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Survival Tips for Taking the Exams at

Law School
SOURCE: University of San Diego School of Law

Expect a certain amount of tension. The feeling
is normal and it can motivate you.
Cope with your tension through exercise and
relaxation techniques.
Avoid last minute cramming. Avoid all-nighters
that disrupt your regular sleep patterns:
analytic ability is affected by fatigue.
Think of the coming exam as the final step of
your study process instead of as a threatening
new experience.
Know the times of your exams and plan your
sleep schedule so you will be at your most alert.
Arrive early, but not too early.
Have a plan of attack. (See materials on Taking Essay Exams and Taking
Multiple Choice Exams.)
Be aggressive. Approach studying, and the test itself, vigorously determined
to do your best with the information you know. Think of yourself as a star
athlete before a big event. Keep yourself in good health through adequate
rest and diet.
Eat something sensible before the exam; you can probably hold down a bowl
of cereal even if you are very tense.
Avoid over-dependence on caffeine or other chemical aids to study or to
sleep.
Relax during the test. If you notice you are not thinking well or you are very
tense, take a pause by laying the test aside and taking several slow, deep
breaths.
Ignore your classmates. If you tend to be distracted, buy and practice using
ear plugs.
Beware of the post mortem. You will only succeed in raising your anxiety
level.









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During, and After the Exam
Law School Exam Strategy: 30 Tips for Before,
by

Douglas Whaley, Professor of Law Emeritus, The Ohio State University
on December 3, 2012
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GETTING STARTED
1. Everyone gives you different advice. Take what sounds right to you and ignore
the rest.
2. The best way to do well on exams is all too obvious: study! Even if youve
slacked off until now on this requirement, its still not too late to put in the
time. Okay, studying is hard work, but whoever said you only get to do easy
things in life? This is your chosen professionright?so it deserves the massive
effort necessary to acquire the knowledge to do your job right.
3. Clear up things you still dont understand that are necessary for the exam.
What are the foggy parts of your notes? What are the difficult issues for you in
this course? If you cant figure them out yourself, get help. Ask your fellow
students, consult other texts or student outlines, contact the professor. But
dont leave major gaps in your knowledge unfilled.
4. Try to organize the details into a bigger picture. But dont overdo it. Trivia can
drive you crazy and get you sidetracked. READ THE PROFESSOR. What was
important to him/her in the lectures? Things that the professor emphasized are
likely to be on the exam. Things that were not emphasized are unlikely to be
major features of the exam.
5. Word List: For closed-book essay exams, I recommend you memorize a short
(no more than 20 words) list of topics that are likely to be on the exam. For
example, in a Contracts course the word list might contain words such as:
liquidated damages, mitigation, forseeability, quasi-contract, etc. Below I will
tell you how to use this list during the exam.
6. Mental Attitude: This is going to sound strange, but you should enjoy taking
exams. Why? Well, think about it. For the most part your role in the law school
learning process is passive: you just sit there and absorb things as if you were a
sponge. But when it comes to the exam you are the active participant, taking
stage center, and its time to show off what you know and how well you can
present it. As a lawyer you will often be in the position of taking charge, so
heres your chance to do it while in law school. The opposite attitude (I hate
exams and Im scared Ill do badly) wont help you a bit in approaching the
exam with the confidence you should be exhibiting. See if you can cultivate
Im good, so get out of my way.
7. The night before the exam: GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP! One of the major
things youll be tested on is how well your brain works. If you spent the night
cramming for the exam with coffee, drugs, or who know what, your brain will
be fried and your exam performance dismal. A rested brain is more important
than last minute knowledge gained.
8. If Big Things Go Wrong: What if the unexpected happensyou get sick, a
family member dies, you get a distress call from your best friend to fly across
country and rescue him/hershould you postpone the exam? Obviously things
can occur that would keep any rational person from taking the exam on time,
and Im not saying otherwise. But here should be your rule: if it is at
all possible to take the exam, do so. Ive too often seen students with the
opposite attitude (I hope something comes up so I can duck the exam!). A
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postponed exam has a way of never getting done. Ive seen legal careers
wrecked because the postponement of the exam was the end of everything.
9. If Little Things Go Wrong: You need to consider ahead of time the small
matters that can turn the exam experience into a nightmare, and develop fail-
safe backups. Im referring to such things as getting the date or time of the
exam wrong, the alarm clock that doesnt go off, the car that wont start, the
pen or computer that wont work, etc. Make sure you understand well ahead of
time all the rules of the exam, particularly what youre allowed to bring with
you into the exam and what not, and how to turn in the exam. Learn the honor
code and pay attention to its rules.

