OFFICIAL 1L Exam Prep & Motivation Thread (CSWS) Forum

[Robert Paulson]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

Thanks for the input. I only have one fact pattern and 10 mc questions for four hours, so I shouldn't be too crunched for time.

[Robert Paulson]

Does anyone have anyone those K MC questions floating around?

[Raiden]

Quick K question: does it really make a difference when calculating remedies if you are looking at the perspecitive of the buyer or the seller? It seems like the calculation would essentially be the same.

[Robert Paulson]

Quick K question: does it really make a difference when calculating remedies if you are looking at the perspecitive of the buyer or the seller? It seems like the calculation would essentially be the same.

I usually just make arguments that both sides would make and then draw a conclusion based on holdings, restatements, etc.

[SportsFan]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

Thanks for the input. I only have one fact pattern and 10 mc questions for four hours, so I shouldn't be too crunched for time.

If you're concerned about typing speed, just try to do the MC questions as quickly as possible IMO. Get them out of the way and then spend all your time on the fact pattern. You'll be fine!

[Robert Paulson]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

Thanks for the input. I only have one fact pattern and 10 mc questions for four hours, so I shouldn't be too crunched for time.

If you're concerned about typing speed, just try to do the MC questions as quickly as possible IMO. Get them out of the way and then spend all your time on the fact pattern. You'll be fine!

Stupid examsoft requires us to take the essay first But I'll definitely allocate as much time as I'm allowed to the essay.

[fltanglab]

Did Contracts final yesterday. This was our only final worth 100% of our grade. That made it extra exhilarating. Unlike the cheerful mood everyone was in after our Torts exam, everyone seemed rather concerned by this one, and a bunch of people I spoke with said that they hadn't finished it. In line with my school's overly competitive reputation, no one left either of the finals early. MoFo fed us afterwards in an attempt to lure some engineering law students to work for them for 1L summer. This morning we did an e-mail reply race to try to get into the best Moot Court classes for next semester.

Now, onwards and forwards to the venue of Civil Procedure! It may have in rem jurisdiction over my books, but it will never have personal jurisdiction over my soul! CSWS!

Weird. MoFo was at our school too and we had Ks too lol.

[Benjamin1987]

Torts final tomorrow. Feeling great. Relaxing, playing ncaa '13 and listening to christmas music.

Going to rock my classmates shit tomorrow!

[Maximized]

Hey team. Only clocked in ~1200 words in an hour. Got 80% of the issues, though. Found a few spots where I could have argued more. Overall, pretty happy. Keep plugging.

How do you know how many issues you are getting do you have model answers for all your questions. Sorry if you answered this before.

The professor wrote answers for each test. Not a student answer.

Edit: Plus, am I the only one who absolutely hates torts? I mean, my professor salivates over organization and writing, so I'm hoping that will pull me through.

Agreed. Fortunately, it's only worth 3 hours at my school, and Civ.Pro. and K are worth 4. We only covered negligence and strict liability, so not only is the school telling us Torts isn't even that important, it's almost impossible to find PTs (the professor destroyed all of his old ones). Puhhh

[MrSparkle]

Quick K question: does it really make a difference when calculating remedies if you are looking at the perspecitive of the buyer or the seller? It seems like the calculation would essentially be the same.

Don't think there's a difference at all, the rules mirror each other AFAIK.

[SportsFan]

Thanks for the input. I only have one fact pattern and 10 mc questions for four hours, so I shouldn't be too crunched for time.

If you're concerned about typing speed, just try to do the MC questions as quickly as possible IMO. Get them out of the way and then spend all your time on the fact pattern. You'll be fine!

Stupid examsoft requires us to take the essay first But I'll definitely allocate as much time as I'm allowed to the essay.[/quote]
Really? That's unfortunate! Had no idea, since none of my finals have any MC. Definitely try to do as many MC questions ahead of time as you can, to see how long it'll take, so you can allocate as much time as possible to the essay.

