Pritzker Legal Research Center: Law School Survival: Law School Survival

Welcome

This is a guide providing academic and social-emotional resources for law school students and other members of the Northwestern Law community.

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Last updated: August 13, 2024

Books From Our Catalog

Our Welcome (Back) to Law School reading list has more books about the 1L year and beyond.

1L Success by Sara Berman
ISBN: 9781685613310
Publication Date: 2024-03-26
1L Success: Becoming a Lawyer, a Professional Identity Formation Workbook takes you through the entire 1L year, providing solid and invaluable tips, along with reflections so that you can take a deeper look and find deeper meaning (and greater rewards!) from all the effort you are putting in. We'll look at proven strategies to overcome challenges and techniques to help you achieve your success goals.Wherever you are in the process, if you are thinking about applying to law school, are about to start, or are well into your first year, this book will help you be the best first year law student you can be --and enjoy the process along the way!
A Short and Happy Guide to Being a Law Student by Paula Franzese
ISBN: 9780314291073
Publication Date: 2014-03-20
Learn from the unprecedented ten-time recipient of the Professor of the Year award how to be your best in and out of class, how to prepare for exams, how to succeed on exams, how to put your best foot forward in a job interview, how to find teachers to inspire you, what to do in classes that leave you uninspired, how to cope with stress and how to create value in everything you do.

Study Aids

The library has an extensive collection of study aids that exist both electronically and as physical books. Physical copies of study aids are behind the circulation desk. The checkout period is 3 days during the semester and 24 hours during exam week.

The library subscribes to the following online study aids:

Aspen Learning Library
Formerly known as WK Online Study Aid Library, Aspen Learning Library contains online library of study aids from Wolters Kluwer including titles in the following series: Examples & Explanations (aka the "E&Es"), Emanuel Law Outlines, Glannon Guides, Emanuel CrunchTime, Casenote Legal Briefs and more.

After making an account on Aspen, you can download materials to read offline, save resources onto shelves, or create a favorites list. Aspen also has downloadable apps for mac, windows, and Android.

West Study Aids Subscription
Northwestern law students have access to West's Online Study Aids, which includes titles from the following Nutshells, Concise Hornbooks, Exam Pro, High Court Case Summaries, the Acing Series and Gilbert Law Summaries
CALI
Provides interactive lessons and tutorials to help students learn the law. The database includes over 900 lessons covering more than 40 legal education subject areas.

Law students and faculty need to have a CALI authentication code to create an account. Contact the reference desk (law-reference@law.northwestern.edu or 312-503-8450) to obtain an authorization code.

Exam Practice

The library maintains a Law School Exam Archive, which provides current Northwestern law students will access to exams from previous years. You will need your username/password to log in to the exam archive.

Emanuel Crunch Time (on Aspen Learning Library) includes flowcharts and capsule summaries of major points of law and critical issues, as well as exam tips for identifying common traps and pitfalls, sample exam and essay questions with model answers.

Exam Pro (on West Academic) consists of essay questions actually given by law professors throughout the United States. Every question contains a detailed explanation, along with analytical steps explained in easy-to-understand, basic language, and a step-by-step guide on how to analyze each major issue. Both “model” answers and student “actual” answers are provided. The books provide a general “List of Issues” covered on each question is provided, so the student can decide whether or not to use a particular question given the course coverage in the student’s Contracts class and an “Index of Issues” is provided in order to easily find all the questions that deal with a particular substantive issue.

Friedman's Practice Series (on Aspen Learning Library) includes essay and multiple choice questions.

Law School Exams by Charles R. Calleros
ISBN: 9781543825367
Publication Date: 2021-01-31
This book includes clear and comprehensive explanations of study and exam techniques, numerous illustrative samples that are truly instructive, and twenty exercises on everything from case briefs to essay and multiple-choice exam questions.
Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School by Dernbach
ISBN: 9781454841623
Publication Date: 2014-04-08
This guide for law and pre-law students demystifies the exam writing process in plain language and gives annotated correct and incorrect examples.
Getting to Maybe by Richard Fischl; Jeremy Paul
ISBN: 0890897603
Publication Date: 1999-05-26
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 that go well beyond conventional advice. 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.