How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams? Forum

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corgiterrier17

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How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by corgiterrier17 » Wed Apr 17, 2019 9:11 am

Hi

I have two 8-9 hr take-home exams and should I take practice exams under timed conditions for these?
What's the best way to prepare for?

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265489164158

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by 265489164158 » Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:00 am

I have only done one of these. My approach was not to take practice exams, but to get as familiar with the material as possible. My outline was very thorough, because I knew that I would be able to copy and paste rule statements straight from it. I also had the textbook tabbed so that I could reference portions that I needed. If the professor wants a well-structured essay, as opposed to an issue-spotter, know this in advance and think about the course themes and broader concepts in preparation. Also, have lunch ready to eat so you don't have to waste time going to get something. Good luck!

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by albanach » Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:02 am

dan9257 wrote:Hi

I have two 8-9 hr take-home exams and should I take practice exams under timed conditions for these?
What's the best way to prepare for?
Begin by learning all the laws.

More seriously, how can you expect anyone to advise on this. No one know what topic the exams are for. No one here know the format.

Is this an honor code thing as regards to timing, or is it an overnight, with an estimated time commitment of 8-9 hours? Is it a research and answer project like write-on for journals or the MPT? Or is it 3,000 multiple choice questions?

Generally, the approach is like any exam. Be prepared and be very organized in advance. Know both the material generally and you're professor's leaning on all the key cases.

corgiterrier17

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by corgiterrier17 » Wed Apr 17, 2019 11:57 am

265489164158 wrote:I have only done one of these. My approach was not to take practice exams, but to get as familiar with the material as possible. My outline was very thorough, because I knew that I would be able to copy and paste rule statements straight from it. I also had the textbook tabbed so that I could reference portions that I needed. If the professor wants a well-structured essay, as opposed to an issue-spotter, know this in advance and think about the course themes and broader concepts in preparation. Also, have lunch ready to eat so you don't have to waste time going to get something. Good luck!
Hey Thanks so much for the helpful tips. Did you feel like you were fine even though you didn't practice under timed conditions? I've heard some people say they felt 8-9 hrs were not actually that long so that's why I'm concerned whether I should practice under time pressure.

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265489164158

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by 265489164158 » Wed Apr 17, 2019 12:16 pm

dan9257 wrote: Hey Thanks so much for the helpful tips. Did you feel like you were fine even though you didn't practice under timed conditions? I've heard some people say they felt 8-9 hrs were not actually that long so that's why I'm concerned whether I should practice under time pressure.
I used the entire eight hours (it was a 12 page max). I don't think that practicing under timed conditions would have helped me as much as re-reading my notes and specific portions of the textbook that I wasn't clear on, and having a thorough outline.

I will be honest and say that I found the experience of actually writing a take-home exam miserable. It was exhausting. Professors think they are being nice, but they really aren't because the expectations are so much higher.

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QContinuum

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Apr 17, 2019 1:14 pm

265489164158 wrote:
dan9257 wrote: Hey Thanks so much for the helpful tips. Did you feel like you were fine even though you didn't practice under timed conditions? I've heard some people say they felt 8-9 hrs were not actually that long so that's why I'm concerned whether I should practice under time pressure.
I used the entire eight hours (it was a 12 page max). I don't think that practicing under timed conditions would have helped me as much as re-reading my notes and specific portions of the textbook that I wasn't clear on, and having a thorough outline.

I will be honest and say that I found the experience of actually writing a take-home exam miserable. It was exhausting. Professors think they are being nice, but they really aren't because the expectations are so much higher.
Concur. "Best" final I ever took was a 2-hour proctored exam. Yes, it was freakishly hard, yes, it was tiring, but it was over in 2 hours! 8-hour take-homes are simply miserable. You worry about taking too much time for lunch. You worry about drinking too much water (bathroom breaks) but dehydrating yourself also impacts your efficiency. You are forced to focus for 8 hours straight without any real relaxation in the middle.

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BansheeScream

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by BansheeScream » Wed Apr 17, 2019 4:10 pm

I'm in the minority I guess in terms of liking 8 hour take homes. I think I've had 5 so far and they've been 5 of my 6 highest grades. I'll break it down for how I prepare then for how I actually take the exam.

Preparation:
Outlining is extremely important for take homes. Your outline should be absolutely perfect and very detailed. I generally make sure my outline is searchable and that I'm also just generally familiar with it. Also it's not a bad idea to get successful 2L/3L outlines to compare things. So I would go in with two or three outlines and every time I wrote a rule statement I would read both and figure out if there were any relevant differences or nuances that could make a difference during the analysis. Finally, if you have time for it, write out all of your rule statements perfectly in advance. You can copy and paste so why not take advantage of that.

