Ep 150: Practicing Law School Essays: When, How, Why with Legally Fit
In our second installment of the 1L club session, DeAndré talks all about practice essays and guiding viewers through the essential steps to excel in law school exams. This session emphasizes the importance of practice essays in achieving success and demystifies the process of when, how, and why to practice. With practical tips on reading, thinking, outlining, and writing essays, learn how to approach practice exams as opportunities for learning and improvement rather than performance indicators. Strategies include annotating fact patterns, prioritizing issues, and comparing answers to sample solutions for effective feedback.
Thank you to Legally Fit for providing this content in collaboration with Break Into Law School®!
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Episode Highlights
Shift in mindset: Practice essays are for learning and improving, not just testing oneself
Analogy of practice exams to preparation for a game: Final exam is the actual game, practice exams are preparation
Goal setting: Aim for a minimum of five practice essays per class, ideal to cover every topic taught
Step-by-step guide for practice essays:
Step 1: Reading the question effectively, annotating the fact pattern
Step 2: Stop and think about why parties are upset and what they want
Step 3: Outlining the exam skeleton, organizing issues
Step 4: Timing the process appropriately (15-20 minutes for reading, thinking, and outlining)
Step 5: Cross-referencing outline with sample answers for issue spotting and organization
Step 6: Writing the answer while referring to sample answers, comparing and learning from them
Step 7: Reflection and note-taking on mistakes, trends, patterns, and updates for future practice
Strategies for professors giving varied amounts of practice essays
Advice for handling lack of practice essays from professors
Importance of taking notes and updating outlines after each practice essay
Final reminder for the exam: Similar steps, but without the ability to cross-reference or pull rules from an outline
Tweetable Quotes
“Practice is where the real learning and the real improvement happens”