[LetsGoLAW]

Hey bros. Took another practice test. Still doing ~4800 words per four hours. Any tips to increase speed? I stop and think, then get caught up and forget to outline. I suppose more discipline is needed.

Organization is baller, though.

[Maximized]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

I think this is a valid opinion, but I disagree. I'm finding that the hardest part of these PTs is staying organized. I'd say typing faster is better than cutting out critical time to carefully read and outline the problem, if those are the only two options. That being said, 1,600 per hours seems pretty high already, so I don't think there's anything to worry about there.

[MrSparkle]

Hey bros. Took another practice test. Still doing ~4800 words per four hours. Any tips to increase speed? I stop and think, then get caught up and forget to outline. I suppose more discipline is needed.

In the same boat. I get ~3600 per 3 hours. Thinking too much.

[Maximized]

Hey bros. Took another practice test. Still doing ~4800 words per four hours. Any tips to increase speed? I stop and think, then get caught up and forget to outline. I suppose more discipline is needed.

Maybe outline the major issues before writing anything, and outline each sub-issue before you tackle that particular major issue? Organization has been my biggest weak point so far, and that's the approach I'm going to try on my next few PTs.

Ah, I see your edit. In that case, possibly more caffeine. Or, less second-guessing yourself / critiquing your own words too harshly? Just my two cents.

[Lacepiece23]

I think the key is to never stop typing really and take a little longer on your outline. I outlined for 23 minutes on my con law exam yesterday for the first question. It was an hour and 15 minute question. I typed 2.4k words. The only reason is because I knew the law well and was able to not stop the flow of my fingers basically. That would be my advice. I typed 5.5k on a 3 hour con law exam. Looking to break 6k for torts. Word count isn't everything though, but it certainly does help when you are trying to flesh out an issue, or get to more issue then your opponents.

[SportsFan]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

I think this is a valid opinion, but I disagree. I'm finding that the hardest part of these PTs is staying organized. I'd say typing faster is better than cutting out critical time to carefully read and outline the problem, if those are the only two options. That being said, 1,600 per hours seems pretty high already, so I don't think there's anything to worry about there.

Very true, about needed to stay organized. Typing faster is always the best solution, but not really something that can be fixed at this point in time, ya know?

[Maximized]

For an hour problem, I spend about 10 minutes reading and outlining. It took me an hour and a half to answer a one hour problem, and I wrote about 2500 words. I generally type around 40wpm

If you're typing 2500 words in an hour and a half, thats about 1600 an hour, which really isn't bad at all. I'd just try to get that 10 minutes down as much as possible, if you're concerned, but again, I don't think that 10 minutes to read/outline an hour long problem is bad at all. But if you can save 2-3 minutes there, it won't hurt.

I think this is a valid opinion, but I disagree. I'm finding that the hardest part of these PTs is staying organized. I'd say typing faster is better than cutting out critical time to carefully read and outline the problem, if those are the only two options. That being said, 1,600 per hours seems pretty high already, so I don't think there's anything to worry about there.

Very true, about needed to stay organized. Typing faster is always the best solution, but not really something that can be fixed at this point in time, ya know?

Haha, there's always those extra-large Monsters (get a catheter if the proctor won't allow bathroom breaks). You're right, of course. I just mean to say I wouldn't sacrifice organized analysis and careful reading of the fact pattern for an extra hundred words. But that's just me.

[Benjamin1987]

Hey bros. Took another practice test. Still doing ~4800 words per four hours. Any tips to increase speed? I stop and think, then get caught up and forget to outline. I suppose more discipline is needed.

Organization is baller, though.

What kind of exam? I'm spending about 10-15 minutes reading twice. Naming all parties and spotting issues. Then solid typing for the remainder of the hour puts me at about 2k words per hour.

[SportsFan]

Haha, there's always those extra-large Monsters (get a catheter if the proctor won't allow bathroom breaks). You're right, of course. I just mean to say I wouldn't sacrifice organized analysis and careful reading of the fact pattern for an extra hundred words. But that's just me.

