<p>They’re not all that mythical. You can probably google what they look like. Essentially they’re just a long story with some (usually) open ended question at the end. Unfortunately there really aren’t any silver bullets. As a general answer, you need to do 3 things:</p>
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<li><p>Do your homework. All the reading, outlining (either making one or learning one), going to class, etc. Most everyone gets this part, though most people do it badly. It’s very easy in law school to focus your studying on the wrong things because you get absolutely no feedback.</p></li>
<li><p>Learn to write properly. Like the LSAT, the major constraint in law exams is usually time. Being able to quickly organize an answer gives you that much more time to write it. For example, my first ever law exam I wrote 27 pages in 3 hours. My friend who booked the class (won the award for best exam) wrote 35. Plus, good organizing makes it that much easier for your professor to pick out where you said the things that score points. Maybe half the class will learn to do this and actually be able to perform it during the exam. I’m pretty bad at this one but I have a lot of writing experience so my answers generally come out pretty clear in any case.</p></li>
<li><p>Learn your Professor. This is why things like “Law Preview” are so useless. Professors like to hear different things. By this I do not mean the undergrad “My professor is anti-abortion so I am too!” Rather, professors think certain kinds of arguments are better than others and you should use those kinds. My ConLaw professor cared a lot about structural arguments and not all that much about the other kinds. The top exam consisted of 75% structural arguments. This is the hardest thing to do because it requires you to both figure out what kind of argument style your professor prefers and apply it on the fly. Very few people manage to do this at all, fewer manage to do it consistently.</p></li>
<li><p>Luck. There’s usually a pretty easy way to distinguish between the A exams and the B+ exams. It’s nowhere near so clear where the A- line is. That may very well come down to how closely the professor is paying attention which could well be determined by how close to lunch your exam is graded. There’s also no way to account for the abilities of your classmates. Even if you nail 1,2, and 3, if everyone else does too you get a B.</p></li>
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