Mastering the Law School Exam (Academic and Career Success Series)

Mastering the Law School Exam is designed to provide students with a knowledgeable, reasonable, and rational voice to navigate the intricacies of law school exams. This book is practical rather than theoretical where the emphasis is on providing the type of detailed examples necessary to show students precisely “how to do it” and “how to write it.”
By working with numerous illustrations in the context of substantive law, 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 basic skills that exams seek to test and the precise manner in which they are tested. Become familiar with the general types of law school exams through examples and detailed analyses of sample answers. Use the language of the law in the writing of issues, statements of the rule, and analysis of the facts. Draw appropriate inferences from the facts. Improve close reading skills as well as writing skills. Be pro-active by taking formative assessments in a variety of subject areas and formats. Simulate exam conditions by writing exams under timed conditions. Target assessments according to identified learning objectives. Self-assess by following detailed grading rubrics. Use formative assessment to improve learning through identified feedback mechanisms. Draw appropriate inferences from the facts. Organize their thoughts to write an organized analysis. Develop a facility with adapting the “IRAC” structure of legal analysis to answer multiple-choice questions, write essay answers, and address varying performance test tasks.