Posted by TDot on Jan 15, 2012 in
NotFail Hey everybody! 
Sorry I’ve been MIA for nearly a month now, I’ve been sequestered in my own personal 3L Hell for most of that time and just haven’t had much opportunity to update the blog 
I’ll try to get things caught up some time this coming weekend, but for now I wanted to mention our 1L trial teams completely dominated the annual Kilpatrick-Townsend 1L Trial Advocacy Competition this year!
We had one team win 1st place, one team win 2nd place, and a third team (who was eliminated in a head-to-head matchup with the first team) taking #1 in overall quality points. Every single match where NCCU Law had a team — 6 total preliminary rounds, 2 separate quarterfinals, 2 separate semifinals, and the final round — someone from that team won the round’s award for Best Advocate.
So basically we’ve got the 3 very best 1L trial teams in the State of North Carolina 
Here’s the press release we put together and a team photo:
NCCU LAW 1Ls SWEEP STATEWIDE TRIAL ADVOCACY COMPETITION
Legal Eagles Take 1st Place, 2nd Place, Best Advocate Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DURHAM, NC (01/15/12) – Defeating trial teams from Campbell, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest, 1Ls from the North Carolina Central University School of Law (“NCCU Law”) made history this weekend when they won both 1st Place and 2nd Place in the annual Kilpatrick-Townsend 1L Trial Advocacy Competition hosted by the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.
NCCU Law's three 1L trial teams for 2011-12
In just NCCU Law’s third year participating in the competition, the school’s three 1L trial teams advanced to the final round for the third straight time — a 100% record of reaching the finals.
But this year’s competition featured a twist: after practicing against each other for 6+ hours a day from January 2nd-11th, Legal Eagles dominated every other school so thoroughly that both finalists were from NCCU Law, guaranteeing a 1st Place finish in the competition for the first time in school history. The only team to beat NCCU Law was another team from NCCU Law.
“Hard work plus confidence equals success,” said Jonathan Savage ’14, lead counsel for the 1st Place team and winner of the competition’s Best Advocate Overall award. “The hours of practice were well worth it, and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity!”
Going into Saturday’s quarterfinals, all NCCU Law teams were in the Top 8: the #1-seed team of Jeannelle Alexander, Emily Custer, Amelia O’Rourke-Owens, and Ernest Roberts; the #2-seed team of Helen Baddour, Stephanie Faris, Jason Howe, and Sonyé Randolph; and the #8-seed team of Molly Brewer, Christina Carter, Jonathan Savage, and Matt Wareham.
Based on bracket-style seeding NCCU was paired up against NCCU in the quarterfinal round, where Team Brewer edged past Team Alexander to advance to the semifinals, while Team Baddour knocked out a group from UNCCH Law to advance as well. Once in the semifinals, Team Baddour took down a squad from Duke Law while Team Brewer dispatched another team from UNCCH, setting up a second NCCU-vs-NCCU battle in the competition’s final round.
Before a packed courtroom with nearly 70 observers, prosecution Team Brewer faced off against defense Team Baddour in a highly polished championship match. In a close finish following extensive jury deliberations, Team Brewer was declared the winner with Matt Wareham winning the award for Best Witness and Jonathan Savage taking home the title of Best Advocate Overall.
With 32 teams competing, NCCU Law’s three teams made up just 9.4% of the participants — but 37.5% of the quarterfinalists, 50% of the semifinalists, and 100% of the finalists.
[Photo, from left to right: Bottom Row: Stephanie Faris, Molly Brewer, Helen Baddour, Jeannelle Alexander, Emily Custer; Middle Row: Molly Morgan, Jason Howe, Sonyé Randolph, Christina Carter, Amelia O'Rourke-Owens; Top Row: Ernest Roberts, Matt Wareham, Jonathan Savage]
###
It was an awesome closing match, with just short of 70 people in the courtroom watching — including 3 of our Deans, a half-dozen professors, a few alumni and tons of Legal Eagles 
I also had “a dog in the fight” beyond just school pride, because the results this year also validated my whole philosophy on how to approach this competition.
