1. James Grimmelmann - February 4, 2010 at 8:23 am

   I haven’t had the same experience. I give a 24-hour self-scheduled take-home exam whenever I can. I’ve found that they’re substantially better than in-class exams. They’re certainly more readable, but they’re also far better organized, and generally display significantly better professional judgment.

   One very important thing I’ve learned is that the page limit matters. When I brought the limit down from 15 double-spaced pages to 12, the exam quality went up. The limit forces students (or many of them, at least) to focus on picking their best arguments.

2. Lori Ringhand - February 4, 2010 at 8:32 am

   I frequently give 24 hour take home exams. I do think the quality is better; I also think such exams better reflects the work actual lawyers do. Students, however, do not necessarily prefer take homes. I’ve found they can create a lot of stress – both simply for being different and also because of fears that their classmates will in fact spend something approaching 24 hours actively working on the exam.

   Page limits are essential – for your sanity and theirs.

3. Mike Zimmer - February 4, 2010 at 8:38 am

   I have learned that when you give take-home exams, especially to students who have only had in-class ones, it is important to spend a bit of time with the class on the strategic implications for their exam preparation if they will have to fit a take-home into a schedule that includes in-class ones.

   When I have done a little talk through, the take-home exams are better organized and written than in-class ones. I am not sure that the answers reflect considerably deeper thought. After all, most of us resist thinking deeply no matter the circumstances.

4. Howard Wasserman - February 4, 2010 at 8:41 am

   I concur with everything that Lori and James said, particularly about page limits as essential to easing student anxiety. What I always have told students with 24-hour take homes is that they should work, including writing and editing, for a grand total of 14-15 hours, if they stay relaxed and work in an orderly fashion.

   I recently have gone the next step to talking even a 24-hour time crunch away–giving the essay portion exam on the last day of class and making it due when they walk in the door for the in-class exam, however many days later. Still toying with this one.

5. Ken Rhodes - February 4, 2010 at 8:51 am

   Mike wrote: >>I am not sure that the answers reflect considerably deeper thought. After all, most of us resist thinking deeply no matter the circumstances.>>

   Well Mike, is that “most of us teachers,” “most of us attorneys,” or “most of us humans?”

   Seriously, though, I think maybe that (your first sentence quoted) is not a bad thing. Perhaps “deep thinking” is the enemy of thorough treatment of a very specific question. When we try to “think deeply,” we have to include consideration of tangential issues, following those tangents to probable–or merely possible–conclusions that are not directly relevant to the particular question at hand.

   I should think part of the education of an attorney is learning to separate the “deep thoughts” from the prosaic workaday tasks, which are the ones represented by most exam questions.

6. Anon - February 4, 2010 at 10:29 am

   What most professors fail to take into account is that in the majority of modern law school classes a large number (between 10-20% and possibly as high as 40% in some situations) of the students are receiving extra time to accommodate diagnosed disabilities. It won’t be obvious to you in teaching the class and it is supposed to be invisible in the exam process. While you might think a 24 hour take home negates the need for extra time (since you design the exam to really be 11-14 hours), everyone takes the maximum time in these things because of fear they might miss something. Thus, the student has 36-48 hours. If you give an 8 hour exam, they have 12-16 hours. For students with chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus etc., you have now dramatically increased their stress and fatigue levels. This is to say nothing of disabilities such as eye impairment or carpal tunnel where they may need readers or scribes for the entire time allotted. So, for a non-trivial minority of the class, you are doing exactly the opposite of what you seek to do. Just something to think about. You might ask your associate dean for a ballpark figure on the % of students in the school who are on accommodations that give them extra time on exams. It may lead you to re-think (or it may help explain a bi-modal distribution of quality decreases/increases).

7. Stephanie - February 4, 2010 at 10:40 am

   As a third year law student, I have had the misfortune of being subjected to several take home exams over my law school career. I often feel much more anxiety about take home exams because I need to find a place to focus and work quietly all day (the library and my apartment are both full if distractions). I often feel that is difficult to get into the exam state of mind when I’m not in the class room ready to write my exam during the 3 hour exam period. I don’t think I get better or worse grades on take home exams as compared to in class exams, but I often will always choose a class that has an in class exam over one that has a take home.

8. Michael Risch - February 4, 2010 at 12:12 pm

   I give 8 hour take home exams – self scheduled – the students have a week to pick any 8 hour time period. I write the exam with strict word limits, as well as so that it could be cranked out in 3 straight hours (some students do this).

