Dear 1L: Show Your Work
Dear 1L,
I had a productive session with a 1L yesterday. The tips I shared there would help you, too.
Here are two.
FIRST: You have to “show your work” on the exam. (You’ve likely heard this before, but it can be helpful to hear something this important again.)
✏️ It’s like a grade-school math test, where you had to illustrate how you arrived at the answer to a long division problem by writing out all the subtractions and digits that you had to drop down, etc. Even if you knew the answer in your head, you wouldn’t get full credit unless you showed each step of the process.
📍 Don’t try to compute 987653 divided by 4329 in your head (even if you’re some math savant). Go through all the long division steps on the page first. That shows your thinking process.
☀️ It is the demonstration of thinking, not the answer, that scores the huge bulk of points on a law school exam. ☀️
Stated another way, to receive all available points, you must go through—methodically—and discuss all arguments that each side could make. You must do so before you can arrive at a Conclusion about which side will likely prevail. You can’t skip the “work” step, or you’ll forfeit a robust Analysis.
SECOND: When brainstorming an outline of your Answer on scratch paper (before you actually start writing in your “exam book”), don’t start with a Conclusion.
✏️ To be sure, most published, sample exam answers start with the court’s likely outcome. That’s a polished way to start a final exam essay when you write in your actual exam book, but it is a terrible way to start your thinking process.
🔹 Instead, when outlining your Answer on scratch paper, write your Issue at the top with a big, fat Question Mark.❓ E.g. Can the plaintiff show adverse possession? Can the defendant establish contributory negligence?
🔹 Next, under your Issue/Question, conjure up and write down every possible persuasive argument you can think of—for each side, for each Element of the Issue. Only after you’ve hammered out all the pros and cons for two possible conclusions, should you arrive at your final Conclusion and start writing in your exam book.
Good luck. Sending you extra memory cells and fortitude during this trying time.
Always Fondly,
Amanda
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