10 Things To Help Prepare for Law School Exams

Though exams don’t begin until Dec. 10 this year, students at the University of Virginia School of Law have a habit of preparing weeks in advance. Here are the best tips and content about how to approach exams we’ve produced over the years.

1. What Law Professors Look for on Exams

Professor George Cohen offers advice on how to approach law school exams.

2. Professors Discuss Exam-Taking Strategies

Professors George Cohen, Anne Coughlin and Thomas Nachbar advise first-year students on best strategies for taking law school exams. 

3. Exam Tips for First-Y​ear Law Students

Stocked with the latest and greatest exam advice from Professor Alex Johnson and students Katie Barber ’15 and Zachary Ray ’16, this video covers all angles, from preparing for exams to taking them.

4. Inside the Mind of a Professor: How They Write Exams and How You Can Excel at Them

How and why do law professors write such challenging exams? Professor Kenneth S. Abraham and Dean Risa Goluboff discuss their process and offer tips for how students can master taking exams.

5. What’s Your Exam Advice?

We asked students, faculty and alumni for their best advice for prepping for and taking exams.

6. Been There, Passed That — Alumni Exam Tips

Twenty alumni advise students to take practice exams, know your professor, study your own way, and more.

7. Outlining Strategies and Techniques

Daniel Richardson, former editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review and the 2018 graduate with the highest GPA, provides law students with advice about preparing for upcoming mid-terms and finals.

8. Faculty Share Memories of Exams Past

Think you have an exam horror (or triumph) story? From earthquakes to dreaded recollections of fixed exams, professors share tales and lessons from exams past.

9. Professors Discuss Exam Strategies (or Audio)

10. Exam Tips from Professor Anne Coughlin

There’s a reason why this video has more than 83,000 hits on YouTube.