Law School Study Aids and Hornbooks

Why do you need a law school study aid or hormbook? Shouldn't you be getting everything from your law school professor. Unfortunately, you don't. Casebooks are difficult to read and are usually boring. In additon, your grade depends mainly on your final essay exam. This is your only chance. No matter how brilliant you are in class, it really doesn't matter. You may get a one-half grade bump but usually the professor just tells you this so someone will speak up in class.

That is why hornbooks such as the Examples & Explanation series and study aids like CrunchTime, Exam Pro, Siegle's, and Questions & Answers (Q&A) are valuable. They explain the black letter law in understandable terms and give you sample essay exams and multiple choice questions for practice. I really think you could get by without the casebook and just use the Examples & Explanations.

My recommendation is to always buy the Examples and Explanations or the Glannon Guide. I prefer the Glannon Guide for Civil Procedure and Criminal Law. Then I like the Exam Pro series or Siegels. I have not used the Nutshell series but they get good reviews. Since I travel a lot, I also use the Law School Legends CDs. It just depends on your own individual style of studying.

Check the publication date. We try to list the current editions but new ones are always coming out. If the date is more than four years old, don't buy it.

Click on the links below to go to the series listing. Make your selection and then click on new and used for the best pricing. Many students sell their study aids on this site and you can usually pick one up cheap.

Again, I want to stress that you should purchase either the Examples & Explanations or Glannon Guide for your course.

Examples & Explanations Hornbooks

Glannon Guides for Law School

CrunchTime contains a brief outline, exam tips, multiple choice questions and several essay questions with model answers. They are popular but I prefer the Exam Pro or Seigles for better explanations of the questions.

Crunch Time or CrunchTime Law School Series

In the Exam Pro series there are three comprehensive sample examinations, containing 40 questions each. It contains answers that explain why one choice is correct and why the alternatives are wrong and the the tear-out answer sheets simulate exam conditions.

Exam Pro

Seigel's has 20 essay questions with model answers and 100 multiple choice questions with explanations. This is excellent bar exam or exam prep material. There are numerous editing errors that can throw you off, especially in mixing up the names in the hypos, but an excellent study aid for the price.

Siegels Law School Study Aids

The Questions & Answers series contains multiple choice and short answer questions. The explanations after each question are excellent. Published between 2003 and 2006, they are often available used in the $5 to $6 range. Great for that quick review just before law school exams.

Question and Answers

West's Law In A Nutshell series offers over general legal overviews on more than 100 legal topics. These Nutshells don't focus on cases, but they find their strengths on the narrow specialties they cover (for example, there are Nutshells for Indian Law, AIDS Law, and Agriculture Law). Click on the Nutshell link for the most popular titles or use AMAZON SEARCH to find the specific title.

We have a list of law school essay exam banks at

A Day in the Life of a Law Student

And be sure to check out the article on law school essay exams

Basic Rules for Taking a Law School Essay Exam

Search Google For Exams and Outlines