|
Getting To Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams | 
| Authors: Richard Michael Fischl, Jeremy Paul
Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $22.00
You Save: $3.00 (12%)
New (10) Used (12) from $19.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 1381
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 348
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0890897603
Dewey Decimal Number: 340.076
EAN: 9780890897607
ASIN: 0890897603
Publication Date: May 26, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new, never used
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Professors Fischl and Paul explain law school exams in ways no one has before, all with an eye toward improving the reader's performance. The book begins by describing the difference between educational cultures that praise students for "right answers," and the law school culture that rewards nuanced analysis of ambiguous situations in which more than one approach may be correct. Enormous care is devoted to explaining precisely how and why legal analysis frequently produces such perplexing situations.
But the authors don't stop with mere description. Instead, 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. The authors also illustrate how to argue both sides of a legal issue without appearing wishy-washy or indecisive. 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.
In sum, although the authors believe that no exam guide can substitute for a firm grasp of substantive material, readers who devote the necessary time to learning the law will find this book an invaluable guide to translating learning into better exam performance.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...
 Gives a decent head start but it didn't and shouldn't have any impact on grades March 12, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Reading this book before school started had the benefit of getting me thinking about law and legal analysis. But it had no impact on my grades (I'm at or near the top of my class in all subjects and top overall). More importantly, it SHOULDN'T have any impact on one's grades. Attending the lectures, reading the cases, preparing your own outline, participating in class and seeking help from the professor when necesssary; THESE are the vital steps for success in law school.
I gave up using commercial aids for one crucial reason: they distracted me from getting inside the head of the professor and really grasping the nature of the topic. People who try to take artificial shortcuts like using a commercial aid will never excel. If their intellect cannot naturally expedite the studying process, how could a quick summary give someone that special, incisive grasp of a topic? In such a case one would be better off doing all the assigned tasks properly and methodically. Disagree with me at your peril!
To be fair, after reading this book, I was able to provide some clever answers in class during my first month at school. After that, I was so involved and interested in the assigned materials, I long surpassed what this book could offer.
 Thank you Professors Fischl and Paul December 11, 2007
What a great book. I'm just sorry that I didn't discover it until my 2L year. I feel so much more prepared for exams this year, thanks to the great advice and information in this book. I plan to give my copy to the student services library when I leave law school, because I think every single 1L should read it!
Yes. August 10, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It seems incomprehensible, not long ago, that this book did not exist! The information accumulated and distributed in this book is priceless. Many law-thought exercises, a challenging read for the mind but not tiring or boring when taken in chunks.
If you're going to law school or are in it right now, and haven't read this, you certainly will regret it!
 When's the best time to read? May 20, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was a good book, but I kept trying to figure out exactly when it should be read.
I'm starting law school in the fall, so I'm trying to do what prep I can over the summer. Much of this book was understandable for someone who hasn't actually started law school, but there were some concepts that are based on information that you learn in your 1L year. Since this book has tips for preparing for exams ahead of time, it wouldn't make sense to read during the semester (and who would have time, anyway?). In a revision, I would suggest that the authors tune the content slightly to be absorbed more easily by someone who has not started law school yet.
An essential tool for law students March 20, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am a law professor at the oldest night law school in San Francisco who has struggled for years to communicate to my stdents how to prepare for exams. I wish someone had told me about this book years ago. It explains cogently and distinctly why law school exams are different than those exams you did so well on in college (or you wouldn't be in law school) and why you need to start thinking differently. The book goes through the different types of questions one mught find on an exam and shows how to address them. It also provides numerous tips on how to study and how to approach exam writing. The book also does a great job of explaining a theme I have pushed for years --- that exam-writing skills are really the writing and thinking skills students will need when they become lawyers. It should be required reading in law schools. And it wouldn't hurt law professors to read the book either.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