THE EXAM ITSELF
1. Fill out the exam as instructed. When the starting signal is given, first set up
your time schedule.DONT MAKE MISTAKES ABOUT THIS. When Im grading
exams Im unforgiving if students make mistakes about time. What does it say
about how theyll later practice law where doing things on time is very
important?
2. Write down your word list separately and save it.
3. Plan to answer all the questions asked unless you are told parts of the exam are
optional. On objective questions guess unless told that there are penalties for
so doing. (If enough people miss the same objective question the grader will
frequently throw it outso get in there and do your share by missing it too). On
essay questions, if you dont know, fake it. What? Yes, fake it (this is
particularly important on bar exams). Pretend youre the monarch of your own
jurisdiction and boldly invent the rules. Our law is not so perverse that it
deviates much from common assumptions, and your guess will often get you
some points, whereas a blank sheet of paper will get you nothing. Some of you
reading this are very, very good at this faking skill, having honed it through
years of educational endeavors, and its time to strut your stuff.
4. Inserts and abbreviations are fine if clear. Dont confuse the grader. If you
cant remember the name of the case you want to cite, describe it (the hairy
hand case, for example).
5. On essay questions, read each question carefully, trying to get a sense of its
bigger meaning. Issues will jump out at you. This will give you a sense of relief,
but its no time to relax. Now re-read the question carefully, underlining
important points, making marginal notes about the issues or thoughts you want
to include. Now go back and look at the question. Are there major parts of the
essay question about which you are saying nothing? Thats suspicious. Has the
professor thrown in surplusage? That would be rare. Most likely theres some
hidden issue in the unexplored part.
6. Outline each essay question before writing out the answer to any of them.
Why? Because your brain will be the freshest at the start of the exam, so use it
to plan the whole exam during that period. If you spend all your freshness on
the first essay question, and then have to do original thinking on the later
questions when your brain is tired, those questions wont be as impressive nor
earn as good a grade. Outlining the whole exam also gives you a sense of its
scope and how much time youve got for each question. You dont want to
devote most of your time to the first of two essay questions when they count
equally in the grading.
7. Check your outline against the word list. For each word on the list ask yourself,
is this issue hidden in the question? For example, if one of the words on your
word list is promissory estoppel ponder whether there are promissory
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estoppel issues that you havent thought about presented in the given fact
pattern. If you do this carefully with each of the words on your list, I guarantee
you that ideas will pop into your head that will earn you extra points you would
otherwise have forfeited.
8. Its time to start writing. On essay questions, should you take it issue by issue
or first present one sides case and then the other sides case? The exam may
tell you which to do, but if not, please yourself. Just make it clear to the
grader what you are doing, and then do it methodically as announced.
9. Answer the exact question asked. If the question says Give the arguments of
the parties dont begin your answer with The court rules that . . . Your
instructor wants to hear what the parties will argue. Remember that youre
being trained to be an advocate, not a judge, so lets hear what youll say as a
lawyer.
10. Dont assume away the hard parts and make the exam too easy. This isnt a
contest of wits; its aperformance, and youll get few points for evading the
hard issues.
11. Dont repeat the facts except as necessary to your analysis. Unnecessarily
repeating the facts is a waste of precious time. Good attorneys, however, do
use the facts to make their points (The plaintiff chose to send an email
because it was faster than the postal service).
12. What issue should you start with? Heres valuable advice: start with the most
important issue, the most vital one, the one at the heart of it all. One of the
things were testing you on is whether you can spot the most important issue. If
your answer starts with something petty that no lawyer is going to spend much
time on, this tells the grader you dont know whats important and whats
notea bad message to convey. The exam has so much time pressure that if
you spend your valuable minutes on minutia, youll convince the grader you
dont understand how to home in on the heart of a controversy. Who wants a
lawyer who makes that mistake?
13. On an exam I want to see the following three things repeated over and over:
spotting the major issue, an explanation of the relevant black letter rules of
law, and then an argument about how these rules apply to these facts. Some
instructors dont require you to repeat the black letter rules of law, but I want
to see them. I think that lawyers spend a lot of time explaining what these
rules are (to clients, to the other side, to the judge, to the jury), and so Ill
judge you on how clearly you can delineate them.
14. Avoid unexplained value j udgments: The plaintiffs conduct was
reasonable. Too easy to say and it conveys nothing. Back it up with facts and
explanations showing why it was reasonable.
15. Give parallel arguments. Having presented the plaintiffs brilliant argument,
the student frequently has so impressed him/herself that he/she then forgets
to say what the other side will argue in response. When you go over the exam
with the professor afterwards, the professor will point to this problem and say,
How often do you think when one lawyer makes an argument that the other
lawyer just sits there, admires it, and gives up? We are training you to be an
advocate. Be careful that you dont convince yourself and leave the other side
mum.