My 1L year we were left to our own devices to develop our case, as we’re supposed to do, and miraculously ended up coming in 2nd after going 5-0 before losing in a rematch against Duke Law. Last year our 1Ls came in 2nd too (against another Duke Law team), but the 3Ls tried to micromanage the process so thoroughly — over the objections of myself and other members of that 2009-10 team — that only a few of the 2010-11 1L team members came back for TYLA/AAJ as 2Ls.
Once there was new leadership on the Trial Advocacy Board, we changed things around back to how they used to be. In October all interested 1Ls had to attend a workshop on opening statements and closing arguments before trying out a couple weeks later, then once we decided who made the three teams we left them alone with one condition: they had to practice against each other from 9am-3pm from January 2nd-11th, plus extra practice as needed. During the formal practices one team would be paired against another with a third in the jury box, rotating so every team faced everyone else at least twice apiece.
The variety of opposition and frequency of the practice helped ensure they were comfortable and confident when they got into Chapel Hill. I got to watch two rounds of the competition on Friday night, and then the closing arguments on Sunday. I was absolutely tickled pink at how great they did — still several pages of things done wrong, but a level of polish on par with some of the 2L/3L teams I’ve seen and easily better than I was as a 1L.
Having made history for the law school once this weekend, I’m hoping they’ll stick around and make history over the next couple years too 
One day I want to see NCCU Law not just hitting up TYLA and AAJ, but making it back to some of the invitation-only trial advocacy competitions we used to win in the halcyon days the old folks talk about…
That’s it for tonight, I’m going back to a brief. Have a great week!
Tags: 1L, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, NCCU Law, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Dec 20, 2011 in
The 3L Life Good evening y’all
Sorry for the abrupt disappearance this past week, but the end of the semester brought a flurry of activity that I’m still slogging through. Here’s a quick bulleted update on life:
- I don’t remember what happened last Monday during the day, but I distinctly recall waking up from my first bona fide law school-related nightmare in awhile
It was next semester and I was at my first CrimLaw tutorial… except I didn’t have my Keynote slides. So I decided that, to preoccupy the 1Ls, we’d go around introducing ourselves… except apparently several of the students had issues with each other, so when one girl introduced herself another called her a b*tch, shouting back and forth ensued, and not a single soul was listening as I tried to get them to shut up and pay attention. Then I decided to distract people with index cards, having them write down names and other tidbits about themselves instead of talking… except I couldn’t find any blank index cards. Every time I’d find a pile of them, they were already filled out. Even a mostly-fresh pile of index cards had an occasional filled-out card included, so I was trying to gather enough fresh cards while the room re-descended into chaos. It was a strange, odd, unpleasant dream. That thankfully has a 0% chance of happening next semester or I’ll physically beat someone 
- Last Tuesday was the first meeting of the NCCU Law 1L trial teams, letting them know roughly what to expect in the now-Kilpatrick-Townsend competition that will take place in January. This is now the 3rd generation of teams to compete so I’m hoping it will be a more-comfortable experience for these 1Ls now that they have both 2Ls and 3Ls available to share their experiences.
- Right after the team meeting at 1pm was the release date for my Criminal Prosecution Clinic exam, which I spent the next 48 hours grinding through. Not difficult per se, but lengthy and detailed. Impressed that police and prosecutors are able to remember all of these various statutes…
- Speaking of academics, I’m still not done. I’ve still got 2 briefs for Employment Discrimination to finish, and a paper for ConLaw II that hasn’t even substantively been started aside from my prep work for the radio show on my topic. I had long ago accepted the probability of failing both classes given all the other stuff I foolishly piled on my plate. Tack on the fact they’re both electives that I don’t need to graduate, and you have a dangerous recipe of grade-A Motivation Killer™ to at least turn in some kind of work product.
