Writing Take Home Exams

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Writing Take Home Exams!

• Some Thoughts
• Gillian Calder

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Agenda

• Few Caveats
• Why a Take Home Exam?
• Just Another Day at the Shop Exams in Context
• A Duck is a Duck (Or How is the Take Home Exam
  Different?)
• Three Big Tips
• Over to You

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Objectives

• demystify
• basic strategies and tips
• challenges and pitfalls
• brainstorm

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Caveats

• (fancy Latin word meaning academics always start
  presentations with apologies)
• different professors, different views
• talking vs. doing

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Why a Take Home Exam?

• What scares us most about exams?
• You think thats scary?
• a. Gillians torts exam story
• b. Gillians admin law exam story

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Just Another Day at the Shop(Or Putting Law
School Exams into Context)

• continuation of the law school enterprise
• go into that room by yourself for three hours
  with a pencil
• application of legal principles to new facts
• putting your skills to work

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What Does a Take Home Exam Test?

• is prepping for exams what you do in the two week
  period before exams? -- no!
• best learning is deep learning
• testing what you have learned by
• going to class
• reading
• organizing
• applying and practising

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A Duck is a Duck (Or How is the Take Home Exam
Different)
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Are the Types of Questions Different?

• no!
• evaluating your learning
• knowledge questions
• application questions
• identify the issue
• identify the authority
• look at both sides
• come to a conclusion

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Are the Expectations of my Professors Different?

• no!
• have you thought about and learned the material?
• pay attention to pages/word count
• more reflection less clutter

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Do I Prepare Differently?

• no!
• study for exam with questions in hand
• use time wisely
• make sure notes are complete
• focus on synthesis
• remain curious

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Do I Write the Exam Differently?

• no!
• (o.k., thats a small lie)
• goal demonstrate your knowledge
• read carefully, reflect
• answer only the question asked
• pay attention to word count/page limit
• re-read review
• set aside pure writing time
• re-read reflect
• edit
• sleep eat stick to your schedule

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Three Big Tips

• Prepare an Outline
• Organize Your Answer
• Think Ahead

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Prepare an Outline Or Getting All the Marks

• Get a feel for the exam value
• Jotting dont lose your thoughts
• Focus on the question answer the question asked
• Make an outline
• Double check go back to the question

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Organize Or dont lose marks because you didnt
organize

• Answer the question
• Be concise
• Keep your analysis of an issue in one place Ha!
• Use a sensible framework
• Clearly identify your issues
• Write to space allocated

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Plan Ahead

• The dog ate my computer wont fly
• Common pitfalls are the same

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Over to you
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Thanks and Best of Luck!!!We are all in this
together.