SO SCREWED!

[nycdog]

i cannot believe i did not notice the word limit requirement on my civ pro final. i so went over the page limit!
now it all makes sense: people started to leave an hour before the final was over.
well, i guess it's too late to worry about it.
does anyone have a word of consolation? please, don't tell me i'm going to get a D. i don't think i bear it before my last final.

[Miss P]

Most professors will cut some slack for first years.

At worst, your professor will stop reading once you've reached the word limit and you'll get points for all you've written to that point.  I'm sure you'll be fine.

An anecdote, for what it's worth: Someone in my first-year section went 1500 words over the word limit on our first exam, and he got a B+ (from a not particularly forgiving professor). 

[nycdog]

Thank you! it helps.
i seriously thought i did a great job. until i walked out of the room.
i'm really pissed at the professor. she kept talking about how detailed our analysis should be and then she only gave us 3,000 words for 5 questions based on two huge fact patterns?... i just don't get it!
Oh! those law students and there pet peeves

[Mitchell]

Thank you! it helps.
i seriously thought i did a great job. until i walked out of the room.
i'm really pissed at the professor. she kept talking about how detailed our analysis should be and then she only gave us 3,000 words for 5 questions based on two huge fact patterns?... i just don't get it!
Oh! those law students and there pet peeves

Hope she doesn't count off for spelling.

[Miss P]

Thank you! it helps.
i seriously thought i did a great job. until i walked out of the room.

You're welcome, and good luck!  I hope it all works out for you.

And yes, some law professors don't really know what they want or write bad exams.  It's frustrating!

[Talk Is Cheap]

Professors with word-limit exams are painfully lazy.

[Miss P]

Professors with word-limit exams are painfully lazy.

This is only true if they don't take the care to make sure the word limits they've set are reasonable.  You could also say that law students who copy their whole outlines in response to narrow questions or blather stream-of-consciousness for pages on end are lazy.  Word limits, if used appropriately, are a perfectly decent way to give students some structure.  They both inform us about our professors' expectations and force us to be concise, clear, and organized. 

I do think, however, that professors should make their instructions absolutely clear (e.g., by printing the word limits in bold next to each question) and test their assumptions about appropriate length by writing model answers and adding some slack.

[grapedrink]

oh man I would MUCH rather be in your position than mine. Ive been hitting like 2500-2700 words on my 3hr exams and apparently this is wayyyy too short. Im so screwed...but really does anyone have like a general, average word count for exams? I know they run the spectrum but a rough average maybe?

["That One"]

 3,000 words is roughly 10 pages double-spaced.  If your writing more than this for a 3hour exams then chances are you are off topic somewhere in your analysis.

[nycdog]

3,000 words is roughly 10 pages double-spaced.  If your writing more than this for a 3hour exams then chances are you are off topic somewhere in your analysis.

totally agreed! i'm sure i went a little overboard in one of the questions.

however, in my defense, my professor kept saying that our analysis needs to be as detailed as possible. according to exam memo, we had to spell out every single step of the process, cite cases,
compare how those cases are similar to our hypo... and her question were loaded! she wouldn't tell us that a company is incorporated in some state and does business in another - it would be all over the place (go figure where minimum contacts are sufficient).

i'm not a verbose person. this is my third exam this year and i've never even reached the world limit before on any of my exams.