The halfway mark of the first semester of law school. That really wasn't so bad. I guess that's why they have finals in the 2nd half, to maintain a high level of suspense.

Attention is slowly shifting to the exams, which are your entire grade in the class. Law school has a reputation for being cutthroat and competitive. UCLA is pretty mild in this regard but it's an inevitable result of the curve grading system: the goal is not to be good in absolute terms, what's important is being better than your classmates.

Everyone is starting to negotiate that gray area between being overly self-reliant (and missing important points of law) and being overly generous with one's study materials (and potentially giving away a competitive advantage)

I know it sounds horrible. But consider. Law exams are entirely open-book. So one's net performance is going to be a combination of a) the quality of the materials you prepare & bring to the exam and b) what you actually write. If you come up with the greatest torts exam technique ever, it doesn't benefit you to share it.

Believe me, there are people who have an intuitive grasp of all the material who will be weak on the exam; and there are people with a so-so grasp of the material who will prepare great exam materials and ace it. The exam is not a test of being a lawyer. It is a test of specific analysis & writing skills in a limited time interval. To do well, you can't gloss over the executional aspects.

08 Oct 04