[blindlaw] Keeping Track of Key Facts on Bar Exam Essays

Wed Jun 6 21:05:46 UTC 2018

Michal,

You could also copy and paste the relevant facts into a separate Word
document. I did that for essays and it helped. Good luck!

On 6/6/18, Sybren Hoekstra via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> You can also use place markers if you're using jaws. I find that to be
> faster than inserting text and searching for it
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jun 6, 2018, at 16:28, Michal Nowicki via BlindLaw
>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> All,
>>
>> Thank you so much for all your suggestions. I think placing three
>> asterisks at the beginning and end of each block of text I wish to
>> highlight will work best for me. Although I do have a Braille note taker,
>> (1) it is an additional device I would need to bring to the test center
>> and (2) I did not request use of a Braille note taker as an accommodation,
>> and it is now too late to request any changes to accommodations for the
>> July exam. Of course, I must now make sure that I get the exam in an
>> editable format; my accommodation grant does not specify the file format,
>> only that I will be able to access the exam electronically with JAWS.
>> Thank you, all, once more.
>>
>> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
>>
>> From: Luis Mendez via BlindLaw
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 2:29 PM
>> To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
>> Cc: Luis Mendez
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Keeping Track of Key Facts on Bar Exam Essays
>>
>> Good afternoon:
>>
>> That's a good strategy.  I place triple asterisks immediately preceding
>> and after text that  seems useful so that I can retrieve  and copy the
>> text as a block if I decide to add it to a research file or document.
>>
>> When I took the New York State bar, the highest text available was a
>> cassette  recorder; so I used that to dictate  facts that seemed relevant.
>>  Perhaps the same strategy could work using Dragon Anywhere or other means
>> of  quickly jotting down important facts.   I could have used a braille
>> writer, but I didn't want to take both hands off the page.
>>
>> Luis
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tai Tomasi via
>> BlindLaw
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 1:01 PM
>> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Tai Tomasi <ttomasi at driowa.org>
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Keeping Track of Key Facts on Bar Exam Essays
>>
>> I don't have much to add, since I accessed the exam in Braille. I did have
>> use of a computer for typing my answers and taking notes,  allowing me to
>> jot down notes in a text file pertaining to the essays. I often use Jim's
>> idea of placing asterisks next to text to which I want to refer later and
>> using the find and find next commands to refer back to them.
>>
>>
>> Ms. Tai Tomasi, J.D.
>> Pronouns: she/her/hers
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>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jim McCarthy via
>> BlindLaw
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2018 11:46 AM
>> To: 'Blind Law Mailing List' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Jim McCarthy <jmccarthy at mdtap.org>
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Keeping Track of Key Facts on Bar Exam Essays
>>
>> Michal
>> Others may have a better idea on this than have I. To me, you might be
>> best to bracket the text, if you can do that with braces, brackets stars,
>> some sort of punctuation or symbol you will not regularly see, but one you
>> can search for. I took bar exams using computers, but it was in the days
>> when that was an accommodation available mostly only to those with
>> disabilities and I had the ability to alter the document. I am not sure
>> that still is an option. If it is though, you could also add little notes
>> like (for negligence) or (intent) all between the punctuation mark you
>> choose. I think of the JAWS functions you suggest, place markers may be
>> the most useful. Speech and sound schemes can be helpful reading
>> legislation; I think text analyzer is a good start point in proof reading
>> legal documents you might develop; and skim reading helps for summarizing
>> long documents but I am not sure those work as well for your task. Sending
>> positive thoughts your direction as bar study is a life altering
>> experience for those months one engages in it.
>> Jim McCarthy
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michal
>> Nowicki via BlindLaw
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2018 11:53 AM
>> To: Blind Law Mailing List
>> Cc: Michal Nowicki
>> Subject: [blindlaw] Keeping Track of Key Facts on Bar Exam Essays
>>
>> Hello Everyone,
>>
>> I am studying for the Illinois Bar Exam, and I am seeking advice on
>> improving my time on bar exam essays. Currently, even with the double time
>> I have for each essay, I can never finish in the allotted time. The
>> problem is that I have not figured out how to annotate the fact patterns
>> so that I can quickly find relevant facts. According to my Barbri
>> instructors, this is an important step in maximizing efficiency: at least
>> for sighted people, who can easily highlight information and jot down
>> margin notes that quickly jump out at them as they skim the passage.
>>
>> Do any of you have any suggestions on how to keep track of legally
>> operative facts efficiently using JAWS? Some JAWS features I’ve been
>> considering trying out are (1) speech and sound schemes, (2) text
>> analyzer, (3) skim reading, and (4) placemarkers. Have any of you found
>> those or other features useful on the essay portion of the exam? Any tips
>> would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Michal
>>
>> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
>>
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