Students have difficulties when they are unsure whether to apply problem-solving or advocacy skills. IRAC is a problem-solving strategy. By proceeding methodically through IRAC, a student can solve even the most difficult legal problem. But an IRAC solution, particularly a long one, is not good writing because it fails to pay attention to the needs of the reader. That requires an advocacy strategy.
Some students attempt to use advocacy skills for problem solving.
This problem can be averted if we identify problem solving and advocacy as separate skills. In class we should be particularly careful to distinguish between the two. When presenting an exercise, we should specify what the student is being asked to demonstrate. If it is advocacy, we should be careful to provide enough time for students to complete the problem solving and then transform that solution into something that is written in an interesting and convincing manner. Perhaps of paramount importance to students, we should decide which skill we want to test and specify that to the students so they can respond accordingly.