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Two Simple Ways to Become a Better Law School Test Taker

April 25, 2012 By Alison Monahan Leave a Comment

When you enter the room for a law school exam, how do you feel?

Interestingly enough, as this article discusses, how you feel — or, more accurately, how you react to how you feel — can be a huge determinant of your exam success.

What Do Those Sweaty Palms Mean?

It’s natural to feel anxious or nervous when you show up to a law school final. NOT feeling that way would be weird.

What’s critical, however, is how you react to the physical sensation of anxiety or nervousness.

There are two basic options:

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do on a Law School Exam

April 23, 2012 By Alison Monahan Leave a Comment

What’s the single most important thing you can do on a law school exam? This one’s easy!

ANSWER THE QUESTION

If you don’t answer the question, directly and completely, you’re not going to do well. End of story. Game over. No way, no how. It’s critical.

But answering the question isn’t always as easy as you might think. Here are three different scenarios you might encounter:

What Am I Telling My Students? Practice!

April 22, 2012 By Lee Burgess Leave a Comment

During this time of the year, I am spending a lot of time with students who are getting ready for finals. And there is one consistent message they hear from me — especially given that many are just days or weeks away from their first exam:

PRACTICE.

Yes, practice. It is both the easiest and the hardest thing to do as part of your exam prep. Why? Well, students typically hate to practice. It is uncomfortable and frustrating.

Excuses Law Students Have For Not Practicing

Here are some common excuses for why students don’t practice:

Should Your Law School Essay Be Wearing Sweatpants or a Suit?

April 19, 2012 By Lee Burgess 1 Comment

I had a student send me a practice exam the other week where there were no capital letters. Ironically, I also got an essay turned in as a mid-term in another class where a student did the same thing. Recently, as well, I have received practice essays with glaring typos in the headers of an essay.

So I mentioned to my students that I didn’t recommend that they present themselves in this way on an exam. They each defiantly stated to me that they had been told that typos did not count against them on an exam. So it shouldn’t matter.

How You Present Yourself DOES Matter

I am here to argue to you that it does matter, for a few reasons:
[Read more…] about Should Your Law School Essay Be Wearing Sweatpants or a Suit?

The Three Most Important Things You Can Do as Exams Approach

April 18, 2012 By Alison Monahan

Law school exam time’s fast approaching!

What are the three most important things you can do?

Simplify.
Simplify.
Simplify.

Oh, you wanted to something complicated?

Are You in Law School Crisis Mode? Here’s How to Get Out

April 16, 2012 By Lee Burgess 1 Comment

A student came to my office this week to ask for help. She is one month out from finals and hasn’t started outlining. Even worse, she doesn’t know how to start outlining let alone how to take practice exams.

Now, I doubt that she is alone. I think many students may be in a similar position.

They are in their second semester of law school and perhaps didn’t do as well as they had hoped in their first semester. Although they promised this semester would be different, so far it has not been.

Now they are staring down the road to finals and are frozen because they don’t know what to do. They are in crisis mode.

All is Not Lost

Well, I don’t think all hope is lost. I think that with some very disciplined and dedicated work you can actually save this semester and get ready for finals.

Will your outlines be as good as if you had been working on them for months? No! But does that mean that you shouldn’t try? No!

Here is a plan of attack for students who are in crisis mode:

Blog

What Do Those Sweaty Palms Mean?

Excuses Law Students Have For Not Practicing

How You Present Yourself DOES Matter

All is Not Lost

Want Better Law School Grades?

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