• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Law School Toolbox®

All the tools you need for law school success

  • Tutoring
  • Courses
    • Start Law School Right
  • Job Help
  • Law School 101
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • About

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

March 5, 2012 By Alison Monahan Leave a Comment

office-stress-978868-mTo 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?

  • Student One: The defendant is clearly not liable for assault, because he didn’t mean to scare the plaintiff and he never touched her.
  • Student Two: It’s a close question whether the defendant is liable for assault. He testified that he didn’t intend to scare the plaintiff, but the relevant legal standard is an objective one. His subjective intent is irrelevant. Therefore, the question is whether plaintiff’s fear of a battery was objectively reasonable. In this situation, where the plaintiff was alone in a dark alley when defendant approached her yelling “I’m a fallen angel come to save you!,” plaintiff has a fairly strong argument that her fear was reasonable. Defendant will argue that he never touched her, or came close to touching her, but a reasonable person in those circumstances would have been in fear of imminent bodily harm.

I’m going to go with number two.

Where Does Ambiguity Come From?

In a nutshell, there are two primary types of ambiguity:

  1. Factual ambiguity: Just what it sounds like. The facts are ambiguous. In our example above, would a reasonable person in this scenario have felt threatened? If you interpret the facts one way, yes. If you look at them somewhat differently, no. In the end, it doesn’t really matter which way your answer comes out — what matters is that you recognize, and discuss, the issue. (An even better answer than the ones above would analogize to similar cases and explain WHY it was reasonable for our plaintiff to feel threatened by the defendant’s behavior that night.)
  2. Legal ambiguity: This one’s a little more subtle. It’s when the outcome would be different, depending on which legal rule applies. So, in Contracts, for example, you might have a situation where the case comes out one way under the common law, and the other way under the U.C.C. Here, the point isn’t to say “Oh, I’ll apply the U.C.C. so the answer is X.” It’s to think about whether you could make an argument for using the common law, and also make an argument for applying the U.C.C. That’s probably why your professor set up the question the way she did! If you simply pick one, you’re going to leave most of the available points on the table.
Resist the Urge to Be Right

The next time you approach an exam question, resist the urge to get to “The Answer.”

Instead, explore the ambiguity, showing your work along the way. You’ll probably end up with a lot better grades, even if the process is uncomfortable!

— – —

Want more?
Sign up for the Law School Toolbox mailing list, and we’ll send you tons of fresh content to help you succeed in law school. As an added bonus, and only because you’re so awesome, when you join we’ll send our Top 10 Tips for Law School Success, right to your inbox. What a deal!

Similar posts you might like

What Makes a Law School Exam Answer “Good”?

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

The Key to Law School Exam Success? Think Like Your Professor

— – —

Got questions? Leave them in the comments and we’ll answer them for you!

Image by protego via stock.xchng.


 

Looking for some help to do your best in law school? Find out about our law school tutoring options.


About Alison Monahan

Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl's Guide to Law School, which helps law students and prospective law students get in to law school, get through, and stay true to themselves. Alison is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a member of the Columbia Law Review and served as a Civ Pro teaching assistant. You can find her on Twitter at @GirlsGuideToLS.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Podcast
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Us

If you find law school tough, you are not alone! The Law School Toolbox team is here to help you through it. Check out our helpful free content, podcasts, courses and one-on-one tutoring. Thanks for stopping by and drop us a line if you have any questions. We also invite you to join our weekly mailing list, for advice right to your inbox.

Recent Posts

5 Ways a Law School Resume is Different from a College Resume

5 Ways a Law School Resume is Different from a College Resume

As the 1L summer job search gets into full swing, it’s time to make sure your resume is up to date and ready to send out to employers. If you’ve only … Read More about 5 Ways a Law School Resume is Different from a College Resume

Podcast Microphone

Podcast Episode 374: How to Be a Great Law Journal Member

Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! Today, we're talking about how to be a great law journal member, whether you're on Law Review or a … Read More about Podcast Episode 374: How to Be a Great Law Journal Member

Bluebook 101 - Tips on Efficiently Navigating The Bluebook

Bluebook 101 – Tips on Efficiently Navigating The Bluebook

There are podcasts and blog posts alike on the many nuances of The Bluebook. But first, what even is The Bluebook? Calling all 1Ls—this is your bare … Read More about Bluebook 101 – Tips on Efficiently Navigating The Bluebook

Podcast Microphone

Podcast Episode 373: Not Happy with Your First Semester Law School Grades? How to Do Better in the Second Semester (w/Nicola Rossi)

Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! Today, we're excited to have one of our tutors, Nicola Rossi, joining us to talk about how to improve … Read More about Podcast Episode 373: Not Happy with Your First Semester Law School Grades? How to Do Better in the Second Semester (w/Nicola Rossi)

Five Law School “Rules” I Broke My First Semester

Five Law School “Rules” I Broke My First Semester

There are certain maxims of how to do law school that seem to have been passed down from generations of students through the ages. It can be scary to … Read More about Five Law School “Rules” I Broke My First Semester

Want Better Law School Grades?

Sign Up for Our Exam Tips!

Footer

  • Podcast
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Tutoring
  • Courses
  • Job Help
  • About
  • Contact
  • Login
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Refunds

Copyright 2023 Law School Toolbox®™