   I think this answers a lot of the concerns discussed above: 1. Self-scheduling allows for avoiding distractions a bit better (there is an empty classroom at school during the scheduled exam period for those who need silence)
   2. 8 hours doesn’t allow people to work 24 straight hours
   3. 8 hours provides more time for learners of different types and abilities to digest complex fact patterns

   I’ve found the quality generally good.

9. Mark Edwards - February 4, 2010 at 1:35 pm

   I didn’t like giving them, personally.

   Here’s why: think about that word, “home.” In a classroom exam setting, the environment is the same for all. The single mother of three and the privileged kid straight out of college take the exam in the same quiet, with the same amount of time. Now picture them at home — doesn’t that word have very different meanings for them? People arrive at law school with all sorts of advantages and disadvantages, and we can’t equal them all out. But, in this instance, we can at least not exacerbate one of them. That’s my take, anyway.

   Lori — do you remember a certain Civ Pro II 24 hour take-home we took? I worked on that sucker for 23 hours. Maybe that’s why I hate them, actually.

10. Lori Ringhand - February 4, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    Mark:

    Only 23? Huh.

    lar

11. Mark Edwards - February 4, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    Maybe 23.5. I had to get it back to school.

12. Matt - February 4, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    The reason that some exams are actually far worse is that students who take take-home exams that are given over a time that is far longer than the standard 2-4 hour exam might feel they do not have to prepare or prepare any where near as much for them. But if you do not prepare like it was an in class exam, the extra time is not going to help you.

13. Civ Pro King - February 5, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    I don’t mean to be too blunt, but you shouldn’t give take home exams. It’s where the cheating is at and where the dunce excels. It also it creates the risk of the smart students learning the material better than the professor resulting in the professor being incapable of understanding because he/she is now at an inferior level of understanding. A lot of people critize the conventional exams saying that a student semester long understanding comes down to 3 hours. That’s a naive position. Lawyers work under the stress of time all the time. Give ‘em three/four hour exams. You’re doing them a favor.

14. Colin Crowe - February 7, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    I did significantly better on take-home exams. In law school, I averaged an A- on take home exams and a B- on in-class exams.

    I hand wrote all in-class exams, as I type much more slowly than I write. But, I certainly write much more slowly than the average law student can touch type. For me, a take home allowed me to craft an outline, revise that outline, draft an answer, and revise my answer. I didn’t have enough time to do that with in-class exams, and my performance suffered. It wasn’t that I couldn’t think as quickly as others; rather, I simply couldn’t get it on the page, whether I hand wrote it or typed it.

    Students that can type 2000 words per hour are at a significant advantage in in-class exams. To me, take homes level the playing field a bit. Another solution: require that all students hand write an in-class exam, unless physically unable to do so.

15. Lotta - February 7, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    As a future law student, I would say “no thanks!” -at least to the 24-hour-take-home exam. An exam like that puts students with different life situations in very unequal positions. Not all of your students are young and single and without other obligations. Expecting students to find 14 hours in a 24-hour period may put undue strain on some and give an unfair advantage to others. I’m a single mom of two, and even though I’m prepared to take on the rigors of law school, 24-hour take home exams isn’t something I’d sign up for.

16. Sonali - July 14, 2010 at 10:36 am

    I submitted my very first take home exam last night and I realized that it has many advantages. I will only mention two that stand out:

    1. You actually LEARN from it. This is really the point of the education you’re paying so much for. You have the time to look up important sections and re-read them. With the volume of material we get, it does help to go back to the text. After an in-class exam you just walk away. You almost never have the time to go back and clarify your doubts.

    2. You are much less stressed and get enough sleep. Our program director thinks back-to-back exams make us stronger. For example we had 4 in-class exams over 2 days; each was 3-4 hours long. But leading up to the exam we did not get much sleep. Add stress to that and your immunity is sure to drop. So how does it make us stronger again?

    I am a mom of a 5 year old and work full time. I know I will never have the time that a student with no kids will have, but that constraint remains the same when I am preparing. Time with my son eats away at study time anyway. At least with a take-home, I get the opportunity to review material that is barely possible with an in-class open-book exam.

    I learnt a lot from the exam and am not sleep deprived. I LOVED it. More exams should be such.

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