Exam Study Guide   Tags: 1-l, exam, law, law library, law library policies, law school study aids  

• Jack A. Hiller, How Not to Write Answer to Law Examinations, 12 Stetson L. Rev. 691 (1982) Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or through VPN). 

• Amy L. Jarmon, If Exams Could Talk:  Insights from Last Semester, Student Lawyer, Jan. 2009, at 11.  Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or through VPN).

• Rosemary LaPuma, Don’t Stress Over Exams, Student Lawyer, Nov. 2005, at 20. Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or VPN).

• Jerry J. Phillips, Thirteen Rules for Taking Law Exams, 72 TENN. L. REV. 797 (2005). Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or VPN).

• John H. Scheid, De MInimis Curat Lex: Secrets to Success for 1st year Law Students, 37 Cap.U.L. Rev 631 (2008). Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or VPN).
  
  

• Dennis Tonsin, A Plan for Your Exams, Student Lawyer, March 2005, at 32.  Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or VPN).

• Patrick Wiseman, "When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It," and Other Sage Advice for First-Time Law School Exam Takers, 22 GA. ST. U. L. REV. 653 (2006). Available on HeinOnline (must be on-campus or UC students can authenticate using their Central Login credentials or VPN).

The following are CALI lessons and podcasts. For an explanation of CALI lessons and how you access them, see the CALI box under the First Year Study Aids in the Library tab of this guide. 

• William R. Andersen, Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure.
• This CALI lesson is written by Professor William Anderson, Judson Falknor Professor of Law Emeritus at University of Washington School of Law.  The program begins with an explicit discussion of legal writing its structural implications. Within that specific context, the program goes on to discuss the tasks to be performed, the tools used in performing those tasks, and methods of sharpening those tools. The program concludes with some interactive opportunities to try the techniques described.

• Ron Eades, John Farago & Patrick Wiseman, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 1 (podcast).
• CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts. While these podcasts are not intended to take the place of a conversation with your professor, the professors hope that these podcasts give law students additional insight into the exam process.

• Ronald Brown & Joseph Grohman, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 2 (podcast).  
• CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts. While these podcasts are not intended to take the place of a conversation with your professor, the professors hope that these podcasts give law students additional insight into the exam process.

• Daryl Wilson, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 3 (podcast).
• CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts. While these podcasts are not intended to take the place of a conversation with your professor, the professors hope that these podcasts give law students additional insight into the exam process.

• Scott Burnham, Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (podcast).        
• Prof. Burnham, provides students with advice on multiple choice exam questions. Prof. Burnham goes into the different aspects of a multiple choice question: the stimulus, options, key, and distracters. Additionally, Prof. Burnham discusses the different types of multiple choice questions such as questions that test a student’s ability to recall information, those that draw on materials discussed in class, and those that require analysis. Students are taught how to respond to the call of a question, apply IRAC to multiple choice questions, as well as different tactics for eliminating options in a question. At the end of this lesson students will know how to decipher what type of question is being asked, how to spot the specific issue in the question, and how to eliminate the other choices.

• Jennifer Martin, Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay (podcast).
• In this podcast, Prof. Martin discusses the top ten mistakes law students make in law school examinations. These are poor issue spotting, poor issue spotting, poor knowledge and understanding of the law, poor application of the law to the facts, giving only conclusory answers, lack of organization, errors in the facts, failure to understand the role you are given in the examination, padding, fact inventing, and question begging. Included in this discussion is guidance on spotting the issues, avoiding being bottom line oriented, how to use the facts, how to approach a question, and using words efficiently. Prof. Martin also discusses the hallmarks of a good essay answer. These answers are lawyerlike, responsive to the question asked, logical, thought out, well organized, fact and issue centered, and use cogent reasoning and good rule application.

• Vikram David Amar, Tips for Students Taking Law School Exams: Why Students Tend Not to Be Able To Demonstrate the Full Extent of Their Knowledge, and How They Might Do Better (Dec. 08, 2006), http://writ.news.findlaw.com/amar/20061208.html.
• Vikram David Amar is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at University of California Davis.

• Athena Brooks, Exam Revision Series, The Student Lawyer (April-May, 2012), http://thestudentlawyer.com/series/exam-revision/.

• Elizabeth Garrett, How to Approach and Take a Law School Examination, http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/student-services/how-to-approach-and-take-a-law-school-exam.pdf.
• Elizabeth Garrett is the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Frances R. and John J. Duggan Professor of Law, Political Science at University of Southern California.

• Barbara Glesner Fines, Exam Preparation Strategies, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/profiles/glesnerfines/bgf-ed5.htm.
• Barbara Glesner Fines is a the Associate Dean of Faculty and the Ruby M. Hulen Professor of Law at Univeristy of Missouri-Kansas.

• Orin Kerr, A Common Law School Exam Mistake, The Volokh Conspiracy blog, http://www.volokh.com/2010/04/14/a-common-law-school-exam-mistake/. 
• Orin Kerr is a Professor of Law at George Washington University.

• John H. Langbien, Writing Law Examinations, http://lawschool.westlaw.com/shared/marketinfodisplay.asp?code=so&id=6&subpage=3.
• John H. Langbien is the Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School

• Rogelio Lasso, Taking Multiple Choice Exams, http://www1.law.umkc.edu/Students/BarExamInfo/Taking%20Multiple%20Choice%20Exams1.pdf.
• Rogelio Lasso is Professor of Law at The John Marshall Law School (of Chicago).

• Jeff Lipshaw, Beyond IRAC: Law School Exam Taking Tips, Legal Profession blog, http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2008/12/beyond-irac-law.html.
• Jeff Lipshaw is an Associate Professor of Law at Suffolk.

• Carol Nygren, Using Professors' Old Exams To Prepare, http://stu.findlaw.com/student/using_professors_exams.html.
• Exerpt from Starting Off Right in Torts (1998).

• Carol Nygren, Confronting Your Final Exam - Torts, http://stu.findlaw.com/student/final_exams.html.
• Exerpt from Starting Off Right in Torts (1998).

• Daniel Solove, Law School Exam-Taking Tips, Concurring Opinions blog, http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/02/examtaking_tips.html.
  
• Daniel Solove is the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.

Professors from various law schools deliver law school exam advice.

• Anne Coughlin, Prof. Anne Coughlin on Exam Do's and Don'ts, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E1Xwxqikec&feature=related.

• Anne Coughlin, Law School Exam Tips, with Professor Anne Coughlin, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXh7zv3EbE&feature=related.

• John Delaney, How To Do Your Best on Law School Exams Part I, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs0QJRCYn-4. 

• John Delaney, How To Do Your Best on Law School Exams Part II, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukjNq6NvGHg&feature=related.

• David Steinberg, Exam Advice for Law Students, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8qcpOeTNlw&feature=related.

• David Steinberg, Most Common Law School Exam Mistakes,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs67EIGPeNw&feature=related.