Creating Study Aids is part of the Academic Support series of CALI Lessons. This lesson introduces you to law school study aids. It begins with a brief overview of self-regulated learning and Bloom's learning taxonomy. Then, the lesson introduces law school study aids by pairing them with learning objectives at each level of the taxonomy. Finally, the lesson concludes with an activity designed to help you reflect on your learning. It can be used as an introduction, supplement, or as review.

This lesson will cover the basic structure of written legal analysis: IRAC. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Application/Analysis, Conclusion. There are slightly different versions of IRAC which may be used for different legal documents. This lesson will focus on IRAC for essay exam writing. Some faculty may prefer CRAC, or CIRAC, where the conclusion is placed first. You may also learn CRREAC for writing legal memos and briefs, which stands for Conclusion, Rule, Rule Explanation, Application, Conclusion.

This lesson teaches you why, when and how to create outlines when preparing for your law school exams.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:
1. Recognize the importance of outlines as a learning and test preparation tool in law school, thus making the outlining exercise more valuable.
2. Develop outlines during an optimum timeline.
3. Create outlines that offer the student a tool that improves comprehension, synthesis, and exam performance.

This lesson will teach you the best ways to prepare for exams, and the best ways to organize your response on the day of your exam.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:
1. Explain the best ways to prepare for exams.
2. Organize and outline before writing an exam.
3. Apply techniques to better organize their time on exams.

This lesson explains some key differences between legal writing and exam writing. First, the lesson demonstrates the relationship between legal writing and exam writing. Next, the lesson explains the differences between legal writing and exam writing. After you complete this lesson you will be able to transfer writing and analysis skills learned in your legal writing course to your final exams.

This lesson gives best practices on whether and how to form a law school study group.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:
1. Describe the importance of collaboration as a tool for success in law school.
2. Explain whether, when, and how to best collaborate through a study group.
3. Assess the value of the study group to ensure that the student maximizes the benefit of the study group.
4. Draft a study group contract that outlines the parameters of the group.

This lesson is designed to provide students with data about why their attention levels may dip during class or studying, including recent research regarding the effects of digital distractions on concentration. The lesson invites students to reflect upon the reasons they may lose focus and/or concentration while in class or while studying, and provides a robust set of strategies students can use to anticipate and control for that loss of focus, incorporating several free-writes.

Final exams require recalling information from over 14 weeks of the semester. This lesson provides insight on how to remember the vast information from class to apply on final exams.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:
1. Describe chunking, spaced repetition, and the testing effect.
2. Employ chunking, spaced repetition, and the testing effect while studying.
3. Develop long-term learning strategies incorporating chunking, spaced repetition, and the testing effect.

This lesson, intended for incoming and current 1L law students, guides participants through the process of note-taking in law school classes with a focus on case-based information. Using a series of cross-doctrinal audio lecture examples and integrating periodic checks for understanding, students have the opportunity to develop their note-taking skills and practice categorizing the pieces of case-based information. This lesson is equally suitable for full-time, part-time, evening, or remote law students.

This lesson will walk you through things to consider before setting "foot" (physically or virtually!) in a law school doctrinal classroom. You'll learn about how to listen for and capture the most important information, how to maximize your note-taking efficiency by using symbols and shorthand, and the various software options available for taking notes. It is recommended by the author that this lesson be completed before Note-Taking 101: Case-Based Content, which tests your note-taking skills in practice.