Write Top-Notch Exams at a U.S. Law School
The dreaded law school exam
The American law school is a unique beast. While you’re expected to keep up with the readings, there’s no real homework. Sure if you’re cold-called and found wanting your professor might throw a zinger your way, but beyond that, there’s no accountability during the semester. Your real test is the exam you face at the end of the term.
This exam is vital, especially for first-year students, commonly known as 1Ls. It is these grades that usually make or break their chances during On Campus Interviews for jobs at the end of 1L year. Bad 1L grades may also foreclose career options such as judicial clerkships and teaching.
There may be a multiple-choice or true/false component to it but a law school exam in the US is usually an issue spotter. You are given one large fact pattern and asked to examine all claims and defenses. Law school exams are hard and you are graded on a curve. This means you are in competition with your classmates.
Why listen to me?
So why should you listen to me about how to write American law school exams? Well, I’ve attended law school in 3 different countries including the US. I have graduated from 3 of the Top 14 law schools in America, with a Juris Doctor and two LL.Ms or Master of Laws. I’m therefore in a unique position, by virtue of experience, to tell you what works and what doesn’t.
My advice is geared towards 1Ls but 2Ls, 3Ls or even LL.M students may find it useful.
The fundamentals of acing a law school exam
Writing a top law school exam comes down to these three fundamentals:
Learn the law
Before the semester starts get a Barbri conviser — learn it all up. You should have a basic outline of the law you are going to be examined on that semester committed to memory before the semester begins.
Know your professor
Every professor has a teaching style and personality of their own. They have certain areas of the law that they like to focus on, and also have their own particular terminology. Learn your professor’s style. Learn what she or he likes to test by looking at previous exams and listening to them in class. If they regularly use a phrase like Twiqbal (a portmanteau of Twombly and Iqbal, which are civil procedure cases) use that in your exam.
Get a lot of practice writing law school exams
Start answering law school exams FROM DAY 1 of the semester! These exams can be from your law school or others. Practice Issue spotting. Issue spotting is when you use parts of the fact pattern to prompt a discussion of the relevant law from the course.
So you look at the fact pattern and identify the issues. Then you look at the legal rule that may apply to these issues. You perform an analysis. An analysis is your interpretation of how the rules and the facts interact. It is rarely one hundred percent in the favor of any one side overall. After identifying the issue, determining the rules that apply to it, and performing an analysis, you finally state your conclusions. Rinse and repeat for every issue you can spot on an exam.
Practice exams throughout the semester. Start as soon as you’ve committed the law to memory. As the semester goes on, however, tailor your responses and issue spotting to your professor. Here is a list of law school exam banks from across the country — use this to source practice exams.
Best of luck
