All of us who are blessed with sight have some degree of visualization capability. Often, accessing that right-brain function can bring clarity to a text-based problem that borders on incomprehensible during the stress of an examination.
Do you tell your students to draw diagrams during the pre-writing stage of exam-answering? Consider showing them how. Of course, the illustration above (based on a standard Blueacre & Whiteacre real property problem) has more actual words in it than the diagram the student would make in the rush of an exam session – these words are for illustrative purposes here. If you demonstrate how to convert a Property exam problem into a sensible (literally) representation, be sure to stress that abbreviation is essential! (djt)