Professor Mitten’s Exam Taking Essentials for Essay Questions
[Editor’s Note: This month, faculty members are posting on their exam taking tips. This is the third post in the series.]
Law school essay exams are a completely different kind of essay exam than what students might be used to. Here, Professor Mitten shares his essentials for taking law school essay exams.
1. Carefully read question at least twice and sort out what happened. It may be helpful to draw a chronological diagram of the parties’ conduct.
2. Determine the question(s) that you are being asked to consider. For example, it may be broad (e.g., discuss the parties’ respective claims) or very specific (e.g., consider A’s claims against B). Some professors (like me) will give you credit only for answering the question asked.
3. Identify each plaintiff’s claims and address each claim separately. For example, in torts, tell the professor who (plaintiff) is suing whom (defendant) for what (tort)?