- Not sure I’ll have time to get around to my usual guesswork “Here’s what I’m hoping to get grade-wise” posts for 3L Fall, so I’m tucking it in here: B+ in Sales, B- in Tax, A in Criminal Prosecution Clinic, D- in both Employment Discrimination and ConLaw II, for a 2.333 semester GPA. Fingers crossed for that or better. Will elaborate if the opportunity presents itself.
- Part of why I’m not finished academically is because I’ve very successfully sidetracked myself on this going solo idea and exploring the creation of a small practice incubator at the law school. I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading and researching, put together a proposal complete with financial projections, and have started farming it around among faculty at the school. I even came up with a snazzy acronym for it: the Small Practice Incubator & Collaboration Environment… because a little seasoning makes everything better!
- I had also already stacked my calendar high with stuff scheduled for last week because I’m habitual about planning ahead, so when the papers didn’t get done on time they’ve got pushed even farther back then they would be otherwise as my focus shifted elsewhere. In addition to the Crim Prosecution exam, spent Wednesday afternoon catching up with a good friend over lunch who I hadn’t seen in ages. Thursday was spent finishing up the exam, turning it in, then skipping the first TYLA trial team meeting to immediately drive down to Raleigh to help with another good friend’s bachelor party. Friday was a smidge of work on the papers followed by the wedding rehearsal dinner, Saturday was the wedding, then Sunday was returning the tux to Men’s Wearhouse and finally catching up on life basics like laundry / dishes / vacuuming the disaster that had become my apartment.
- Yesterday I got a smidge bit more work done, though not before inadvertently crossing paths with MDG in the hallway at school (my Emp Disc professor). I greatly appreciate that he hasn’t reamed me out for my slacker-ness… but it was still awkward exchanging pleasantries knowing I still owed the man two papers.
- And voila here we are at today. Behind on academics. Behind schedule on the moot court problem I’m working on. Behind schedule on the TYLA problem I’ll also be litigating in February. But otherwise alive, breathing, and determined to make it through the vacation in one piece
That’s it for tonight’s entry. Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the break yourselves! More to come once I get caught up
Good night!
Tags: 3L, ConLaw II, Criminal Prosecution, Employment Discrimination, Haunted by Law School, Howard Law, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Law Grades, MDG, Moot Court, NCCU Law, NCSU Student Senate, Sales, Tax, Trial Team, UNCASG
Posted by TDot on Feb 22, 2011 in
NotFail Amid all these posts about my TYLA exploits in Charlotte this past weekend, I realized that I completely forgot to update y’all on how the NCCU Law 1Ls did in this year’s Kilpatrick-Stockton Mock Trial Competition last month!
Let’s just say the finals triggered flashbacks from 2010
The info’s a bit dated, but I wrote a summary for the law school’s website you can read at this URL. Here’s the copy/paste:
NCCU 1Ls TAKE 2ND PLACE, TIE FOR 3RD IN ANNUAL K-S MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION
Home > News and Announcements > Student News
Posted January 21, 2011
In only NCCU Law’s second year of competition, the Trial Advocacy Board’s 1L trial teams once again dominated the annual Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Mock Trial Competition hosted by the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law on January 13-16, 2011.
Pictured (from left to right): Cheri Hamilton, Helena Kirland-Werts, Nikia Williams, Kevin Boxberger, Jennifer Turner (Team Captain, "1L of a Team"), Susan Dow (Team Captain, "The Whole Truth"), Deyaska Spencer Sweatman, Diane Carter; Not Pictured: Anna Love
The “1L of a Team” squad advanced to the final round and earned a 2nd place finish, getting edged out by Duke Law after an intense and hard-fought trial by both sides. There were also 35 NCCU Law students, professors and alumni in attendance, a 10x increase over the audience for last year’s competition. The other 1L team, “The Whole Truth”, successfully advanced to the semi-final round and tied a separate Duke Law team for 3rd place.
Not only did NCCU Law’s 1Ls take half of the spots in the Final Four, this now also marks the 2nd year in a row that NCCU Law has made the final round of the competition — setting a 100% track record of NCCU Law 1Ls advancing to the final round.
