Getting To Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams | 
 enlarge | Authors: Richard Michael Fischl, Jeremy Paul
Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy Used: $12.00
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Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 8677
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 348
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0890897603
Dewey Decimal Number: 340.076
EAN: 9780890897607
ASIN: 0890897603
Publication Date: May 26, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 Not particularly useful December 15, 2008
This book breaks down issues you'll find on exams categorically. Then you can study each category and learn to spot similar issues on exams (the idea is that you can develop strategies to handle each issue). This is all great. The unfortunate thing is that these categories overlap and are... somewhat arbitrary. I follow the "forks in the facts" vs "forks in the law" distinction, factual issues vs legal issues. But then the categorization gets taken to excess with divisions and subdivisions of categories. "Twin forks". Etc. I suppose my biggest concern is that anyone who did well enough on the LSAT likely can see the legal issues themselves. People think differently. Restricting yourself to this formalization that the authors constructed might actually detract you from seeing the obvious. It will certainly take up valuable study time to memorize these categories and how to spot them, with very limited utility. On the up side, there are sample problems at the end of the book, and some sample questions throughout. Although some of them seem to require specific legal knowledge, which isn't particularly useful to you if you're a first year student just starting out.
 "Overstating Their Case...Maybe" December 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams" by Richard Fischl and Jeremy Paul, Carolina Academic Press 1999, ISBN 0-89089-760-3, SC 328 pgs. 15 Chapters and 3 pgs Sources. 8 " x 5 ". No inveiglements.
The book's mission, to teach law students how to write meritorious exams and look forward to Law Review, was co-authored by two Harvardian law school graduates who took bold issue with using IRAC methodology, i.e. issue, rule, application & conclusion, that they found, interestingly, lacked merit and to be counterproductive. Instead, in some 15 chapters, they gave weighty contemplations toward (1) finding the reason for an exam question, (2) its intent to contain one or more issues that (3) had forks either in applicable law or within stated facts and (4) dealing deftly with these in masterful manner by discussing both applicable rules and counter-rules while applying argumentation of both sides - and, importantly, allocating adequate time to provide clear legal reasoning or arguments, particularly so if it was that which the teacher had presented in class. Clearly, they state, mere regurgitation of case law and self-evident facts is getting poor mileage, and citing peripheral material or BS is going a field and misses the target. You must demonstrate reasoning ability.
There is discussion of Black-Letter Law, legal reasoning, case law statutes, and restatements plus discussion of plain meaning vs intention, majority vs. minority, traditional vs. modern, contributory vs. comparative, riparian vs. reasonableness, and other competing interpretations including: Wicked `Whiches', policy and shaping aspects and theories of law plus teaching by Socratic method, appointing Czars of the Universe, preparing and writing (or typing) the exam and finally several sample questions (only four!). The bottom line seems to be a determination if you are able to effortlessly communicate to the teacher that you can argue/reason the issues you've extracted and answer his premise. The book is effusive (extravagant), garrulous (wordy) and vociferous (shouting) but otherwise a good read.
finis
 Must read for law students August 4, 2008
Reading this book took a huge weight off my shoulders before law school. This book is a crash course not only in how to succeed in law school, but also how to think about the law as a whole. The lessons learned here are designed to frame your legal education, and helps you learn a surefire, if not complex, method to taking all law exams and tacking legal problems.
Useful and worthwhile June 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book very helpful in understanding features of law school that are important there but not necessarily taught there. It also is done in an interesting way, so that it's not just a completely practical guide to exams. It *is* practical, but it's got some intellectual content, too. Worthwhile for the law student.
Good for a 1L May 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had Fischl for Contracts at UM a few years ago and highly recommend it if you find yourself in a similar position. The examples are pretty close to the type of questions he and other law school professors ask on exams. Think of this book as a Princeton Review type lesson on how to master the test not the material. It does a good job breaking down the different types of issue spotters etc and is helpful for those with no exam experience. I recommend it to my 1L friends (the ones I couldn't talk out of going to law school. 4 stars only because even knowing what to expect didn't help my grade in his class!
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