A good piece of advice from academic support professionals and law professors for students taking law school exams is to begin with the “call of the question.” Who is calling, and what do they want?
The call of the question is the question part of the essay exam. This sounds like nonsense. Why not just read the question from start to finish? The reason to read the call of the question first is to have a road map of where you are asked to go when reading the fact pattern. The call of the question can generally be found at the bottom of the essay. One example of a call of the question is, “Discuss the potential causes of action against Defendant and his defenses.” This is an open ended or “issue spotting” type question. Another style is an “issue spotted” question like, “You are the prosecutor in this case. Can Joe be convicted of burglary under the statute?” This question is asking you to analyze only one issue, that is burglary from the viewpoint of the prosecutor. By reading the call of the question first you will be able to narrow the issues to those the professor wants you to address, thus improving your performance. (Bonnie Stepleton)
