First Law School Final

[ttiwed]

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[lipper]

dont stress it. that means, i would think, that your analysis was more in depth on the other questions. Your prof prob realized that the other questions were doozies, making the last one only worth 10%. Remeber you are not graded against the exam - only against your classmates.

[Coregram]

I agree it probably won't be a big deal, particularly if you did a good job on the rest of the exam.  Other people may not have gotten to it either, or may have only gotten a few points on it.

But you should take a lesson away from this.  You need to try to budget the time you spend on each question based on the points and try to stay in it so you take a shot at every question.

First thing I do when I get and exam is write the target time to complete by each question.  I might run over a little on one section/question, but at least I'm aware of it and can try to make it up.

Also, when I see I only have 15-20 minutes left, my answer get much shorter and basic so I at least take a stab at every question.

[racheles05]

I was worried about a similar thing, but the prof said that most people won't get to all of the questions and he put so many on there so that you can choose which ones you know the best. Well, I only did three out of seven. Actually I kind of answered four, but it was included in my analysis for the first question - don't know if I'll get credit for it . I included an analysis of service in the question about jurisdiction (there was personal service so it had to do with TJ), but the second question was about sufficiency of service.
Anyway, I should probably still be worried since I only answered a few questions, but I just can't bring myself to make myself any crazier than I was just before the exam. I suggest that now it's over you try to chill out. Get drunk, laid, whatever will help you unwind.  I guarantee you're not the only one who didn't finish the exam. If your analysis was really good for the other questions, you may be competing for the top grades.

Good luck!

[jacy85]

No point in thinking about it now, ttiwed.  If it's your first, you have more work to do.  I have my worst exam tomorrow (torts), and have motivation to completely forget about what a clusterf*ck it was, since I have Contracts on Monday, and have a ridiculous amount of work to do.

There will be plenty of time to obsess over how you did over Christmas break.

And besides, I'm sure you did fine! 

[slacker]

First, you're breathing. Overall, it beats the alternative.

Second, what Coregram said. Look for the lesson. Don't stress over what you can't change, but use this on future exams. I took an exam the other day, and realized I was taking way longer than I wanted to on the first question (issue-spotter), and wasn't going to reach my budgeted time on the second/third questions (policy). So I did a quick shift to those, trying to shave off a little of my budgeted time for the answers, before returning to the issue-spotter. I addressed most, but not all, of what I wanted to...but it was still a race trying to do that.

BTW, law professors do that intentionally...it's one way to differentiate. How did the students handle the overall task; that is, dealing with all questions.

That said, don't stress. It won't help. Just be glad you're done and get ready to move on.

Remeber you are not graded against the exam - only against your classmates.

You obviously did not have my torts professor, who felt that maxing out the curve would be in appropriate.

[aryeal]

It's not unusual at all not to answer all the questions - especially if the prof has jam packed the exam.  I can almost guarantee a portion of your section did not finish all the answers. 

[jacy85]

I got done taking my first law school final this afternoon. It was a four hour, four question, 300 point torts exam covering intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability. I'm starting to worry now, however, because I didn't even have time to get to the last question. Granted, the last question was worth only 30 points but that's still 10% of the entire test (which is the difference between one whole letter grade). Someone please smack me in the back of the head and tell me I'll be okay. I need a little reassurance here...

At least you read all the questions...I flipped through my exam three times to make sure I know how much time the prof recommended for each and the point totals.

Even with flipping through the exam, and then going back and forth looking at facts, I never even saw the final question.  It was worth 10 pts out of 100, and I'm just hoping the "extra" time spend on the earlier questions even me out.  But as I said before, there's no sense in dwelling on it.  I went out, had a beer with some of my classmates, lamented about it for a bit with my SO, and then relaxed for a bit, moving right on to study for my last exam that's on Monday.  It's even more motivation to focus and try to do well on the last exam, and just hope for the best.

Good luck w/ the rest of your finals...and make sure none of your exam pages stick together.