28 teams participated from 6 North Carolina schools (all schools except Charlotte School of Law), and NCCU Law’s 1Ls successfully beat teams from Campbell, Duke and UNCCH at various stages of the competition.
Everyone delivered an exemplary performance, and the Trial Advocacy Board looks forward to watching these 1Ls blossom into even stronger advocates over their next two years!
A belated-but-much-deserved congratulations to the NCCU Law 1L Trial Teams!
Tags: 1L, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, NCCU Law, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Aug 3, 2010 in
The 2L Life Earlier today one of the 3Ls at NCCU Law sent me an email asking if I’d be interested in teaming up with him for the Veterans Law Appellate Advocacy Competition sponsored by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the CAVC Bar Association. The competition is almost-brand-new (last year was the first time it was held) and will be taking place in Washington DC in mid-October.
I was flattered to even be asked… but then had to check the email at least a dozen times to see if it was one of those TWEN group messages with multiple recipients, since I remembered (i) I’m barely a 2L, (ii) my grades aren’t that great, and (iii) I haven’t done anything related to moot court at all since I’ve been in law school
My competition track record is also hit-or-miss. Sure sometimes things turn out better than expected, like when our 1L Trial Team made a run to the finals in the Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Mock Trial Competition or when Alice in Wonderland snagged 3rd place in our annual Mary Wright Closing Argument Competition. But that gets counter-balanced by the bundle of #fail known as my performance in the ABA Client Counseling Competition, not to mention losing my race for SBA 1L Representative back in September.
But I said yes anyway, because God knows I’ll try anything once if it’s a competition
So if any of you have any appellate advocacy tips or veterans law pointers, feel free to let me know Until then, have a great night!
Tags: 2L, ABA Client Counseling Competition, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, NCCU Law, Veterans Law Appellate Advocacy Competition
Posted by TDot on Jan 21, 2010 in
Mail After Torts today I let myself get convinced by Rico to stick with my exercise routine for the New Year and go for a run outside… even though it’s only around 37ºF and raining. I couldn’t feel my fingers after the first mile They’re still defrosting, so I figure today’s as good a day as any to answer some mail since there’s plenty of point-click-copy-paste involved
And yes I know it’s literally been months since I answered reader mail here at law:/dev/null… but that’s mostly due to the fact it’s literally been months since I got any reader mail 
A few of the recent entries must have triggered some latent inquisitiveness from a handful of folks though, because the inbox got e-bombed over the last week I figured I need to answer them before folks lose faith in my responsiveness
So here are your questions… well… answered
***
Q: Liz asks in response to a post I linked off the Kilpatrick-Stockton update, where I mentioned disliking BigLaw:
What really made you dislike BigLaw? You seem to be a workaholic, so the workload argument seems like an excuse.
A: It’s no excuse, I promise you that Am I a workaholic? Maybe. But there’s 1 key difference between when I was a BigLaw paralegal and what I do now: I actually enjoy it
Law school has been an adventure and I’ve been privileged to meet some amazing people, and running UNCASG gives me an opportunity to improve the lives of 215K+ students here in North Carolina. Compare that to law firm life, which consisted mostly of attorneys giving me things a couple hours/days before deadline or the partner I worked for deciding he needed yet another weeklong vacation and wanted me chained to my desk in case anything happened in his absence.
With law school and ASG, working during a holiday is something I do by choice; with BigLaw, it was a mandated part of my job. I’ll take the former over the latter 7 days a week
***
Q: Clarence wants insight into the Kilpatrick-Stockton post itself:
I thought it was interesting 2 of the top 4 K-S finalists were T4 schools. Any theories on that?
A: I’ve got plenty of theories, I just can’t guarantee any of them are valid
The first thing that comes to mind is the fact it’s a North Carolina-based competition, and a majority of the state’s law schools are in the lower ranks. In the latest edition of the US News rankings, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest are all now in Tier 1; Campbell and NCCU Law are both Tier 4; while Elon and Charlotte both only have provisional accreditation and can therefore functionally be treated as Tier 4. So even though the bulk of teams came from UNCCH and Duke, the natural odds of the 4 finalists including a pair of T4 schools are non-trivial.
