For the next two days, I put my students through their paces on final exams. I'm from the old school of law school: In my larger classes, one exam at the end of the term determines a student's entire grade for the course. Needless to say, this creates some, ahem, pressure on the pupils. At least by the time they take my course, they've been through this routine for a year or more, and so I'm not the first law professor who's applied the heat.

Unlike many of my peers, I administer the exams myself. It's always an odd feeling, leaving the room after handing out the questions. For the first time in the semester, if something's not clear to a student, I won't be there to help. Quite the contrary -- I'll soon be taking their answers home and playing judge. Including judging myself, of course.

It's not a role most professors enjoy, and I'm no exception. I just do my best to keep my game face on in the exam room, and to be as fair and careful as possible in scoring the exams. I want everyone to succeed, but a grading curve must be produced.

As I've mentioned here before, once the pile of exams is before me, I engage in all sorts of work avoidance rather than do the grading. So don't expect a lull in the output here in the coming days.