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Mock Criminal Law (1L) exam and feedback

J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
edited December 2020 in General 14200 karma

Hi everyone,

As we recently announced, we've created lessons to explain law courses you’ll take in your 1L year. As part of that effort, we also want to teach you how to write a law school exam.

Law school exams truly are unlike any exams you’ve written in undergrad. That in and of itself is daunting enough. They also happen to account for the entirety of your 1L grades.

Therefore, if your 1L grades are important to you, it’s important that you become acquainted with how to write good exams.

So, we’re giving every student enrolled in an LSAT or Admissions course the opportunity to take part in a mock Crim Law exam. We don’t want your very first experience with writing an exam to be one with so much riding on it. Rather, do a trial run with us and we’ll hold your hand. We’ve temporarily opened up some lessons normally available only to students enrolled in our Law School Explained courses.

If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, first listen to or watch some lectures (appx 2.5 hours), then read one case (appx 45 mins), and finally write an exam (2 hours).

“Waah, that’s a boatload of work!”

It sure is.

From the exams that we collect, we will select three, anonymize them, and offer detailed feedback.

The lessons, the exam, and the feedback will all be provided by Prof. Daniel Epps of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

If your essay is selected for review, you’ll be receiving personalized feedback on how to improve your writing. The catch is that the feedback will become part of the course to benefit other students as well.

If you submit an essay and we do not select it for review, you’ll still gain free access to the critiques of the three essays that we do select. This will enable you to compare your own exams to see where you can do better. Normally, those lessons would be only available to students enrolled in our Law School Explained courses.

If you’re concerned about the odds of your essay being selected, I’d direct your attention to the quote above. Because we’ve setup the process to be time consuming and demanding, I don’t expect that we’ll get too many responses. This mimics what you’ll quickly come to expect as normal once you’re in law school. It also has the additional effect of filtering for only the original gunners.

If that’s you, then I wish you good luck.

You may begin here.

Deadline for completion is October 31.

Comments

  • jmarmaduke96jmarmaduke96 Member Sage
    2891 karma

    This is such a fantastic opportunity. Thank you JY!

  • VerdantZephyrVerdantZephyr Member
    edited October 2020 2054 karma

    Thanks a bunch JY. I LOVE this. I do not know if I will have time in the midst of applications to do it, but I really appreciate this whole concept. Giving students, aka consumers, the chance to make sure they are really interested in the 300,000 dollar product they are buying before they sign their checks is such an incredible opportunity. Thank you. I really mean that deeply.

  • MariatoyaMariatoya Member
    4 karma

    This is AWESOME!!! I can't wait to do it.

  • rachelelainehsurachelelainehsu Free Trial Member
    3 karma

    Is this open to all students of the $10 admissions course, or just the more premium plans? Super interested in this!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @rachelelainehsu Yes, the $10 admissions course would get you access to this as well.

  • kamelbrooklynkamelbrooklyn Alum Member
    36 karma

    So once we hit "save" does that mean it's submitted? What if we did it after the time expired? (Like, 15 seconds after, since I can't see the timer on the screen while I write). I don't want my work to not count after all this time!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @kamelbrooklyn Yup, once it's "saved" you should be all set. It's fine that the timer expired. :)

  • 273 karma

    @"J.Y. Ping" said:
    If your essay is selected for review, you’ll be receiving personalized feedback on how to improve your writing. The catch is that the feedback will become part of the course to benefit other students as well.

    Will the critiques of the three essays be made publicly available to those who have an LSAT or Admissions course but who did not submit an essay?

  • 273 karma

    And will the Criminal Law videos that are pat of this mock essay contest be available still after 10/31?

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @"Learned Astronomer" After 10/31 the Criminal Law videos will be accessible only to those enrolled in Law School Explained. Same for the critiques of the essays.

  • PROMISED LANDPROMISED LAND Member
    340 karma

    Awesome! Thank you!

  • hollyludvigsen99hollyludvigsen99 Alum Member
    3 karma

    I completed the mock exam, but after my time expired there was no option to submit, I just kept clicking "save." How do I know if my exam was submitted?

