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A Weekly Guide to Being a Model Law Student by
This book gives law students weekly checklists explaining the skills necessary to successfully navigate their first year of law school. Each chapter provides a checklist of things to do that week, such as briefing cases, going over notes, outlining classes, or doing practice questions. When a new concept is introduced, this book clearly explains the concept and its purpose and provides examples. Instead of merely providing advice, this book lays out a detailed plan for students to follow. It also includes a bank of over 100 short, medium, and long practice questions in six first year subjects.
Law School Secrets: Outlining for Exam Success by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. This book answers the most-asked questions of first, second, and third year law school students. Exam Preparation: How long should my outline be? What should I include in my outline? What secondary sources should I use? Are study groups effective? Should I swap outlines with other students? How do I prepare for open and closed book exams? And much more. Writing the Exam: What is the best way to read the exam questions? How do I schedule my time? How do I organize my answer? When do I need to assume facts? How do I impress the professor? And much more.
Cracking the Case Method, Legal Analysis for Law School Success by
For about 150 years, law schools have relied on the Case Method to teach the skills and art of legal analysis to first-year law students. Yet many first-year students struggle academically. They do not struggle because they lack intellectual ability. Instead, they struggle because they are suddenly immersed in a unique and seemingly opaque educational process where nobody has concretely explained what they should try to learn, much less how to learn it. So these students are forced to try to understand their professors' teaching methods on their own--a difficult task for many beginning students, even those who may "get it" but cannot articulate what "it" is.So students understandably ask fundamental questions like the following. Why do reading assignments consist of appellate court opinions? Why do professors rely on the Socratic Method? Why do law school classes so often leave students with more questions than answers? Why do professors' teaching methods differ from their assessment methods and how can students bridge that gap? What do instructors look for when they grade essay exam answers? Why can law students believe they knew "all the rules," yet get poor grades?Cracking the Case Method, 3d ed., provides concise and accessible instruction on how to succeed in law school by answering these questions--and many others. Students need to know what to study and how the opinions they read and discuss in class relate to law school exams. This book provides an in-depth examination of these critical topics:The Case Method: 1) how it relates to Socratic-style questioning, and 2) how it helps develop analytical skills.Semester-long strategies for learning how to "think like a lawyer" by getting the most out of reading judicial opinions, attending classes, outlining, and preparing for exams.An analytical framework that helps students read appellate court cases to focus on legal issues, legal principles, and judges' reasons for adopting and applying those principles.Twenty examples that illustrate this analytical framework; these examples discuss essential legal principles from first-year courses and use judicial opinions often assigned in these courses.How to develop case briefs and use them to prepare for class discussions, outlining, and exams--with illustrations drawn from two sample annotated briefs.The major types of legal argument--with many illustrations drawn from actual cases.How to use class discussions to practice legal analysis, demonstrated with annotated excerpts from actual first-year class discussions.How to prepare for exams with the following learning and study tools: 1) developing traditional or visual outlines of course materials; 2) analyzing hypotheticals; 3) creating checklists and flowcharts; and 4) practicing exam-taking skills.An approach for analyzing exam questions and writing effective exam answers that display powerful analytical skills--with illustrations drawn from actual essay exam questions and annotated answers.An opportunity for students to practice all the learning, writing, and analytical skills discussed in this book to a new case in a sample torts class, including the following skills: 1) reading the case; 2) briefing the case; 3) discussing the case in class; 4) incorporating the principles from the case into an outline; and 5) answering an exam question related to the case.
Law School Success in a Nutshell by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. It answers questions students have as they begin their studies. What is a tort? Hornbook? Should I join a study group? It also explains and gives examples of the best methods for studying and for taking exams. It provides questions and model answers from actual law school exams. The Nutshell also provides information about the types of legal practice that are available to you when you graduate. And it describes the opportunities that will be available to you during your second and third years of law school, such as law journals, law clinics, internships, joint degree programs, and study abroad.
Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win, Second Edition by
This text covers the latest in learning theory, including focus and engagement, spaced repetition with interleaving, and altering surroundings during study to create mental bookmarks; plus, nine topics relating to mindset, mindfulness, and well-being. the text contains expanded sets of exercises and assignments, including new and improved essay exams and multiple-choice questions and new discussion of time management. Sample answers are included for all in-text exercises in the Appendix for students to check their understanding. A major in-text take-home assignment separate from the other in-text materials that can be used to further gauge student's understanding.
