Finals Ruminations

Once again I managed to survive finals. The past two weeks have been obscenely stressful, but thanks to hard work and my recent rediscovery of Jolt Caffeinated Chewing Gum, I made it through. I also discovered that my insomnia, which is normally a nagging problem during the rest of the year, is an unmanageable soul sucking infirmity during a period of high stress such as finals. Between Wednesday, Thrusday, and Friday nights of this past week, I may have managed a grand total of 15 hours of sleep, and it wasn't from lack of effort. Apologies to anyone who saw me this week and thought I looked or acted like a zombie. And yes, that 15 hours was WITH the help of sleeping pills. If finals this semester taught me anything, it's that I should never take 4 finals in one semester again. That rule is right up there with my No Friday Classes rule. I've got my winter scheduled worked out to where I only have to take one final. Fingers crossed, I might actually pass it.

Here is the rundown on the tests and how they went. I can't put specific questions up, because apparently, that is an honor code violation. Also, I reserve the right to withdraw any compliments I give to teachers who end up giving me a bad grade, or insult to teachers who end up giving me a good grade.

WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ESTATES.

What can I say, Prof. Brown you are a stud. The class was great and the test was pretty straightforward. Time was close, but reasonable. Sadly, everyone in that class is smarter than me and there is a forced curve.

Predicted grade: B-

CON LAW

This test was just hell. Someone said that the professor stated that it was the easiest test she ever wrote. I would hate to have seen a hard test, because this one was brutal. There just was not enough time to cover everything. You can't write a two and half hour exam and then put enough material in there that students would have to write for four hours to cover everything. I know some teachers write long exams and don't expect the students to cover more than a third of what's there, but that seems silly to me and it is discouraging to students. My only real complaint with the final was time, however, this final also included one of my pet peeves.

Teachers, Professors, Instructors, Lend me your ears. When you say there will be three questions on a test, that implies that students will only have to answer THREE QUESTIONS. When we start writing the first question, and we are budgeting our time, we do so thinking, "only two more questions after this, so I can spend ____ amount of time on this question and still have time for the other two." Then, you flip the page and see that question two is more than one question, each with different facts that take time to read and consider. Just because you call a page "question two" doesn't mean it's one question. If there are five questions on that page, you can't count that as one question. It counts as FIVE questions! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

Other than that, not too bad; still beats last years contracts final. Or as I call it, "the Exam Equivalent of the shower scene in American History X."

Predicted grade: C-


EVIDENCE

It's always a bad sign when you have enough time to finish a law school exam. It means you probably missed the point of a question. Also, I ended up flipping a coin to answer one of the multiple choice questions, much to the amusement of the guy sitting next to me.

Predicted Grade: C

DEFAMATION

Last test and I spent roughly 5 hours studying for it. I have to be honest, I was so exhausted that I really didn't care what I got. I just wanted it to be over.

Predicted grade: C+

Post finals: People do different things to celebrate finals. Most of my classmates went off and got drunk. I went to the running trail and ran 17 miles, then went and got a pizza. I guess I just have a different definition of cutting loose. Anyway, it was a fantastic run, and the Pittman Wash looks pretty amazing at sunset, which was right about the time I finished. At the end of the run, I think I was the worn out I have ever been.

That's my report on finals. Stay tuned this week for the exciting tales of my visit to Utah and Danny's surgery. I'm hoping to blog semi-regularly through the rest of the break.