Law School and Exams Preparing and Writing to Win

by Calleros, Charles R.; Schulze, Louis

• ISBN13: 9798889068716
• ISBN10: 888906871X
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-06-02
• Publisher: Aspen Publishing

Summary

Law School and Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win, Fourth Edition is the fourth edition of a popular book whose first edition Bryan Garner reviewed and judged to be “the best on the market.” It combines:
 

1. Clear and comprehensive explanations of study and exam techniques
2. Numerous illustrative samples that are truly instructive
3. Twenty in-class exercises or take-home assignments on everything from case briefs to essay and multiple-choice exam questions.

 
Comprehensive and self-contained, the Fourth Edition is suitable for use as the textbook for a sophisticated Prelaw course, 1L Orientation, or a 1L Academic Success course. Alternatively, incoming freshmen can work through it independently over the summer to be optimally prepared for law school in the fall.
 
New to the Fourth Edition:

• New material throughout the book from the engaging voice and ASP teaching experience of new co-author, Louis Schulze
• The latest in learning theory, including focus and engagement, spaced repetition with interleaving, active learning through hands-on practice; and the importance of mindset, mindfulness, and well-being
• New material on strategies for preparing for and taking exams
• Discussions of AI in legal practice,
  • and in student work when called for in a course, but
  • underscoring the necessity of otherwise doing one’s own work as a 1L to develop the required knowledge and skills to later harness, review, and revise AI

 
Professors and student will benefit from:

• The way the book facilitates a flipped classroom:
  • The clear and detailed explanations and illustrations will enable students to prepare well for class, permitting the professor to provide a quick summary of key points before turning to active learning through brainstorming, problem-solving, discussion, debate, writing exercises, and formative assessment.
• Clear explanations and illustrations for reading assignments and numerous exercises for in-class active learning
• Sample answers in the Appendix for all in-text exercises, to help students check their understanding
• A major in-text take-home assignment requiring case synthesis, that can be used to further gauge student’s understanding

 

 

Table of Contents

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Contents 
Acknowledgments 
Introduction 

PART ONE SUCCESS IN THE STUDY OF LAW 
Chapter 1 Preparing for Law School 
Chapter 2 How to “Do” Law School 
Chapter 3 The Case Method: Focus on Judicial Opinions 
Chapter 4 Reading and Briefing Cases 
Chapter 5 Taking and Reviewing Class Notes 
Chapter 6 Synthesizing Cases 
Chapter 7 Preparing Outlines and Flowcharts 

PART TWO SUCCESS IN TAKING LAW SCHOOL EXAMS 
Chapter 8 Preparing for Exams with Active Study and Practice 
Chapter 9 Getting Primed for the Task 
Chapter 10 Techniques Common to All Essay Questions 
Chapter 11 Fact-Based Essay Questions with Uncertain Conclusions 
Chapter 12 Essay Questions of a Different Kind 
Chapter 13 Objective Questions: True-False and Multiple-Choice 

Appendix A Sample Case Brief for the Exercise at the End of Chapter 4 
Appendix B Sample Syntheses in the Exercises at the End of Chapter 6 
Appendix C Sample Answers to Outlining Exercises in Chapter 7, Section III 
Appendix D Sample Answers to Exercises Relating to Fact-Based Essay
Questions with Uncertain Conclusions in Chapter 11 
Appendix E Sample Answers to Exercises Relating to Essay Questions
of a Different Kind in Chapter 12 
Appendix F Answers and Explanations for Exercises Relating
to Objective Questions at the end of Chapter 13