You may have heard people talk about “learning to think like your professor.” But I want you to go one step further and actually write your own hypotheticals.
Why is this a good exercise? Well, it puts you in the place of doing exactly what the professor does.
It is also a fantastic way to test yourself on the knowledge of law. If you can create a fact situation to trigger certain discussions of the law, then you likely really understand the law and how it is applied.
There’s No Way I Can Do This!
If this sounds too difficult, take a practice exam from a professor, a bar question, or other sample exam question. Now, change the facts to change the outcome.
What will that show you? That you understand which facts are critical to the legal outcome. Which then means that you will likely be able to identify them on an exam. (This exercise was something my friends and I frequently did in our study group. We would re-write a professor’s hypotheticals from class to change the outcomes.)
This is also a great activity to do with your study group or any group of law school friends. Each of you should try to write an essay prompt and then you can swap those exam hypotheticals. This gives you hours of practice writing!
Practicing writing like a professor is a great exercise and one I encourage all of my students to do.
Try it this exam period, and see how it goes!
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Want more?
- How to Write a Law School Exam: Deal With the Ambiguity
- What Makes a Law School Exam Answer “Good”?
- A Handy Template for Answering “Hard” Law School Exam Questions
Have you tried to write your own hypos or exam questions? How did it go?
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