In Case You Missed It: What You Need to Know: Surviving Your First Law School Exam

In case you missed it, below are some takeaway points from Holly Wanzer's recent presentation, What You Need to Know: Surviving Your First Law School Exam.

Preparation

Look at the professor’s old exams. How many questions are usually asked? Review instructions.
Note suggested answering times as they will correlate to amount of points each question is worth. Make sure to calculate the total answering time. Does it exceed the time allotted for the entire exam? Does it allow time for you to even read the questions? Knowing this ahead of time will allow you to adjust time allocations to ensure time remains to answer the final question(s).

The Question Itself

Save yourself time. ALWAYS Read the Prompt First.  
Plan your answer depicting all possible answers based on the prompt.
Issue spotting – Listing the elements, factors, prongs or parts.  **This will get you a grade of a C.**
Issue analysis– Identify facts from the fact pattern that impact the presence (or absence) of that element/factor/prong/part.  **This is the key component and is what will boost your grade to an A.**

You can view the entire presentation here.

If you would like to submit content or write an article for the Law Student Division page, please email Kara Sikorski at ksikorski@indybar.org.