How to Study for Law School Finals with Practice Essays

Well we're at that weird point in the year where it feels like school just started and yet people are already talking about tests. Even though my professors aren't giving any midterms this semester, we've already started getting ready for finals by going over practice essays. Practice essays in law school are probably as much hand holding as you'll get from a professor. What's great is that they'll usually just give you a question from a previous test and then you know what to expect when your professor goes over them. 

If your professor never gives any practice essays, you might stop by his office hours about a month before class ends and ask if he has old test questions that you could practice with or has a recommended source where you could find similar practice questions. These are super helpful for during your 1L year because you'll feel a lot more prepared if you know what to expect. So, here's what I do with mine!

Timing the essay

Your professor might tell you a recommended time that you spend on your practice essay, but at least for your first effort I wouldn't worry about timing yourself. It's better to get really good at answering these and then picking up your speed rather than trying to do both at once. Another thing I wouldn't worry about on your first attempt is that you have to use your notes to answer it. By this point in the semester you should be making outlines to help your rate of learning exceed your rate of forgetting, but it's not quite time to be pushing yourself to have all of the rules and definitions memorized. 

Spotting the issues

A practice essay will almost certainly be an issue spotter problem because those are by far the most common questions on a law school test. What this means is that you'll probably get a couple of paragraphs over a series of unfortunate events. The hard part actually isn't spotting the issue, the professors practically throw those at you. The hard part is properly analyzing each issue. As I read through the fact pattern the first time, I'll underline each issue that I come across and in the margins make a little note about what issue I think it's talking about. 

Organizing the issues

The essay will most likely not just be one issue, but probably 3-5 related issues. If you don't stay on top of organizing your issues, on test day they're going to get all jumbled together because you get sloppier when you're on a time crunch. Once you have separated your issues out, then it's time to analyze them. There's different ways to decide what order you go in: the order they were presented, grouped by each person and their issue(s), grouped by similar issues, or in the order of your attack outline. It doesn't matter what order you go in, just as long as you pick some form of organization. 

Discussing the issues and rules

This is actually where most 1Ls have the hardest time when they first start out because they overlook obvious points. The easiest way to do this is through, again, organization. Know what's a great way to organize your analysis in a what that your professor will recognize and maybe even prefer? IRAC, my friends!! 

This is super helpful because, for example, it's easy to get in a rush and forget that you need to state the issue because you assume that because the professor wrote the essay that you don't need to restate the obvious, but you do because that's where you can get extra points.

Your professor probably won't be expecting big elaborate introductory and transitional sentences like if this was an essay that you had weeks to do. You literally can just say "The issue here is whether Joe voided his employment contract" and that will be good enough. Then you can go on to the rule by simply saying, "The rule for a voided contract is..." 

Analyzing the issues and rules

This leads you right in to the analysis where you can connect the rule to your fact pattern like,  "A contract is formed when there is offer, acceptance, and consideration. Offer definition/rules... X was the offer in Joe's contract because..." and repeat for the rest of the elements. Then you can mention any exceptions, majority/minority rules, or anything else. 

This is where the attack outline can really help you rake in a lot of easy points. If you get in a rush, you might miss the points that are available because you didn't talk about what's required for a contract before diving in to the issue of was the contract voided. But in my attack outline, I had the elements of a contract so when I used that as a checklist to see what I could put in my analysis, I saw that it was relevant and could throw that in. 

I don't spend too much time trying to include my attack outline into my analysis, but instead use it as a guide/reminder. If I finish the test and have extra time, I'll go back through to see if there are any legal concepts that could be relevant to an issue and I will try to work in a quick discussion about that. 

This might seem like a lot of information to discuss in not a lot of time. That's why it's better to be concise and to-the-point rather than using a bunch of big words trying to sound smart. The more relevant information you can talk about, the more points you'll get. Simple as that. What that means for the curve is that you and the girl next to you could have gotten the same right answers, but if you discussed more you'll most likely get a better grade than her.

