Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success

by Barry Friedman, John C.P. Goldberg

Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success, 2E is a book that every JD and LLM law student needs to read, either before classes start or as they get going in their 1L year. Now in an expanded second edition, the book explains in a clear and easygoing, conversational manner what law professors expect from their students both in classes and exams. The authors, award-winning teachers with a wealth of classroom experience, give students an inside look at law school by explaining how, despite appearances to the contrary, classes connect to exams and exams connect to the practice of law.Open Book introduces them to the basic structure of our legal system and to the distinctive features of legal reasoning. To prepare students for exams, the book explains in clear and careful detail what exams are designed to test. It then devotes a single, clearly written chapter to each step of the process of answering exams. It also contains a wealth of material, both in the book and digitally, on preparing for exams.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Open Book comes with a free suite of 18 actual law school exams in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property and Torts, written and administered by law professors. These exams include not only questions, but: (1) annotations from the professors explaining what they were looking for; (2) model answers written by the professors themselves; and (3) actual student answers, with professor comments that explain why certain answers were stronger of weaker. As Open Book explains, there is no better way to prepare for exams than by practicing, and these unique materials will enable students to get the most out of their pre-exam practice.

Genres: Law

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 15, 2016

Reviews

[Meggan Walls · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're purchasing this book second-hand, be advised that there is a digital component that is often referenced throughout and access is available only via a card that comes with a new purchase of the book.

I took a star off for this as there was no way to know about this before obtaining the book and it does impact its usefulness.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book really informative and really helpful, but at the same time, very calming. I felt like it was straightforward about the challenges of law school and how to approach them, but it also made law school seem do-able, which was exactly what I was looking for in a law school book.

[Mackenzie Young Mattingly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a book about law school. Good for a niche group - but I wouldn’t recommend it to a non-law student.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

actually an entire book on how to take exams, but it helped with my nerves and the background info about the hierarchy of courts + how common law works was useful

[DL · Rating 4 out of 5]

very helpful