Agreed, but depends on what the tradeoff is, and what your professor is looking for. If they're just looking for straight up issue spotting, screw the outline, get typing! But if they care a lot about organization, spend longer on that.

[LetsGoLAW]

I was doing the LEEWS by reading for 15 minutes, then outlining. Then writing for 20-30. Repeat.

I have no trouble spotting issues. But there are details in the first paragraph that matter at the end. Maybe I'll read it twice. I am good at remembering details and spotting major and minor issues.

[Maximized]

I was doing the LEEWS by reading for 15 minutes, then outlining. Then writing for 20-30. Repeat.

I have no trouble spotting issues. But there are details in the first paragraph that matter at the end. Maybe I'll read it twice. I am good at remembering details and spotting major and minor issues.

I'm hardly one to question LEEWS (haven't even read it I'm afraid), but are you saying that 15 minutes of every 45 are used reading and outlining? That seems a little high, IMHO. Maybe only refer back to the fact pattern as necessary when writing (after your initial read-through), and cut that outlining down to 5-10 minutes per 20-30 minutes of writing?

Edit: My finals are spaced out over two weeks, with one every three days. Is the best approach probably to focus only on that one exam for the two and a half days preceding it? The likely difficultly is basically random - the one that seems like it'll be easiest is second, and the hardest will likely be the third exam. The second and third are worth one more class hour than the other two. Plus, Torts is last, and we've covered so little BLL that I think issue-spotting will divide the class more than knowledge of the law.

[Blumpbeef]

I was doing the LEEWS by reading for 15 minutes, then outlining. Then writing for 20-30. Repeat.

I have no trouble spotting issues. But there are details in the first paragraph that matter at the end. Maybe I'll read it twice. I am good at remembering details and spotting major and minor issues.

I'm hardly one to question LEEWS (haven't even read it I'm afraid), but are you saying that 15 minutes of every 45 are used reading and outlining? That seems a little high, IMHO. Maybe only refer back to the fact pattern as necessary when writing (after your initial read-through), and cut that outlining down to 5-10 minutes per 20-30 minutes of writing?

Edit: My finals are spaced out over two weeks, with one every three days. Is the best approach probably to focus only on that one exam for the two and a half days preceding it? The likely difficultly is basically random - the one that seems like it'll be easiest is second, and the hardest will likely be the third exam.

15/45 is the high end on LEEWS. A Lot of people say the range should be 15-22/45. I don't think any less than around 13 is advisable and, depending on the prof, 20 isn't unreasonable.

What LEEWS would say though is to split the question in half and do 10 minutes of reading/outlining followed by 15 minutes of writing and then 5 minutes of outlining followed by another 15 minutes of writing.

[SportsFan]

I was doing the LEEWS by reading for 15 minutes, then outlining. Then writing for 20-30. Repeat.

I have no trouble spotting issues. But there are details in the first paragraph that matter at the end. Maybe I'll read it twice. I am good at remembering details and spotting major and minor issues.

I'm hardly one to question LEEWS (haven't even read it I'm afraid), but are you saying that 15 minutes of every 45 are used reading and outlining? That seems a little high, IMHO. Maybe only refer back to the fact pattern as necessary when writing (after your initial read-through), and cut that outlining down to 5-10 minutes per 20-30 minutes of writing?

Edit: My finals are spaced out over two weeks, with one every three days. Is the best approach probably to focus only on that one exam for the two and a half days preceding it? The likely difficultly is basically random - the one that seems like it'll be easiest is second, and the hardest will likely be the third exam.

15/45 is the high end on LEEWS. A Lot of people say the range should be 15-22/45. I don't think any less than around 13 is advisable and, depending on the prof, 20 isn't unreasonable.

By 15/45, you mean every hour, spend 15 minutes reading and outlining? I've been doing like 7-10, mostly because I'm kind of fearful I won't get to everything. Maybe I should spend a bit more time outlining.

[Blumpbeef]

I meant 15 out of 45 minutes ie 15-30. But that's just from LEEWS, not necessarily recommending it.

It really depends on what your prof wants.

ETA: read my edited post above btw