Trial 3
Order Description
Relevant Content Application
Your response to the situation presented will be evaluated based on the extent to which it
1.identifies content that is relevant to the scenario, and
2.explains that content with depth and accuracy.
You will notice that there are no points for arriving at the “right” conclusion. In fact, there is not always a “right conclusion.” Instead, the scenario spits out an
over-abundance of facts that allow for a plethora of legal application that can lead to multiple different, and even opposite, conclusions. That is why the grading
criteria does not look for your conclusions, but instead looks at whether you pick the right law and explain it accurately.
If, on the other hand, your response just responds to the scenario on its suface and/or mostly rehashes the facts of the scenario – and it does not identify and
accurately identify and explain the wide swath of law that is raised by the scenario – you sidestep all the heavy lifting that earns points in this activity. In your
response, you should find yourself writing mostly about what the relevant law is (and, in so doing, casting the net as widely as you relevantly can) and writing
comparatively far less about the facts of the scenario. It’s a law burger, not a fact burger.
You should also not address content that is irrelevant to the situation presented other than to offer some context. For example (one having nothing to do with our
content), if the situation calls for you to talk about animals that can fly, you might mention as background context that there are also animals that walk on land and
others that swim in the water. You would not, however, want to say any more about water and land animals, but instead focus solely on the various animals that can fly.
You may know a lot about water and land animals, but that is not the content that the situation calls for you to apply, so you should discuss them no further.
Effective Writing
The time limit on this activity (more on that, below) is not long enough for you to engage in heavy editing or revising if you address all the content the situation
raises. Effective and efficient writing is, however, a critical success skill for a business person, so yours will slightly impact your grade, both directly and
indirectly.
The coherence and organization of your response will be directly evaluated and will count for a small percentage of your grade. Thus, a cogent response that progresses
logically through the issues presented will score higher than a response that meanders and winds with no real sense of direction. On the other hand, spelling, grammar,
punctuation, sentence structure and paragraph structure will have no bearing on your grade other than indirectly as described in the next paragraph.
While only coherence and organization will be directly measured, there is no way to completely untangle your skill as a writer from your command of the content. A well
written response is more likely to exhibit what you know while a poorly written response is more likely to conceal what you know. Thus, while you will not be directly
graded on the beauty of your prose, a well written response will make it easier to identify the command you have of the content.
Length
When it comes to the length of your response, adhere to the kilt metaphor – your response should be long enough to cover the subject and short enough to keep things
interesting. “Fluffy” words and paragraphs that do not apply relevant content will earn you no points (and nor will cost you any penalties). In fact, such portions of
your response will serve only to dull the grader’s sensitivity to the portions of your response that do apply relevant content. So, the best advice is to limit
yourself to relevant content and thoroughly explain that content without repeating yourself.
