Show me the Points
This percentage of your final grade comes from class participation.
What is 25%?
Your hypothetical is due before this exact time on the assigned Monday or Wednesday.
What is 4:30 p.m.?
True or False: Professor Holman's PLLC syllabus prohibits the use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools?
What is false?
I encourage students to explore AI tools responsibly and critically, subject to the course requirements and AI policy.
This course is divided into four major parts. Name any two of them.
What are:
True or false: pre-law advising office hours are held virtually
NERD POINT: Where are course office hours held? (be specific)
What is true? Pre-law advising office hours are held via Zoom (unless other arrangements are agreed to)
NERD POINT: course office hours are held in person in Professor Holman's office; Aquia Building office 308
You have two legal hypotheticals this semester. Together, these assignments are worth this percentage of your final grade.
What is 25%?
Hypo #1 = 12.5%
Hypo #2 = 12.5%
You realize on the morning of the due date that you need an extension. According to the syllabus, you are already too late to request one without penalty. True or false?
What is true?
Students must contact you at least 24 hours before the due date. You explicitly say you will not grant extensions the day an assignment is due.
You use ChatGPT on an assignment. Name one thing you must include in your submission to comply with the syllabus.
NERD POINT: Name all three things you must include
What is (1) an Appendix containing the exact prompt used, (2) the AI's full response, and (3) the date each response was generated?
What is false?
While it is important to know the basic facts of each case, the ultimate goal isn't to memorize cases. It's to learn how to read, analyze, interpret, and apply legal authorities and, ultimately, to think like a lawyer.
George Mason's Academic Standards identify these three principles as essential to maintaining academic integrity in your work. Name one.
NERD POINT: Name all 3
What are honesty, acknowledgement, and uniqueness of work?
For the group issue-spotting paper, your professor will give you the fact pattern this many weeks before the paper is due, giving your group time to identify the legal issues, research the relevant rules, and apply them to the facts.
What is two weeks?
You submit an assignment one day late without receiving prior approval. How much is deducted?
10% per week late—so the syllabus does not impose a daily penalty.
You used ChatGPT but don't know which version of the tool you used. Can you simply cite “ChatGPT” and move on? (for full points, you must also explain why)
What is no?
The syllabus requires students to identify the specific version of the AI tool used.
There are three different times during the semester when you might show up to class and find… nobody there. Name one of the dates when there is no class.
What are:
You want to talk to Professor Holman about law school applications, internships, your resume, or interview preparation. Should you sign up for a meeting with Professor Holman via the course office hours link in the syllabus?
What is no—use the Pre-Law Advising and Professional Development office hours link that is also included in the syllabus?
On the final exam, you will encounter these two types of questions.
What are multiple-choice and issue-spotting questions?
You have used your two free absences. You then miss three additional classes without making an advance arrangement with Professor Holman. How many percentage points are deducted from your final course grade?
What is 9 percentage points?
Each absence beyond the first two = 3 percentage points.
Because AI-generated content is not necessarily accurate or appropriate, students must do this before submitting AI-generated material as part of their work.
What is assess its validity and applicability?
During the semester, you'll encounter cases involving everything from judicial review and political questions to presidential power, privacy, reproductive rights, statutory interpretation, and the Second Amendment. Name one case specifically listed in the syllabus.
What is: Marbury v. Madison, Rucho v. Common Cause, Youngstown, Carpenter, Roe, Dobbs, McBoyle, or United States v. Rahimi.
This university resource is available to help you with writing assignments, including developing and improving your writing skills.
What is the University Writing Center?
Your hypothetical assignments are asking you to resolve a legal problem. According to the syllabus, your answer needs to do four things. Name three of them.
What are:
Your roommate says, “I missed our PLLC class, but attendance doesn't matter because the readings are posted online.” According to the syllabus, what is the professor's response?
What is “The texts are not the class!”
Attendance is important because this is a Learning Community centered on discussion, guest speakers, and engagement.
After using ChatGPT to brainstorm an assignment, the course AI Usage Guide says you should close the AI conversation, open your assignment, and write the assignment based on this -- not by copying the AI's response.
What is your own revised knowledge?
OR your own thinking/writing
This is the skill we begin developing in Session Two through readings like "Learning to Think Like a Lawyer" and "An Introduction to Legal Reasoning," and it will underpin virtually everything we do for the rest of the semester.
What is legal reasoning?
This is the skill I want you to leave this course with: not memorizing a bunch of cases, but learning how lawyers approach and solve problems!
When you disagree with a classmate during a discussion or debate, the syllabus asks you to support your argument with these sources rather than simply relying on your personal opinion.
What are the readings, the lecture, or your personal experience?
You can disagree, but you need to make a reasoned argument and support it with evidence!