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Improve your first-semester law-school exam grades

First semester grades are not your destiny in the Spring exams. I know: I’ve seen students substantially, even dramatically, improve their grades during my three decades of law teaching at two law schools, the NYULS and the CUNYLS.

Your first step is to identify your strengths and weaknesses in each exam in which you received a disappointing grade. To do so, you politely tell each professor that you studied hard, were disappointed in the exam result, and you want to improve your performance in the Spring classes and exam. You therefore would like to compare your exam paper with an ‘A’ paper. Many professors will allow you to do so. If the professor is especially agreeable, you might then ask if you could compare your paper with a second ‘A’ papers since there are often different paths to an ‘A’ grade.

In this conversation, it is important to be straightforward, professional and friendly, and not to say or imply that you are critical of the professor’s exam or you want to “appeal” your grade. Most schools prohibit such appeals.

If the professor agrees to such review, the second step is to be open to differences between your exam paper and the ‘A’ paper. Check initially for the obvious differences in the number of issues spotted and resolved in arguments. Did you simply miss important issues? Is that the main reason for your low grade?

Then, without being defensive, look closely for qualitative differences between each of your arguments and the matching ‘A’ arguments. Are your arguments as cogent, as compelling, as the ‘A’ arguments — do they incorporate your professor’s class themes, priorities and language, or did you mostly ignore them? Is your interweaving of elements of rules with key facts as accurate and complete? Do your arguments have the depth of the other arguments? Do those arguments, unlike yours, sometimes apply policy to buttress rule application?

Be open to the reality that professorial expectations for an ‘A’ grade often vary and avoid “one-size fits all” expectations. Occasionally, professors can be impressed by your diligence and desire to improve and offer to discuss weaknesses in your paper. Seize such opportunities. And always thank each professor for his or her help.

Do you appreciate how this comparison is the first step in your struggle to improve your Spring grades? Other steps spelling out how to focus on your Spring professors’ expectations and their exams will follow.