Adviser
Practice questions
make perfect at
exam time
BY AMY L. JARMON
EFORE ENTERWG LAW
school, students have diligently
practiced golf swings, piano
scales, flip turns, and video
games over the years to increase their skills. Yet, these same students often wait unnl a few days before an
exam to complete any practice questions
for a course. They erroneously believe
that knowing the "black letter" law is
more important than applying that law.
Realize that practice questions
are essential to success in law
school. The more questions completed
during the semester, the more lkely that a
student will get a high grade on the exam.
There are several positive results from
doing practice questions throughout the
semester rather than wairing untd the end:
1. Application of the law rather than
mere memorization. Knowing the
rules or code sections is just the first
step. Applying the law on questions
determines whether you really know
the material.
American Bar Association I www.abanet.org/lsd
2. Nuanced understanding rather than
generalities. By analyzing multiple
fact scenarios, law students realize
how slightly varied situations will
have different legal outcomes. Nuances help you spot issues and choose
the best analysis.
3. "Auto pilot" test-taking strategies
rather than inexperience. Practice allows you to become more adept at approaching different questions, organizing essay answers,writing concise
essays, and picking between the two
best answer choices.
4. Feedback from professors rather than
self-doubts. Professors likely will
agree to review several essay answers
and suggest improvementsif you request their assistance.Requests in the
early part of the semester allow you
time to implement their suggestions
over multiple practice question sessions.
5. Stress reduction rather than test anxiety. A student who has completed
scores of practice questions is unlikely to see an exam question that is totally "out of the blue." Prior practice
applying the law in countless scenarios improves your confidence in the
material.
Make smart decisions in selecting practice questions. Your professors' exam formats should determine
your choice of practice formats: fact-pattern essay, truelfalse, multiple-choice,
short answer, policy essay, advice on
client files, or other variations. Within
any format, choose questions that are
most similar to your professor's style of
questions.
Some professors use the National Conference of Bar Examiners' drafting rules
for multiple choice questions. However,
many professors have their own drafting
styles that may vary according to the
following:
Length of fact patterns
0
Number of questions based on the
same fact pattern
Questions that add facts to the main
fact pattern
March 2009 I STUDENT LAWYER 1 13
Answers with conditions or explanations such as unless, only if, or because
Combination answers such as I, 111,
and TV; all of the above; or none of the
above
Professors also vary in the type of
fact-pattern essay questions that they
ask. Variations may include:
Length of fact patterns
Additional instructions in the call of
the question (Address only the issue
of adverse possession and ignore the
g ~ &implications.)
General call of the question (What are
the rights or liabilities of the parties?)
Specific call of the question (What
policy considerations will the Court
consider in the dispute between
Michael and Phillip?)
Limit on word count or pages for,the
answer
Required format for the answer:
IRAC,CRAC, client letter, or motion
Begin your practice with one-issue
questions to test your basic understanding, Examples might be scenarios from
Law in a Flash, CALI, or Examples and
Explauzations. As you become more
adept, choose multi-issue questions to
test your understanding of legal nuances
and handling of multiple disputes.This
question level might include scenarios
from Questions &Answers, BARBRl, or
Siegel's Series. Several weeks before
exams, you should practice on complex
questions covering multiple areas of the
course and in-depthknowledge of topics.
Old exams are often available through
the professor or the law school.
Consider the best available
source of practice questions for
each course. Practice questions are
available for most commonly taught law
school courses. Some hunting may be required to find sources for specialized or
state-speclficcourses. Practice questions
may be available for subtopics as well as
major units within a course.
There are five major categories of
practice questions: professor-generated,
school-provided,commercial-generated,
state-provided,and self-generated.You
may need to use severalcategories to find
sdicient practice questions to gain expertise in a course.
The most desirable sourcefor practice
14 1 STUDENT LAWYER I March2009
questions is your professor. Professors
who have taught a course multiple times
often provide practice questions during
class. For first-year classes, professors
may provide practice questions through
tutors, teaching assistants, or structured
study groups.
Students should solicit information
about the exam format and availability of
practice questions. Here are some issues
to keep in mind:
Professors may be concerned about
favoritism. Ask the professor to provide any practice questions to the entire class.
Professors may wait until late in the
semester to talk about the exam. Ask
the professor to discuss the exam format earlier so that all students may
know the appropriate practice question formats.
Some professors provide practice
questions from their old exams. Ask
whether the provided questions are
typical of the professor's cuvvent testing format and level of dficulty.
.
.
law has changed since publication 01- if
your professor uses different analyses.
State-specificquestions are the hardest to locate. Few publishers consider it
profitable to publish study aids specific
to one state with the exception of New
York and California. The best sources for
state-specificpractice questions are generally bai- preparation sources. Look on
your state bar examiners' website to see
if they post prior bar exam questions.
The formats available will depend on
your state's testing formats. In addition,
peruse various bar review course materials for practice drills.
Swapping self-generated practice
questions with several classmates can be
very beneficial. The group can specify
the question parameters, such as topic
coverage, number of parties, number of
disputes, and scenario len,@h. Producing
comprehensive, logical, and accurate
questions requires a deep understanding
of the material. Generating answer keys
can uncover logic or fact errors in your
questions.Feedback from classmates is
.
ract~cequest~oncis your professor.
likely to sharpen.yourunderstanding as
Many law schools have archives of
prior exams. Electronic databases inthey find additional issues or nuances
dexed by course title or professor are
that you overlooked. You will also benemore common than hard-copyarchives.
fit from completing their questions.
Unfortunately, model answers or answer
Spread your use of practice questions
keys are rarely included in most law
throughout the semester. You'll have
school archives. Law schools often passmore tirne to hone your understandingof
word-protecttheir exam databases.Howthe law. You'll improve test-takingexperever, open-accessexam archives can be
tise in stages. You'll increase your knowlfound by searching law school websites, . .edge over a series of dlfEiculty levels
rather than starting with complex final
especially the law library or academic
exam questions. h
support office webpages.
Publishers for legal education and bar
review courses offer myriad commercial
question series. Multiple-choice and
Amy L. Jarmon (amy.jarmon@ttu.edu), asshort-answer series are more frequently
sistant dean for academic success programs
published than essay series. Commercial
at Texas Tech university School of Law, is a
professor and coeditor of the Law School
questions are written for a national audience and might cover topic areas beyond
Academic Support Blog. She has practiced
your professor's syllabus.Model answers
law in the United States and the United
may be inaccurate or insufficient if the
Kingdom.
www.abanet.org/lsd I American Bar Association