
• Commence your statement of the with, "Under the [controlling law]";
• Use "Here" or "In this case" to introduce your application;
• Use "because" to make the connection between rule and fact;
• Match up a "fact" with each "element" or "definition" in your rule and explain the significance;
• Answer the question you were asked.

For Multiple Choice Questions, remember:

1. Read actively - start with the call of the question, and then move to the fact pattern;

2. Take a moment to "recap" the material facts;

3. Identify the issue;

4. Move from the issue to articulation of your own answer;

5. Translate your "answer" to fit an available and appropriate answer choice.

Exam Prep II

Right Before the Exam: Sit calmly and do not think about anything else -- do not worry about other exams (you cannot do anything about them, but you can do something about the one you are taking now).

When Told to Begin: These minutes are critical for setting the pace of your exam experience. You want to start smoothly, work efficiently, and remain calm and focused. Here are some ways to do it:

• Write down anything that you are afraid you will forget during the course of the exam on scrap paper.
• Scan the exam: take a quick look through the entire exam to get an overview; note the number of questions and overall composition of the exam. A general sense of the exam is necessary to let you plan your time and will help you stay focused in knowing what you will be expected to do.
• Read the instructions: your professor may give you important information in the instructions, and not following the instructions may cost you valuable points.

Allocate Your Time: Budget your time and work within that time -- divide your time in accordance with the way the professor has allocated the points. The most points deserve the largest allocation of minutes. (Be specific -- it might be helpful to make a timetable to ensure you have properly allocated your time and have enough time to finish your exam)

After the Exam: Go home -- do not stop to chat with friends and discuss the exam. Do not relive the exam thinking about what you did or did not do. Instead, move on to the next exam where there is something you can do to affect the outcome.

For Students that take the Exam on a Computer: Make sure that you have a backup plan in case your computer crashes or if there is another mishap. Make sure you know exactly what to do in such a situation, and do not waste time trying to self-correct the problem. Also, do not forget to bring pens and pencils with you into the exam in the event you have to write the exam.

A Final Word about Open-Book Exams: You must learn the material as if you were taking a closed book exam; do not expect to have have time to look everything up! Likewise, do not waste time looking up answers that you are fairly certain are correct. Also, make sure you know what is and what is not included in your professor's definition of "open book" because it could vary from one professor to another.

Exam Prep I

Exams are just around the corner -- no matter how much you have studied, and how carefully you have outlined and done practice exams, once you get to the exam, you must be in the moment. What does this mean? You must respond to what your professor asks of you, and not what you want your professor to know (and by answering the professor's questions, you will be showing what you know). If you have prepared properly, you will be able to identifying the issue in the facts and connect the facts with the rule.

With just a few weeks to prepare, there are a few things you should remember:

1. Make sure to get enough sleep. Cramming and staying up all night doesn't work for law school exams. You have enough time to study and sleep if you plan accordingly, and plan in advance!
2. Make sure to eat -- don't forget to take study breaks to eat, and don't forget to eat before you walk into an exam. It is hard to concentrate when your stomach is growling.
3. If you are an evening student, it might be beneficial to take some time off during finals to study, especially the day of the exam. This time off will prove important and beneficial because you want to be as free from distractions as possible.
4. Make sure you have all of the necessary supplies - do you have pens that actually write; do you need pencils for a Scantron; do you have your exam number; are you going to use earplugs; etc. If your exam is open book, does the material you are planning to bring into the exam comply with the professor's guidelines and specifications?
5. Now is also the time to ask your professor any outstanding questions you have about the substantive law; you do not want to wait until the last minute to fill in any holes or gaps that you might have in your understanding.
6. And of course, make sure to allow yourself enough travel time to get to your exam!

The weeks leading up to exams can be very stressful -- make sure to stay away from those that add to your stress and anxiety. Your final exams are the culmination of all your hard work this semester, and you want to put yourself in the best possible situation to show your professor exactly how hard you have worked all semester.

Check back here in the coming weeks for more test taking tips and strategies, and, as always, stop by our offices (Suite 314) if you need additional help or have questions -- we are here to help.

It is that time of year again when there is a temptation to not prepare for class, or skip one class to do work for another -- do not feed into the temptation! The last few weeks of school are way too important to start going to class unprepared or to start skipping classes.

Take some time to think about time management and how you can best spend your time -- schedule time for non-negotiables: i.e. the time you spend in class; the time you spend preparing for class, commuting to school, sleeping, etc. It might be helpful to even make a schedule from now until finals so you do not get distracted.

It is important not to let your school work pile up, but if you do find yourself in an "emergency situation", Dean Jarmon had a few tips that you might find useful:

Make every minute count. Do not waste time. Only undertake studying that gets results. Always consider what the payback will be for the exam (or paper or project) when starting a task.

Keep up with current class reading. Many students are tempted to stop reading for class to find more study time. This strategy is a bad idea because then they are then lost on the current material which will also be on the exam.

Continue going to all classes. Many students are also tempted to skip class to find more study time. This strategy does not work because the professor will now be pulling the course material together, will give out information about the exam, and will test on the new material.

Develop a structured time management schedule. Block out times for the week when reading for class, writing any papers, and reviewing for
exams will occur. Label each block with the course related to the task. Spread the time for exam review among all exam courses so that progress can be made on every one of them. Few people can work more than a few hours on a paper at one time. Use breaks from a paper for reading or reviewing for exams.

Prioritize your courses and topics within courses. Some of the things to consider are:

• Determine the level of understanding in each course.
• Determine the amount of material to learn for the first time in each course.
• Determine the amount of material already reviewed for each course.
• Evaluate which topics are most likely to be heavily tested, moderately tested, and slightly tested for each exam.
• Determine whether course topics need to be studied chronologically as presented (because they build on one another) or can be isolated for study in
  any order.
• Check to see the order of your exams within the exam period.

Break course topics down into sub-topics. It is easier to stay motivated and to see progress if one can cross off sub-topics quickly. It is also easier to find a shorter block of time to complete review of a sub-topic than it is to find a block of time to review the entire long topic.

Condense material to the essentials for each course. These students no longer have the advantage of learning all of the nuances and gaining full understanding. They need to make sure they understand the basic concepts, the important rules, and the methodologies. Unfortunately, they will be depending on working memory and may well have to re-learn everything later during bar review.

Apply the law after learning each topic. Do a few practice questions to see if you can actually use what you learned about a topic. Once you know how to structure an answer for a particular topic, the structure can be used when you confront new facts for the same topic on an exam.

Get enough sleep. Staying up late and getting less than seven hours of sleep as a minimum will be counter-productive. Going into an exam in a sleep-deprived state will only mean being unable to focus and analyze clearly. Cramming more material during last-minute, late-night study will not make up for exhausted brain cells.

See Amy Jarmon, It's triage time again, Law School Academic Support Blog, April 22, 2010, available at http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/academic_support/2010/04/its-triage-time-again.html.