The Uniform Grading of Law Essay Exams Code

Law school professors have a Code that states how law school essay exams are graded. The following are excerpts from the Uniform Grading of Law Essay Exams Code of 1999 (2003 Revision).

§ 1.01. Short Title and Abbreviation.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Uniform Grading Code.
Official Comment to 1-101
Although considered legally valid by most state and federal jurisdictions, referring to this Code by the full acronym of UGLEE is not recommended by the drafters of this Code as it brings up negative connotations.
§ 1.02. Purposes; Rules of Construction; Variation by Law School Professors.
(a) This Act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies.
(b) Underlying purposes and policies of this Act are
(1) to annoy, anger, and confuse law school students on the law school grading process;
(2) to make law school finals as difficult as possible with respect to what is really wanted as an answer;
(3) to entertain professors as they see students suffer while reviewing for said finals.
(c) The provisions of this Act may be varied by law school professors at ABA approved law schools. Modifications made to this Act can be made with lack of reasonableness and without the knowledge of law school students. The standards by which the modifications are made is to be measured by an unreasonable law school professor standard.
§ 1.03. General Definitions.
(a) Unless the context otherwise requires, words or phrases defined in this section, or in the additional definitions contained in other articles of [the Uniform Grading Code] that apply to particular articles or parts thereof, have the meanings stated.
(b) Subject to definitions contained in other articles of [the Uniform Grading Code] that apply to particular articles or parts thereof:
(1) "Anonymous Number" means a system that supposedly guarantees anonymity and fairness in the grading process, but actually provides a great way of a professor to remember who had a better answer than someone else. This ensures this person will get a higher grade than someone else.
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(3) "Answer" means words written onto the pages of a bluebook that the professor will scan over and give a random grade to, despite said professor claiming this process is done in a fair and objective manner.
(4) "Assign" means to subjectively give a person a grade based upon the score received on a final. If referring to anonymous numbers, "assign" means to give an anonymous number to a student.
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(6) "Better" means closer to what the law school professor would have written in he/she had answered the question and not some law school student. This term, however, does not mean more correct, as in having the right answer based upon the current interpretation of the law or applicable code if it is a statutes based course.
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(17) "Fail" means a nearly impossible grade in law school. Due to the mandatory curve, this grade is rarely assigned to a student, despite the student meriting it.
(18) "Final" means a test that the professor believes will take three hours if a law school student, but actually takes much longer than that. To come up with an ideal answer to the question takes three hours.
(19) "Grade" means a letter representation of numerical score earned on a law school final. This is subjectively assigned by a professor and not upon any rational basis.
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(22) "Ideal" means the answer that the professor would have written had they taken the final. The professor, however, has (i) earned a JD, (ii) become a member of the bar, (iii) practiced law, (iv) wrote the question, and (v) had an entire semester to come up with a coherent answer. Due to the subjective nature of grading, a correct answer is not an ideal answer, as it was not worded in the same way, despite covering the same material.
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(24) "Mandatory Curve" means a foolish and idiotic means of assigning grades. According to law schools, this supposedly ensures fairness. This however, leads to a person who would have normally gotten an F on a final getting a C due to the mandatory curve. Based upon the curve, it's highly unlikely anyone in law school will get an F.
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§ 1.10 Mandatory Anonymous Numbers
(1) All law schools shall assign a random anonymous number to each student during finals period.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3), this number shall be placed on all bluebooks and answer sheets used by the student for all finals taken by that student during that semester.
(3) If the student forgets their anonymous number, the student may any acceptable form of identification such as student ID number or Social Security Number.
§ 2.01. Grading Process of Essay Exams
(1) This process shall be used by all law school professors at all ABA approved and non-ABA approved law schools for all essay exams.
(a) The professor will choose a method of grading that will supposedly balance effective grading against undue prejudice for or against any certain groups of people. Acceptable methods include
(i) Separation into multiple piles and grading each pile in a different order
(ii) Grading just one question at a time and changing the order the exams are graded
(iii) Any similar method that ensures randomization of grading order like randomly choosing bluebooks or having a chicken choosing bluebook by pecking at them.
(b) After reading each answer written by each student, the professor shall give points to each question.
(c) After all questions are given points by a method chosen by the professor, the professor shall assign grades.
(i) Grades shall be based upon an ABCDF system.
(ii) The average GPA shall fall within a mandatory curve, depending on whether the course is a First-Year course or an Upper-Level course.
(2) "Assign" for purposes of 2.xx and 3.xx means an arbitrary process of giving a letter equivalent of a numerical score while fitting the mandatory curve and all applicable statutes in the Uniform Grading Code and all other applicable laws and inequitable grading principles.
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§ 2.03. Point System Scales for Answers
A question worth X number of points, to insure fairness, shall be broken down into its separate and distinct components and each component shall be given a certain amount of points.
(1) The professor shall see if the student's answer contains a component. If it does, unless it falls within UGC 2.04, it shall be checked off and the points be added to student's score.
(2) The professor, once all subsections to the question are totaled, shall note the final score of the student's answer.
(3) This scheme may be modified within the discretion of the professor without the knowledge of the law school and without the knowledge of the student if it is subjectively reasonable for the professor to do so.
§ 2.04. Point Distribution for Answers
For answers worth X points, the professor may choose not to give a student points for a correctly identified component noted in the student's answer but included in the professor's ideal answer. The use of this power is within the discretion of the professor. Acceptable uses include, but is not limited to
(1) Not wording the answer as the professor would have worded it in ideal answer;
(2) Not wording the answer to questions asked by the professor in class;
(3) Not including in a minute, inconsequential detail that makes no difference to the actual answer.
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§ 3.01. Mandatory Curve Required
The grades, when assigned, shall fit a standard bell curve with a median that falls within the range set by the law school depending on the course classification by the law school.
§ 3.02. Priority of Assigning Grades
When two or more people have the same point total and grades have to be assigned such that the mandatory curve is kept, the following priority rules apply.
(1) The highest priority in assigning the highest grade shall be applied to the person whose bluebook answers are closest to the professor's ideal answers. If it is impossible to determine whose answer is closest to the professor's ideal answer, the professor is to continue to 3.02(b)(2).
(2) The second highest priority in assigning the highest grade shall be assigned to the person who brown noses with the professor the most before, during, and after class.
(a) If the amount of brown nosing is equal, then the quality of brown nosing shall be considered.
(b) If the quality is equal, then the first to start brown nosing shall receive the highest grade unless the other brown nosers started brown nosing within a two week period after the first act by the first brown noser. If this occurs, then 3.02(3) applies.
(3) If the first two priority rules fail, the highest grade shall be assigned to the person whose bluebook is closest to the professor's hand.
(4) If all else fails, then the highest grade shall be assigned by a method that the professor finds suitable. Acceptable methods include, but are not limited to rolling a dice or randomly choosing a bluebook.