Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams
- Downloads：1462
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-12-26 05:51:28
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Richard Michael Fischl
- ISBN：0890897603
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Professors Fischl and Paul explain law school exams in ways no one has before， all with an eye toward improving the reader's performance。 The book begins by describing the difference between educational cultures that praise students for "right answers" and the law school culture that rewards nuanced analysis of ambiguous situations in which more than one approach may be correct。 Enormous care is devoted to explaining precisely how and why legal analysis frequently produces such perplexing situations。
But the authors don't stop with mere description。 Instead， Getting to Maybe teaches how to excel on law school exams by showing the reader how legal analysis can be brought to bear on examination problems。 The book contains hints on studying and preparation that go well beyond conventional advice。 The authors also illustrate how to argue both sides of a legal issue without appearing wishy-washy or indecisive。 Above all， the book explains why exam questions may generate feelings of uncertainty or doubt about correct legal outcomes and how the student can turn these feelings to his or her advantage。
In sum， although the authors believe that no exam guide can substitute for a firm grasp of substantive material， readers who devote the necessary time to learning the law will find this book an invaluable guide to translating learning into better exam performance。
Reviews
Catie Choi
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Lol not me having this book the whole semester but not finishing it until the night before my first exam！！
Sarah
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its a book
Holt
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Seems like this’ll be helpful come exam time。 Idk hard to say though， maybe before you’ve started law school isn’t the best time to read it。 At the very least gives me a knowledge of what to expect on exams
Rage
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I know a lot of people who are trying to finish this before school starts。 I haven't had a chance to apply any of it， so I don't know what the utility is， but I think even knowing the format exam questions will take and one method for understanding and responding has been helpful in terms of de-mystifying and grounding the whole experience， so I have calmed down。 that's nice。 I know a lot of people who are trying to finish this before school starts。 I haven't had a chance to apply any of it， so I don't know what the utility is， but I think even knowing the format exam questions will take and one method for understanding and responding has been helpful in terms of de-mystifying and grounding the whole experience， so I have calmed down。 that's nice。 。。。more
Clare Hebert
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Will not be giving this a rating until I see my grades。 Fingers crossed for a good review
Talla Khelghati
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Lots of people recommend this book before you begin law school， but I found that the advice would likely be way more useful if you’ve actually taken part of a law school course。 There were tons of legal references that would probably just overwhelm students （like me） if they haven’t learned much about the law yet。
Katlyn
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I read this the summer before 1L so my legal knowledge is somewhere between nothing and fictional court proceedings。 The majority of the examples involve nitty gritty legal verbiage that make the examples hard to follow without any prior exposure。 I'd compare it to trying to make a cake while 30-70% of the recipe is written in a foreign language。 I still think the information is helpful but there are finer points that I surely missed。 I read this the summer before 1L so my legal knowledge is somewhere between nothing and fictional court proceedings。 The majority of the examples involve nitty gritty legal verbiage that make the examples hard to follow without any prior exposure。 I'd compare it to trying to make a cake while 30-70% of the recipe is written in a foreign language。 I still think the information is helpful but there are finer points that I surely missed。 。。。more
Sarah Duensing
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I don’t start law school for another two weeks， so we won’t know if their advice is good for awhile， but what the book did give me is peace of mind。 I will absolutely pick it up and use it as a resource later in the semester。 Wish me luck！
Sydney Fay
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great book to help me get ready for law school this fall！！ feeling very excited and only a little nervous 🥴🥴 ah！！
Sophie Bucci
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Low0key think anyone reading this before law school is either kidding themself about their level of understanding or working way too hard relative to return on something that would be about 300% easier to read in a mere 3。5 months。 Got to page 60 but without context its hopelessly abstract， and the authors even advise reading this about a month into law school， not during the summer。
Myles
