I. New York Law School Exam Archive on the NYLS portal

The sample and practice exam archive consists of exams released to the Library by NYLS faculty. Please note that professors are not required to release exams to the Library, and many choose not to do so. Consequently, you may not be able to find an exam for either your class or your professor.

Sample and practice exams are indexed by professor’s name and course taught.

All exams are in Adobe PDF format and are viewed using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which has been installed on all PC's in the Library and the student computer labs.

Paper copies of sample and practice exams for the current semester only are kept at the Circulation Desk.

The exam archive is maintained by the Circulation Department. Questions regarding available exams should be directed to Ping Tian, Circulation Librarian at 212-431-2838 or by email: ping.tian@nyls.edu

To access the exam archive, first login to the NYLS portal:

- Click on the Academics tab.

- In the middle column, locate the Exam Information heading.

- Click on the Sample Exams link.

II. Advice from Law Profs & Other Professionals

Elizabeth Barrett, How to Approach and take a law school examination
Barbara Glesner Fines, Preparing for Exams
Carol Nygren, Using Professors’ Old Exams To Prepare
Carol Nygren, Confronting Your Final Exam – Torts
Beyond IRAC: Law School Exam Taking Tips (Legal Profession blog)
OnLine Academic Assistance for Law Students (Exam Preparation/Taking)
Jerry J. Phillips, Thirteen Rules for Taking Law Exams. 72 Tenn. L. Rev. 797 (2005). (Hein Online)
Using Study Aids in Law School
A Common Law School Exam Mistake (The Volokh Conspiracy)
Patrick Wiseman, "When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It," and Other Sage Advice for First-Time Law School Exam Takers. 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 653 (2006). (Hein Online)
What Makes a Good Law School Exam Answer? Law Profs Weigh In (WSJ Law Blog)
Writing Law Examinations (Westlaw)

III. Advice From Other Law Students

NYLS Evening Students' Assn Exam Tips

IV. CALI Lessons and Advice About Exam-Taking Skills

The CALI Library of Lessons is a collection of over 851 interactive, computer-based lessons covering 33 legal education subject areas. Each lesson focuses on a specific aspect of the legal topic and contains dozens of practice questions. You can either download lessons from the CALI site or pick up a lesson CD at the Reference Desk. Please note that you must register to use CALI lessons. Registration will allow you to create your own password to use the lessons. In order to register, you will need an authorization code. If you need the access code, click here.

To access CALI lessons about exam-taking skills, log in to CALI, click the Lessons link on the left-hand side. Under First Year, click Legal Concepts & Skills and scroll down to the lesson(s) of your choice among the following:

Ronald Eades
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 1 PodCast

Ronald Brown
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 2 PodCast

Darryl Wilson
Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 3 PodCast

Ronald Brown
Preparing for Your First Semester of Law School

Ronald Brown
Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School Podcast

Jennifer Martin
Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay

William Andersen
Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure

V. Exams from Other Law Schools on the Internet
Writing answers to professors’ old final exams is an excellent way for students to prepare for exams. It can also be helpful to look at other law school exams that are available online. A number of law schools/law libraries maintain freely available collections of their school’s exams:

University of Arkansas
American University
Creighton University
University of Dayton
Pepperdine University
University of Kentucky
University of Missouri at Columbia
William Mitchell College of Law

VI . Books about Exams and Law School Success

See also Law School 411: Books & Films on Law & Law School

Burkhart, Ann M.
Law school success in a nutshell : a guide to studying law and
taking law school exams [KF283 .B87 2008]
St. Paul, Minn. : Thomson/West, c2008.

Darrow-Kleinhaus, Suzanne.
Mastering the law school exam : a practical blueprint for
preparing and taking law school exams
St. Paul, Minn. : Thomson/West, c2007. [KF283 .D37 2007.]

Dernbach, John C.
Writing essay exams to succeed (not just to survive) [KF283 .D47 2007]
New York, N.Y. : Aspen Publishers, c2007.

Fischl. Richard Michael
Getting to maybe: how to excel on law school exams [KF283 .F57 1999]
Durham, N.C. Carolina Academic Press, c1999

Walton, Kimm Alayne
Strategies & tactics for the first year law student : maximize your grades [KF283 .W352 1997 Reserve]
South Norwalk, Conn. : Law In a Flash, c1990

Whitebread, Charles H.
The eight secrets of top exam performance in law school : an easy-to-use, step-by-step program for achieving great grades! [KF283 .W45 1995]
Chicago, Ill. : Harcourt Brace Legal & Professional Pub., c1995

VII. Additional Resources

Hornbooks and treatises, See NYLS Treatises page

Jurist's Law School Exams resources
New York State Bar Exam