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @hollyludvigsen99 Yup, we got it!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    Deadline is coming up in just 7 days everyone!

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    Hi! Also just double-checking that you got mine since there's something anticlimactic about merely hitting save.

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @2ndTimestheCharm Yup, we have it!

  • PROMISED LANDPROMISED LAND Member
    340 karma

    Just completed mine and want to make sure it was submitted. I'm not sure if I clicked save before time officially expired, but if not, I saved what I wrote and can resend. Thanks! That was hard and fun at the same time!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @"PROMISED LAND" Yup, if you hit save (before or after timer) we have it.

  • Heinz DoofenshmirtzHeinz Doofenshmirtz Member
    481 karma

    Sorry just a question on the deadline--can we take the exam any time on October 31st? Or does it have to be before the date October 31st?

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @"Heinz Doofenshmirtz" You can submit on Oct. 31st. The page will go offline on Nov. 1st.

  • Burden.of.FloofBurden.of.Floof Core Member
    1050 karma

    Ahh! Just finished the exam. I totally agree with everyone above... it's very scary to just press save haha. Thank you J.Y. for this exercise. I think it was a very valuable experience, especially for someone like me who kind of decided to start studying for the LSAT on a whim. I'm looking forward to seeing the feedback from the essays selected, and hope that it can help me improve my own writing, and the way I thought about the questions and the case itself.

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @EllaJ016 Nice job!

  • VerdantZephyrVerdantZephyr Member
    2054 karma

    @"J.Y. Ping" said:
    @"Heinz Doofenshmirtz" You can submit on Oct. 31st. The page will go offline on Nov. 1st.

    Timeline question. It is getting late here in Asia, what time in what time zone will submissions close? I would prefer to get some sleep after finishing the lectures and complete the exam in the morning, but that will be evening East Coast time. I want to make sure I have plenty of time to complete the exam, will it close at midnight EST, midnight PST, or some other time?

  • VerdantZephyrVerdantZephyr Member
    2054 karma

    Also, will there be a way to submit comments on the course under the videos/lessons? I would love to share/get thoughts on requisite mens rea for a given statute and states that find anyone who harms another in the commission of a crime to be guilty of secondary crimes.

  • MChacon17MChacon17 Member
    14 karma

    Where will the feedback be posted?

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @VerdantZephyr
    Page will go offline around noon ET on Sunday Nov. 1st.
    Comments are enabled under the permanent lesson pages for https://7sage.com/lawschool but not for the temporary lesson pages that will go offline on Sunday.

    @MChacon17
    They will be posted in the https://7sage.com/lawschool curriculum.

  • jmarmaduke96jmarmaduke96 Member Sage
    2891 karma

    Just submitted, thank you for the the opportunity JY. This is going a long way toward calming some of my trepidation about doing these exams for real in law school.

  • Vicky180Vicky180 Alum Member
    39 karma

    I just wanted to ask the law school classes say $9 or $16/month, is that for a certain period of time, or we can keep it for a month and cancel? Thanks!

  • Jay TeeJay Tee Alum Member
    298 karma

    Will there be an announcement once the exams + feedback are posted?

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @Vicky180 It's a monthly subscription and you can cancel it anytime!
    @"Jay Tee" Yup, it'll take a while though. We have to organize the essays, Prof. Epps then has to select the ones he'll review, then we actually have to produce the reviews. Will update on the forums when they are ready!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    Submissions are officially closed.

    Thanks everyone for sending in essays! I will announce results in the next few weeks.

  • 2ndTimestheCharm2ndTimestheCharm Alum Member
    1810 karma

    Hi, J.Y. Just wondering if you have an ETA on the results. It's a nice distraction from waiting to hear back from schools. :smile:

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    14200 karma

    @2ndTimestheCharm Soon, in 2 weeks!

  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    edited December 2020 14200 karma

    The feedback and some additional lessons are ready!

    Issue Spotter Question
    https://7sage.com/lawschool/actual-answers-issue-spotter/

    Policy Question
    https://7sage.com/lawschool/actual-answers-policy-question/

    This (and the original prompt / lessons) will be accessible to everyone for two weeks. After that, it'll only be accessible to students enrolled in Law School Explained.

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