Want to do better on law school exams?
Here is a lesson from the Winter Olympics that might help.
In 2010, I was a 1L during the Vancouver Games. Men’s figure skating pitted 🇺🇸 Evan Lysacek v. 🇷🇺 Evgeni Plushenko.
Their story changed my outlook on exams forever.
🧵👇
Lysacek and Plushenko were both excellent skaters. The biggest difference was that Plushenko could consistently hit a QUAD jump. Lysacek couldn’t.
Since bigger jumps = bigger base point values that was a huge advantage for Plushenko who needed fewer points per move to win.
Figure skating is 2 parts: short program and long. Plushenko was winning after the short having hit a quad jump. The press called him “King.” Lysacek didn’t even try a quad but was only a bit behind with a program b/c his potential score was lower but he got more points per move.
Plushenko wanted to challenge the judging (wouldn’t be the first controversy in skating, but that’s for a different thread). But it didn't happen. Although his potential points were WAY higher, his score per move was less technical and so lower. Plushenko was up a smidge.
In the long program, Plushenko skated a difficult program well. But again each move was less technical. Lysacek milked lots of points out of an easier program. It was a routine designed solely for individaul point values and not for traditional artistry or max difficulty jumps.
Lysacek also used a key rule to his advantage: jumps in the last half of the program got a 10% bonus. Plushenko did 3 jumps in second half of 8. Lysacek did 5 jumps in the second half.
And guess what: it worked.
It was not without controversy but Lysacek won 🥇 . Many skaters disagreed. The Olympic ideal is: faster, stronger, higher.
But as fellow 🇷🇺 olympic champ said: "this is a very difficult element...but the quality of [Plushenko's] performance leaves much to be desired."
Ok, so what is the point for law students?
I watched this in 2010 as a 1L and realized that exams are not that different.
Profs on traditional exams are testing for issue identification (# of moves) and handling those identified issues in a detailed way (technical score).
The goal is NOT to come up with the most unique argument (the Quad) or to do one arg really well. It is to identify lots of issues and analyze each as clearly as possible. Its not a style exam. It has a scoring rubric and excellence is demonstrated within that rubric.
So consider Lysaceking the exam. Focus on more individual moves (arguments) done well as opposed to doing some moves (arguments) well and others less detailed or technical.
The goal is not to find the most unique argument: its to identify and handle all the obvious ones well.
If you only identify half the issues and do a great job on each you can only get half the points. Whereas if you do lots of little issues on an issue spotter well you get more points even if each argument is not difficult (in fact, difficult issues don't even get more points).
Is that fair? Shouldn't law professors reward the most unique arguments & depth?
Yes and No.
Independent thinking & identifying creative solutions are important. But not as important as demonstrating mastery at the key topics. Plus it allows for comparisons on a curve.
Are law school exams and figure skating really the same?
Of course not. But IMHO this provides a helpful mental model for thinking about excellence as doing lots of individual args well as opposed to spending lots of words on creative (hard) solutions while missing basic issues
Its also a good reminder that whether we like it or not every activity we do/game we play has a rubric--and understanding and optimizing for success using that rubric is important. The same is true for a lawyer who learns what a judge wants before drafting a brief.
Good luck on the spring semester and to those who are fans, I hope you enjoy the #WinterOlympics.
Sources:
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruple_jump_controversy
-worldmeets.us/lifenews000001.shtml
-wbur.org/onlyagame/2014/01/11/quad-jump-1440-degrees
You can read the unrolled version of this thread here:
typefully.com/u/JonahPerlin/t/HsukrDOyCc47