Conclusion

The conclusion is usually the least important part of the essay. You still have to have one, but usually the problem is structured so that it goes either way. If it truly could go either way, then you could say something like "If... then Joe did void his employment contract; but, if... then Joe did not void his employment contract." If it's not, then you get to pretend that you're a judge and based on the facts and law that you have, make a decision on which way you sway and explain why. Again this can be as short and sweet as, "Because X Y Z, Joe did void his employment contract." And then you can repeat the IRAC process for the next issue and move on down the line.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, your professors will give you several different practice essays throughout the semester. If you can get this writing process down, it'll help you so much on test day. Although IRAC probably won't be required of you, I do recommend doing it on your essay as a surefire way that you stay organized and talking about the relevant facts. 

As a summary to hopefully make it all clear, this is how I'd organize a practice essay.

I. Issue 1

   A. Issue

   B. Rule

   C. Analysis

      i. attack outline chapters that are relevant to this issue

   D. Conclusion 

II. Issue 2

Also, check out my Finals Posts Round Up post for more tips to help with your finals!

The Different Types of Law School Finals Questions to Prepare For

I know that most of you reading this won't have to worry about law school finals for another 6 months, but I thought I'd write about it now while it's fresh on my mind. Maybe it'll end up helping you feel prepared when you start law school knowing what to expect at the end. Warning: this is a little lengthy but I'd rather someone feel over prepared instead of just skimping through this. 

There's been three types of questions that I've had so far on my law finals -- multiple choice, issue spotter, and deep think. Most of my tests have ended up being about 2/3 issue spotter and usually 1/3 multiple choice.

Multiple Choice

Yeah you've spent your whole life taking multiple choice tests and even had to take one to get into law school, but these are NOTHING like those! I remember my Kaplan instructor going over this "pick it and quit it" mantra when I was studying for my LSAT. You've probably been instructed your whole life that multiple choice questions are made up of 3 wrong answers and 1 right answer, so all you have to do is find the right one and move on. But for law school, you're instructed to choose the most correct answer, so your choices might be 1 completely wrong answer, 2 answers that seem very plausible, and 2 answers that are correct. Sound confusing? Here's the best way I can think to explain it.

Which of the following the best way to add and get the number ten?

A. 2 + 9

B. 1 x 10

C. 11 - 1

D. 5 + 5

E. 0 + 10

Obviously A is wrong because it doesn't even make 10.

B and C both make 10, but not through adding.

D and E both make 10 through adding, so you would have to think back on the rule.

So for this hypothetical math problem, say your professor said that the majority rule is to always add to get a number by using 0 and that number, and the minority rule is that you just add any two numbers to get that number. You'd have to not only not both rules, but also know which is the majority and minority to know which rule to apply. If you use the "pick it and quit it" rule, you would've just seen that 5 + 5 = 10, chosen the correct yet not the most correct choice, and gotten it wrong. This doesn't mean that you can think that you'll only need to know the majority, because sometimes they'll throw in a little sentence about how you should assume you're in a minority jurisdiction on some questions.

Of course, law school tests can't be that straight forward, so don't expect your questions to simply be one sentence. What they're more like is a whole paragraph or maybe two giving you a little scenario that you have to read and THEN go through all of the multiple choices. Don't think that having a multiple choice test on your final will take no time at all. For one of my finals, there were only 15 multiple choice questions but it still took me a little over an hour just because they're so thorough. For my Torts final last year, the entire thing was 100 multiple choice questions worth 100 points of my grade. This was super stressful because when I was stuck between two answer choices, I knew that if I guessed wrong I just lost a full point off my total grade in that class.

Issue Spotter

These are by far the most common type of questions that you'll have on a test. In fact, I've had a test where the whole thing was just three pages, with each page a different issue spotter. The very first time I had one on a final last year, it psyched me out. My property professor basically just gave us 5 sentences and then said, "Discuss all legal relevant factors." That was it! I wasted a whole minute panicking because I didn't even know where to start or what all to write about. I had expected some guidance after the fact pattern like "does Joe have a claim for breach of quiet enjoyment?" but I was given none of that. 

