How to Prepare For the ITL Exam

Its that time of year at Levin College of Law: the leaves are falling; the Halloween
candy is everywhere; and there is a chill in the air. Thats rightits time for 1 st
semester law students to start getting serious about preparing for their first set of
law exams! The following information is being provided to you in an effort to assist
you with this process and make it more effective and efficient.
1.
Dont Ask. Any special arrangements regarding the exam are to be made
through the Student Affairs office. Please dont ask your teachers about
accommodations, etc. Doing so compromises your anonymity and we will just refer
you to Student Affairs anyway. Also, please dont try to arrange to take the ITL
exam early (it is your last exam). This isnt possible and will not happen. You
should direct your questions about the exam to Professors Mashburn, Reid, and
Steinberg.
2.
Format. The exam will consist of multiple choice and true/false questions
and will be machine-graded. Last years exam contained 50 questions and it is
likely that this years exam will be similar. Approximately one-third of the questions
will be about the materials taught to you by your skills instructor, Professors
Franklin, Womble, or Zedalis.
3.
Materials Tested. The exam will test the materials identified in the
assignments listed by Class # on the Assignments link of the TWEN site.
4.
Open Book. The exam is open-book which means you may have
appropriate materials with you and may consult them during the exam. You will not
be able to access any electronically-stored material or to consult any person by any
manner or means during the exam. You will not be able to use any type of
electronic device during the exam. You may have any materials you have prepared
(such as outlines) with you during the exam, as long as they are hard copies.
5.
No Access to Electronically-Stored Material. Since you will not have
access to electronically-stored material during the exam, you should begin now (if
you havent already done so) to print out the materials other than the assignments
to the books (which you can have with you during the exam).
6.
Exam Questions vs. Quiz Questions. The exam questions will be in a
similar format to the quiz questions. The quizzes, however, were designed to
encourage close reading of the material and sometimes focused on details. The
exam questions will focus on the main points in the assigned materials. We do not
expect you to memorize details and minutia, but we do expect you to remember the
main points each of the assignments made and to be able to apply those insights.
7.
Bring the Assigned Materials to Class/Print Them Out. If you have the
materials with you during class, you will be able to make a note of those parts upon
which the teacher focuses and to make a note of any passages you did not
understand.

8.
Read and Make Notes of the Main Points in the Assignments. Your
first step in preparing for the exam should be identifying the main points in the
assignments and highlighting those passages for easy review and reference. Since
you will be able to have the materials with you during the exam, a voluminous
outline may not be as helpful as a reference system to assist you in quickly
identifying the location of particular material.
9.
Brief the Cases. You have been assigned some cases to read during the
semester. You should read those cases as closely as you would read cases in your
other classes and brief them.
10.
Take Notes During Class. Your teachers focus on certain material during
class. You should have a record of the main focus of the discussion and also make a
note of any parts of the assignment that the teacher tells you are particularly
important.
11.
Ask Questions! Much of the assigned material is descriptive and selfexplanatory. We do not have time to go over every point made in these materials
during class. This is typical for graduate-level education. We assume that you are
understanding what you read. If not, it is your responsibility to ask questions. If
you do not get a chance to ask your question during or immediately after class, we
all welcome your emails or office visits. Do not wait until the days before the exam
to try and get your questions answered.
12.
Make a Note of Cutoff Date for Questions. It is likely that your teachers
will tell you a date beyond which they will not take questions about the exam. That
date may be the last day of class. For this and other reasons, you should begin to
review the materials to be tested now.
13.
Use a Dictionary. If you are encountering words you do not know in the
assigned materials, you should develop the habit of looking them up in a dictionary.
You may not be fully or correctly comprehending what you are reading if you are
guessing about what some of the words mean.
14.
Review. It is never too early to begin reviewing for the exam. Organizing
some of the material well in advance of the exam will lessen your anxiety and the
amount of work you have to do to prepare for the exam.
15.
During the Exam: Read Carefully. Please read the instructions to the
exam carefully and do exactly what you are asked to do. Read each exam question
carefully. Students sometimes misread the question or jump to a hasty conclusion
that affects their ability to choose the best answer.
16.
During the Exam: Work at an Appropriate Speed. You should work at a
speed that ensures that you will finish the exam and answer all of the questions.
This can be a problem for students on law schools exams. It is simply not in your
best interest not to finish the exam. Dont spend an excessive amount of time on
any particular question. Move on and come back to a particularly troublesome
question if you have extra time.

17.
During the Exam: Check Your Work. Last year some students finished the
ITL exam early. Despite having their materials with them and some extra time, they
did not use the time to check their work. Some of these students made mistakes
they might not have if they had spent some time reviewing their answers. Just
sayin