Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams

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Summary: All I needed to know about law scholl exams I learned here!
Review: This book is over 300 pages long; what could they possibly tell me about writing a three page essay in 300 pages? Everything! This book will give you the confidence you need to ace your first year exams. I hate reading, especially things that are unassigned, but this book went very quickly and I am a better student for having read it! Don't read it untill after a couple months into law school or a lot of it will not make sence to you!

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Summary: Tantra and Legal Reasoning
Review: This book reminds me very much of the history of tantric yoga. For hundreds of years, tantric yoga was available only to a very select few. Teachers claimed this was necessary because (1)tantric teachings could only be taught one at a time from a master to a disciple and (2) only some people were worthy (or capable) of training. For years, elite law professors have made the same kinds of assumptions: (1) legal reasoning can only be taught by the mysterious and mystefying question and answer process labelled socratic teaching and (2) only some people can "get" it. It took hundreds of years before practitioners started teaching tantra in the U.S., exposing many to its benefits, and exploding the lie that only some had the potential to benefit. Thank goodness, it's taken only a little over a hundred years for this book to come along and expose how anyone can learn about legal reasoning without the mystery -- and, frankly, narcissistic abuse -- associated with the Socratic method.

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Summary: I improved by a full grade in each of my classes!
Review: This book saved me!

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Summary: The way to pass the law school exam.
Review: This book saved my law school carreer. law school tests are notoriously ambigous. There are no right answers. Unfortunatly, there seems to be no help for students. One of the proscribed methods is the IRAC method (when you get to school you will learn this and this is not the time to write about it). This book gives you a different way of acheving success in the test. The book does criticize IRAC and offers its own way of handling the testing questions. "Getting To Maybe" is written by law professors and who would know more about passing their tests as well as how a professor thinks? The book is a well written philosophy on the test and the mistakes. The authors spend a great deal of time explaining their philosophy and it is helpfull for the second half of the book. The book shows the common test question mistakes and how to fix them. The book also provides sample tests with sample answers and explanations of why they are good answers. This is the best part of the book, a side by side comparison of good and bad answers which makes this book invaluable. Highly reccommended.

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Summary: The way to pass the law school exam.
Review: This book saved my law school carreer. law school tests are notoriously ambigous. There are no right answers. Unfortunatly, there seems to be no help for students. One of the proscribed methods is the IRAC method (when you get to school you will learn this and this is not the time to write about it). This book gives you a different way of acheving success in the test. The book does criticize IRAC and offers its own way of handling the testing questions. "Getting To Maybe" is written by law professors and who would know more about passing their tests as well as how a professor thinks? The book is a well written philosophy on the test and the mistakes. The authors spend a great deal of time explaining their philosophy and it is helpfull for the second half of the book. The book shows the common test question mistakes and how to fix them. The book also provides sample tests with sample answers and explanations of why they are good answers. This is the best part of the book, a side by side comparison of good and bad answers which makes this book invaluable. Highly reccommended.

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Summary: Great Book! Attend a seminar.
Review: This is a fantastic book - can't say enough about it. Now, the authors are going to start giving seminars. The first is November 20 at NYLS. They have a website at www.cap-press.com/GTM/home.html.

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Summary: Icing on the cake
Review: This is an entertaining book with good insights on taking law school exams (I particularly liked Fischl & Paul's hilarious debunking of that stupid old IRAC bromide that professors like to give to all those foolish 1Ls). But some Amazon reviewers seem to think that Getting To Maybe is some sort of magic cure-all. It ain't. Unless you have spent a year or two perfecting your writing and analytical skills through continual practice, merely perusing this book will do nothing for you come exam time. If, however, you are already well versed in basic lawyerly analysis, this book will give you an edge.


Here's what you need to do in order to score well on a law exam:

1. Extricate the key facts from a fact-dense problem. (Watch out for red herrings!)

2. Spot and specify all legal issues that arise from these key facts.

3. Intelligently apply all applicable legal rules to the issues.

4. Interweave key facts into elements of the applicable rules.

5. Insert appropriate policy discussions that support the rules. (Take notes and study up on each prof's particular hobby horse and demonstrate extensive familiarity with it on your essay exams.)

6. Integrate ALL of the above skills with succinct, first-draft legal writing skills within the allotted time (usually about 50 minutes per problem). Think fast, write fast--and do both well.

Getting To Maybe is particularly good at developing point number 5. It is somewhat spotty at most of the others. But what it does, it does very well indeed. And, as far as law-related books go, it's a fun and funny read. So, after you have mastered the basics of black-letter law and learned to think clearly and write well, what this book has to teach you will be yet another arrow in your quiver. Just don't think it's your entire arsenal.

Further recommendations: Pre-law and 1L students should read all the books in the Examples & Explanations series and carefully work through ALL the problems. The single most useful book on exam-taking is John Delaney's How To Do Your Best On Law School Exams, which you can purchase directly from Professor Delaney. And for heaven's sake, don't forget to take Wentworth Miller's LEEWS program early in your first semester.

Lastly--and it's sad to have to say this--learn some friggin' logic and some essay-writing skills before you even think of setting foot on campus. It's amazing and pathetic how few 1Ls can write clear, coherent, grammatical prose. Law school ain't the time to be taking Freshman Comp and Logic 101. Remember, the first year is crucial. Don't blow it.



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Summary: The Jig is Up. The Equalizer is here.
Review: Well finally the game is up for those----professors and egomaniacs who are at the top of the class. Now with this book all can figure out the game that is law school.

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Summary: Wonderful book on law school test taking and legal thinking
Review: What most surprised me about this book was that I found it fascinating reading. It is doubtless extremely helpful for anyone facing a law school exam, particularly in the first year, but it is equally valuable, perhaps more valuable, for anyone CONSIDERING GOING TO LAW SCHOOL. I would be surprised if anyone reading this book didn't gain both an advantage on their law school exams and a better understanding of what the legal system is all about. I learned a lot.

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Summary: Everyone Needs Help at some point...
Review: Whether you want to believe it or not...taking a law school exam is unlike any exam you took in undergrad. I found that out after I bombed my first exam, and a friend recommended this book. If you do nothing else, skip to the part where it talks about how to write an exam, how to address all the issues that your prof is looking for and "czar of the universe." "Czar" was a section that I found VERY helpful when I had to write a dissent for an exam! My school didn't really tell any of us 1Ls how to take an exam and I wish I had read this book before I even started. Don't worry about making law review or any of those other "extras" that people seem so concerned about--because if you can't perform well on an exam and spot issues in an allotted time, law review will be the least of your concerns. My contracts prof even suggested this book when prepping for his exam.