This is where your attack outline that you copy on the back of your final really comes in handy. My short outlines are broken down into a chapter per Roman numeral, and the main points of each chapter being a letter beneath that. Start with this and answer your question. Go through each chapter one by one. If a chapter is completely irrelevant, you can write a few sentences over why this doesn't apply and move on (but think of this as a little something extra that you shouldn't even bother with until you've exhausted everything that is relevant)  But if a chapter is relevant, you need to touch on every single letter you have under that Roman numeral. If you have time, aim to make a paragraph going over each point. 

But make sure that you're connecting these points to the fact pattern you were given! The easiest way to do this is through a good ol' IRAC. It doesn't have to be as in depth as the ones you do for class. It can be as simple as "The issue here is whether Joe has a claim for a breach of quiet enjoyment. The rule for QE is ... Here, X happened which is one of the requirements for QE... Because X, Y, and Z, Joe does have a claim for a breach of QE." I bolded because since that is the most helpful thing to remember. You should be throwing because's in there like it's candy at a parade. If you do this, you're going to be making yourself analyze the issue more thoroughly. The least important part is the conclusion, because you can usually argue it either way. But don't fall into the trap where you just say it depends! If you say it depends, you need to explain how/why the circumstances could end up one way, and also how/why they could the other way. 

Because you really have to master IS questions to pass, I'm adding a picture of a practice problem we went over in my Crim class. The pink are notes that I made before class about what I would discuss if this was a real test. The blue is what my professor went over in class of everything that we should've included. It's a lot of writing for not a lot of prompt! 

Deep Think

None of my professors have even mentioned this type of question except for my Crim professor, but I've had it so I might as well talk about it. These are where you don't get a fact pattern like in an issue spotter, but instead have to think about the philosophies and reasoning behind the law. He explained that he's liked these type of questions ever since he got one when he was in law school. He told us about how he got an A on his Family Law final because the last question was "Pose a question and answer it." He chose to ask whether or not gay marriage should be legalized, but didn't take the moral/religious response like you'd expect. This was way back when not a lot about AIDS was known, and really only the gay community was being affected by it. His argument was that gay marriage should be allowed simply because marriage promotes monogamy and monogamy is a great way to reduce the spread of STDs, and then went into further detail on the pros and cons for each reason to legalize gay marriage, and then the same for each reason to not legalize gay marriage. 

That's basically the structure of how these questions go. Luckily for my final, we didn't have to come up with our own questions, so we were given some guidance. My professor quoted the author of our book and asked what stance we believe the author was taking, if we agreed with it or not, and why. Don't think these are easier because it's just your opinion. What you have to do for these is discuss all of the legal theories and rules that you've learned, and apply them to your argument. Again, using your short outline as a checklist will really help give you direction of what to discuss and make sure that you don't leave out any relevant information just because you're rushed and becoming forgetful. 

Final Thoughts

Although the LSAT pretty much has nothing to do with law school, the one feeling that is very familiar when taking both tests is the sense of urgency. Three hours may seem like more than enough time to fill in a few bubbles and write a few paragraphs, but I've rarely seen anyone turn in their final with more than 10 minutes remaining. This was a change for me because I'm usually a speed demon in tests and before I was always one of the first people to finish. My advice would be that if you do somehow finish with extra time remaining, go back through your paragraphs and see if there's any little extra thing that you could add to be your sprinkles on top of the sundae and get you a little bonus points. Once you've written everything you can think of, then it's time to go ahead and turn it in.

One thing that surprised me about law finals is how informal they are. Because you almost always run out of time, law professors expect you to be writing in a rushed form. So you can use common shorthands like "bc" or "w/" and not get counted off. Same goes for terms, so you would just have to write fee simple subject to condition subsequent (FSSCS) once, and then you can use the abbreviation for the rest of the paper. I also cut down on typing time by even shortening names if I have to use them a lot by using the parenthesis after the first time I mention the name, and their initials for the rest of the time.

Also, check out my Finals Posts Round Up post for more tips to help with your finals!

