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I think, by far, the most productive thing Boalt can do towards producing more bar exam-ready students would be?and yes, I know this is drastic?to REQUIRE all classes that are on bar exam subjects to be CLOSED NOTE, CLOSED BOOK.  Get angry now.  But keep in mind I am not actually suggesting this as a policy; I am only theorizing that this is would be the single best thing Boalt could do to prepare us better.

And really, I get it.  Law school at Boalt is pretty damn easy when all you have to do is take a few days to paraphrase entire commercial outlines and show up for an exam.  But after three years of being able to do that to pass exams, we gain almost no practice for what the bar exam requires of us: the ability to spit out glib answers without being able to reference our notes. 

Maybe some other students don't find this difficult, and have no problem transitioning from a deep, specific, note-enhanced type of writing to a shallow, note-free bullshitting style of writing.  For me, this is the only really hard part of studying for the bar, and if I had taken my torts, crim, contracts, property, evidence, crim pro, civ pro, etc. exams under the same conditions, I am sure that it would not have been so stressful this summer.

This is not to say that the tradeoff would be worth it.  After this is all over, I am sure those who pass the exam will say the added stress for 2 months over the summer did not outweigh the benefit of having almost all open-note or take home tests throughout law school.  But, as an institution, perhaps Boalt might have a different calculus?

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