What makes a great study aid?
The answer may be different for each student. Some like aids that provide more depth, and some prefer brevity. It’s a personal choice, and you may need to examine a variety of methods before making a decision.
We have ranked 10 of the most popular study aids to help you narrow down your choices. We surveyed law students and asked them to rate study aids they have used based on quality and value.
While some study aids did not make our list because not enough survey respondents had used them, we did identify these 10 as being both popular and highly rated.
No. 1 Examples & Explanations
This one locked up first place, according to our survey respondents. Commonly known as E&E, this popular study aid is published by Wolters Kluwer. It hits on just about every subject imaginable, from criminal law to partnerships. Each E&E offers hypothetical questions and — no big surprise, given its name — explanations.
No. 2 Quimbee
This online program boasts the world’s largest case briefs database. The study aids include not only case briefs but also professionally designed case brief videos, full-length courses, practice essay exams, flash cards, outlines, thousands of multiple-choice questions, key terms and more.
More than 20 law schools, including Yale Law School, provide their students with free access to the site. If your school doesn’t subscribe, you can subscribe on your own starting at $19 a month.
No. 3 Emanuel Law Outlines
The Emanuel outline series covers more than 20 subjects, including civil procedure, property, contracts and torts.
Students say the outlines are concise and easy to follow.
Emanuel also offers other study aids, such as flash cards and Emanuel CrunchTime, creating a powerful, popular lineup.
No. 4 Nutshells
These books are the opposite of a long treatise. Published by West Academic, they boil down various areas of the law to their most import points. The preface of one Nutshell book explains:
“Nutshell focuses on the key features of statutes and cases, leaving the nuances to casebooks, treatises and law review articles.”
No. 5 Emanuel Law CrunchTime
Yep, Emanuel again. The CrunchTime series helps prepare students for exams. The books include easy- to-understand flow charts, capsule summaries, essay questions with answers and multiple-choice questions with answers. These study aids tackle many subjects, so when you hit, well, crunch time, you’ll have a proven resource.
No. 6 Law in a Flash
Law in a Flash is a set of flash cards by Emanuel that are popular because they’re easy to use. You can take them just about anywhere to do some quick studying. (Might not work in a pool, though . . .) Each card has a question on one side and the answer on the back.
The Barrister Books website notes that it alone has sold 10,000 sets of Law in a Flash since 1999.
No. 7 CALI Lessons
These computer-based interactive tutorials cover narrow topics of law as well as all first-year subjects. For example, there are tutorials on acceptance, conditions and fraud for contracts. The series offers more than 1,000 lessons, which are short and interactive.
The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), is a nonprofit, and most law schools are members, meaning students can access the tutorials for free. Otherwise, an annual subscription is $250.
No. 8 Short & Happy Guides
The Short & Happy Guides aim to make the law accessible and easy to remember by focusing
on key points and breaking black-letter laws into man- ageable pieces. Published by West Academic, some of the guides include flowcharts and graphics, and most have some humor thrown in.
No. 9 Glannon Guides
These guides have been described as mirroring the classroom experience. Indeed, one Amazon reviewer said he missed seven or eight classes in Civil Procedure but used the Glannon Guide to catch up. He got an A. Still, they seem to fly a bit under the radar.
No. 10 Crushendo
Popular for its bar exam prep, Crushendo was also noted by those surveyed for its web-based law school audio, written outlines and flash cards for 1L study. A subscription of $25 per month includes mobile-friendly access.
The company was founded by a former TV reporter and instructional designer who graduated summa cum laude from BYU Law School, scored in the top 5% nationally on the Uniform Bar Exam, and set out to improve study methods using audio and memory hacks.
