whew, it's done

Hurrah! My LWR memo is handed in and both practice exams are done.

I took the night off. Mmmmm... dark chocolate and red wine. And (bonus!), actual, real, non-legal conversation with my husband.

Even though it was a lot of work, I'm glad I took the practice exams.

The end-of-semester, or in some cases, end-of-year exams are 100% of the course grade. The exams are three hours long and consist of one or two essay questions. The questions describe bizarrely intricate situations that would never happen in real life and ask law students to apply their accumulated knowledge. For example:

Joe robs a bank. He is unarmed when he does so. He flees the robbery and arrives at the house of his girlfriend Jane, where he exclaims, "Thank goodness, I'm safe!" Minutes later the police arrive and bang on the door. Joe panics and runs upstairs, but unfortunately Jane is coming down the stairs at the same time and they collide. Jane falls down the stairs as a result, breaks her neck, and dies. The police hear her scream and break down the door. Joe is incredibly enraged at Jane's death and starts throwing books at the policemen. One of them, Pete, is hit by a book and knocked unconscious. He is rushed to the hospital, but due to negligent care in the ambulence, he dies. We are in a Model Penal Code jurisdiction. Can homicide charges be brought against Joe for the deaths of Jane and Pete? If so, what charges?

Okay, so I just made that one up, but you get the point. Often the questions go on for one to three pages.

Here is what I took out of the exams:

1. Memorizing all the darn rules takes way longer than you might think.
2. You have to take the exams, so you might as well try to enjoy them. Think of issue-spotting as a complex puzzle.
3. They're really hard! Yikes.
4. I have no idea how people took exams before there were computer exams. I can barely print my name, let alone handwrite.
5. I have to discipline myself to outline the answers. I hate outlining, but I did better on the questions that I outlined because I didn't forget little facts.
6. Taking exams strikes me as a skill that can be learned.
7. My course outlines are too detailed.
8. When they say a question is one hour, they really mean one hour.
9. Earplugs are a necessity.
10. As is water.
11. As is wine afterwards.

I'll remember more later. Now it's time for more wine, chocolate, and non-legal conversation.