The Curve Giveth, and The Curve Taketh Away

This past month we had our midterms. Most of them were online and not for a grade, and one was for 20% of my grade. I personally think that they're kinda just BS, but what's really nice about them is that you get to see how professors structure their questions and where they try to trip you up. If you do have an online test, I suggest either taking a screenshot of each question or writing them down as you go. I say this because one of my professors went over the test the next day in class, but I couldn't remember what some of my answers were to correct myself.

As for my graded midterm, I got really excited about only missing 3 out of 20 because this was for Constitutional Law. My Con Law class is two hours a day, and usually by hour two I'm so bored I'm not even paying attention. I really thought it would be like last semester and I wouldn't do so hot, and was pleasantly surprised ecstatic that I didn't fail it.

That was, however, until I got an email from my professor letting everyone know that the class average was a 16/20. Although I am technically above the class average, there's a really good chance that because everyone else did so well, it's going to pull down my grade. So now the pressure is still on for me to do well on my final so that I can beat the curve, but at least this time I am starting out in the B range.

More about the curve here!

4 Steps to Studying for a Law School Final

Today I set down to make my planner out for this week and noticed that there's only three weeks left on my syllabus. Which means it's officially freak-out time... It's stressful when you feel like you have all the time in the world to get your life together and then realize that you actually only have 6 more classes! In undergrad I rolled my eyes when I saw people stressing over finals before classes have even ended, but this is law school and every thing you do sucks up all your time. 

I'm a big fan of using as many senses as you can when studying so I'll read my notes out loud so that I'm seeing, hearing, and saying everything that I need to know. It probably helps that I live alone so I"m not bothering anyone when I do this. In undergrad, I probably would've said that this is overkill, but for law school you really need to have all of your rules down. For every test last semester, I was typing right up to the 5 minute warning. When you have so much to say, the three hours really flies by (just like it did for the LSAT) and you don't have time to sit and try to remember all of the elements of a rule.

Step 1: Outlines

Last semester I didn't really put forth too much effort studying before classes ended and I did okay. This semester, my goal is to start studying sooner so that I won't have to feel like I'm cramming right before. The greatest thing my school has ever done is that they planned out the 1L's final schedules so we all have only one test per day, with our tests only on Monday's and Thursday's which gives us ample time to switch gears between tests.

So today I cracked down on getting my outlines together. I've found a happy medium and will only make myself work on it for 30 minutes at a time, and then get a break to either do a load of laundry or watch one episode on Netflix. It might seem counter productive to not get in a "study zone" mindset and do nothing but outline all day, but I've realized that if I don't give myself rewards while I study then I start to burn out quicker. A good thing to try to do is to spend one day at the end of every month updating your outlines so that by the time finals are here, you're cleaning them up (step 3).

Related: How to Make an Outline

What's funny is that my best friend is currently taking business law in undergrad, so I'm having to teach him hot to outline — rule, elements, where the rule came from, exceptions. Once he started to do this for a test, he realized that just basically copying his notes helped him remember what he'd already learned and further burned into his brain the rules. 

Making outlines also makes you go back through your notes and see where there are gaps. Now you can either look in your book right around what you're working on, or see if your professor has uploaded any supplements that might help. In the end, my outlines usually come out to between 10 and 15 pages. If this sounds like a lot to you, remember that outlines really spread out the spacing and some lines will only have a few words on them. If this doesn't sound like enough to you, remember that this is supposed to be only what you need for your tests. If your outlines are too long then there will be too much information for you to memorize. 

Step 2: Flashcards

Another reason why I'm finishing my outlines so early is because this is really just step one. After I get my notes condensed down to an outline, I'll make flashcards on Quizlet to start studying the rules. I like this because I can make sure that I have everything memorized backwards and forwards and also can easily see what I have trouble remembering. Again, just the repetition of writing out what you need to know for the flashcards helps burn it into your brain.

If you pay for Quilzlet, they have this great feature called long-term learning where you are given 20 cards from a certain class to work on, and as you begin to master those more are added. It will also keep track of what percentage of your cards that you don't know, know okay, know, and know well. If you don't trust yourself to remember to study, there's even a feature that will remind you to go over your cards.

