And the Many Different Ways We Will be Evaluated
As we all know by now, exams are right around the corner. As a 1L, it was news to me that a final exam could have so many different forms. Papers, take homes, in-class closed book, and in-class open book, to name a few. Let’s take a look at these and see what’s particularly the most fair (or unfair).
The final paper worth 80-100% of your mark is an interesting beast. It’ll often come in at well over 5,000 words and is hopefully about a topic you care about. In a sense, your entire semester of learning will culminate into one succinct document that fully determines your grade. I had never had an experience like this in undergrad so I’m not really sure what to make of it. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about it until next semester, so let’s just put it on the backburner until then.
Another interesting method of examination is the take home exam. This one I definitely saw in undergrad but certainly not at the daunting 100% evaluation total. I’m not sure how I feel about the take home exam at this point. It seems like you will have about a week to do some set of essay topics or standard exam questions. My gripe with the take home exam is more about where I saw it in the past. This type of exam was strictly for “bird courses” in undergrad that no one cared about at all. I think the majority of people love this format because they don’t necessarily have to make an outline. This is certainly a plus, but the expectation of the quality of work is substantially higher and this is daunting to me. Everyone is shooting for that “A,” so how can you possibly distinguish yourself from others when you have a whole week to do it? Style? Unique content? I have absolutely no idea. With two take home exams this semester, I imagine my opinion of them will be solidified one way or another when I get my final mark.
This leads me to the standard in-class exam format. Generally, it seems to be of the open book variety, but I’ve heard murmurings of the closed-book exam as well. I’ve frankly never had an open book exam before, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how bad and unusable my first outline is. I think the open-book exam rewards those that are able to prepare an extremely well-organized outline. Alternatively, the closed book exam is one form I’m much more familiar with. Honestly, I’m a bit sad I don’t get to see one this fall. I imagine I’ll change my tune when I see my first one, but I’ll cross that bridge once I get to it. I think the closed book exam, like its open book sibling, rewards good preparation. However, I think the closed book exam further rewards those with an excellent memory.
So what is the best, most fair form of an exam? Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a clear answer to this question. In my opinion, I think the best type of exam might be open book. You can use all the beautiful (or ugly) notes you’ve taken throughout the semester. You can fall back on old study methods from undergrad. Obviously those methods have worked if you’ve made it all the way to law school. On the flip side, I’m not sold on the take home exam. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I feel that it doesn’t resonate with my understanding of how exams are generally taken. At the end of the day, the fairness of an exam will depend on the person you’re asking. In order to be as fair as possible, I think students should be given an equal amount of all the exam forms.