Exam Preparation

Well, it’s November, which means most of you have roughly a month to go before your exams. So, what do you do to prepare? First, you should be outlining, in order to ensure that you understand the black letter law. There is no one right way to outline, and it should be your own, in your own words, not copied from a commercial source. However, outlining alone is not enough. You cannot expect to succeed on exams merely by memorizing black letter law, it is just the first step.

Yes, your professors want to know that you have learned the law they taught, but they also want to ensure that you can DO something with it as well. Whether your school follows the traditional IRAC form or newer CREAC form, your professor still wants you to take the black letter law and apply it to whatever hypothetical situation happens to be on the exam. Always remember that merely putting down a rule of law, and possibly restating the facts, is not enough. A good exam explains both why the facts apply to the rule of law, as well as why you are coming to a particular conclusion. For Example:

“Battery is the intentional offensive or unwanted touching of another. When Tim shoved Mario, it was intentional because Tim had the intent to shove, and not a mere accident. In addition, a reasonable person would view a shove as both unwanted and offensive, and it is, indeed, a touching. Therefore, Tim committed a battery against Mario.”

In some situations, it is also important to argue both sides of the issue, and then come to a conclusion. The only way to master this skill is practice. Find old exams that your professor might have, or use a study aid that has practice essays. I cannot stress enough how important it is to practice not just the exam writing, but applying the law to new fact patterns. This also means that you cannot just outline an answer, you have to FULLY WRITE out the essays. I know, it is a pain, and all of you are running short on time, but if you want to succeed, this is the only way. Anyone that tells you different is simply lying. Good Luck!