December 18, 2004

Exams

In case anyoneÂ’s interested, hereÂ’s my take on law school exams. i finished with civil procedure, torts and contracts (my favorite). Next up are criminal law and property. i've been in school most of my life and i've mastered just about every type of test there is. But the law school exam is a different kinda bitch altogether.

One key to taking a law school exam, which i just learned this week, is panic management. How come nobody told me about the panic thing? i first discovered this phenomenon while doing timed practice exams during the week before finals. Panic attack severity seems to be inversely related to the amount of time remaining for exam completion.

iÂ’ve finished three exams so far, and iÂ’ve had three panic attacks. Each one occurred somewhere between the halfway mark and three quarters of the way through the exam. Each was accompanied by dry mouth, an increased heart rate, and a curious rushing sound in my ears; not to mention a morbid feeling of dread helplessness, as if i were drowning or being buried alive.

The first panic attack occurred soon after i congratulated myself for having completed question two of the civil procedure examination well ahead of schedule. That should have been a warning - i ain't that smart. i suddenly realized that i had completely missed the arcane issues of ancillary and pendent jurisdiction. Instead of having extra time for the third question, this blunder required me to go back and add shit to my previous answer. I ended up having to rush through the third essay. Luckily, i managed to finish just as time was called.

The torts panic attack came not from any brain fart of my own - i got that subject down cold - but from the sick realization that there was too much to write and not enough time to do it. Time management again rears its ugly head. The final essay, though easy, simply had too many issues for the amount of time left. i raced through it, abbreviating as much as i could without degenerating into something akin to IM speak.

D prvlgd by prvt ncssty b/c DÂ’s invsn of PÂ’s ppty was rsnbl 2 prtct DÂ’s ppty, t/f no trspss, hÂ’ver b/c prvt ncssty = qlfÂ’d prvlg, D mst py 4 dmg csd by non-trts cndt.
Well, not quite that bad, but i was definitely in what i like to call “finished product mode.”

By Friday, i greeted the panic attack as if it were an old friend. The thing to do is recognize that it is coming and push through it. i never had panic attacks in undergrad or grad school exams. ThatÂ’s the cool thing about the liberal arts. i always knew if i got stuck i could always b.s. my way out of it. If i wasnÂ’t sure about one aspect of the subject, i could always emphasize the stuff i knew really well. Distract the professor with my brilliance on what i did know, so he couldnÂ’t in good conscience penalize me for what i didnÂ’t know. It usually worked.

But the law school exam is not so forgiving. If there are five elements you have to apply, and you do an awesome job applying four of them, but miss the fifth, you still blew 20 percent of the grade. ThatÂ’s what worries me. i think i spotted all of the issues presented in the exams. But how would i know if i didnÂ’t? i guess i wonÂ’t know until grades come out.

Posted by: annika at 09:34 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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