1 Aug, 2006
Law School Preparation...Part 3: CALI Lessons
CALI Lessons As Preparation
Alright, I promise this is my last post on law school preparation and a continuation of the posts here and here. If you are reading this blog, I hope you are aware of our new subscription plan for prelaws that gives access to CALI Lessons (What are CALI Lessons?) through learnthelaw.org...
We at CALI decided to offer CALI lessons to prelaws because: 1) prelaw students always contact us looking for access to the lessons, 2) we understand the value the lessons could offer prelaws, and 3) the $250 individual membership was way too steep for a incoming students who only need a limited amount of lessons coming into law school.
Why use CALI lessons?
I
realize I'm biased because I work for CALI. But if you are going to prepare for law school by pre-learning some of the law in the different 1L subjects, I truly believe CALI lessons would be helpful and valuable to prelaws.
The volume of faculty authored material in all areas of law is pretty high. 200 lessons at about an hour a lesson amounts to around 200 hours worth of material.
But look at it in terms of value. $50 gets you all of the CALI lessons in every 1L subject (admittedly though, our Constitutional Law collection is a little lacking...hard to write good Conlaw lessons). Now, try to put together a comprehensive collection of professor authored material in all 1L subjects for under $50 using other options...say using commercial outlines in each 1L subject, an audio lecture series, explanatory supplements in each 1L subject, or an expensive prelaw preparation course.
I think the chart above (not meant to be scientific or exact) is a good illustration. Add to all that, CALI lessons include legal writing and research lessons. The prices just aren't comparable (it's nice being a non-profit organization).
What does this mean?
I'm not saying that CALI lessons can replace all potential law school preparation materials. But I'm saying that the value is tremendous, especially compared to what for-profit companies charge for professor authored material.
So when compiling your list of preparation material consider the unique format (computer based with feedback depending on how you answer a question), value, and quality of CALI lessons to help you prepare for law school.
Links:Learnthelaw.org: 1) Free registration 2) List of CALI lessons, and 3) Subscription info.