"I don't know"

[Buddy Holly]

My professors have no problem with saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure". If they want to elicit the answer out of you, assuming you did the reading (and sometimes even not), they can and do, otherwise they move to someone who does know. No big deal.

[jillibean]

I pride myself on the fact that I will honestly state if I know something or not. Regardless of what my professor wanted I wouldn't be able to BS. If half the class BS'ed all day I wouldn't learn anything and would easily get confused and distracted.

[brewha]

About a week ago, a kid in my Torts class got taken to task for dropping that little bomb.  Our prof told us a story about how he was called on virtually every day by his Contracts prof in law school (30-40 years ago).  One day he honestly had no idea about the answer to the question.  He answered "I don't know."  The prof moved on, and never called on him again.  This sounded great at first, but then my prof realized that "I don't know" meant you didn't have anything good to say and you had given up.  So his professor found a new teacher's pet.

Bottom line, even if your teacher hates "weaseling" (another on of my prof's pet phrases), it's always better to BS than give up.

Uh, you are wrong.  Being a "teacher's pet" only makes you hated by your classmates... and honestly most teachers' pets get the coveted C's on the exam.  You don't get graded for classroom participation.

[Consideration]

If half the class BS'ed all day I wouldn't learn anything and would easily get confused and distracted.

Welcome to law school.