3 effective steps for Beginning Your Answer
1. Read the question at least twice before you start writing. Read it quickly, the first time, to get to the “call” of the question: what exactly are you being asked to discuss? If it’s Criminal Law, for example : Mr. A, Mr. B & Mr. C are busy committing crimes, the e’s nothing gained by starting to think about Mr. A and Mr. B’s crimes, only 1) find out that the examiner wants you to discuss only Mr. C (unless, of cour .e, the three of them are co-conspirators).
2. As you read through the question the second time, start writing down thoughts concerning ligal issues that you perceive. While you are doing that, highlight facts that are of apparent importance to your analysis. Note: – There is no excuse for mis-reading important facts in an exam question.
3. After reading through the question the second time, formulate a basic plan of attack- not an elaborate outline (you don’t have time for that), and write it down as a simple outline. All you want to do here is to- (1) preserve your initial thoughts about what to discuss-since it would be a shame to spot an issue and then forget to discuss it, and (2) quickly decide on a presumptively logical sequence in which to deal with them. (Sequence is usually not critical, and you will probably revise your sequence as you write.)