Learning Outside the Box by
The purpose of this book is to provide research-based learning strategies for law students who learn differently. If you are a student who has been diagnosed with a learning disability or if you simply have a unique learning style, you may need to outline differently, read cases differently, and approach law school in a more active, engaged, and efficient manner. In addition to covering reading and briefing cases, the book covers outlining and tackling essay and multiple choice exams.
One L of a Year by
The purpose of "One L of a Year" is to focus on the reading, studying and testing strategies used by the most successful law students. This book is more than advice—it is a learning guide based upon empirical research and statistical correlations between law student learning and their law school GPAs.Most importantly, this book attempts to show you what high-ranking law students have done to achieve success during their first year. It's one thing to read about how to take a law school essay exam—it's quite another thing to see examples of student essays, outlines, legal memoranda, and multiple choice questions. With drive and determination, most students can get through law school. However, "One L of a Year" gives you the research-based skills to maximize your own success.
Mastering the Law School Exam: A Practical Blueprint for Preparing and Taking Law School Exams by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. This book offers detailed examples that show students precisely "how to do it" and "how to write it." Its illustrations help students learn to: fill the gap between what the professor refers to as learning to "think like a lawyer" and the actual means for doing so; create a successful path from note-taking, to outlining, to exam writing; identify the skills that exam seek to test; become familiar with the general types of law school exams; draw infreences from the facts; take formative assessments; simulate exam conditions; self-assess by following grading rubrics; and much more.
A Practical Guide to Writing Law School Essay Exams by
Students who do well in law school tend to write their exams in a particular way. The purpose of this book is to introduce students to this method. Chapters teach the law student the purpose of an essay exam, the process of getting started, the basic steps in writing the essay, principles for explaining your answer, as well as basic organizational,signposting, and writing rules. An appendix contains two actual exam questions, including a "model" answer.
Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School (Not Just to Survive) by
Chapter 1 introduces you to the purpose of an essay exam and the general expectations of the professor who will grade it. Chapter 2 (“Scoring and Grading”) explains how your professor scores and grades your exam and provides an overview of how to do well. The process for getting started is described in Chapter 3 (“Beginning the Process”). Chapter 4 (“From Process to Writing”) gives you a “big picture” overview of the basic steps in writing an essay exam. Chapter 5 (“Explaining Your Answer”) builds on the previous chapter by providing detailed guidance on stating the law, applying the law to facts, and analyzing counterarguments. Basic organizational, signposting, and writing rules are described in Chapter 6 (“Organization, Signposting, and Writing Style”). Chapter 7 (“Getting Ready”) provides overall guidance on how to get ready for essay exams. Finally, Chapter 8 (“How Essay Exams Resemble Real Life”) explains how exams are like the real practice of law—a point that underscores the enduring importance of learning exam writing skills. The text uses an exam problem to illustrate a variety of points. An appendix contains two additional exam problems, each of which is followed by several answers, including a model answer. Using the lessons in this book, the appendix troubleshoots the weaker answers and explains how to correct or avoid the errors they exemplify.The examples used in this book are taken from several first-year law school courses, including criminal law, but particularly property law. The examples in the text and the appendix represent a variety of different kinds of law (common law and statute). Because the basic elements of exam writing and grading vary little from course to course, you should find these examples useful for exams in other courses.
Steve Emanuel's First Year Questions and Answers, Second Edition by
Provides 1,144 short-answer questions, covering the six subjects usually taken by first year law students. Each question gives you a fact pattern, and then asks you to make a conclusion, usually a yes/no conclusion (e.g., "Is there an enforceable contract?").
Strategies and Tactics for the First Year Law Student (Maximize Your Grades) by
Strategies and Tactics for the First Year Law Student gives you a detailed, step-by-step program for surviving the first year of law school. Note-taking--Sharpening your note-taking skills will maximize your study time and improve your grades Your law professor's personality--Understanding it can be to your advantage Study traps--What are they and how to avoid them Memory aids--How classic memory systems work and when you should (and shouldn't) use them The pressures of law school--Effective techniques for handling the pressure from classmates, professors, and reading assignments Taking exams--Nine steps to writing exceptional exam answers The Internet--Useful search engines and websites
Getting to Maybe by
Getting to Maybe teaches how to excel on law school exams by showing the reader how legal analysis can be brought to bear on examination problems. The book contains hints on studying and preparation. The authors illustrate how to argue both sides of a legal issue without appearing indecisive. Above all, the book explains why exam questions may generate feelings of uncertainty or doubt about correct legal outcomes and how the student can turn these feelings to his or her advantage.
Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law in a Nutshell by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. "There are two things wrong with almost all legal writing. One is style. The other is content." Professor Fred Rodell, Yale, 1936. We can't do much about content. You'll have to know how the common law system works, how to read and brief cases, how to study and take exams, how to write and argue law and how lawsuits are tried. We can do something about style. There's advice and illustrations. You'll throw pots, working your first case, making your first argument, briefing cases, taking exams, and writing memos. This is not for the faint hearted nor is law school. Think like a lawyer. I won't be a bore. I'll tell jokes, some of which are actually funny. I'll challenge you intellectually. Where does law come from? Should judges follow precedent? What if your client wants to pave Paradise and put in a parking lot? If you love ideas you'll love this book and you'll love law school. (If you love people you'll love practice.)
Your Brain and Law School by
Based on the latest research, this entertaining, practical guide offers law students a formula for success in school, on the bar exam, and as a practicing attorney. Mastering the law, either as a law student or in practice, becomes much easier if one has a working knowledge of the brain's basic habits. Before you can learn to think like a lawyer, you have to have some idea about how the brain thinks. The first part of this book translates the technical research, explaining learning strategies that work for the brain in law school specifically, and calling out other tactics that are useless (though often popular lures for the misinformed). This book is unique in explaining the science behind the advice and will save you from pursuing tempting shortcuts that will take you in the wrong direction.
The second part explores the brain's decision-making processes and cognitive biases. These biases affect the ability to persuade, a necessary skill of the successful lawyer. The book talks about the art and science of framing, the seductive lure of the confirmation and egocentric biases, and the egocentricity of the availability bias. This book uses easily recognizable examples from both law and life to illustrate the potential of these biases to draw humans to mistaken judgments. Understanding these biases is critical to becoming a successful attorney and gaining proficiency in fashioning arguments that appeal to the sometimes quirky processing of the human brain.
This book is part of the Context and Practice Series, edited by Michael Hunter Schwartz, Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law.
A Guide to Belonging in Law School by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. This text accomplishes two discrete goals. First, it requires readers to engage in an authentic, rigorous, mini-law school semester involving reading, studying, five Socratic classes (through the connected website), exam preparation, and exam writing. Second, the book provides a foundation for students from marginalized groups to recognize and manage both subtle and explicit barriers that can impede their progress. Law schools should recommend this book to every incoming law student, especially those from groups underrepresented in the profession.
Excelling in Law School: a Complete Approach by
This text outlines the available resources and study-aids and shows how to effectively use new technologies such as websites that distribute outlines, companies that provide MP3s of detailed lectures on first year courses, student-maintained outline banks, recorded lectures, professor podcasts, and PowerPoint slides. Students learn the specific, unique skills required to approach law reviews and scholarships and to hunt for jobs.
Law 101: What Law School's Really Like by
Law 101 gives a behind-the-scenes look at what law school's really like. The advice covers all aspects of law school, and ranges from academic advice on such topics as study techniques, classroom skills, and tips for exam success, to the best ways to participate in extracurricular activities, maintain healthy relationships outside of law school, and get a job after graduation. A companion documentary, available online, provides additional perspectives on life in law school.
The Zen of Law School Success by
The Zen of Law School Success offers a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school. Zen is about simplicity, balance, knowing your universe, knowing yourself, and staying focused on the path to enlightenment. Similarly, these principles should be the foundation for success in law school, and this book details how to put these principles into practice in order to maximize your ability to have a successful law school career. Like the Zen path to enlightenment, law school success is about balance (between studying and other aspects of life, as well as balancing your study time between subjects, outlining, etc.), knowing your universe (knowing not only the subject matter tested, but knowing how the questions are constructed, knowing what to look for, etc.), knowing yourself (what type of essay writer you are, what type of learner you are, what type of exam taker you are, etc.), and staying focused on your path (when to study, what to do when you are stressed out, what to do when you don¿t know a subject very well, etc.). In addition to offering a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school, the book also offers practical advice for doing well during the classroom Socratic method, navigating the law school environment, managing law school stress, and getting a job after graduation. Moreover, the Zen of Law School Success focuses on doing well on final exams, including specific strategies and tips for both essay and multiple choice exams. The book includes many exercises and model answers that will benefit any law student.
