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Posted here is the form that will be provided during the exam to allow students to report issues with multiple choice questions if desired.
Please bring the casebook to the exam.
Posted here on May 5, 2017, is the instruction portion of the final examination.
I strongly recommend that students read this document before the exam.
The actual question portion (which is not included) is 4 pages, double spaced, for the IRAC/Policy portion. You may unstaple these four pages.
The multiple choice questions are in a separate, stapled, document, which is 24 pages for the multiple choice (47 questions). Please leave the multiple choice document stapled.
The exam is May 8, 2017, at 9:00 a.m., at the place scheduled by the school, for 4 hours: 240 BLB and 213 BLB.
Please be seated and ready to receive the examination and any last-minute instructions at 8:45 a.m. in 240 BLB.
For those using 213 BLB, have your place in that room laid out and please be standing in 240 BLB at 8:45 a.m. I will hand out all exams in 240 BLB and give final instructions there.
| Question - 4/8/17 |
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe in class you said future estates and interests would not be subject to the IRAC section of the final exam this year; instead, they would be subject to multiple choice questions. Is this correct? I know you said RAP will not be on the IRAC portion, but I am under the impression that extends to future estates as well. Thanks for your help. |
| Answer - 4/10/17 |
Yes, please take a correction: the RAP will not be something that is a points-earning issue on the IRAC section, but it is "fair game" for the multiple choice. The rest of the estate system and future interests are "fair game" for both the multiple choice and the IRAC section, and for that matter, the policy section. To the extent we discussed the policy drivers for the RAP, it would also be "fair game" for the policy section. |
| Question - 4/8/17 |
I am going through the sample MC questions, and have questions about problems 11 and 12. |
| Answer - 4/11/17 |
For 11, a question about the case of Keeble v. Hickeringill, the use of the term "favored" and "disfavored" comes from the case discussion, although not using those words. The case says, with the example of the school, that competition that the law will not allow includes driving away the students from the other school. In that sense, that type of competition is disfavored. For 12, the question indicates application of prior appropriation doctrines because the Coffin river "is a small tributary in the Western United States." Riparian rights apply to Eastern states. Under riparian rights the condition you describe would apply, unless there is a unique situation like that of Tyler v. Wilkinson (the trench owners were not treated as being exactly on the same footing as the original riparian users and had secondary priority of use after the ancient use established by the riparian users). |
| Question - 4/13/17 |
I wanted to check in with you to ensure that I understood you correctly. You will provide a review session from noon to 1 pm on Wednesday, April 26th in addition to class. Is that correct? I asked because we have Con Law review session on the 26th from noon to 1 pm as well. I haven't decided which one to attend, but will your review session from noon to 1 pm be recorded? |
| Answer - 4/13/17 |
The full class on 4/26/17 (10:30 to 11:45) will also be review, and then additional review until 12:50 p.m. See the "Review Session" entry in the table on the main web page. |
| Question - 5/7/2017 at 3:25 p.m. |
I have a question regarding your final exam instructions. In the adverse possession section it says that we will define hostility as (i) a claim under color of title, where the adverse possessor enters the land under a fraudulent or defective instrument; or (ii) as a mental state where the adverse possessor intended to make the land her own even though she knew she did not have a right to possess it. Where does the Connecticut doctrine and Tieu v Morgan case fit into this? I thought that the majority of jurisdiction defined hostility as using the land without the owners permission in a way that is inconsistent with the true owner’s legal rights but I don’t see how this fits in with either of your defined categories. Should I disregard the rule established in Tieu for purposes of the exam and focus on the Maine Doctrine intent to possess when you know the land isn’t legally yours or a mistaken belief under a fraudulent/ defective instrument? |
| Answer - 5/7/2017 at 5:15 p.m. |
My goal in defining what I did in the exam instructions was to avoid making students worry about the variations on the hostility state of mind element that came from elsewhere in the course, including the casebook and my overheads. |
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Here is a prototype of the exam instructions I anticipate using for a property law final examination. I contemplate that the ultimate exam instructions will be substantially similar to these instructions, however, I reserve the right to change these exam instructions in any way.
Here is a document about how to write answers for my exams and some information about how I evaluate these answers. There may be revisions to this document during the Spring 2017 "exam season."
Here is a video of a presentation I gave about how to prepare for courses and course examinations. To be most useful, one should watch this video sometime during the first third of the course. Here are the slides used in that video.
Here is a video of a presentation I recommend about how to outline for a course. To be most useful, one should watch this video sometime during the first third of the course.
I anticipate three sections on the final examination: (i) multiple-choice questions; (ii) Issue-Spotting Fact-Pattern question(s); and (iii) policy-oriented question(s). No one section will be more than fifty percent or less than fifteen percent.
There is a document linked near the bottom of this web page which provides additional detail and guidance for the multiple choice questions, including some example questions.
I also note that the multiple choice questions are meant to have broad coverage across the entire class. They are, as the examples show, designed to measure whether one knows the information, or has sufficient familiarity with the materials to be able to quickly locate and use the information pertaining to the question.
The policy question(s) are the most difficult to cabin. It is likely that they will have a greater focus on the materials from Perspectives than the Issue-Spotting Fact-Pattern question(s), which will have minimal focus on Perspectives. Policy questions imply different perspectives; issue-spotting questions imply doctrine and its application to fact patterns. This by no means implies that the policy question(s) will not also be based on Casebook materials. The Casebook has much policy content as well.
The table of assignments on the main page has example multiple choice questions, provided so that students have some sense of the likely scope, style and coverage of the multiple choice questions. I work on these questions as I prepare materials for the class during the semester, so they are meant to have broad coverage across the entire class, and test for fairly specific information from the materials and class discussion.
Here is a "tip sheet" about how to take multiple choice exam questions. The professor author of this tip sheet also relates various concepts of question design and approach that I seek to follow in crafting multiple choice questions.
Please note that I generally calibrate the length of the issue-spotting portion of my exams with the number of exam hours allocated to that portion. For each exam hour allocated to the issue-spotting portion there will be no more than 2 pages double spaced of examination fact pattern for issue-spotting exams. Thus, if issue-spotting questions are 50% of the grade in a course having a three hour exam, the fact pattern would be no more than three pages double spaced.
The Spring 2012 policy portion of the Property final examination is representative of the policy portion of the final examination I contemplate for the course.
Here is the policy portion of the Spring 2012 Property examination, and here is the composite student model answer for the policy portion. Please note that the composite answer does not necessarily address every perspective in such a way as to earn all possible points. Both the examination and the answer should be read in light of the documents I have posted above describing how to deal with my exams.
The Spring 2006 Property final examination is representative of the final examination I contemplate for the course.
Here is the issue-spotting portion of the Spring 2006 Property examination, and here is the composite student model answer. Please note that the composite answer does not necessarily address every issue, nor resolve every issue in such a way as to earn all the points for that issue. Both the examination and the answer should be read in light of the documents I have posted above describing how to deal with my exams.
The Spring 2004 Property final examination is representative of the final examination I contemplate for the course. The exam instructions will likely change as to procedure, however, since the examination below is for UH.
Here is the issue-spotting portion of the Spring 2004 Property examination, and here is the composite student model answer. Please note that the composite answer does not necessarily address every issue, nor resolve every issue in such a way as to earn all the points for that issue. Both the examination and the answer should be read in light of the documents I have posted above describing how to deal with my exams.
Last modified on May 7, 2017, by Greg R. Vetter