Criteria for the Evaluation of Law School Examination Papers

Abstract

It is a generally accepted proposition that grades should be determined in a systematic manner based on individual performance. It is hardly more controversial that the criteria by which student performance is judged should be known in advance by the students. Economic analysis of law teaches us that if students behave rationally, their performances will reflect the criteria by which they understand their performances will be evaluated. Analysis of a set of examination papers should reveal the criteria those students believed were to be applied to them. Weighted frequency of occurrence obviously determines the respective weights students believe are assigned to those criteria. And, if the system is to be fair, the weights will determine how professors should grade the examinations.