There’s probably a cultural aspect to it as well. At least here in North Carolina, NCCU Law and Campbell Law both have well-earned reputations for producing high-quality trial attorneys and judges, and that legacy is worked into things like the aggressiveness of the Socratic method in 1L classes. The T1s by contrast have a reputation geared more toward BigLaw, international affairs, research and teaching; anecdotal evidence from friends at those neighboring schools is that classes are a challenge, but not intensely so.
Running with the cultural theme — and at the risk of getting shot by my T1 colleagues — I wouldn’t be surprised if the curve plays an impact too. Both Duke’s median and UNCCH’s median are set at 3.33 (B+), while Wake Forest sets theirs at 3.00 (B). The T4 schools set their medians far lower, with Campbell’s median around 75 (C+) on their numeric system, and NCCU Law standing by its strict-C curve at 2.00 (and capping a course grade at A versus A+ elsewhere).
Most employers know that curves are set all over the place at different schools, which is why class rank is so important to landing a job rather than GPA. But for the chronic overachievers who go to law school, there is a fundamental shock to the psyche when a “good” semester is full of B-’s or B’s compared to your fellow 1Ls at neighboring schools banking straight A’s.
Combine those latter two points — reputation and curves — and what you get are 1Ls who feel like underdogs compared to their peers, with a hunger to “show up and show out.” That’s basically what happened at the Kilpatrick-Stockton competition this year IMO (at least I know that’s what we did )
***
Q: Courtney expresses faux concern over the lack of structure we’ve had here since 1L Fall came to an end:
What happened to Tweet-sized Tuesdays and the Friday Drive-by??
A: The lack of structure that comes with winter break
Not sure what the future of Tweet-sized Tuesdays will be. They were created last semester because the schedule for my section looked like a camel hump, with 5 classes on Wednesdays — that meant Tuesday nights spent studying instead of blogging. This semester has the pain spread throughout the week. I’ll have a better idea as we get closer to midterms if I need to curtail the time spent writing here and bring Tweet-sized Tuesdays back
As for the Friday Drive-by, that’ll be resuming at some point here in the next few weeks
***
Q: Michelle wants the rest of this story:
How did that CivPro exam turn out?
A: There was a 22-point curve, so even though I almost failed I didn’t do too badly I’ll post a full rundown of my 1L Fall grades at some point over the next couple days.
—===—
That’s it for this edition If you have a question you want me to answer, send an email to tdot [at] lawdevnull.com or hit me up on Facebook!
Have a great night everybody!
Tags: Campbell Law, Charlotte Law, CivPro, Duke Law, Elon Law, Fan Mail, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, NCCU Law, Rico, The Curve, Trial Team, UNCASG, UNCCH Law, WFU Law
Posted by TDot on Jan 17, 2010 in
NotFail The unexpected miracle run had to end eventually, and today was the day 
But after a hard-fought trial in a rematch against Duke Law, the NCCU Law 1L Trial Team — the Legal Eagles — still finished in 2nd place in the 2010 Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Mock Trial Competition
I’ll confess there were some aspects of the final that had me in a certifiably frosty mood when I left the UNCCH Law building earlier this afternoon, but the particulars aren’t the type of thing worth detailing in a family-friendly forum like law:/dev/null I will say our entire team turned in an excellent performance, and it’s been an honor to serve as their captain
Top 4 teams in the 2010 Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Mock Trial Competition
Something that was worth pointing out (at least IMO) is this chart I put together of the final 4 teams.
Now I know several of my Duke Law friends will argue with this chart — as some already have — claiming that the difference in cost of attendance is irrelevant, since their salaries at summer associateships and after graduation will more than make up for the extra law school expense.
And they’re certainly right… to an extent.
But given my aspirations to spend my career in public service, on top of my acquired distaste for BigLaw, I’d be lucky to pull down in a year what the Duke grads will make in a month. Keeping that in mind, and considering both of us made it to the finals in this particular competition, as of now I’d say we’ve got the better Return-On-Investment
The folks over at Fight the Hypo wrote this entry on the topic of ROI a few weeks ago.