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EXTRA POINTS
1. An exam is a performance: and all good performances have some things in
common, particularly they have a big start and a big finish. Its not enough to
get the right answerafter all this isnt a math exam with just one answer.
Youre being compared with others, so your exam must stand out. Therefore
add special things: brains, clever analysis, how this problem would come on in
the real world, policy, etc. Most exams are as interesting to read as the
printed verse on Christmas cards; make yours more interesting than the other
exams and youll get a better grade. Start well, and for heavens sake have a
great sentence at the end, typically a policy statement (see below). When Im
grading an exam that just stops mid-thought (sometimes with the word TIME
written last), I ask myself what kind of lawyer is that person going to be, and
the answer is that he/she cant plan well or get all the important thoughts into
the allotted time (skills any good attorney possesses while bad ones commit
malpractice).
2. To get extra points, put yourself in the place of the person grading the exam.
What will please him/her? What does the instructor want from students? How
about humor? Citing cases? Favorite theories or causes? Does your instructor
have pet peeves? [Mine: breach is spelled with an "a"; don't use exclamation
points!] Be as literate as possible (and its here that you English majors will
have a leg up on the others).
3. The big finish. Try a policy statement that explains why the result youve
come up with will make things better for the future. Phrase it well. Remember
that as soon as you quit writing this last sentence the instructor immediately
assigns a grade, so this is the moment when impressing the grader is most
important.

