Where did the semester go? While the fall semester may have disappeared quickly, there’s still plenty of time to prepare for a successful exam season.
First, fill in those outline gaps with study aids, available in print and online via the Law Library. The West Academic Study Aids Library includes Acing, Concepts and Insights, Hornbooks, Nutshells, Black Letter Outlines, Legalines, and Sum and Substance audio. The Aspen Learning Library includes Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, and Emanuel Law Outlines. Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law provides accessible yet comprehensive overviews of more than two dozen legal topics, particularly strong in comparative and international areas of law. All three study aid databases can be accessed quickly from the Law Library’s Legal Databases & Links page.
First-semester students might also want to take a look at general exam preparation guides, like those listed on the library orientation guide to Law School Success. Titles like Getting to Maybe: How To Excel on Law School Exams (2d ed. 2023, Reserve KF283 .F57 2023), How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected (2d ed. 2020, online), and Law School Success in a Nutshell: A Guide to Studying Law and Taking Law School Exams (3d ed. 2017, KF283 .B87 2017 and online) provide advice to improve your issue-spotting and analytical abilities. More print and e-book titles can be found in the Duke Libraries Catalog with a subject search for “Law examinations -- United States”.
If you find yourself too tempted by distracting websites while reviewing your outlines, it might be time to check out some productivity tools to keep on task. Browser extensions like LeechBlock NG (Firefox) and StayFocusd (Chrome) allow you to set limits on the times you use particularly distracting sites (such as “no Netflix before 9 pm” or “no more than 10 minutes on reddit in an hour”). A Pomodoro timer, like Focus Keeper, allows users to set a 25-minute timer for focused work, followed by a 5-minute short break. The website and mobile apps are free to use; a Pro version of the app is also available.
Be on the lookout for more email messages this exam season from the Registrar, the Office of Student Affairs, and Academic Technologies about exam schedules, software, preparation tips, and study breaks! For help locating study aids, exam prep guides, or textbooks on a particular subject, be sure to Ask a Librarian.