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A Handy Template for Answering “Hard” Law School Exam Questions

March 22, 2012 By Alison Monahan 7 Comments

What’s the first thing most law students do when they get to the a “hard” part of a law school exam? No, not cry (most people do that after the exam). The average law student starts drawing conclusions.

If you think about it dispassionately, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Why would you jump right to a conclusion, when you know the analysis is difficult? Um, there’s your answer. If it’s hard to do the analysis, it’s tempting to skip it! (Who really likes doing hard things?)

Why This is a Bad Idea

Writing conclusory answers to hard questions is a bad idea for several reasons:

Where Can You Find Sample Law School Essay Exams?

March 20, 2012 By Lee Burgess Leave a Comment

If you are visiting the Law School Toolbox, it is likely that you want to do better on your law school essay exams. And one of the things we talk about on this site is the importance of practicing writing out exam answers.

Practice is how we learn how to apply the law we learn in law school. And the application of the law is exactly what we do when we are practicing lawyers.

Think about it — a client walks in, tells you her story, and asks your legal opinion as to whether or not she can sue.

How do you know the answer to that? You think about the law and apply it to the fact pattern! So practicing this skill is not just good for preparing for finals, it is important as part of your path to becoming a licensed attorney!

Where Can You Find Practice Materials?

Hopefully we have sold you on the need to practice writing. But with that comes a very common question from students: Where do I find practice materials?

Flashcards or Flowcharts: What’s Best?

March 12, 2012 By Alison Monahan 10 Comments

Law students get lots of advice about study aids. Some people swear by flashcards, others by flowcharts. What’s best?

What’s “Best” is What Works for You

There’s no one “best” option. The question is what works best for YOU.

That being said, flashcards and flowcharts are useful for different purposes.

Avoiding Office Hours? Go, and Get Something Out of It

March 7, 2012 By Lee Burgess Leave a Comment

When I meet with a student who is having academic difficulties (or just not happy with their grades) one of the first questions I ask him/her is, “Do you go to office hours?” Guess what the answer typically is? You guessed it, “No.”

Should you be going to law school office hours? Well, yes! But you shouldn’t just go to office hours — you should go with a plan to get the most out of it. Just going without questions or comments is pretty worthless and likely won’t give you an opportunity to engage the professor.

What Are Office Hours Good For?

How to Write a Law School Exam: Deal With the Ambiguity

March 5, 2012 By Alison Monahan Leave a Comment

To write a great law school exam answer, you’ve got to do one critical thing: Deal with the ambiguity.

Why is Ambiguity Important?

I know, you want there to be one “right” answer. Time to get over that. Why? Because the points are in the close questions.

If you were a professor, which student would you give more points to?

How We Think About Law School Exams: An Overview

February 20, 2012 By Alison Monahan 3 Comments

If you spend much time on the Law School Toolbox (or on either of our other sites, Amicus Tutoring and The Girl’s Guide to Law School), you’ll probably notice that there aren’t a ton of “tips and tricks” posts.

Instead, we spend a lot of time talking about broader goals — What do you fundamentally need to understand to succeed in law school?

For example: