How to Answer Law Questions

One of the greatest problems of a neophyte at law and most law students, is usually how to answer law questions. After all the ‘jacking’ and cramming it all comes down to delivery.

First thing you need to understand is that law exams aren’t there to test how much you can cram. Basically, it’s meant to test your knowledge of the area of law which the question borders. There are several types of law exam questions:

• Short answer

• Essay questions

• Fact based/ Problem Questions.

These question types would be addressed in detail subsequently. But we will be discussing, today, on how to prepare for law exams and what makes an examiner grade some students higher than some other.

The General Purpose of Law Exams

Like I earlier stated, the purpose of law exams isn’t to see how much a student can cram or how many laws a student knows.

Success in law exams require not only mastery of the material but the demonstration of an ability in legal analysis. The purpose of law exams is not necessarily to test information retention or memory capacity. Rather, the lecturer or examiner simply wants to test the student’s :

1. Ability to identify legal issues presented by the facts;

2. Knowledge of relevant doctrines of law, their scope and limitations;

3. Ability to apply the law to facts, utilizing established modes of legal reasoning to arrive at a conclusion.

However, before going into the exam hall, there are certain skills which a law student must harness if he/she desires to excel in a law exam.

I. Study Skill:

The best way to read for law exams is to Create Study Notes. Synthesize all the materials you have learned in that course. Make notes of your own. Go over the notes you’ve made while reading, including additional information and material you find on each topic. When exams begin to approach, just keeping revising your personal study notes till you internalize their contents.

However, if you haven’t exactly been doing much studying before now; all hope isn’t lost. You could still use the Crash Method. Most students use this method. This is a very risky approach because it puts you at the risk of blanking out in exam hall. However, there is still a way out. You might need to revert to “smart work”. Study past questions. Select topics which most likely recur and study along this line. In doing this, it is safer to prepare for at least five (5) questions and also try as much as possible to prepare for at least one question from each lecturer. This method however when incorporated with the first one is best for creating deep memories; making it easier to recollect those cases and statutes in exam hall.

II. Writing Skills:

Law exams usually take an essay/theory form. And as such always require a lot of writing. Because of this, a law student needs to develop good writing skills. One needs the ability to write fluently under examination conditions. In the least, ensure you write legibly and construct your sentences correctly.

In order to utilize this skill, one needs to grow it before exams. It becomes difficult to write well and fluently during exams due to the tension of time and the effort put into recollection. To conquer this difficulty, one needs to train himself/herself in the art of exam writing before exams. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

After you have created your study note or model answers-if you are using the past questions approach, you would have to sectionalize your study. Pick a topic on your study note, read it at least five 5times. After which you want to close your book, get a different jotter or notebook and try reproducing under limited time what you have been reading. This would make your brain used to the rigor of recollecting information and under time constraint. Do this repeatedly for the best results.

However, in the event that you are crash reading and wouldn’t have time to practice your writing, you can try reading a topic more than 5 times. So as to create deeper memories and to aid recollection during exams. The better your recollection, the easier it’ll be to write fluently under examination conditions.

III .Time Management Skills:

Law exams are usually given under very strict time limits. The reason for this is to test the student’s knowledge and understanding of the course and the ability to apply this knowledge in situations under the constraint of time. In simple parlance, the essence of the time constraint is to train lawyers who can think on their feet and apply the law to circumstances where time is of essence.

To overcome the time-constraint hurdle during exams, you need to plan your answer and stick to your plan. Planning your answer before the exam helps you to know what principles of law to discuss and the order for which they would be discussed. This works best for Essay Questions.

SECONDLY, restrict yourself to the time allotted for a question. Be ruthless in managing the time spent on a question. If you run out of time when answering a question, leave some space in case you have time to return to the question and move on to the next question. Don’t spend too much time on a particular section or on a part of a question; this is the mistake many law students make which leaves insufficient time to answer other questions. If you run into time problems and is unable to return to the question, you can write down the remaining parts of your answer legibly in the form of notes or key points. This would indicate to the examiner that you have knowledge of the question but is labouring under time constraint.

In subsequent episodes I’ll discuss how to answer the questions in the various types of questions found in law exams.

From The 2017/2018 Director of Research,

Eriobunah ChukwuDumebi.

August 17, 2018