General Thoughts on Final Exams
1. An Open Book Exam Does Not Give You A License To Close Your Mind: An open book exam can be a trap for the person who has decided that the book will take the place of his or her ability to think. Books do not answer questions. That is solely your job. The rules (statutes for Civil Procedure, Evidence, Tax, Sales, Commercial Paper, Secured Transactions, Banking) are there as a quick referral, because statutes are often rather dense (detailed). Also, the rules usually have notes to provide guidance, but you should have read, parsed, and detailed the code well enough so that you can answer the question without body-hugging the code. If you need a reference to a code section or sub-section - - cool. Go ahead and follow the tab to the section you need. Discuss the law and provide a reference to the section, sub-section, and/or case name. Then move on it. The code is not the answer; it is a reference point to use the proper language. You are "The Answer."
2. Apply Equal Opportunity Study Periods For All Examinations. Do you have three exams next week? If so, don't spend three days on one exam and one night on the other two, less fortunate exams. Will you face an exam on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, or Monday, Wednesday & Friday? Do not spend the entire weekend on Tuesday's exam, knock that exam out of the park, then stay up all night Wednesday, only to head into Thursday's examination with a crazy look on your face because you are exhausted. Then after Thursday's examination, you fall dead asleep, and now you are extremely anxious about Saturday's test, so much so you are more nervous than anything else on Friday.
Sounds horrible, doesn't it?
It is.
So, don't do it.
Okay, what should you do. Divide your time into three sections (no, not equal time for all subjects, but some time for all subjects). Spend about 50% of your study time on Tuesday's exam, 30% on Thursday's exam and 20% on Saturday's exam. Spend the time for Tuesday's exam answering practice questions and memorizing the law. Yes, Answer The Questions. There is nothing like it. Spend the time for Thursday's exam fine tuning your outline - make sure you have what you need - clarify the law. Spend the time for Saturday's exam preparing your outline. Work on the 50% exam piece first thing in the morning, then the 30% exam piece, then the 20% exam piece. Before you turn in for the night, return to the 50% exam piece for 45 to 60 minutes. Give it one more run through. Then go to bed.
3. Sleep, Eat and Be Merry. Be certain to get at least five (5) hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. Six (6) is much better (btw: I think you should get eight (8) hours of sleep, but I know many of you won't do that, so I am trying to be realistic). Turn off the lights, the music, the telephone, the television, and the stereo and get a real dose of sleep. Rest in a bed, not on a couch, or a chair, or on a table. You are anxious if this is your first set of exams. That is okay. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SLIGHTLY ON EDGE. You take the edge off, or at least lessen it some, by sleeping. When you sleep, you also give your mind adequate time to absorb what you have read, memorized, and wrote from the previous day (know it before you go to bed). You cannot just continue to push information into your mind without allowing your mind time to calculate your thoughts and store the information away in either a short or long term memory bank. Find Good Food as often as you can. That means that you should try (just try) to stay away from too much caffeine, too many high fat foods, and an overwhelming amount of sugar late in the evening. Try to eat food that does not having you jumping all over the place. Just, try. Try. Be conscious of your decisions.
Look for Good Food, not the food that comforts you. If you cannot force yourself to stay away from comfort foods, then at least try to eat the oreos with a salad. I am not a doctor and so this is not medical advice, but all of us know that we want to keep our blood sugar stable and not have it in an uproar. We don't want our blood sure to wave our bodies around like an uncontrolled garden hose.
I have seen people drink/take all kinds of "things" to stay awake. I made it through without those things. I think you can, too. It is my contention that Good Food, in adequate amounts, will do the same thing - - if it does not help you stay awake, then it will, at least, not overfill you.
However, no one is perfect, and I can tell you exactly what I do and just did, moments ago. I had a few cheese crackers, some Ruffles potato chips, and peppermint puffs. However, along with that "dinner," I had a full vegetable plate of beets, broccoli, green peas, and mixed in sunflower seeds for protein. I had a full plate. Yes, I mixed it up. No, I'm not 100% healthy, but I feel like I did good job. Yes, sometimes it is forced, but it is rare that I do not have a full plate of vegetables. Yep. Plainly, cooked vegetables. Not dripped, dabbed or sprinkled with that stuff that we all like, but I hold it down with the P.V.
Not perfect, not imperfect, either.
4. Tomorrow: We will talk about Answering The Question: Providing a Cause of Action, Defenses, Damages, Remedies and Synthesis.
Okay, I don't know where you are in the country, but I've been awake and on the move for 16 hours straight. I'm going to transfer my energy into rest, so that I can get back to you with some more information tomorrow.
5. The Future: I hope to post #4 tomorrow for 1Ls and continue discussing the 3L bar exam conversation. Work and applications for employment will appear in a post for 2Ls next week.
Thank you,
Prof. Smith
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