Exam/ Grade panic

[Alli306]

Hi Everyone, 

Looking for a bit of comfort going into the holidays.

 

I just finished my 1L exams and am very panicked. I understood the material well, studied hard and was at the point where i could explain all the topics for my classes. Going into my contracts exam I panicked, although it was the class I felt best for, I missed some issues and missed applying a rule on one of the contracts on the exam. I feel pretty good about the rest of the exam, fully completing even though I heard some others did not finish. How hard it is to get a C? And how worried should i be about my mistakes? I am aiming for Big Law so I am aware that a C would be damaging for my chances in the 1L recruit. 

[TobyFlenderson]

You don't have your grades back yet. Are these concerns because you heard about other students talking about what they put down, and you feel like you should have said what they said? There is nothing to gain from stressing about it over the holidays, as hard as it may be to do otherwise. You're through your first law school exams. They will almost definitely by your hardest over three years.

Enjoy. Relax. Celebrate. The people who didn't finish might get great grades, if they hit all the high points. You might get a higher grade than the people who applied the rule you missed. 

And, in any event, it is entirely possible to get a C on a 1L midterm and still 1) finish the class with a perfectly acceptable grade and 2) work in Big Law.

Congrats on finishing your first semester!

[Alli306]

Yes, these are concerns talking to a few close friends who hit things I didn't, or approached things from a different way. This was my 100% final so my grade is completely dependant on this, so I am having an incredibly difficult time relaxing while waiting for grades. Thank you, I will try and take your advice and try to relax!

[omigone]

It's also important to recognize that you can't predict any grade in law school because of the curve. I've been in classes where you had to score a 90%+ on the exam to get an A because the prof made an easy exam and I've been in classes where the exam was so rough that you could leave full questions blank and still get an A. 

All this means is that there's no way to reliably guess how one did on a law school exam, since it's all relative. There's no use stressing over it! The upside to the curve also means that (depending on the school), you have an 80% chance of getting a B or higher. Yes, 14 people or so in in a class of 70 get Cs, but 56 of them do not. 

I hope that helps in putting the curve in perspective. It's all a bit arbitrary and really only speaks to how you did on a particular day relative to the class, rather than your absolute mastery of the subject matter. 

[Whist]

Something I do with people I know taking the same exams is that we agree not to talk about what we put on the exam. Granted, I'm past the stage of worrying about recruits, but it helps to just put the exam behind you and not fret about what you put on it in hindsight.

It's not hard to get a C, but even if you do get one (or more), you will come out the other side. 

[chaboywb]

1 hour ago, Alli306 said:

Yes, these are concerns talking to a few close friends who hit things I didn't, or approached things from a different way. This was my 100% final so my grade is completely dependant on this, so I am having an incredibly difficult time relaxing while waiting for grades. Thank you, I will try and take your advice and try to relax!

1) Don't talk about exams once they're over. All this does is cause unneeded stress. I would immediately put my headphones in after exams and go home without speaking to anyone.

2) I got my best grades on exams that I thought I bombed and vice versa.

3) I had a C grade on my 1L transcript and got a job through OCIs.

Don't worry, enjoy your holidays.

[Aurelius]

1 hour ago, Alli306 said:

Yes, these are concerns talking to a few close friends who hit things I didn't, or approached things from a different way. This was my 100% final so my grade is completely dependant on this, so I am having an incredibly difficult time relaxing while waiting for grades. Thank you, I will try and take your advice and try to relax!

For what it's worth, this is actually very common in day-to-day practice of law. We all could approach the same set of facts or problems differently. This disagreement is healthful in legal analysis particularly in areas where the law isn't settled, or its application/weighing of different factors is highly discretionary. It's where persuasion comes in to explain why your approach and interpretation of the law is the right one in this scenario - and why your friends' approach "sucks."

When you work as a team with other lawyers, you will often find each of us may have vastly different views and emphasis on the facts.

Don't stress. Law school can be a rumor mill and gossip central at times. Put on your blinders and enjoy your holidays.

I was a mediocre law student (B average all 3 years), but found my stride in practice (Bay St. family lawyer). 

Good grades can get you a straight path to where you want to go, but for some of us, we enjoy the scenery from a detour and petting the alligators along the way.

[Psychometronic]

4 hours ago, Alli306 said:

Yes, these are concerns talking to a few close friends who hit things I didn't, or approached things from a different way. This was my 100% final so my grade is completely dependant on this, so I am having an incredibly difficult time relaxing while waiting for grades. Thank you, I will try and take your advice and try to relax!

My practice was to leave the exam room immediately after the exam and not talk to anyone about it. There is no point discussing answers after the fact and it will almost inevitably make you more anxious. Grades are difficult to predict in law school and you might be pleasantly surprised. 

If you're done exams, try to take your mind off of it and enjoy your break. If you're not done exams, leave this behind you so you can focus on the next one. 

[LawNewbie]

16 hours ago, Alli306 said:

Hi Everyone, 

Looking for a bit of comfort going into the holidays.

 

I just finished my 1L exams and am very panicked. I understood the material well, studied hard and was at the point where i could explain all the topics for my classes. Going into my contracts exam I panicked, although it was the class I felt best for, I missed some issues and missed applying a rule on one of the contracts on the exam. I feel pretty good about the rest of the exam, fully completing even though I heard some others did not finish. How hard it is to get a C? And how worried should i be about my mistakes? I am aiming for Big Law so I am aware that a C would be damaging for my chances in the 1L recruit. 

