To Supplement or Not to Supplement? – a post for Prospective 1L’s

I remember being slightly the eager beaver during the spring before my 1L year. One of the things I wondered was whether or not to buy course supplements like E&E’s, Nutshells, etc.

YES.

First of all, your textbooks may or may not break it down for you. This isn’t a problem during your 2L/3L year, but it could help out a lot during your first year. Supplements typically take subjects and make them easier to understand. They also tend to include practice essay questions along with, wait for it, MODEL ANSWERS. The model answers are helpful because sometimes in law school, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

Yeah, Ana, but what about the cost? I’m already going to be paying a bazillion dollars for tuition and a years worth of groceries on textbooks. I can’t afford supplements as well. Au contraire, mon frere. 1L is the year that matters. You want to do the absolute best that you can do. Don’t fork over 40K for everything else and then chintz on $300 worth of supplements. That, my friends, is stupidity.

Plus – supplements do not actually cost you anything over the long haul. Why, you ask? Because they’re almost liquid, baby – the same as cash. Depending on when you buy/sell your supplements, you can actually MAKE money on them. For example, in late December/early January and late May/early June everyone is dumping their supplements from the last semester. This is the best time to buy. Put the books up for sale about 8 weeks before finals. Don’t worry about putting the price a little high. At 4-6 weeks out, people will start to buy them out of crazed fear due to not reading during the entire semester. You can buy/sell at most online book sites – just check out their services. They will charge you a fee, but a $5-8 charge for a $40 book is not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things – especially if the book is just going to sit on your shelf and rot.

There you have it, my amigos. Don’t say I never did anything for you.

PS – Don’t buy the books and then never open them because you’re so swamped with the casebook reading. Force yourself to read a little bit every other day – AND DO THOSE PRACTICE PROBLEMS!