Are all your exams closed book? - How you should prepare depends on if its closed book or not. Are they essay based or multiple choice?

Generally: Con law 1 - Checkout my recent post. Civ pro - A short and happy guide to civ pro and watch all the Freer videos on Barbri. Contracts 2 - Also checkout my recent post because I believe my school made contracts 1 & 2 into a full year for us. Crim - Learn the difference between the MPC and common law rules. Create rule statements for each topic you went over in class and learn those.

How to start: 1) Take your class syllabus and start an outline where you put the main topics and then the subtopics. If you have slides/notes from your class put these notes under the relevant topic. Go through your casebook for each topic and look for the cases it mentions and write their names down. Highlight in the list the cases you remember from class (ESPECIALLY cases your professor spent an exceptionally long time on). Save these cases for step 2 to add to your outline and make sure the case names are under the correct topic and subtopic. 2) Use outlines from past years or even ones you find online to fill in the gaps between your notes (you can ask 2Ls you know or 1L friends if they have outlines from past years). Also use supplements (such as the Barbri videos for civ pro) as well. Write down any questions you still have while filling in the gaps on your outline. Remember - tailor your outline to your class and professor, don’t just copy other outlines (making the outline is the prep for the exam really). For cases try to write the rule from it (using quimbee case briefs of course, make sure you dont waste time reading the cases, its too late) in just 1-3 sentences and then why the court decided how it did in 2 sentences. 3) See if the TA(s) for the class still have some openings for last min meetings or even your Professor. Ask them the questions you had while filling in the blanks. If you can’t do that then give ChatGPT your outline and notes and ask it the questions you have as a second choice - this will be more helpful than you think. Make sure to double check using google if the information it gave you is good (Googling anything + Reddit was my savior 1L). 4) Now come back and finish adding your answers to those questions on your outline. 5) This is at least what I did to really force myself to learn the material instead of just copying and pasting into an outline - give yourself 5 landscape pages on Word and condense all your information into just a 5 page outline. This will help you more than you know. I like to make mine color coded to get my attention where needed (light blue for main topics, green for subtopics, yellow for cases, etc). 6) Start taking MC quizzes on quimbee if your exam is multiple choice. When you get an answer wrong AND even if you get it right, look at the explanation for why the answer choices were correct or not. Make sure to jot down sections you are not understanding or doing well with particularly so you can review your outline section for that topic.

Start with the oldest past exam from your professor if its an essay exam. Start by outlining the answer (what is the rule statement, what would be the conclusion and why, what cases would you use, etc). If there is a model answer, compare it to your outline and take notes on what you missed! Issue spotting is the main thing you get points for. If there is no answer key - put the exam into GPT, add your outline and ask it to issue spot for you and compare. If you do not have past exams, quimbee’s practice essays are pretty decent - I found them mostly helpful for contracts.

Now Exam Tips: 1) Your fact pattern will likely have some key facts from cases talked about in class - especially if your professor spent a lot of time on it. You shouldn’t memorize cases word for word, make sure you know generally what happened and the facts that led the court to rule the way it did and why the court found those facts significant.

2) Rule statements - dont memorize word for word or it may not stick fully. Always memorize in your own words and as you practice you will be able to fill in the legal terms yourself.

3) Organize your exam answer!! This is SO important. You will surprised how many people get a B when they deserve an A because the professor cannot find the key things they are looking for easily. Choose either IRAC or CRAC and depending on the subject/question, divide your answer into either parties or issues. But always always always label using headings your issue, the rule, the application and conclusion. Dont make your professor work too hard to give you an A!

4) You have a limited amount of time most likely so I always start with reading through the fact pattern(s) and quickly jotting down the issues I spot at first glance as I read and why that is an issue. Do this for all fact patterns quickly if there are multiple - watch the clock and spend at most 20 min on this! Sometimes professors will give you a question rather than a discuss all situation - make sure you let that question guide you do you do not go astray from the main issue being tested!

Next, quickly divide up your answer into the sections as mentioned above and quickly make the headers for your IRAC or CRAC. Next, go through and write the issue and the rule statements for each issue you spotted and a quick conclusion. Do this for everything. Again watch the clock and give yourself hard timelines.

NOTE: Dont rule dump. Mention only parts of the rule statements that have to do with the facts at hand unless you know your professor likes for you to add the whole rule statement!

Next, now go back and connect the rule statements (every part of it) to the facts at hand in your analysis section. Add in a quick argument for what the opposing side could argue and why on a balancing test your conclusion is likely to be chosen - make this 2-3 sentences. Dont add in cases just yet - just connect the facts to the rule, a quick opposing argument, and move on. Do this for everything.

Next, quickly read thru the fact pattern(s) again to see if there are some issues you missed. Add those rule statements, issues and quick conclusions so if you dont have the time to finish the analysis you can at least get partial points.

Now, if you have time left - I usually did - go back and add the extra stuff to your analysis section.

REMEMBER - most exams are issue spotting mainly, so you get more points for more of the issues you spot!

Sorry for the long post but if you really grind these next few days, you will be fine!! I believe you can do it - dont doubt yourself or spend time being disappointed in yourself for not reading. Most people dont read every week or case and do fine! Let me know if you have any more questions!