AFTER THE EXAM
1. If you have other exams yet to take, stop any thoughts or discussions about this
exam immediately and concentrate on the upcoming ones. Panic later,
when all exams are over.
2. Very important rule: dont do postmortems on the exams by discussing them
with the other students. Violating this rule is a sure way to panic yourself.
Taken collectively you all know more than any one of you knows individually,
so if you want to scare yourself, postmortems are a sure way to do it. If
someone starts to talk about the exam to you (Did you see the promissory
estoppel issue in question two?), walk away quickly. You dont need to hear
things you may have missed. Go out and have a drink with non-law students.
3. Good luck on your exams. Once youre done with the law school and bar exam
ones, youll likely never have to take another exam in your life, so work
towards that happy moment which, trust me, will come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Douglas Whaley is a Professor of Law Emeritus at The Ohio State University. He is the author of seven casebooks, all
published by Aspen, three Gilbert's Summaries of the Law, numerous law review articles, and one novel. He has
received nine awards from three law schools for outstanding teaching. The columns he writes for this website are
mostly adapted from his popular blog: http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com.
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Test-Taking StrategiesA Game Plan to Win
Games and tests seem like they couldnt be more dissimilar. Actually, they have more in
common than you might think. If you were to prepare for a test the way you might
prepare for a big game, youd probably make a game plan. OK, so the test probably isnt
nearly as much fun as a game, but your goal is the sameto win. Here are a few tips for
winning at the testing game.
Before the Test
1. Prepare for the exam by studying for the type of exam given. If it is a multiple
choice exam, create flash cards that help you memorize the material. If you must
write an essay, create outlines that help you see the relationships in the material.
2. Get a good nights rest prior to the test day and eat a healthy breakfast or lunch on
the day of the exam (dont overeat!).
3. Bring a watch to your examit will help you manage your time during the test.
When You Begin
1. Take a deep breath to relax. Anxiety may reduce your confidence and be an
obstacle to doing your best.
2. Preview the whole test briefly before you begin (if allowed). This will help get you
warmed up to take the test and allow you to note the way the test is organized.
3. Figure out how much time you have for each section of the test and how much
each section is worth. Allocate your time accordinglydont spend the whole test on a
section that is worth only 10 points.
During the Test
1. ALWAYS read the directions before you work on a section. Circle key words of
importance such as compare, contrast, similar, and different. Failing to read
directions can cause you to completely misjudge what the test is asking.
2. Ask your instructor to explain directions you dont understand.
3. Divide and conquer! Answer the easy questions first to build confidence. This will
also allow you to rack up as many points as possible right from the start. However,
always be sure to mark the questions you dont answer right away so you can go
back to them.
4. Pace yourself. Check your watch from time to time to make sure youre pacing
yourself appropriately.
5. When in doubt, guess. You at least have a chance that you might guess correctly.
6. Dont let others distract you. Focus only on your own test. If others are writing and
you arent, dont panic. If others finish before you do, try not to get nervous.
7. Use any extra time to first make sure youve answered all the questions. Then, go
over the more difficult questions and read them a second time. Read essays
carefully for accuracy first and grammar second.
8. Dont change your initial answer unless you have a good reason to do so;
research indicates that 3 out of 4 times a first choice was probably correct.
Good luck!
Visit TestTakingTips.com for more test taking help.
Reducing Test Taking Anxiety
Test anxiety is when a student excessively worries about doing well on a test. This can
become a major hindrance on test performance and cause extreme nervousness and memory
lapses among other symptoms. The following are tips on reducing test taking anxiety.
Being well prepared for the test is the best way to reduce test taking anxiety.
Space out your studying over a few days or weeks and continually review class material.
Don't try to learn everything the night before.
Try to maintain a positive attitude while preparing for the test and during the test.
Exercising for a few days before the test will help reduce stress.
Get a good night's sleep before the test.
Show up to class early so you won't have to worry about being late.
Stay relaxed, if you begin to get nervous take a few deep breaths slowly to relax yourself
and then get back to work.
Read the directions slowly and carefully.
If you don't understand the directions on the test, ask the teacher to explain it to you.
Skim through the test so that you have a good idea how to pace yourself.
Write down important formulas, facts, definitions and/or keywords in the margin first so
you won't worry about forgetting them.
Do the simple questions first to help build up your confidence for the harder questions.
Don't worry about how fast other people finish their test; just concentrate on your own
test.
If you don't know a question skip it for the time being (come back to it later if you have
time), and remember that you don't have to always get every question right to do well on the
test.
Focus on the question at hand. Don't let your mind wander on other things.
If you're still experiencing extreme test anxiety after following these tips, seek help from
your school counselor.