Exam Technique Tips for Law Students
I recall in 1L initially spending a good deal of time wondering just how, in the context of the rush of a three-hour exam, I might go about getting all of the substantive points I wanted to cover into a given answer for an exam. While my worry was about the substantive content of my answer, one bit of advice that a professor of mine gave has stuck with me since. That advice, quite simply, was “don’t piss off the person reading your exam!”. My main take aways from this were that:
I wanted to make it as easy as possible for the reader to follow my exam answers; and
I should spend some time thinking about how to best optimize the way I wrote exams.
Accordingly, I found it important at an early stage in law school to commit attention to the act of writing an exam itself, as opposed to devoting my only attention to the substantive content of a course. In this vein, here are some tips that will enhance the quality of your exam writing technique! (and just might be the thing that helps your answer beat the curve).
Before I get into the substantive tips, make sure to stay confident as you prepare. You’ve got this!
Exam Technique Tips
Use headers: Headers are an excellent way to structure your thoughts as you write an exam answer and helpful for a professor to follow your answer. Without them, your professor will have to parse several walls of text to distill the critical points in your answer. In particular, if you are applying a multi-part test as part of a fact-pattern (for example, applying the parts of the Oakes Test), you’ll want to clearly indicate via a header which part of the test you are using. This will make it as easy as possible for your professor to determine that you’ve properly applied all of the steps of a particular segment. Furthermore, in answers to essay questions, you can also use your headers to emphasize your point (much like one might do when writing a factum).
Pick your font with your reader in mind: This is a small thing, but it goes hand in hand with trying to keep your reader happy as they read your answers. For example, a wonderful professor of mine made it open and notorious that Book Antiqua was by far her favourite font. She explained that she found it the easiest to read as she read the litany of exams she was responsible for marking. Naturally, when it came time to write the exam, my friends and I made sure to use Book Antiqua or another similar font. So, if your professor has a particular font they like, use it! If they do not, try to pick something that will be as readable as possible (research shows that serif fonts are easier on the eyes).
Manage your time carefully: One of the things I learned very quickly at law school was that during the exams, quite unlike those in undergrad, I had little extra time to spare in trying to get through the entire exam with thorough answers for each question. It was critical to learn how to manage the clock on exams. This came with some practice. I found practice exams critical in allowing me to get used to the structure a given professor’s exams and giving me a sense of exactly how much I could expect to type for an answer. Also, make sure to follow the prescribed time estimates given by your professor! Their expectations for an answer will likely be linked to how much time they expect you to spend on it, so spending an inordinate amount of extra time on question will likely hinder your ability to deliver quality answers elsewhere on the exam. Finally, if you’re using computerized exam software, make sure to use the alarm and timer function! This was a lifesaver in keeping me on track on a couple of exams.
Attempt every question: In a flashback to advice I had been given with regard to the LSAT, a professor of mine advised my class in 1L to make sure that we at least wrote down something for every question even if we were pressed for time. The rationale was that getting down even the briefest of skeletons of an answer would allow the professor to assess our thinking and award some marks accordingly. I recall during some exams having to write down point form responses to parts of some questions because I was pressed for time, and I’m really glad I did so. One way you might ensure, particularly on longer multi-part questions, you get something down is to begin your answer by writing down the headers of the sections you intend to fill out. That way, even if you don’t finish, you will have evidence of your understanding and your intent to consider other elements.
Hone your technique on practice exams: I’m a big proponent of incorporating practice exams, comprised of exams from previous years from a given professor, into the process of preparing for exams. This is because practice exams are the best way to approximate the structure and general feel of the exam that you’re preparing for. By doing practice exams, you’ll get a sense for the likely structure of your exam and be able to tailor your answers accordingly. If you professor offers to take up a practice answer as part of exam review, even better! They’ll probably give an indication during this process how they like answers, and this will be a great guide in practicing the type of answer you’ll want to deliver during the exam. Finally, one thing that can be useful, if you have a friend or two in your class, is to do the same practice exam and compare answers. My study group did this and it was an excellent way to hone the manner we structured our answers going into the exam.
Exam writing is one of the more strenuous exercises of the law school experience, but with some practice and attention, you’ll notice a marked improvement in the way you approach these exams. You can do it!
Matt received his JD from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2018 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2019. You can find more about him here!