Step 3: Make a Case List

Some professors don't require me to cite the cases where a rule of law come from, so this isn't entirely necessary for those. However, a lot of word problems on my tests ended up being very similar to a case that we had read before. My case list is very simple. One sentence summarizing the cases and one list giving the rule. For the professors that don't require me to cite cases on a test, I don't really bother with memorizing this in it's entirety, just refresh myself on what the cases were about. 

Some of my professors would use cases in a multiple choice question where this really helped out. For example: if you knew that the correct answer for a civ pro question was that a court couldn't hear this case because of subject matter jurisdiction, you might have choices B and C say that but B says because of so and X case they can't hear it under subject matter jurisdiction and choice C says because of Y case they can't hear it under subject matter jurisdiction. Here obviously knowing the cases will really help. 

Step 4: Memorize Outline

Then I'll start to condense my outline down. Usually any definition that I have in there gets taken out because I've already memorized it through notecards. Or if my professor has given us a list of elements and underlined only a few words of each element, eventually I will know enough context of the elements to only have those few specific words left. By now, you should also understand concepts enough that you don't need any examples or hypotheticals in your outline. Once I can start taking out smaller details, my outline shrinks to a few pages. Now the only information left is the bare necessities. 

On the day before my test, I will literally memorize this outline and work on writing it over and over again. When I get my actual test, I flip over to the back of the test and write down this simplified outline exactly. If I start to get confused on a topic or get writer's block, I can just flip to this outline and know exactly where to go. I did this last semester and it really helped me having my own little cheat sheet on the back!

Also, check out my Finals Posts Round Up post for more tips to help with your finals!

Law School Midterms

Not for a Grade (mostly)

My school requires all of my professors to give a midterm as a check up to see that the class isn't struggling. My Contracts professor gave an easy, 10-question online quiz. My Civ Pro professor gave us a dumbed down version of his multiple choice/short essay final. My Torts professor gave us an old full version of his final. Aaaand my Property professor made his midterm over future interests that was 10% of our final grade. 

Because 3/4 of these classes only had the final as the only grade in the class, it can be stressful. I mean, 100% of your grade comes from one test. That is a part of a marathon of tests. And the whole time you never know if the curve will push you down or pull you up. I think this is single-handedly the most stressful part of law school because it's such a big unknown.

Related: All about the law school curve

A Few Things

If you're unsure about how intense a test will be, look to Rate My Professor for advice from past students. Luckily, a lot of students had discussed the test style for my professors so I knew what to study for and expect.

At this point you should definitely be working on your own outline.  Every person that's ever given me advice has stressed not to waste money on a commercial outline. Both my professors and other students have said that either the outlines will make you waste time learning things that aren't on your test or will over-simplify so you don't study all of the information you would have if you studied your own. 

Related: How to make a law school outline

The best way to make an outline is basically just summarize your notes. The number one thing to remember when taking notes is to first listen and then write down. Write your notes as if you're explaining them to someone else and don't just copy word for word what your professor says.

Even if Quimbee isn't within your budget, they do offer a free week trial. There are videos within cases and addition videos with supplemental quizzes for each class. If your midterms are more influential towards your grade, you might consider using your free week now. If you like it, then you can just buy it for a month or two to help with finals. Of course, you could also wait until finals to use your free trial.

Related: Quimbee review

The Results

I did pretty great in Contracts, but no surprise because I think everything in that class in interesting.

My Civ Pro professor gave me a ":/" because I kept forgetting to refer to the federal rules that I was using to come up with my answers. 

My Torts grade ended up being spot-on for how my final grade was (more of that later). Apparently this specific professor was known for giving confusing tests and the curve ends up helping out a lot. 

As for my Property graded midterm.......not so hot. This ended up giving me some anxiety because I kept thinking that if I wasn't stellar on the midterm then I'd fall on my face during the final. But I was just forgetting that this subject was so hard that my professor purposefully removed it from the final so that we wouldn't struggle trying to learn it.