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First of all, make sure you have plenty of writing implements and paper or exam booklets. Also, before the day of the exam, confirm where and when it will be held. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the exam punctually, taking traffic, parking problems, and the like into account. Leave yourself at least 10-15 minutes to spare, but do not arrive hours before the exam and work yourself into a frenzy in the exam room before the test begins.
Once you get to the exam room, get settled and comfortable. If the exam is open book, arrive early, select a comfortable seat, and arrange your other materials for easy reference. If you are going to review anything at all, review your mini-outline or flow charts, with occasional reference to your course outline to refresh your recollection on specific points, if necessary. Do not attempt to learn new or additional material-it is far too late for that. Limit your discussions with other exam takers to subjects outside the exam course-sports, the weather, politics, anything but law. ("Do you think res ipsa loquitur will be on the exam?" "Res who?") Otherwise, you may find yourself anxious and confused at a most inopportune time.
Law school exams are taken anonymously. Each law student is assigned an identifying number to be placed on the exam answer. Thus, the professor grading an exam answer does not know the student s identity. This procedure is designed to eliminate any personal bias from entering into the grading process. You therefore should put aside whatever hopes or fears you may have about your professors feelings toward you and concentrate on producing objectively good answers on the exam.
Once the exam begins, budget your time carefully. Quickly flip through the exam to see how many questions there are and how much time you have to spend on each. Many times, the professor will give a time recommendation for each question. In answering each question, allot the first third of the time you have to reading the question and outlining your answer. This leaves you with the remaining two-thirds of your time for actually writing and revising the answer. Outlining is important because your answer should discuss issues in a logical sequence.
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Do not let yourself run more than a few minutes over the allotted time for any one question. Having partial answers on all questions is better than some good answers and some blank ones. If you have time at the end, you can go back and finish an answer.
If you draw a blank on a question, skip it and answer another question first. There are no rules that state you have to answer the questions in sequence. After answering one question (and calming down a bit) you will be better able to think about and formulate an answer to the question on which you drew a blank earlier. If you still draw a blank, leave it to the end, and then just make something up as best you can.
You will probably have a choice of writing or typing your answers. Type your answers only if you have confidence in your typing, remembering that during the exam you will be nervous and under great time pressure. If you intend to type your answers, you should also ensure before exam time that your typewriter is functioning properly and has plenty of ribbon. If you write your answers, make your handwriting as legible as possible. You will receive no credit for a brilliant answer written in indecipherable hieroglyphics. Consider printing instead of writing in cursive, and double-space your lines.
If you diligently follow the principles of study, preparation, and exam-taking discussed in this article, we have no doubt that you will find your first, and subsequent, years of law school to be successful and rewarding.
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