Friday, March 21, 2014
Many students have problems with outlining an answer before writing it on the exam. When all you hear is typing fingers around you, taking the time to outline your answer might seem like a luxury you don't have time for.
Consequently, I have students make a short "attack" outline to use during the exam (if it is open book), and ask them to set up that outline in something of a fill-in-the-blank format.
For example, the attack breakdown for adverse possession might look something like this:
Open and Notorious --
On the exam, once the student recognizes that a question is asking about adverse possession, he or she can simply fill in the relevant facts on the attack outline and then write the exam answer. Especially for the weakest students, who might have timing issues and tend to leave out elements and specific facts, such an attack outline can be invaluable.