Man, we're having exactly the same feelings for the K... Nevertheless, I forced my myself not to think about it because I have another one coming up😂

[canuckfanatic]

Just chiming in to say:

If you're prone to anxiety, don't talk to your classmates after your exam. Don't hang around in the hallway chit-chatting. Mute the group chat.

There is literally 0 benefit in talking about an exam after its finished, aside from harming your own mental health.

[Alli306]

56 minutes ago, canuckfanatic said:

Just chiming in to say:

If you're prone to anxiety, don't talk to your classmates after your exam. Don't hang around in the hallway chit-chatting. Mute the group chat.

There is literally 0 benefit in talking about an exam after its finished, aside from harming your own mental health.

Definitely will be doing so next time. I have my answers and the test questions memorized so I just drove myself more crazy by overthinking and talking to other students.  

[Lilbb19]

All good it happens. Just part of the learning process. I wouldnt be too worried, most people I knew racked up a C,D,F at some point 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Lilbb19

[GoatDuck]

Repeating the recommendations above, adopt a policy to not talk about your exams with others who'd taken that exam with you. 

[heyhey]

Just echoing the others, I never talk to anyone about my exam afterwards. In my experience, not only does it calm my anxiety but it also makes it a lot easier to shift my focus to the next exam/final assignment rather than dwell on the exam I just wrote.

[LMP]

I find there's no point dwelling on it, especially because I've found myself entirely useless at actually predicting what mark I got. In fact I seem to somehow always get the opposite of what I thought I would.

[BlockedQuebecois]

26 minutes ago, LMP said:

I find there's no point dwelling on it, especially because I've found myself entirely useless at actually predicting what mark I got. In fact I seem to somehow always get the opposite of what I thought I would.

I’ve told you before that this would stop happening if you stopped predicting you would get straight As. 

[Alli306]

1 hour ago, LMP said:

I find there's no point dwelling on it, especially because I've found myself entirely useless at actually predicting what mark I got. In fact I seem to somehow always get the opposite of what I thought I would.

Very much trying to over the holidays, hoping that the only reason i am panicking is because I know what i missed and that's still enough for the the B. Not hoping for anything but at this point. 

[Rashabon]

I'll be straight with you, you have no idea how law school exams are marked, beyond just what you happen to think the right answer is. Professors have answer keys and their own rubrics. I got an A on an exam I didn't finish because (1) marked against a curve, and (2) I did really detailed (and correct) analysis of the questions I did answer, as opposed to shallow and incorrect answers of everything. Point being is it is useless to try and guess.

[Eathwens]

Look, my best grades were the exams I thought I did the worst at. If you studied your best and tried your hardest, I think you did better than some students and won't get a C. 

[Turtles]

At the end of the day, you have a ~99% chance of passing and will not die from a bad grade. Law school really doesn't let you fail, even those who fail often get second (or even more) chances. Law schools tend to apply a softer touch than most undergrad schools, perhaps even high schools. 

Your grade is now out of your hands. Go enjoy your break.

One critical thing to learn going forward: how to live with uncertainty. Uncertainty never goes away. Even after law school, you will submit time-sensitive and challenging assignments to partners, submissions to courts, or deliverables to clients and need to wait to find out if you did OK. Being able to transition to the next thing on your to-day list to remain productive, and enjoying healthy habits and hobbies in your spare time, are invaluable life skills you are better off developing earlier rather than later. If you don't want to burn out, despite the endless uncertainty and potential dread or anxiety, life should be less of a roller-coaster and more of a merry go round, IMO.

[PzabbytheLawyer]

I remember I thought I completely tanked my contracts class because my classmate said he spent a lot of time discussing x issue when I hadn't even raised it.

I got the second best grade in the class. Turns out the issue wasn't at all relevant.

Breathe. Go to an Xmas market.

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, nothing you can do to help yourself right now.

I nearly had a panic attack during my 2L International Law exam when I realized (1) there's no way the professor would ask two questions about jurisdiction over foreign nationals, and (2) I completely misidentified the issue and spent the allotted time responding to what I thought was the first jurisdiction question. Pulled my ear plugs out and sat there, staring forward, as I felt like my law career was evaporating. For, like, five minutes, I listened to the chattering keys of my 59 classmates before collecting myself and figuring out what I could do to salvage the exam. I left the exam feeling completely deflated, confident I failed, and planning how to make it up (and alternative career paths). January rolled around and I was smack dab in the middle of the curve. 

I echo this:

16 hours ago, Turtles said:

Your grade is now out of your hands. Go enjoy your break.

One critical thing to learn going forward: how to live with uncertainty. Uncertainty never goes away. Even after law school, you will submit time-sensitive and challenging assignments to partners, submissions to courts, or deliverables to clients and need to wait to find out if you did OK. Being able to transition to the next thing on your to-day list to remain productive, and enjoying healthy habits and hobbies in your spare time, are invaluable life skills you are better off developing earlier rather than later. If you don't want to burn out, despite the endless uncertainty and potential dread or anxiety, life should be less of a roller-coaster and more of a merry go round, IMO.

[Xxyz]

Hijacking this topic slightly- when do Ontario schools typically release fall grades?

[scooter]

32 minutes ago, Xxyz said:

Hijacking this topic slightly- when do Ontario schools typically release fall grades?

middle of january

[Xxyz]

3 hours ago, scooter said:

middle of january

Ugh. That’s painful.