Exam Season Tips for Law Students (Fall 2020)

Matt received his JD from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2018 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2019. He finished in the top 8% of his graduating year, was a Dean’s Fellow, and offers tutoring services for Osgoode students. You can find more about him here!

Whether it’s your first time preparing for law school exams or you’ve been through it all before, the few weeks before exams are a lot to handle. This is particularly true during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is changing the evaluation methods used in classes.

A law professor who I look up to explained that the few weeks before exams begin (the “Exam Prep Season”) can be daunting and stressful, but also incredibly exciting. This is because Exam Prep Season is often where one’s understanding of a course’s content really comes together in a comprehensive manner. This is the point where you really start to see how different concepts connect to one another and how they can be applied in a concrete manner, and where I began, slowly, to start thinking like a lawyer.

This perspective had quite an impact in the way I approached my preparation for exams, and I found that Exam Prep Season, particularly in 1L, was one of the more exhilarating experiences during my time in law school. With the right approach, you can put yourself in the position to succeed by consolidating your knowledge so that you’ll be ready to go on exam day.

So, here are some tips that I found helpful during this period, particularly during 1L!

Begin preparing your summaries in advance: Getting your summaries for each course in order is a fantastic way to consolidate your knowledge of course content. It was often through the process of creating summaries that I was able, for the first time, to see how different concepts within a course linked together. Get these done early so you can identify any areas that you need clarification on and so that you can start getting familiar with using your summary prior to the exam. You’ll also feel more prepared and less stressed as exams approach!

Work at your own pace and in your own style: During Exam Prep Season, you’ll likely find yourself inundated with both advice from all corners of the law school as well as tales about how your colleagues are approaching your studying. This can be stressful, but don’t let this get to you. There is no one right way to study (particularly with the way the pandemic has forced us all to learn differently!), and an approach that might work for a colleague of yours may not be right for you! For example, you’ll want to figure out whether you work best in a group or by yourself (and this might change as the semester goes along!).

Try practice exams: One great way to practice applying your knowledge is to try completing some practice exams for the course you are in. Old exams from a given professor are often made available, and this is a wonderful way to become familiar with the format and content of your exam. Through practice exams, I was able to become confident in applying course concepts and got used to articulating my reasoning in the context of an exam answer. Make sure to try timing yourself according to the time constraints you’ll have on exam day to practice!

Talk to people: This is particularly key for first-year students - reach out to your classmates (even if you only know them from video calls). Your colleagues will often be your best resources and place to find support during Exam Prep Season, and one of the awesome things about law school is that everyone will be going through the process of preparing for these exams with you. You just might solve an issue you’ve been trying to focus on through the process of talking it out with a friend or a study group. Plus, you really bond with people during this intense period - I made some of my best friends at law school during this time! Regardless of how you work, you’ll want to make sure you’re not isolating yourself during this stressful time.

Embrace the process of learning: It’s a big transition grappling with the content taught in law schools, and for many of us, this is the first time that we might not feel that we have complete control of our understanding a course’s content. That’s OK! Preparing for exams is a process, and what makes Exam Prep Season exciting is slowly feeling going from feeling slightly lost (this was me a few weeks before exams!) to starting to see the concepts you learn in class come together in an understandable way. You’ll get there!

Stay confident: During 1L, I found myself having a crisis of confidence about whether I could really learn all the material I needed to before exams. However, I found out that this was something that everyone else was going through as well, and sure enough, we all made it through. Remember that despite the stress, you got into law school for a reason and that you’re an immensely talented person who can succeed at this. You can do it!