0L Book Question Forum

[ryegye87]

I was looking through books to read before starting classes and I came across one entitled "The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance In Law School" by Charles H. Whitebread. Has anybody ever read this? I'm familiar with the other books (getting to maybe, Law School Confidential, and P.L.S.), but was just curious about this one as it received a few good reviews on Amazon and I couldn't find any posts about it anywhere on TLS. Anybody ever read this? If so, did you find it useful?

[lawyerkobe]

I was looking through books to read before starting classes and I came across one entitled "The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance In Law School" by Charles H. Whitebread. Has anybody ever read this? I'm familiar with the other books (getting to maybe, Law School Confidential, and P.L.S.), but was just curious about this one as it received a few good reviews on Amazon and I couldn't find any posts about it anywhere on TLS. Anybody ever read this? If so, did you find it useful?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
All the books are the same. Just read one, if you must.
(How would I know they are the same? I never read any of them. I don't know.)

[ryegye87]

No need to be a douche, I was just asking a question. I have other books and was just going to pick this one up as well. Thanks for your answer to a question about who has read a book from some one who has not read said book--very informative.

[Gefuehlsecht]

The secret to a top exam score is to get into your professor's head and figure out what is required on his or her exam. You cannot do this before you're sitting in the class for a few weeks. No book will teach you this secret. They'll give you an idea how you might be able to pull this off. That's all.

[NYC Law]

I wouldn't read anything not pre-approved by TLS.

[NotMyRealName09]

I was looking through books to read before starting classes and I came across one entitled "The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance In Law School" by Charles H. Whitebread. Has anybody ever read this? I'm familiar with the other books (getting to maybe, Law School Confidential, and P.L.S.), but was just curious about this one as it received a few good reviews on Amazon and I couldn't find any posts about it anywhere on TLS. Anybody ever read this? If so, did you find it useful?

I AM DEAD SERIOUS.

THIS BOOK IS THE SINGLE REASON I WAS NUMBER ONE IN MY CLASS FIRST SEMESTER 1L YEAR.

It is great to be intelligent and prepared (which I was), but if you do not know how to organize your answers, none of that comes through. It is one thing to be intelligent - all of your peers will be intelligent, that is how they got into the seat next to you. The difference will be, who knows how to play the game better? Exams are a game. There is a mixture of skill and luck involved. It starts with knowing the law, but it ends with working the system properly. This book will tell you exactly how to attack the typical law school exam. More than that, it actually tells you how to structure and boil down your outline so, come exam day, you aren't suffering from information overload. You will wonder, "how the hell am I supposed to remember this immense volume of information for a 3 hour exam?" The book will tell you. Now, maybe you could pick up similar tips elsewhere from disparate sources, but it is short, cheap, and invaluable.

Every semester my 2L and 3L year, just before exam time, Law Review would give a "test tips" presentation to the 1L class, and in addition to all my usual advice to the scared and stressed out looking 1Ls*, I always made sure to cite this book directly. My 3L year, several of the new 2L Law Review members who didn’t think I was full of shit specifically noted they read this book and attested to it's value.

The title seems so cliché, I am sure many people think it’s a gimmick and worthless. Good for you that they ignore it. You want to simplify come finals time as much as possible. This book makes it straight forward. Read it cover to cover, its only like 90 pages.

I re-read this book before finals time at each semester through 2L year (after that, you get it).

I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY ENOUGH.

Caveat – don’t read it until after Thanksgiving. Just focus on learning the law up to and through Thanksgiving. After then, when you switch gears to test-prep time, read the book. I am also serious about this. Until you learn a little law, you may not understand what he is even getting at. Until you understand what an "element" of a cause of action is, focus on your class. Law school has a special vocabulary that you cannot quite get until you sit through hours and hours of class. Read this shortly before exams.


*(My favorite advice to give was, "just remember, every time you are not studying, someone, somewhere, still is." Oh the groans and panic! "How do you have enough time," one 1L asked. I responded, "you make time," as I thought to myself, "that guy is not going to do well." He didn't make Law Review.

I should have added: Stop socializing. Give up on hobbies. Eat at your desk. Watch TV while you study (it helps relieve the inevitable bordem and accompanying mind numbness). Nap!!!!!!! Never fight the urge to nap, it is your brian saying it needs to chill. You will not study effectively if you feel nap-ish. Then wake up and keep studying.

People may disagree with my view, but you should be afraid of exams, because failure will doom your career prospects, so harness the fear and study like hell. I would purposely delay starting to outline, just so I always felt I did not have enough time. That kept me going, because I hate fucking losing, and panic is a fantastic motivator. This may depend on how you are as a person, but stress will either cause you to collapse or excel. The more stress, the better, I say. If you thrive under stress, you will do well as a lawyer. It'll be over soon enough.)

[ryegye87]

Thank you all for your answers. I'll be sure to pick it up. If anyone else has actually read this book, please feel free to chime in.

[Renne Walker]

At the beginning of Law School I read that this Top Exam book by Charles Whitehead would be helpful to have. It is possible I ordered the book because of this thread.

Because of the suggestion that this book should not be opened before Thanksgiving, it sits unread in its original packaging. Given that my class is loaded with overachievers (including two international students that are already lawyers) it is ez to keep motivated. I read about 5-7 hours a day (including weekends), no bar reviews, clubs, or nearly anything that vaguely resembles life. My guilty pleasures have been limited to a tiny bit of TV and a couple of law firm mixers.

