Midterm Exam Coming Up? You Must Do This One Thing To Be Successful

And what it is might surprise you...

If you have any midterms in law school, you are incredibly lucky. For once, I am actually not being sarcastic. When I went to law school, midterms simply were not a “thing.” We had one cumulative final exam at the end of the semester, and that was our entire grade for the class. We received no feedback on how we were doing throughout the semester and had to hope that we were sufficiently grasping the law.

While midterms may seem like a pain and just one more thing you have to worry about, I encourage you to view them as a blessing in disguise. They are a wonderful opportunity for you to see if you know the material, understand what your professor expects of you, and test whether the systems you’ve put in place are actually working.

There are many components that go into successful exam preparation, such as getting organized, managing your time, creating study tools (i.e., outlines, charts, and flashcards), and memorizing the law. These steps are all crucial to being prepared. However, they are pretty obvious to most students at this level, so most students already do them. Less obvious, but equally, if not more, important to final exam success, is completing practice questions.

Practice questions might be my favorite thing in the entire world to talk about. Sorry in advance if I sound a little preachy, but I get pretty pumped on this topic. Practice questions are the single most important thing to do while preparing for midterms (and finals), because it will show you where your substantive problems are and where your writing and organizational skills are lacking.

Practice questions are also often the activity I get the most push back from students about doing, so I want to address some of the frequent objections I hear:

  1. “I don’t have time.” To this, I say you don’t have time to not do practice questions! Doing and reviewing a practice question can take as little as 45 minutes. Even completing just a few of them can make a significant difference. It is worth cutting something else out of your schedule to make time for practice questions.
  2. “I will practice when I know all the law.” I hate to break this to you, but you are probably never going to know “all the law” and will mostly likely end up putting off practice questions way too long or not getting to them at all.
  3. “That is not how I learn best.” Practice questions aren’t a matter of “learning style.” You can organize, review, and memorize material in any way that works for you. But, practice questions are the only way you learn how to apply the law. If you can’t apply the law, it is impossible to be successful on the exam.

Now that you have absolutely no excuse to skip doing practice questions, let’s discuss where to find them and how to use them effectively. First, find out exactly what format your exam will be (i.e., essay, multiple choice, short answer, etc.), how many questions there will be, and how long you have to complete the exam. Use this information to figure out about how long you will have to complete each question.

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Next, find practice questions that are in the same or similar format as your exam. The best source for practice questions is always going to be from your professor, because, you know, they write your exam. Practice questions from professors may come in the form of old exams, in class hypotheticals, or practice questions they specifically prepared for the class. Sometimes your professors have the practice questions or old exams on file in the law school library or on websites. However, sometimes none, or very few, of these questions are available. Does that mean you should not do practice questions? Of course not!

Your textbook can also be a great resource. You know those hypothetical questions at the end of each chapter that you’ve been ignoring all semester? Now is the time to do them. Additionally, there are roughly one million commercial study aids available to law students that have an abundance of practice questions.

Once you have compiled all your questions, it is time for the real fun to begin. Complete your practice questions under exam-like conditions. This means no social media, a quiet work space, only using materials you will be allowed to have with you on the exam, and timing yourself. Adhering to this process gives you the opportunity to see what your brain does when there are timing restraints. It also allows you to see what you truly know and can discuss without notes or looking up answers as you go.

Now that you’ve completed your practice questions, you are done, right? WRONG. The final, and most important step, is reviewing your answer. First, engage in self-evaluation by reviewing the substance of your response. If you missed any substantive issues, go back to your outline, and see if you need to make any changes. Next, and please don’t skip this step because it is so important, get someone else to read your response. This can be a classmate, teaching assistant, academic success person, or even your professor. Whoever you choose, make sure they can give you honest and accurate feedback on your writing skills. Finally, incorporate any feedback you receive when you complete, you guessed it, your next practice question.

Now that you are just as jazzed about practice questions as I am, go and kick some midterm butt.

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Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.