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See Chapter 15。。。
Fay
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was it useful？ yes did it bring me nothing but shambles， high blood pressure， cholesterol， stress and depression？ absolutely and ukw？ that’s why institutions need to be abolished and also another ukw。。。。that’s why law school is nawt for me <3 why should hot girls suffer through all this
Dasha Brotherton
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*I started this book a few days ago and just forgot to post on Goodreads。*It takes a patient mind to figure out what this book is saying。 The writing， in my opinion， can get pretty convoluted， especially toward the end in the example answers。 Once you *finally* figure out what advice this book is trying to give you， you will realize that it's actually pretty sound advice！ I definitely think I will keep its tips and overall mentality in mind。 However， this isn't enough for me to give it a high ra *I started this book a few days ago and just forgot to post on Goodreads。*It takes a patient mind to figure out what this book is saying。 The writing， in my opinion， can get pretty convoluted， especially toward the end in the example answers。 Once you *finally* figure out what advice this book is trying to give you， you will realize that it's actually pretty sound advice！ I definitely think I will keep its tips and overall mentality in mind。 However， this isn't enough for me to give it a high rating。 As a PREP book （which is what it is marketed as）， this book is terrible。 Like I said earlier， the writing can get convoluted， but what's worse is that it clarifies its claims through examples that pre-law students/0Ls cannot possibly understand！ It utilizes examples only someone who has finished their first semester would understand。 How can you write a law school exam prep/general prep book if it's designed for students who have already finished part of law school？ Aren't prep and guidebooks supposed to be read BEFORE one takes on the task one seeks advice on？ This huge discrepancy made the reading process close to miserable for me。 The book has loads of flags in it not so I can review what key points I read， but so I can read， for what would feel like the first time， the book's claims。 It's as though this book is designed to be read in the crunch time between the last day of class and finals， and like any student would know， those few days are used for studying content， not for reading a prep book。 Disappointing。 。。。more
Will S
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I want to warn prospective law students off of this book。 I read it before law school， and found most of its advice to be obvious at best， actively harmful at worst。 The obvious portions refute strawmen arguments about how one should take exams （I suppose this may be the book for you if you truly think that on a law school exam you should write one-sentence answers that do not explain your reasoning）。 The actively harmful portions give you mock questions that， having not taken law school classes I want to warn prospective law students off of this book。 I read it before law school， and found most of its advice to be obvious at best， actively harmful at worst。 The obvious portions refute strawmen arguments about how one should take exams （I suppose this may be the book for you if you truly think that on a law school exam you should write one-sentence answers that do not explain your reasoning）。 The actively harmful portions give you mock questions that， having not taken law school classes and learned the relevant law， you will be completely unprepared to answer。 This may create the sensation that law school will be impossible for you。 It will not be。 Enjoying this book， on the other hand。。。 。。。more
Morgan Barry
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VERY dense and difficult to get through at times but I think it contains very valuable information。 I’m sure I will refer back to it many times during my years in school。
Joseph Mercado
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I read Getting to Maybe midway through first semester of 1L and it helped me with my Legal Research and Writing papers and finals。 It is best to read Getting To Maybe during （as opposed to before） law school， when you will be analyzing facts for your class memos and practicing for finals。 Otherwise， you do not practice what you read and everything is just in the abstract。
Pengyu Jiang
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The main idea of this book seems to just be: write what your professor wants to see on exam papers; write what they said in class。
Leanna Pohevitz
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It was helpful but not quite what I was looking for。 It did however give me many hypos to think about for contract law。
Derek Kunhee Kim
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Phenomenal。 Must-read for any law student。
Mimi
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With all the hype。。。 I still didn't finish this book before graduating from law school。。。 and I did just fine。 With all the hype。。。 I still didn't finish this book before graduating from law school。。。 and I did just fine。 。。。more
Ryan Wagner
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Can be redundant， but overall great preparatory material for 1L students。
SM Chamberlain
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An absolute before entering law school。
