Cold calling. Briefing cases. Outlines. The MPRE. Bar prep. Before you start law school, these are entirely foreign concepts. By the time you finish your first 1L semester, you’ll know them like the back of your hand. You might even wish you didn’t.
Try as you might, nothing can quite prepare you for law school before you get there. Once you’re in, though, it’s a whole different story. You’ll soon be bombarded by people pushing study aids and course supplements, telling you that each one is more crucial than the next if you really want to be prepared. 1L law school supplements can easily surpass the cost of your required course textbooks, which might already have you in debt. If you feel like you can’t get through 1L without shelling out a fortune, you’re not alone.
Preparing for 1L
The folks at TestMax are on a mission to change all that. Applying the same vision they’ve long held for bar exam review and LSAT prep, they don’t think students should have to spend a ton of money on supplements and materials that will only be used for a short window of time, especially when we have the power of technology to make these things more affordable. To bring that theory to life, they’ve created 1L, a handy app that puts top-notch study aids right in your pocket at an affordable price. 1L by TestMax is here to fill in the gaps and make things a little easier — because, as they say themselves, 1L doesn’t have to be hell.
1L Study Aids and Resources
The Law Firm’s Guide To Trust Accounting And Three-Way Reconciliation
Proper trust accounting and three-way reconciliation are essential for protecting client funds and avoiding serious compliance risks. In this guide, we break down these critical processes and show how legal-specific software can help your firm stay accurate, efficient, and audit-ready.
Academics can debate the usefulness of the Socratic method till the end of time, but it’s still a popular 1L teaching method in most law schools, and it’s unfortunately not always the best at delivering a clear understanding of black letter law. That’s where supplements come in.
When it comes to law school supplements for 1L, there’s no shortage of options. In the past, budget-conscious students had to decide whether their limited funds were better spent on commercial outlines, hornbooks, flash cards, or something else. With 1L, you get it all. For one low monthly subscription price, you get all of the following materials, available in app and online so you can access at any time from any location.
• Lectures. There’s no better way to learn the law than having it explained in clear terms by experts in the field. 1L features seven-part lectures on core legal subjects by the biggest names in legal academia. We’re talking the best of the best — Arthur Miller on Civil Procedure, Noah Feldman on Con Law, Jonathan Zittrain on Torts, Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. on Criminal Law, and Charles Fried on Contracts, just to name a few. That’s right — you get concise overviews of the most important subjects from the people who know them best. They’re even adding a function where you can search by topic if you really want to hone in on things like subject matter jurisdiction or the rule against perpetuities (and trust me, you will).
• Outlines. Outlines have long been a staple of 1L studies, whether you prepare them yourself or opt for commercial outlines. With the 1L app, expert outlines have been prepared for you based off the offered lectures. In fact, they track the lectures exactly and appear on the screen when you listen to them, complete with the ability to search, highlight and take notes.
Paying for Law School in 2025: A Straight-Talk Playbook
Juno has consistently secured the best private loan deals for students at the Top MBA programs since 2018—now they’re bringing that same offer to law students, at no cost. Students can check their personalized offers at juno.us/atl This article is for general information only and is not personal financial advice.
• Law in a Flash. This is one of the most popular and comprehensive law school flash card study aids on the market. You could easily spend hundreds of dollars on this one supplement alone. TestMax has partnered with Wolters Kluwer to provide the entire Law in a Flash first year set in digital format via the 1L app, included in the monthly subscription price.
• Casenote Legal Briefs. Law students have been briefing cases (or being told to brief them) since the dawn of time. Casenote Legal Briefs has long been a popular commercial alternative to doing it yourself. Again in partnership with Wolters Kluwer, 1L includes digital versions of thousands of first-year case briefs, divided by subject and searchable by case name.
•Practice Exams. Come exam time, first-year students will be scrambling to get their hands on old exams in the hopes of getting any insight into what might be asked. The 1L app includes practice exam questions in both multiple choice and essay formats on a variety of subjects. Unlike copies of old tests, they also give you actual sample answers, along with explanations that walk you through their reasoning and the best ways to approach exam questions in general (that old IRAC method you’ll soon come to know and love).
The preferred approach of many bar prep companies has always been to hand out a massive 1L outline book to lug around all year as you learn the ropes. Imagine if you could take that book, along with all the other supplemental materials you’re contemplating buying, and put it all in an easy app that goes wherever your phone goes. That’s what TestMax has done with 1L, and it will change how you tackle your all-important first year.
How the 1L App Works
If you’re like nearly every human being on the planet, you probably don’t go anywhere without your phone. Now, your 1L studies can go with you. No matter where you are, top-notch study aids are in your pocket. If you’ve ever tried to read a commercial outline at the gym (or, really, any book), you’ll understand what a big difference this makes in the study game.
Better yet, you get can access all the app’s materials without draining your precious data. Simply download them and you’re set, even if you find yourself in a dreaded dead zone without internet access. If bigger screens are more your style, all the materials are available online as well, not only via the app.
Right now, 1L is offered for a monthly subscription fee of $24.99, which includes everything – there are no packages, add-ons, or hidden extra charges that sneak up on you later and you can cancel your subscription at any time. That’s far less than you’d spend if you tried to piece this volume of supplemental materials together on your own. If you’re still not sure, there’s even a seven-day free trial.
When it comes to law school supplements, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, convenient, and affordable product than 1L. Try it today and discover for yourself that 1L really doesn’t have to be hell.