Kate’s Counsel: Chill Out About Exams

Sad law studentJust in the nick of time, Kate McGuinness returns with some words of hard-earned wisdom about law school exams & your future career!

In an astonishing display of clairvoyance, I will correctly predict the emotional state of each of the nation’s law students. Ta-da, it’s anxiety.

Exam Time!

Exams are coming, and no matter how hard you worked over Thanksgiving break, you’re certain you didn’t work hard enough. You finished reviewing your class notes, but you’ve given up creating your own outline. Gilberts and E&Es sit unopened on your desk. You haven’t taken a single practice exam yet.

Here’s my advice:

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Two Steps to a Winning Law School Exam Strategy

Law School Exam StrategyIt’s almost time for the final law school exam push, so I’ll make this brief.

What are you going to do these last few weeks, to ensure you’re ready to go on exam day?

  • Re-read your class notes?
  • Try to memorize a bunch of cases?
  • Cram a commercial outline into your head?
  • Look over a practice answer or two?
  • Give up and go to sleep?

Any of these could be useful, but let’s talk big picture — What’s a winning overall strategy?

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The Story of My (Almost Disastrous) Second Semester of Law School

LibrarySome of you might be laboring under the misconception that I was a model law student. Let me assure you that was NOT the case!

If you’re in the middle of a massive flip out about your impending exams, trust me, I’ve been there.

Let me tell you about my second semester of law school…

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7 Things to Do Over Spring Break For Better Law School Grades

Spring Break!Unless your law school is on some wacky schedule (I’m looking at you, Stanford) you’ve got Spring Break in the next week or two, and exams starting a month and a bit after that.

What can you do over Spring Break to ensure your exams go well?

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Stressed About the Bar Exam? 5 Last-Minute Tips from an Expert Tutor!

RelaxAre you studying for the February bar exam? Well, you’re in luck! Bar tutor extraordinaire Lee Faller Burgess of the Bar Exam Toolbox returns to share some last-minute tips for doing your best. Take it away!

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Exams are Over! How to Have a Relaxing, Happy Winter Break and a Productive Semester

WinterCongratulations, you’ve survived law school exams! (If you’re still working on them, just bookmark this for later reading, and keep studying.) What’s next?

If you’re like most law students, you envision a restful, relaxing holiday break, full of catching up with friends, family, and loved ones and just generally chilling out. If that happens automatically for you, fantastic! At least for me, things never seemed to go quite as planned.

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How I Prepared for the Bar Exam

ComputerPeople keep asking for advice on how to prepare for the bar exam, so I thought it might be useful to write about how I studied for the bar. Naturally, I can’t necessarily recommend that you prepare in the same way, but I’ll tell you what I was thinking, and how it seemed to work out.

#1: I Didn’t Take BARBRI

Cue collective gasps, but I didn’t take BARBRI. Crazy, right?

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How to Prepare For an Open-Book Exam

Open bookLaw school exam tutor extraordinaire Lee Faller Burgess of Amicus Tutoring is back with advice on preparing for an open-book law school exam. If you missed her post on preparing for a closed-book exam, check it out, too.

The Open-Book Test: A Primer

More and more law schools are offering the open-book exam. What does that typically mean?

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How to Prepare for a Closed-Book Exam

Closed bookLaw school exam tutor extraordinaire Lee Faller Burgess of Amicus Tutoring returns with advice on preparing for a closed-book law school exam. Take it away!

What Type of Exams Do You Have?

Depending on your law school, you may have many or few closed-book exams. For example, when I was a first-year law student, all of my exams were closed book. I didn’t have an open-book exam until I was in an upper-division class. [Note from Alison: I never had a closed-book exam in law school. Thanks goodness!]

However, the trend lately seems to be that more and more professors are giving open-book tests. But that doesn’t mean that the dreaded closed-book exam is gone — it is alive and well in law schools around the country!

Here are some thoughts on getting ready for your closed-book exams.

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Myths About Law School Exams, From a Tutor Who Knows!

TVLaw school exam tutor extraordinaire Lee Faller Burgess of Amicus Tutoring is back with more advice from the trenches. Today, she tackles myths about law school exams.

Stay tuned for her upcoming posts on preparing for open-book and closed-book exams!

Bad Law School Exam Myths

I must say I am constantly amazed at the advice that is circulated around law schools at finals time.

Here are just a few myths that I have heard recently and what I think about them.

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