What They Are: Exam practice aids help students practice the analytical skills they need to succeed on law school exams. Although understanding the law is critical to exam success, it is not everything. Law school exams typically test a variety of other skills, including the ability: (a) to accurately identify legal issues; (b) to recall the relevant law with speed; and (c) to apply the law to a given set of facts efficiently and skillfully. There are a number of commercial practice aids available to help students develop these skills. Flash cards (like Law-In-A-Flash) help both in rote memorization and recall, as well as with application of legal principles. Flowcharts (like BarCharts) provide excellent visual cues for how different legal concepts relate to each other and how to tackle exam problems in a step-by-step fashion. Multiple-choice and short-answer study aids provide short answer and multiple-choice questions that help you track your progress in knowing and applying the law. Each exam practice aid, in its own way, allows you to go beyond reading summaries or outlines of a given area of law and sharpens your exam-taking skills.
When To Buy: Not surprisingly, the best time to buy exam practice aids is in the run-up to taking your exams (October 1-December 15 in the Fall, or March 1-May 5 in the Spring).
