Final exams that professors have released to the library will be placed on the student share drive (Y:) in the folder titled "Past Exams."
You can access the student share drive when you are away from campus by logging into the Law Center File Server Remote Access. Logon with your Law Center ID and password and be sure to bookmark the site. To access past exams once you have logged on, double-click the “Community Files” folder and then the “Students Share” folder. You can then open the “Past Exams” folder for past exams sorted by professor.
Print copies of those final exams released to the library from 1936-2011 are located in the Louisiana Lock-Up. Students may access this area by inquiring at the Reference Desk.
Louisiana Bar exams administered within the past five years are available in the Reserve Room. Older Louisiana Bar exams are are located in the Louisiana Lock-Up. Students may access this area by inquiring at the Reference Desk.
Webpages on Taking Exams:
Law School Exams 101, The Girl's Guide to Law School
Vikram David Amar, Some Tips for Succeeding on Law School Exams, Verdict/Justia
Articles on Studying and Taking Exams:
Dennis Tonsin, A Plan for Your Exams, Student Lawyer, March 2005, 32-38.
Amy L. Jarmon, If Exams Could Talk: Insights from Last Semester, Student Lawyer, Jan. 2009, 11-12.
Rosemary LaPuma, Don’t Stress Over Exams, Student Lawyer, Nov. 2005, 20-23.
Jerry J. Phillips, Thirteen Rules for Taking Law Exams, 72 Tenn. L. Rev. 797 (2005).
If this is your first time using CALI, you will need to set up a username and password. Go to http://www.cali.org/user/register and click the Create an Account link. You will be asked to enter LSU Law’s authorization code. You can get this code at the Reference Desk. Once you have entered the authorization code, you can set up your username and password.
The 1L experience:
Preparing for Your First Semester of Law School (podcast)
Advice to a 1L From a Law Professor (podcast)
Lessons:
Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure
Podcasts:
Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 1
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 2
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 3
Law School Success in a Nutshell by
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.
Open Book by
Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success, 2E is a book that every JD and LLM law student needs to read, either before classes start or as they get going in their 1L year. Now in an expanded second edition, the book explains in a clear and easygoing, conversational manner what law professors expect from their students both in classes and exams. The authors, award-winning teachers with a wealth of classroom experience, give students an inside look at law school by explaining how, despite appearances to the contrary, classes connect to exams and exams connect to the practice of law. Open Book introduces them to the basic structure of our legal system and to the distinctive features of legal reasoning. To prepare students for exams, the book explains in clear and careful detail what exams are designed to test. It then devotes a single, clearly written chapter to each step of the process of answering exams. It also contains a wealth of material, both in the book and digitally, on preparing for exams. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Open Book comes with a free suite of 18 actual law school exams in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property and Torts, written and administered by law professors. These exams include not only questions, but: (1) annotations from the professors explaining what they were looking for; (2) model answers written by the professors themselves; and (3) actual student answers, with professor comments that explain why certain answers were stronger of weaker. As Open Book explains, there is no better way to prepare for exams than by practicing, and these unique materials will enable students to get the most out of their pre-exam practice.
Law School Exams by
Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades is the complete handbook for students who want to significantly improve their performance in law school. In most law school classes, 90% of a student's final grade is based on a single comprehensive exam that is given at the end of the semester. This book focuses on developing the one skill that can really improve a student's GPA: getting the best possible grade on that all-important exam. Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades offers a practical, top-to-bottom strategy that can be applied to almost any law school exam, regardless of the topic or level.
Written from the perspective of a student with a 4.0 GPA, this book offers fresh and unique insights on law school exams by stripping the exam format into a series of repeatable steps and building blocks. It also teaches students how to ¿prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class,¿ with proven time-management, outlining, and case-briefing techniques. Based on the author's highly successful seminar series at the University of Miami, these strategies have already helped hundreds of law students improve their grades. Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades is perfect for the over-achieving law student who is aiming for perfect grades, the struggling upper-division student who needs guidance to stay afloat, or the eager pre-law student who wants a peek at what lies ahead.
Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School by
Ancillary purchase book appropriate for incoming and first - year law students, law students in academic support programs, pre - law students, and graduates studying for the bar exam. Features: The student answer to the Hayakawa problem in Chapter 4 is now annotated to show key features, such as explanations of rules, explanation of elements, application of sub-elements to facts, and conclusions An all-new Chapter 8 explains how exams are like the real practice of law
Keeping Your Own Counsel by
Keeping Your Own Counsel: Simple Strategies and Secrets for Success in Law Schoo, by Professor Walter A. Effross, is a unique toolkit of practical systems, schedules, and scores of (sometimes-surprising) suggestions, to help students distinguish themselves in the classroom, the exam room, and the interview room. Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. Drawing on the author's seven years of big-firm practice and quarter-century of full-time law teaching, the book provides encouraging and immediately-usable methods to support students throughout their law school careers, starting well before the first day of classes. Keeping Your Own Counsel includes structures for mastering information, maximizing efficiency, minimizing stress, and building a portfolio of publications. Students will benefit from: Clear and meaningful discussions, with numbered lists of considerations, questions, and suggestions Consistent emphasis on maintaining and cultivating one's purpose, values, and professional and personal ethics Recommendations of effective ways to use inexpensive and easily-available, but often-overlooked, resources Chronological coverage includes: pre-law reading; becoming fully oriented; how law school differs from, and resembles, law practice; core lists to maintain; preparing for classes and exams; exam-taking; analyzing, and writing, law review articles; selecting upper-level courses; judicial clerkships; and, succeeding in job interviews. Eight detailed appendices present lists of: dozens of ways to enhance the lawyer's role in decision-making; more than 150 potential paper/blogging topics; over 50 elements of contract-drafting; and, more than 25 creative career categories of practice in corporate and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) law.
1L of a Ride by
Assigned as required or recommended reading at law schools throughout the country, 1L of a Ride provides a candid, comprehensive roadmap to both academic and emotional success in law school's crucial first year. Legal education continues to evolve and so does this classic work. Told in an accessible first-person voice, covered topics in this updated, revised, and expanded fourth edition include pre-planning, top student fears, the first-year curriculum, the Socratic and case methods of teaching, effective class participation, the top habits of successful students, essential study techniques, legal research and writing, exam strategies, maintaining well-being, online learning, career planning, and much more. Combines comments from hundreds of law students, empirical research, and authentic samples of signature documents from the 1L experience, including exam questions, Socratic dialogue, and student case-briefs, class notes, and course outlines. McClurg is an award-winning professor who taught at six different law schools. This version comes with an access code to a first-of-its-kind online video course designed to reinforce the reading. These thirteen videos address subjects covered in the book, often from fresh angles, as well as some new topics. Along with McClurg, the videos feature award-winning law professors Christine Coughlin (Wake Forest University), Meredith Duncan (University of Houston), and Nancy Levit (University of Missouri-Kansas City). Each video is roughly ten minutes, followed by a short self-assessment quiz. They include: 1. Introduction to the Video Course 2. Planning Ahead and Biggest Fears 3. Structure and Role of U.S. Courts 4. Socratic and Case Methods 5. Overview of First-Year Curriculum 6. First-Year Sample Course: Torts 7. How to Read and Brief a Case 8. The C.R.E.D.O.--Top Five Habits of Successful Law Students 9. Essential Study Techniques 10. Legal Research Basics 11. Legal Writing Basics 12. Managing Stress and Maintaining Well-Being 13. Professionalism Research shows students gain not only from reading, but also seeing and hearing, in part because video helps accommodate diverse learning styles. Use the videos to enhance comprehension and retention. Studies also show students prefer and benefit from one-on-one facetime with professors, which the videos, while no match for the real thing, can help simulate.
Law School and Exams by
Law School and Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win, Third Editionis the third edition of a popular book whose first edition Bryan Garner reviewed and judged to be "the best on the market." It combines: Clear and comprehensive explanations of study and exam techniques Numerous illustrative samples that are truly instructive 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 Third 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 Third Edition: 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. Expanded sets of exercises and assignments, including new and improved essay exams and multiple-choice questions. New discussion of time management. 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, and writing exercises. Clear explanations and illustrations for reading assignments and numerous exercises for in-class active learning Sample answers 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 Teaching materials Include: Teacher's Manual: Notes for teaching strategies Sample answer for the major in-text assignment Two essay exam questions with sample answers that can be administered as in-class exams for practice, or as graded exams