Exam Tips for the Kids

My words feel a bit like lukewarm alphabet soup right now. It’s tough to write coherently in the hours following my very first law school exam.

Speaking of which— let’s just hope that my professor has a good sense of humor and respects jokes about personal jurisdiction. Civil Procedure is hilarious. Trust me. If the lawyer thing doesn’t work out, I feel like I’ve adequately prepared myself to write the filler material for a Scrubs-like situation comedy based on a gaggle of 1Ls.

Any study tips out there? Check out the following study tips from Ze Frank, who has a daily video blog that you should watch on the regular.

One thing I’ve found that’s helped me out on exams (other than making cheesy videos) is to listen to the Wu-Tang Clan really really loudly on headphones just before I take the test. I basically rock back and forth and mouth the lyrics to myself. It puts me in the zone, and if the examination is graded on a curve, it scares everybody else in the room. This works to your advantage.

You can also summarize your case briefs in rhyming meter as a nice little mental shortcut:

Outline tactics can’t beat a rap schtick
Especially for an auto-didactic
It’s just much easier to grasp it
So here’s the facts, kid

For historical purposes, you’ll need ta start at the origin
In the woods of Oregon is where we’ll go foraging
Here’s the dilla.. Neff didn’t pay Mitchell some scrilla
Who had to deal with the fact that his property wasn’t attached properly
Which makes me nervous that I don’t understand the requirements of service…

Maybe that’s too confusing. But here’s a surefire way to psych everybody out. Grow a mustache. You will totally forget you have one, but everybody else around you won’t be able to concentrate. And when you do eventually look in a mirror, it’s a hilarious surprise.