Unprepared
I’m feeling rather devastated after my exam. Honestly, I just don’t know how I did. I tried to cover as many points as possible but I feel like I saw only the forest and not the trees (or he just asked really straightforward questions). I asked several people about one fairly easy (I thought) question (that was my first mistake — even asking!) and they all gave the same answer as me until another group came over and were like, “Didn’t you mention Omission? What about Complicity?” 
But what really got me down is that apparently our teacher spent a whole class discussing our state law on one topic versus the MPC & Common Law approaches. My study partner and I failed to include any state law on our outline and I completely missed the part of the question where it said “LOOK AT PAGE ___.” I did put down the correct statute and discuss the legal differences as I saw them (although what the heck do I know since, as I mentioned before, I have no recollection of this topic), but I failed to read the page she referenced, which had key data as to how they apply it. 
I feel like such a moron!
What is stressing me out most is that I attended almost every class and paid attention. When I compared my notes to a classmate’s, I had most of what she had (by pure chance — I was typing, but wasn’t absorbing). But do I remember anything my teacher said? Nope! Don’t even get me started on work. I want to be a successful attorney. How on earth am I going to do that if I bomb tests and can’t remember what I did this morning much less what I have planned for tomorrow? I guess it’s too early to tell what the long-term effects of the Neurontin will be, but so far mental defect is definitely a big one.
Okay, I’ve whined enough (assuming anyone’s actually far enough through my bitch session to care). Off to start studying for my next exam!
December 7th, 2007 at 1:50 am
Deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths. It’s all a crap shoot, but I’m sure you did fine. And if you work in a law firm, surely you know that law school has no relation to the real world?
Exams do suck, though.
:::hugs:::
good luck on the rest.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Exams suck.
((hugs))
December 7th, 2007 at 9:31 am
The worst thing I ever did in law school was talk about exams with my classmates after the exams were over. It’s too late to do anything about it at that point, and you just torture yourself by thinking of all the things you could possiby have done wrong. I also discovered that going over your exam with your prof after grades come out is the most valuable thing you can do. Nine times out of ten, what the majority of my classmates were saying they wrote on the exam, which I omitted and then agonized over, was not what the prof was looking for anyway.
Also, if it makes you feel better, success in law school is inversely correlated to success in the legal field. The people who graduate at the top of the class may get the “desirable” (so they think) jobs to begin with, but in the long run do not do as well as people who graduate in the middle of their class.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Don’t listen to others talk about the exam afterwards — more psych out potential. And for what it’s worse, the exams I always felt the worst about when I was done were often the ones I did the best on — go figure! Hang in there!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Sometimes you just have a bad exam. I had one where I was off and couldn’t answer any of the questions - like any. I’ve had others where I breezed through, thought I aced it, and ended flat on the curve. Other times, I’ve walked out feeling miserable and down really well. You just never know. It’s not over ’til it’s over. I have the same problem though - paying attention in class and then not remembering a darn bit of it when it comes time to study.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Like new duck and PunditMom I never talk about exams afterwards, even with my girlfriend, who’s in my section and, for some reason, loves to relive the exam we just took in minute detail. I honestly don’t think about it again until grades come in. What’s done is done, on to the next one, or even better, a winter break that will feel like eons…
December 10th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Indeed, exams are a form of speed torture. I’ll echo what Ana says. I’ve had almost no success in forecasting the results of my exams, partially because I, like everyone else, have no idea how well everyone else did. A Con Law exam I thought I nailed turned out to have been, well, not as successful as I’d liked. I thought I bombed my Property exam, but surprised myself.
BTW, yesterday the dead tree version of the ABA Blawg 100 arrived. Congrats!