Multiple-Choice Question Worksheet

This process is applicable only to analytical questions.

What is happening factually?

Isolate the legally relevant facts:

Steps of analysis

(1) What is the legal issue?

(2) What rule of law addresses this issue?

(3) What should be the outcome?

Identify the issue in each answer choice:

(4) What answer choice best corresponds to my answer?

Work the question before you look at the choices. Step 3 — deciding what the outcome should be — comes before you read (A) through (D), not after. The most common way to lose a multiple-choice question you actually know is to let a plausible distractor tell you what the issue was.

Originally prepared by, and used with permission from, Francisco Valdés, Professor of Law and Dean's Distinguished Scholar, University of Miami School of Law. Revised by Jorge R. Roig. © 2011–2020 Jorge R. Roig.