EXAM ACCOUTREMENTS

OK, I still don't understand what I should bring to class on the actual exam. Do I bring a whole outline of 50 pages? Do I make a more condensed outline? How long? Thanks.

Generally, you want to bring everything to the actual exam. Definitely take advantage of the open-book exam: casebooks, study aids, whole outlines, short outlines, policy outlines, checklists, Torts on Tape, Calamari & Perillo, etc. Anything you possess that even remotely relates to the subject matter, bring it to the exam. Now, most likely, you won't use anything except for your checklist and outline -- but it doesn't hurt to have other resources around.

The primary reason is that your outlines and checklists are, by definition, condensed versions of the extensive detail contained in your casebook and study aids. Therefore, it'd be nice to have a reference if the exam question requires more detail than that contained in your outline. This almost exclusively arises on policy questions and multiple choice questions.

That being said with respect to outlines, you definitely want to bring in your master outline and you should also have a more exam-friendly document, such as a checklist or shorter outline.

What happens on an exam: Ideally, by the time you're ready to take the exam, you will know the material so well that the mere sight of a word such as "duty" or "consideration", with little more, will be sufficient to prompt a thorough analysis (by you) of that element on your exam. In other words, you'll read the fact pattern, you'll spot an issue like negligence and then you'll proceed to analyze each element based on your knowledge of the material. Ideally, you won't need something to tell you how to analyze the element, rather, you will want something to tell you which elements (or issues) need to be analyzed.

The main problem is that a final exam is a serious time crunch. Because of this you want to make sure that: (a) you're not missing relevant issues and (b) when you analyze an issue, you're doing a complete analysis. This is why, at the very least, you want to have:

• a streamlined outline -- not more than 20 pages, but ideally somewhere around 10 to 15 -- which has the very very bare bones analysis of every major issue in the subject matter.
• this is made directly from your master outline -- as you read through the master outline and learn the material, start to remove unnecessary material (hypos, cases). Continue doing this until you have just the simple analysis and nothing more.

• a simple checklist -- not more than 2 pages, but ideally just 1 -- with all the possible issues that you've learned about.

This I would say is the minimum. I think the ideal would include one or both of the following:

• an issue-spotting outline (ideally 10-15 pages)-- this outline features three sections for each major issue:
  
• SPOT: different facts which tend to suggest that this issue exists
• best way to build this section is through practice exams.
  
• CONNECT: broader issues that could possibly be applicable when this issue exists.
• best way to build this is through practice exam answers and just by reading over your master outline and drawing the connectiosn yourself.
  
• ANALYSIS: the bare bones analysis (basically, what the streamlined outline contains). Within the points of analysis is a mini-CONNECT section, which points to potentially relevant issues within the analysis.
  
• best way to build this is through study aids.

• a tiered checklist (not more than 5 pages)-- this checklist contains a listing of all the issues, like a normal checklist -- but underneath each issue are all the relevant issues that could be applicable once you spot the initial issue.

Note: if there is a policy question on your exam, you should (a) definitely include policy arguments within your master outline and (b) consider making a separate policy outline (basically, this entails just taking all the policy stuff in your outline and putting it on a separate document).

So, to sum up, you want to have something on the test which will actually help you take the test. This means having something that will:

• guide your analysis (a short, streamlined outline) so you're not missing any steps once you spot an issue.
• make sure that you're not missing issues (checklist, issue-spotting outline) and, ideally, helping you spot additional issues which relate to the ones you've spotted
  
• provide you with a more expansive analysis for discussion if necessary (your master outline); and
  
• cover any gaps in your outlines (study aids, casebook).
  

What to do this week: REVIEW PRACTICE EXAMS. I've asked several of my friends what they think is the best thing 1Ls can do to get ready for exams and they all said the same thing: "We don't go to law school, quit asking us about this crap." At which point I turned to my friends who do go to law school and they all recommended the following: look over practice exams. The sooner you look at exams, the better off you'll be. It doesn't matter if you can't answer the questions right now -- it'll help you realize very very quickly what you need to be doing and you should let the exams drive your outlining and your studying. From here on out, your time should be primarily spent on preparing to take a law school exam.

I think the main reason law students get frustrated with their grades is that they don't take the time to learn about what's expected from them on exams and, more imporantly, the kind of preparation that is required to do well on an exam. Instead, they expect that what they've been doing on a daily basis will adequately prepare them for the exam. The grade they end up receiving invariably fails to represent what they think they should have gotten -- in other words, law students aren't so much frustrated by bad grades as they are by the lack of relationship between how they think they did and what they actually got. I think this gap between expected grades and actual grades would be significantly reduced if people took the time to look at practice exams WELL before their first final.

If you have any questions or would like sample outlines, checklists or anything else, e-mail me at bleiweis@usc.edu.