Aside from the clichéd “bang for your buck,” this is also one of those cases where I really can’t consider a loss as a loss: when the judges announced the results this afternoon and handed me a certificate for our team’s performance, the crowd was told “If this were a real trial, the verdict would be to acquit.”
So we lost the competition… but won our case. As much as I love being #1, it’s gratifying to know a client paying us would have gotten their money’s worth
Here’s how the final competition turned out for us over 4 days:
- Round 1A: UNCCH 1 vs. NCCU (W)
- Round 1B: NCCU vs. Campbell 3 (W)
- Round 2: NCCU vs. Campbell 1 (W)
- Round 3: UNCCH 7 vs. NCCU (W)
- Round 4: NCCU vs. Duke 1 (W)
- Round 5: Duke 1 vs. NCCU (L)
I’d be ecstatic if my Wolfpack could keep an 83% win-loss ratio in football (or basketball, or hell any sport for that matter ) — so I’m pretty doggone happy+proud of us
And now I can finally go back to reading the cases I’m paying that $8K in tuition+fees to study
Many thanks to all of you who commented and emailed and FB’d me to send your support, it meant a lot! I’m hoping I’ll be able to repay the gesture at some point over the next 2 years
Tags: 1L, Christie, Co-Counsel, Competence FTW, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, Tinkerbell, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Jan 16, 2010 in
NotFail Y’all…
O.
M.
G.
For serious. The final round of the Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Mock Trial competition is tomorrow. And the NCCU Legal Eagles are in it!
The 2009-2010 NCCU 1L Trial Team -- the Legal Eagles :)
We had 3 rounds today, with our prosecution beating a 2nd Campbell team this morning, our defense knocking out a 2nd UNCCH team this afternoon, and the prosecution defeating a team from Duke this evening.
Since the finalists are based on scores, we’re actually having a rematch against Duke tomorrow — this time it’ll be our defense squad (including me) up against their prosecution.
32 teams started. 2 are left.
Wake Forest sent their best… and lost. Elon sent their best… and lost. Campbell sent their best… and lost. UNC Chapel Hill sent their best… and lost.
I’m hoping in tomorrow’s entry I’ll be able to tack Duke onto that list
Plus our 2L trial team just found out about an hour ago that they’re going to Nationals for TYLA or NOLA or something — I’ve been so wrapped up in my own stuff I don’t even know But I know it’s a good day to be an NCCU Eagle
I’m heading to bed so I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for tomorrow’s marathon. Good night y’all!
Tags: 1L, Christie, Co-Counsel, Competence FTW, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, Tinkerbell, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Jan 15, 2010 in
NotFail So last night our defense team beat UNCCH. Tonight the prosecution team competed… and beat a squad from Campbell
The NCCU 1L Trial Team (aka the Legal Eagles): 2
Our competitors: 0
Waiting on the schedule for tomorrow before heading to bed, but we’re definitely competing in the next round at this point at either 8am or 10am I’ll let y’all know how it turns out. Until then have a great night
Tags: 1L, Competence FTW, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Jan 14, 2010 in
NotFail The defense team (my side) of the NCCU Legal Eagles competed in the Kilpatrick-Stockton 1L Trial Team competition tonight… and we won
We successfully beat a team from UNCCH Law, and now we wait until Friday night to figure out if our score was high enough to get us into the next round on Saturday morning.
Now I’ve gotta rush and study for class tomorrow Good night folks!
Tags: 1L, Christie, Co-Counsel, Competence FTW, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Legal Eagles FTW, Tinkerbell, Trial Team
Posted by TDot on Dec 16, 2009 in
TDot's Tips Sorry for the extended break, I was enjoying the whole “class is over and I don’t have anything to do”-ness of winter break. But today was mostly spent at the law school, meaning it was time to finally get around to resuming the blog posts here at law:/dev/null
Today itself was… interesting. I was fortunate enough to make the 1L trial advocacy team for a competition next month, but the preliminary interview for the Client Counseling Competition was an unmitigated disaster. I’m lucky Madame Prosecutor didn’t wring my neck in the middle of the interview room because I clearly don’t know the first thing about interviewing potential clients
Fortunately I’m getting the experience now so I’ll be in better shape a few weeks from now.
