The Pre-Emptive Strike Theory

In every class, our professors call on a couple of people per day. You don't know if today is your day to get drilled on a certain case, so you have to be prepared to explain each case each time. It's mentally exhaustive, but I've come up with another strategy that works approximately 86% of the time.

The Pre-Emptive Strike Theory holds that when a student pre-emptively raises his or her hand to answer a question in a law school class, the professor is less likely to call on that student to answer a more difficult question.

When you speak in class voluntarily, you get to choose your question. Choose one you know the answer to. You also get to choose a moment when you're not engrossed in a Gchat discussion on Prof. X's obvious hairpiece, so your attention will not be divided. Finally, it creates the impression that you're on task at other times (when you're actually exploring the non-law school related corners of the internets).

Here's the lesson, kids. Raise your hand next time -- it's less painful.