Professor
Berry's Advice For Students
Howard University School of Law
9. ON
A MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST THE CORRECT ANSWER IS THE ONE THAT GIVES THE
RIGHT ANSWER FOR THE RIGHT REASON.
Multiple Choice Answers Typically Consist of Two Parts: a Result
(E.g., "Admit the Evidence", "Deny the Motion",
"Judgment for Plaintiff", "Impose Rule 11
Sanctions") and a Reason or Rationale (E.g., "Leglewright
Memorandum Is Admissible as an Admission by a Party Opponent",
"Moving Party Has Failed to Show There Are No Genuine Issues as to
Any Material Facts", "Defendant's Negligence Was the Proximate
Cause of Plaintiff's Injury", "The Attorney's Factual
Investigation Was Reasonable in the Circumstances").
An answer is incorrect unless both the result and the reason are
true.
If the result is true but the reason is false, the entire answer is
false.
Similarly, if the result is false but the reason is true, the entire
answer is false.
Treat each choice as a TRUE/FALSE question. In other words, ask
yourself: Is the result true or false? Is the reason true or false? You
can safely eliminate all answers containing a "False". As the
table below indicates, there should be one answer that contains 2 Trues
or 0 Falses; that is the answer you should choose.
| If the |
RESULT: |
| REASON: |
TRUE |
FALSE |
| TRUE |
RIGHT |
Wrong |
| FALSE |
Wrong |
Wrong |
If all your choices contain a "False" select "None of
the Above" if available. If not, reconfirm your analysis because
you have overlooked something important.