Speaking of getting experience: exams! Wow. That was an experience.
My classmates and I had a little heads up on how everything was going to happen since the N.C. Central University School of Law is one of apparently few law schools that provide midterm exams. But in the words of MDG: “The difference between midterms and finals is like the difference between a chihuahua and a great dane.”
He wasn’t lying.
The multiple choice questions in all of the classes were almost absurdly nitpicky (hat tip to Jansen for the word choice ). It was one of those situations where I could tell what specific topic the professor was trying to test, but the particulars were sufficiently complex that I couldn’t say with any degree of certainty whether or not I chose the right answer. And of course nearly every question had “D. All of the above. E. None of the above.” as the last two answer choices.
I’m taking solace in the fact I finished all of the essays, which was a switch from midterms.
Anyhow, now that exams are over I figured I’d share some of my own tips on exam prep. I stipulate that some of this reiterates advice other blawgers have already given — see FTS and FO and idswj — but I figured I’d tell you what worked for me so you have another perspective to add when considering different techniques
- DON’T STRESS! If you ignore every other bullet point in this entry, remember this. One of the awkward moments of final exams was spent trying to console a friend who was having a mental breakdown, even though she’s one of maybe 4 people in our section who I’d bet actual cash on knowing the material backwards and forwards. Yes, grades are important — but they’re not the end of the world. Stressing out to the point of melting down just makes you less competitive when you take the actual test.
- Rehearse if it helps. No matter how many times folks read that earlier bullet, some of them are still going to freak out over exams. One way to help deal with that nervousness is to practice under as-close-to-real-life conditions as you can get. Find practice exams and force yourself to take them under strict time conditions; use a stopwatch to time you if necessary. If you can only find 1 or 2 practice exams, re-take them until you’re comfortable. Remember the objective with these practice exams isn’t necessarily to get the material down cold, but instead to help you stay calm in the actual test.
- Study however works best for you. It may sound strange, but I’ve become a firm believer in Dr. Psych’s comments on learning styles. I’m overwhelmingly a kinesthetic/”tactile” learner — I learn by doing. For me that means writing out index cards (CivPro) or taking practice exams (Property). If you’re a visual learner, you’ll probably benefit from reading and re-reading your outline several times. And if you’re an aural learner, try saying your outline aloud so you hear it. Matching your study habits with your study style helps burn the information deep into your mind for finals
- Sleep. Adequate rest is important to remembering the information you absorbed studying, and it will help you stay focused on the exam itself. Trying to go off 2-3 hours of sleep because you pulled an all-nighter is counterproductive. You should have learned that in undergrad
- Do the multiple choice questions first. Unless you’re *very* disciplined with your test-taking skills, knock out the multiple choice questions before moving to the essays. A handful of my colleagues tried to reverse what they tackled first since several folks ran out of time on the midterms, and a few never made it to the multiples at all on the final as a result. Essays are free-form, so we naturally spend more time writing, tweaking, editing, adding, etc. They’re a huge time sink, and if you don’t grab the easy points first (the multiples) you risk missing them entirely.
- Remember the Rules of Fight Club. Mariel said it best, so I’ll defer to her ;)
- Smile (when it’s over). You’ve survived. Pat yourself on the back for a semester’s worth of hard work, and know you’re that much closer to the end of the road and the J.D. waiting there for you
For those of you who are finally done with your final exams, congratulations! And to those of you still slogging through the trenches on the way to the end of the semester — GOOD LUCK!
Tags: 1L, ABA Client Counseling Competition, K-S 1L Mock Trial Competition, Madame Prosecutor, MDG, NCCU Law, Tips, Trial Team
