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I
INTRODUCTION
Although much has been written about teaching admiralty,' almost nothing has been written about testing admiralty.- This is not terribly surprising, given that law professors despise grading' and avoid the subject as much as possible.4 Accordingly, this essay takes a look at the law school admiralty exam.5
II
STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
Some students actually enjoy their admiralty exam. This is particularly true at the University of Connecticut law school, where Professor Robert L. Birmingham allows his admiralty students to design their own final exam. Kris Kauffman, who took the course during the Fall 2012 semester, submitted a three-minute movie along with this summary:
Admiralty Law Final - The Sinking of the Lillian E. Kerr
This is a short silent film I made for my Admiralty Law class based on a case we had read during the semester. Publicover v[.] Alcoa [S.S. Co.]. 168 F.2d 672[, 1948 AMC 963] ([2d Cir.] 1948). I made the film using stop motion, and created all three of the lego ships myself, using about 1500 legos. It was quite a lengthy process, and took me about a week and a half to do the whole thing, from building to shooting to editing, but I had a lot of fun doing it!6
For most students, however, their admiralty exam is just another hurdle on the road to bar admission. The Twitter account of a Southern University law student calling herself "@BenzLawStudent" includes this exchange:
Enough playing and breaking . .. Back to studying for tomorrow's admiralty exam that @mg_lawyertobe should've been in[.]
@BenzLawStudent[:] hell naw it seem like he really asking some shit!
@mg_lawyertobe[:] who told you that? It's not bad[.]7
Allen A. Ambrosino, a Tulane University law student, wrote on his blog:
Okay, so my three years of law school are soon coming to a close and studying for the bar is going to take place soon after.... Graduation is on the 13th of [M]ay and [bar prep] classes start again on the 31st....
Before now and then, however, I have International Law, Law and Gender, Wills and Estates, 14th Amendment Law, Adjudication Law, Comparative Law and Admiralty finals to deal with. It took me almost a minute to type all of the words ... I have no idea...