Starting off Right in Law School by
Law school is different. Incoming students, confronted with an entirely new vocabulary and unfamiliar with the discipline's unique and demanding educational methods, are often disoriented. This book is designed to give these students a head start, both by introducing them to the fundamentals of the legal process and by helping them acquire the study skills necessary for success. Starting Off Right in Law School introduces new law students to the practice and study of law by following a lawsuit from its inception through the appeals process, illustrating what lawyers actually do, how they prepare, how they interact with clients and in courtrooms, how a lawsuit proceeds, and how students can effectively read and analyze cases, outline, and apply what they have learned on the exams.
Hard-Nosed Advice from a Cranky Law Professor by
This book addresses those tasks that students commonly face in law school: from reading and briefing cases, to outlining, to preparing and taking exams, to being called on in class. The book also provides advice on success outside the classroom, including preparing for the bar exam. In this new, updated edition, the authors enhance each topic by simplifying the approach even further and providing additional hypotheticals to turn the abstract into the concrete. The second edition includes new examples of case briefing, outlining, exam writing, and bar essays, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to the skill of legal writing. In this new chapter, the authors transform a complicated writing course into a simple, step-by-step guide that makes legal writing attainable for any law student.
Law School Survival Manual by
In the Law School Survival Manual, Nancy Rapoport and Jeff Van Niel serve as the friendly voice of experience whose wit and wisdom will guide you through law school from the application process to orientation, and from your first year to graduation - including summer jobs, clerkships, and the bar exam. This concise handbook focuses on all aspects of law school that are mystifying or tricky or both.
Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades by
This text is a handbook for students seeking to improve their performance in law school. The new edition offers unique insights by reducing the exam format to a series of repeatable steps. It also teaches students how to "prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class," with proven time-management and outlining techniques. The main focus of the book is on law school exam success, but it also includes guidance on reading, note-taking, use of supplements, and common mistakes made by law students. The latest edition also adds guidance for in-person and online testing, and three new practice exams with model answers (on the topics of Torts, Property, and Contracts).
How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. Written for every law student who ever wondered how to get better grades in law school, How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected provides students of all levels with a detailed, comprehensive, and practical guide to success on law school exams. What's more, How to Write Law Exams applies equally to all subject matters, making this text an ideal supplement for every law school course. Focuses on law school and bar exams rather than the kind of assignments seen in legal writing class. As such, the book helps students improve their grades in all of their substantive courses, not just in their first year legal writing class. Provides readers with a proven and easy-to-implement means of maximizing points on a law school exam. Rather than repeating vague generalities about grammar and style or providing simple bullet-point lists as other writing guides do, this text breaks the well-known IRAC method of legal writing into comprehensible segments and gives students the tools needed to master their law exams. Provides readers with detailed student-written examples of the IRAC method in action. Annotated with line-by-line critiques, these sample essays show readers exactly what can go wrong in a law school exam and how to fix those problems before they appear on a graded paper. Combining in-depth analysis, easy-to-understand writing, and innovative design features, How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected is the answer to every law student's exam questions.
The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance in Law School by
Must create an account to access from off-campus. This work teaches the eight secrets that will add points to every exam answer you write. You will learn the three keys to handling any essay exam, how to use time to your advantage, issue spotting, how to organize your answer, and the hidden traps of the IRAC method. Once you have mastered these skills, you can put your knowledge to the test with sample exam questions and check your answers against those provided. A special section on how to do well on other types of exams, such as open-book, multiple-choice, or policy exams, is also included.
Sum and Substance Audio on How to Succeed in Law School by
Must create an account to access from off-campus.Covers preparing for the exam During the semester: Outlining; Use of study groups; Preparing for the exam during the semester: Assessing your weaknesses; Preparing for the exam right before finals; Taking the test; How to write an "A" paper; How do professors grade; and Learning from the test for future classes.
Exam First Aid by
Part One of this book deals with time management both before and during the exam. Part Two deals with multiple-choice exam taking skills such as how to approach reading the question, narrowing the answer choice to the probable answers, and dealing with being unsure of your answer. Part Three addresses how to look critically at your performance on a multiple-choice exam. The book includes a self-diagnostic questionnaire, time management worksheets, and sample multiple-choice questions with explanatory answers.