This is professor by professor but if you have sample exams, or even one sample exam, make sure you know it like the back of your hand. A lot of professors test similar issues with only slightly differing fact patterns. One of my professors gave us like 8 practice exams. I took all of his sample answers and put them in a spread sheet organized by topic. So if, for example, a commerce clause question came up, I knew exactly where to find his way of performing a commerce clause analysis and 8 examples of the exact analytical framework her prefers.

During the Exam:
I generally get to the school an hour early on the day of take homes to get a place in the library with a monitor that can fit my outline and a word document for actually writing the exam on the same screen. This is really important for copy and pasting rule statements, outline section, and even model answers if the fact pattern is similar enough (be careful with this because some professors think copying from past exams is an honor code violation and I would never do it verbatim). If you work better at home, take it home, but the library saves time, limits distractions, and I like the big monitors for the reason above.

I generally eat breakfast right before the exam starts. Then I treat it like a 4 hour in class exam. I work straight through only taking bathroom breaks and any other breaks I would take if I had to write the exam in 4 hours. Then I read over everything once to see if I agree with my reasoning or missed anything in the fact pattern and make any corrections. I take 30 minutes for lunch and don't look at anything exam related but also just relax my eyes and eat. I then go back and read the questions and my edits with fresh eyes thinking about if I missed anything. I cut down words if need be and if there's an issue that I think could go either way I write it in a way I didn't originally and see which reads better. Finally, and only if I have remaining time, I make sure everything is perfect spelling, grammar, and format wise. Even if the professor says they don't care that much, a well written exam will probably score better than an exam that hits the same issues.

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Apr 17, 2019 4:19 pm

BansheeScream wrote:This is really important for copy and pasting rule statements, outline section, and even model answers if the fact pattern is similar enough (be careful with this because some professors think copying from past exams is an honor code violation and I would never do it verbatim).
I'd say it goes beyond "some professors." Copying content written by others is plagiarism, even if you don't do it verbatim (unless you quote and cite appropriately, which I doubt is what you're advocating). I definitely would not copy at all. OK to refer to model answers (if permitted by your professor; some take-home exams still restrict what materials you can reference during the exam), but not OK to simply copy them. If similar enough to make copying possible, then piece of cake to simply write from scratch using your own words.

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BansheeScream

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by BansheeScream » Wed Apr 17, 2019 4:56 pm

QContinuum wrote:
BansheeScream wrote:This is really important for copy and pasting rule statements, outline section, and even model answers if the fact pattern is similar enough (be careful with this because some professors think copying from past exams is an honor code violation and I would never do it verbatim).
I'd say it goes beyond "some professors." Copying content written by others is plagiarism, even if you don't do it verbatim (unless you quote and cite appropriately, which I doubt is what you're advocating). I definitely would not copy at all. OK to refer to model answers (if permitted by your professor; some take-home exams still restrict what materials you can reference during the exam), but not OK to simply copy them. If similar enough to make copying possible, then piece of cake to simply write from scratch using your own words.
I meant more of the analytical structure and terms of art but admittedly didn't it explain it well. I just remember a good chunk of the class losing points on one of my take home exams for copying a model answer word for word from a sample exam and wanted to emphasize I wasn't advocating for that.

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QContinuum

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Apr 17, 2019 6:42 pm

BansheeScream wrote:I meant more of the analytical structure and terms of art but admittedly didn't it explain it well. I just remember a good chunk of the class losing points on one of my take home exams for copying a model answer word for word from a sample exam and wanted to emphasize I wasn't advocating for that.
Thanks for clarifying. Agree that analytical structure/etc. are portable. The chunk of the class that lost points on the take-home for verbatim copying got off easy! Could easily have resulted in serious sanctions.

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Re: How to practice for 8-9 hr take home exams?

Post by JHP » Wed Apr 17, 2019 7:42 pm

Presumably this is a take-home where you are only allowed to use your notes and certain other materials. (I had a 7 hour exam that allowed/encouraged people to research and cite SEC regs and briefs.)

As for how detailed your outline should be, it's up to how you think and write--for some of my long take-homes, it was not practical or useful for me to have an incredibly detailed outline, but rather to have more brief rule and conclusion statements along with practice examples/case studies from class. Other classes, it was more helpful to have a very detailed outline with every possible thing the professor mentioned in class.

It's hard to tell you how to prep without knowing what kind of class it is and how it was taught, but my take-home exams tended to be more "practical" classes (not so much black letter law) in which the class focused on a lot more case studies, examples, and walking through the analysis of solving a hypothetical situation. In those situations, the best way I prepared was reviewing bottom line rules and then re-doing examples from class.

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