National Jurist - January 2009 - (Page 70)

DISTURBINGTHEPEACE How well did your first exams go? “ only merit, only raw intelligence and perseverance, both of extraordinary degree, were the sole means of success. Increasingly, I’d become certain that I was short on both counts ” — Scott Turow, first year About a year ago, I ran through my first gauntlet of law exams. I tried to play it calm and cool, but beneath the surBy Jon Peters face I doubted myself, I felt beleaguered, and I was adrift in angst. All of those feelings rushed back the other day, when I overheard a group of first year law students talking about their inaugural trip through the gauntlet. One of them lamented that her first-ever exam, in contracts, hijacked her life for weeks. I can relate. My first was in contracts, too, three hours long and all essay, closed book. To say I dreaded the thing would be an understatement. Heading into it, I had two practice exams under my belt, one in torts and the other in contracts, but those were proctored in very different conditions (i.e., no pressure). Otherwise, I didn’t know how much or how well I was learning, although I figured that my thinking had transformed to some degree because mom and dad no longer understood anything I said. Mom: “Your father bought a new car, but its engine doesn’t run well.” Me: “That’s too bad and, of course, that’s a breach of the implied warranty of merchantability.” Mom: “You and your filthy mouth!” The final countdown I was sure that the weeks before the exam would be taxing, if not hellish. Three weeks out, I synthesized half of my class notes with the most popular commercial outline, and yet there was so much yet to do. I needed to condense the second half of my notes, and to review relevant sections of the UCC, a monument to comainducing prose. In the end, I both succeeded and failed. I did condense and review everything, but I fell behind in my classes, skipping a case here or there, and foregoing all briefing in favor of just reading. At any rate, as I piled layer upon layer, nuance upon nuance, I fitfully digested the material, whose volume was equal to two or three undergrad classes combined. I thought I knew the stuff, but I continued to have no clue how I would perform on the exam. 70 Would I spot the issues? If so, would I spot the relevant facts? If so, would I apply the appropriate doctrine? Would a super-volcano raze my law school? “You may begin!” When I awoke on the morning of the exam, I grabbed my outline to review it once more, bleary-eyed from a restless night, maddening in itself because sleep was my only reprieve from studying. Unable to focus, I set aside all things contracts, flipping on the TV to bide time, and, in vain, to delay the inevitable. Unfailing, time passed too quickly, and I soon found myself in the exam room, protected by a fortress of pencils and peppermints, watching many of my classmates build buffets on their desks — sandwiches, cookies, candy bars, hot and cold drinks — you name it. Meanwhile, my mind was elsewhere Would I spot the issues? If so, would I spot the relevant facts? If so, would I And then I heard, “You may begin!” I followed my roommate’s advice to wait 10-15 seconds before reading the fact pattern, trying to avoid indirectly (and artificially) the pressure to keep up with the first person to begin typing. From my quick but careful reading, I saw the issues, I saw the relevant facts, and I knew the appropriate doctrine to apply. I wrote furiously, becoming more confident page by page, and I stayed focused for the entire three hours (astounding because I have a four-minute attention span). I cited cases, referred to provisions of the UCC, and touched on generally applicable principles of contract law. Quite simply, I did as law students do. And then I heard, “Time is up please stop writing.” I had survived the first leg of the gauntlet. Jon Peters, an award-winning columnist and student editor of The National Jurist, is a Leadership Scholar at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. E-mail him at peters.401@osu.edu THE NATIONAL JURIST January 2009

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National Jurist - January 2009 Contents Hot Button: Affirmative Action Entertainment: A Road Trip Through Law School News: American Justice, Kaplan Survey, Part-time Ranking The Firm Report: Diversity Law School Online No label No label Fordham Student Honored for Public Interest Work Former Law Student's Life Lives on After Her Death Most Influential People in Legal Education Most Innovative Law Schools Your Guide to Studying Abroad Career Hotline Texas Tech Law Grads Explore Dispute Resolution Evaluating First-Year Exams Disturbing the Peace

National Jurist - January 2009

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