Daniel Sloan
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I have not started law school yet。 I think this book has excellent information on items that seem like common sense， but are easy to miss。 I feel a little more prepared， but I think the ultimate thing that will determine my performance is remembering to work smart as well as hard and not miss a single class。 I will be coming back to visit my highlights in this book close to exam time。Edit: added a star because this made a big difference。
Erica
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Maybe I shouldn't rate this book because I haven't yet taken my finals， but I found Getting to Maybe to be very， very helpful while studying for exams。 Law school exams are quite different from undergraduate-level exams。 It really doesn't matter if you know all the laws and rules; it only matters that you can apply them to a hypothetical situation on exam day。 I'll have to write a more detailed review AFTER my exams， but right now I can't recommend this book highly enough。 Maybe I shouldn't rate this book because I haven't yet taken my finals， but I found Getting to Maybe to be very， very helpful while studying for exams。 Law school exams are quite different from undergraduate-level exams。 It really doesn't matter if you know all the laws and rules; it only matters that you can apply them to a hypothetical situation on exam day。 I'll have to write a more detailed review AFTER my exams， but right now I can't recommend this book highly enough。 。。。more
Natasha
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Extremely useful but quite heavy going。
Audrey Knutson
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I start law school in 2 months and I had this book recommended to me by an advisor and my tailor， who is also about to start his 1L。It’s really boring and the first 2/3 is especially difficult to get through because the material is really dense。 But it’s a book about arguably the most tedious and nightmarish aspect of any professional school， a freaking law school final exam so it’s not supposed to be all sunshine and puppies。 Props to the writers though because they did make the difficult and d I start law school in 2 months and I had this book recommended to me by an advisor and my tailor， who is also about to start his 1L。It’s really boring and the first 2/3 is especially difficult to get through because the material is really dense。 But it’s a book about arguably the most tedious and nightmarish aspect of any professional school， a freaking law school final exam so it’s not supposed to be all sunshine and puppies。 Props to the writers though because they did make the difficult and dull material engaging and everything boring about this book has less to do with their writing and more to do with the nature of the material itself。I can’t say for certain how helpful this book is， as I have never set foot in a law school classroom and am about 6 months away from finals。 It’s also difficult to grasp the context of some of the lessons within this book because I’ve never seen a case， statute， or law school lecture。 I realized not to get bogged down with the details though and just tried to take in the general advice。 I did make a detailed outline of the book to practice my outlining skills and also to make the information readily available for me to use once class starts。 This book isn’t the easiest read but it’s easy to read all things considered but I do think it helps get you in the right mindset about law school exams。 。。。more
Shabbir Hamid
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Analyzing forks seems tedious and confusing， but it certainly does help grasp a basic understanding of （rather an insight into） how issues and facts diverge and trigger pertinent law discussions。Although the book is helpful in theoretically analyzing facts， it lacks in providing a specific game-plan for tackling exam questions。 I think the appeal of IRAC and LEEWS method of exam taking is the specific stages of answering an exam question。 Getting to Maybe tries to do that， but doesn't really。The Analyzing forks seems tedious and confusing， but it certainly does help grasp a basic understanding of （rather an insight into） how issues and facts diverge and trigger pertinent law discussions。Although the book is helpful in theoretically analyzing facts， it lacks in providing a specific game-plan for tackling exam questions。 I think the appeal of IRAC and LEEWS method of exam taking is the specific stages of answering an exam question。 Getting to Maybe tries to do that， but doesn't really。The value of Getting to Maybe is within how it teaches to think about exam questions， not necessarily answer them。 Besides exam-taking advice， it offers some key insight into law school， too。 I'd say it's a must-read。 。。。more
John Draxler
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Great primer for law school。 It might take a bit longer to read without the context of having started law school， but there is nothing which specifically requires a 1L education， and it offers good study tips from the beginning of course work through to the exams （its main focus）。
D
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 The real secret to doing well is reading what’s important， ciphering out the bs， and getting a great outline。
Queezle
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