So, is Thanksgiving still the best time to open this book?

PS – Out of curiosity, did you ever join a work group. . I have been asked, but have resisted, not sure if that decision is a good move, or not.

[Voltaire]

Barbri came and handed this book out for free at my school. It's essentially LEEWS. I skimmed through it, and I'm pretty sure one of those guys plagiarized the other. I'm pretty much serious.

[dreakol]

I was looking through books to read before starting classes and I came across one entitled "The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance In Law School" by Charles H. Whitebread. Has anybody ever read this? I'm familiar with the other books (getting to maybe, Law School Confidential, and P.L.S.), but was just curious about this one as it received a few good reviews on Amazon and I couldn't find any posts about it anywhere on TLS. Anybody ever read this? If so, did you find it useful?

I AM DEAD SERIOUS.

THIS BOOK IS THE SINGLE REASON I WAS NUMBER ONE IN MY CLASS FIRST SEMESTER 1L YEAR.

It is great to be intelligent and prepared (which I was), but if you do not know how to organize your answers, none of that comes through. It is one thing to be intelligent - all of your peers will be intelligent, that is how they got into the seat next to you. The difference will be, who knows how to play the game better? Exams are a game. There is a mixture of skill and luck involved. It starts with knowing the law, but it ends with working the system properly. This book will tell you exactly how to attack the typical law school exam. More than that, it actually tells you how to structure and boil down your outline so, come exam day, you aren't suffering from information overload. You will wonder, "how the hell am I supposed to remember this immense volume of information for a 3 hour exam?" The book will tell you. Now, maybe you could pick up similar tips elsewhere from disparate sources, but it is short, cheap, and invaluable.

Every semester my 2L and 3L year, just before exam time, Law Review would give a "test tips" presentation to the 1L class, and in addition to all my usual advice to the scared and stressed out looking 1Ls*, I always made sure to cite this book directly. My 3L year, several of the new 2L Law Review members who didn’t think I was full of shit specifically noted they read this book and attested to it's value.

The title seems so cliché, I am sure many people think it’s a gimmick and worthless. Good for you that they ignore it. You want to simplify come finals time as much as possible. This book makes it straight forward. Read it cover to cover, its only like 90 pages.

I re-read this book before finals time at each semester through 2L year (after that, you get it).

I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY ENOUGH.

Caveat – don’t read it until after Thanksgiving. Just focus on learning the law up to and through Thanksgiving. After then, when you switch gears to test-prep time, read the book. I am also serious about this. Until you learn a little law, you may not understand what he is even getting at. Until you understand what an "element" of a cause of action is, focus on your class. Law school has a special vocabulary that you cannot quite get until you sit through hours and hours of class. Read this shortly before exams.


*(My favorite advice to give was, "just remember, every time you are not studying, someone, somewhere, still is." Oh the groans and panic! "How do you have enough time," one 1L asked. I responded, "you make time," as I thought to myself, "that guy is not going to do well." He didn't make Law Review.

I should have added: Stop socializing. Give up on hobbies. Eat at your desk. Watch TV while you study (it helps relieve the inevitable bordem and accompanying mind numbness). Nap!!!!!!! Never fight the urge to nap, it is your brian saying it needs to chill. You will not study effectively if you feel nap-ish. Then wake up and keep studying.

People may disagree with my view, but you should be afraid of exams, because failure will doom your career prospects, so harness the fear and study like hell. I would purposely delay starting to outline, just so I always felt I did not have enough time. That kept me going, because I hate fucking losing, and panic is a fantastic motivator. This may depend on how you are as a person, but stress will either cause you to collapse or excel. The more stress, the better, I say. If you thrive under stress, you will do well as a lawyer. It'll be over soon enough.)

tyft

[SilverE2]

Barbri came and handed this book out for free at my school. It's essentially LEEWS. I skimmed through it, and I'm pretty sure one of those guys plagiarized the other. I'm pretty much serious.

So maybe a good book to review leews right before exam time? What do you think? I mean its 10 fucking bucks.

[shock259]

Barbri just came to my school and gave out free copies of this book too. The guy that presented it basically went over the book. Some of it is a little bit helpful, but it's basically a skimming version of LEEWs with some tweaks (IE he advocates breaking down contracts hypos into actions for identifying issues, where LEEWs tells you to break it down on a party by party basis) and some differences of opinion (he says no jokes ever, LEEWs says throw in jokes if funny).

I think it can probably be read in under an hour, and it has some decent material in it, but it isn't mind blowing for anyone that has some familiarity with exams. Most of it is pretty basic.

Edit: Forgot to mention that it was really odd going to the presentation today. Nothing like some guy telling you how important grades are, what you need to do to be competitive, and all that other jazz while sitting in a room with 60 people you are competing against.

[NeighborGuy]

Just looked on my bookshelf and discovered that BarBri comped me this book as well. I skimmed it a while back and I remember thinking that it was just real basic stuff. I may look at it again later. Certainly wouldn't spend money on it.

Your time would be better spent with an initial reading of Getting to Maybe, even though you probably won't understand much of it yet (since you'll be reading about abstractions out of context).

[Renne Walker]

The secret to a top exam score is to get into your professor's head and figure out what is required on his or her exam. You cannot do this before you're sitting in the class for a few weeks. No book will teach you this secret. They'll give you an idea how you might be able to pull this off. That's all.

Now that I have been a 1L for a while, your observation makes sense. Thanks.