Exam Season Excellence

Hard to believe that the fall semester is coming to an end! After the Thanksgiving holiday break, there's just one week of classes left to get your exam plans in order. Fortunately, the Goodson Law Library is here to help – and not just for quiet study space.

Past exams, if your professor chooses to make them available, will be linked on your course's Sakai site. The library does not maintain a database of past Law School examinations from recent years. (We do have some in the archives dating from the 1930s to the 1990s, but those aren't going to help you by now.) However, help is still available if your professor opts not to share a sample exam. General law school exam-taking advice can be found by searching the Duke Libraries Catalog for the subject "Law Examinations – United States."

Study aids can supplement your class material, clearing up any lingering confusion about a particular topic.

• West Academic Library Study Aids provides full-text access to hundreds of study aids, treatises, audio lectures, and flash card sets published by West Academic. The available series include Concepts and Insights, Hornbooks, Nutshells, Black Letter Outlines, Legalines, Sum and Substance, and many more.
• Elgar Advanced Introductions provide accessible overviews to about 15 topics, mostly in comparative and international law.
• Additional study aid series, such as Examples & Explanations and Glannon Guides, can be found in print on Reserve with a search for the topic, limited to the Law Library Reserves collection. Part III of the library's Law School Success guide details the series available and how to locate them.

Need to block out distractions? Our friends at CALI (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) have kindly provided us with a supply of earplugs, now available at the service desk. (We've always had disposable foam earplugs available upon request – but CALI's come in a nice plastic shell, and give you a few more color choices.) When you come to pick them up, ask the librarian on duty for the CALI registration code (or access it here with NetID if you're shy), in order to unlock more than 1,000 online tutorials on legal topics, all created by law school faculty members. CALI also features free e-books in its eLangdell bookstore.

Good luck with final examinations! For help locating study aids in print or online, be sure to Ask a Librarian.