Practice tests are useful study tools for law school exams. Professors usually post their exams from prior years on their course’s shared site a month or so prior to your final exam. Second to outlining, this will be your best way to prepare. Take practice exams under as close to real testing conditions as possible. Shut your phone off!
If you have upwards of ten practice tests, take one as soon your professor grants your class access. I know, you probably feel utterly unprepared but thinking ahead will help you on test day. Sitting for a practice exam early on leaves time to adjust to the professor’s testing style so that going forward, you can tailor your studying and test taking habits accordingly. If on prior exams the professor uses hypotheticals three pages long with just a question asking you to “identify the issues,” you know that on the final, you will probably be responsible for structuring your own response. For a negligence question on a torts exam, for example, I recommend organizing your response around 1) whether there was a duty, 2) whether that duty was breached, 3) address causation and 4) finally, damages. Being methodical helped me navigate the hypos so long they could have drowned me if I let them.
If you only have one practice exam, save it for closer to test day. About a week or so before the exam, your knowledge will be better built out. You will get more for your money while still having time to modify your study routine if needed.
Assuming your professor provides one, the model answer is just as important as the practice exam. Read the model answer multiple times. Keep an eye out for the way in which the professor prefers responses to be structured. Do all of the model answers follow IRAC? Also look to see if the professor favors the inclusion of “policy points” in responses in addition to the black letter law. If so, make a note to mention them on your test. By way of illustration, if in class the professor discussed the ways in which forum selection clauses benefit large corporations and hurt the “little guy,” mention how the particular forum selection clause in the exam hypo would do the same. You could say something like, "just as in XYZ case, this forum selection clause will inure to the benefit of ABC Corp. because it makes it virtually impossible for Joe to pursue his case due to the costs associated with travelling to defend his case in Delaware as is required by the agreement."
If you do not have access to the model answers from a prior exam, reach out to a classmate and discuss your responses to see what you may have missed or could improve upon.
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