Study Aids

Tips and Advice for a Successful Law School Exam Period

Posted on by Troy Cook
Color illustration of a person rushing into another person, yelling, "MOVE IT! I'VE GOT FINALS!" The other person is falling and saying, "OOOMPH!"
Illustration by Troy Cook, 2023

With finals soon arriving, it is the perfect time to think about the strategies of a successful law school exam experience. By now, you may have figured out an effective study approach, but here are some additional tips in case there’s something new that could be helpful.

Create a schedule. It is helpful to create a finals study schedule, where you can factor in any additional time needed for reviewing concepts, and completing practice questions and exams. Perhaps create a game plan, or a day-by-day schedule for each class. Maybe you need to allot more for study time for your more challenging courses. But be sure to budget time for current assigned readings and assignments, so that you don’t fall behind.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Review your syllabus, class notes and highlighted sections of your casebook to create a ”hit-list” of topics to study. Flag the material that you find most difficult, so you can focus on any knowledge gaps. Then, you can prioritize topics you struggle with the most, over topics you’ve already mastered.

Team up with a great study group, partner, or study aid. Study groups can be a valuable learning tool. For some students, talking through material with classmates could help your understanding and retention of course materials. But if studying with classmates is not your thing, use the authors of the study guides as your friends and study partners. Additionally, try some study guides, available in print and as eBooks  through the library, such as as Glannon Guides, the Emanuel Crunch Time, and Questions & Answers. These can help you review material through flow charts and summaries; they also provide short-answer, multiple choice, and essay questions and answers, so you can test your knowledge.

Complete your outlines and then work on editing down and memorizing them. So much material is covered in law school that it can seem quite jumbled in your mind. The professors construct the exams to see how well you can link all of the concepts together; this shows that you can apply the skill of analyzing numerous concepts at the same time. Reviewing, editing down, and memorizing your outlines will help you recognize how all of the facets of the particular law class work together in building the overall meaning and understanding of the subject. Need help making an outline? Try one of the library’s Emanuel Outlines available online or in-print at the circulation desk.

Pay attention in class. One last piece of advice that seems to always work is to pay attention in class. Yes, this seems obvious, but paying attention in class will truly save you time because your class notes will make sense and save you from time spent having to learn new concepts and laws. Really focus on what the professor says in class; this will also give important hints about what is expected for the exam. Also participate in class; the discourse you have with the professor is great for the learning experience and professors love it. If you are nervous about talking in class, a good tactic is to go to class with a list of questions. These may be from the reading or questions that you had after evaluating the material from past classes.

Maybe if you follow these great tips, you will not end up like the poor chap below:

 

Illustration of person with raised fist, with a speech bubble stating, "AAARG FINALS." The person is looking down at books and a fallen chair nearby.
Illustration by Troy Cook, 2023

Level Up Your Studies with Resources From CALI!

Posted on by Mike Muehe

While Zief has many traditional study aid books and eBooks, like our Examples & Explanations or Glannon Guides, it also provides you with access to the CALI (the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) website. Built by law professors and law librarians, it has 1,200 interactive lessons on law school topics, podcasts, outlines, and open-access casebooks. While your professors may assign material from CALI, you can also take full advantage of this resource on your own! This week, we’ll explore some of its resources, when you might need them, and how to access them.

CALI, who also sponsors the law school’s CALI Awards (awarded to the top earners in each law school course), is a non-profit consortium of most U.S. law schools and legal educators. For over 40 years, the organization has helped research and develop computer-mediated legal education and, today, it provides law students with a wealth of materials to help with law school success.

CALI’s most popular resource, CALI Lessons, bring you interactive lessons and quizzes on specific topics from your 1L and upper-division classes. In addition to helping you fortify your knowledge of the black-letter law, the CALI lessons also cover law school skills, with topics such as “Law School Success,” “Legal Research,” and “Bar Success and Planning.” For example, its newest lesson, “Cases & Outlining: The Basics,” offers 1Ls a step-by-step lesson in creating a course outline with content from case law. Not sure which lessons might be helpful? Check out their handy Lessons by Subject Outline to see which lessons correspond to your topics.

So, whether you’re a 1L or upper division law student, CALI’s lessons, podcasts, and open-access eBooks offer you a broad selection of resources to help you succeed in law school. While you can always check them out throughout the semester, now that we’re in a new semester, it may be most helpful to see which resources they have for your new course load. That way, you’ll be ready with access to the materials you need.

Interested in learning more? See the Zief staff to get your CALI access code, or chat with one of the research librarians for more tips on how to use CALI alongside your other favorite learning materials!

Study Aids: What are they, how do you use them, and where do you find them?

Posted on by Mike Muehe

Now that we’re a few weeks into the semester, you’ve likely accumulated a solid amount of information from your courses and, with midterm exams nearing, now may be a good time to look back and make sure you’re confident with that knowledge. Is there an area of Torts you need to review? Did a certain rule in Evidence not stick? Or, are you ready to test your issue-spotting skills in Constitutional Law? Fortunately, the Zief Law Library is stocked with a wide variety of study aids in book, eBook, and audio/video formats to meet your learning styles and help you review. Here, we’ll dive into what study aids are, how you can use them, and where you can find them.

Continue reading “Study Aids: What are they, how do you use them, and where do you find them?” →