Exam Preparation: Tools and Techniques

CALI Lessons

CALI lessons are provided through the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. Each lesson focuses on a specific aspect of the legal topic and contains dozens of practice questions. A general lesson on exam writing technique is available at: Writing Better Law School Exams.

Please note that you must register to use CALI lessons. Registration will allow you to create your own password to use the lessons.

In order to register, you will need an authorization code for BULaw. The code is available from the reference librarians during reference hours. Upon request, we will email the code to your BU email address.

Area of Law Summaries

  • Provided by LexisNexis, these extensive summaries are available in HTML, Word, and PDF formats.

Other Exam Prep Tools on the Web

  • Law School Exams Center: By Law Student Paradise, includes links to exams from over 20 schools and to web guides on exam taking technique.

Boston University School of Law Exams

  • Boston University School of Law Examinations (1965-present)
    Law Ref KF 292 B5 A23 (moved outside copy room during exam period)

Exams are listed by course title and professor in the preliminary pages of each book. Please note that these books only contain published exams.

  • Banking Exams, BU School of Law (1984/85-present)
    Law Reserve LW 3 BANKING EXAMS

Study Aids

Use these materials to increase your understanding of law school topics or to supplement your outlines. Click on the links below to see the titles in these series owned by the Pappas Law Library

  • Black Letter Series: Published by West, this outline series provides summaries of many areas of law. The law library collects this series selectively.
  • Examples and Explanations Series: This series published by Aspen covers both first year and upperclass topics. Each section contains a summary of the law followed by short questions to help you test your understanding of the topic.
  • Hornbook Series: This series published by West provides comprehensive explanations of many areas of law.
  • Understanding Series: Published by LexisNexis, this series provides comprehensive treatment of primarily upperclass topics.

Books on Exam Taking Technique

  • A Practical Guide to Writing Law School Essay Exams
    Law Reserve KF283 .D47 2001
  • Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams
    Law Annex KF283 .F57 1999
  • Learning the Law: Success in Law School and Beyond
    Law Annex KF283 .F73 1997
  • How to Study Law and Take Law Exams in a Nutshell
    Law Reserve KF283 .B87 1996

Page maintained by Raquel Ortiz
Last updated: August 2006