Academic pre-course series
Master’s in
A comprehensive foundation for postgraduate study.
Law · Pre-Course Guide
Understand the rules between states before your first seminar.
A Master's in International Law assumes you already speak the language of treaties, custom, jurisdiction and state responsibility. This guide builds that language from the ground up: how international law works without a world government, the institutions that apply it, and the human rights, humanitarian, trade, EU and environmental regimes your modules will move through week by week.
What international law actually is, where it comes from, and how it differs from the law you already know.
States, recognition, responsibility and the machinery of how states deal with each other.
The treaty system built to hold states to a shared minimum standard, and what happens when they fall short of it.
When individuals, not states, are held to account for the gravest crimes in international law.
The rules that apply even in war, and the line between military necessity and a war crime.
The rules, tariffs and disputes that govern how goods, services and investment cross borders.
A self-contained legal order in its own right, and how it relates to public international law.
How international law responds — and struggles to respond — to a genuinely global problem.
How states and investors resolve disputes without going to war: courts, arbitration and negotiation.
The UN, NATO, the World Bank and the other institutions that make international cooperation possible day to day.
The academic skills — reading cases, referencing, writing, arguing — a Master's assumes you already have.
The practical skills and resources that carry you through the degree itself, not just the subject matter.
Everything you need to feel prepared before your first lecture — explained from zero, designed for beginners, and built to give you a head start.
500+ pages designed to prepare you before day one.
Complex concepts explained in simple language.
Diagrams, models and visual explanations that make learning easier.
Understand how theory works in real businesses.
Quick recaps so revision takes minutes instead of hours.
Learn the vocabulary before your lecturers use it.
Every concept includes clear examples you can actually understand.
Read anytime. Keep every update forever.
Whenever the guide improves, your version improves too.
Created after analysing real university programmes so you're learning what actually matters.
One small investment.
Eighteen months of confidence.
Semester 0 isn't another textbook.
It's everything students wish they knew before walking into their first Master's lecture.
"It made the first weeks of treaty law feel familiar instead of terrifying."
Marta S.
LLM International Law, Leiden
"The case-reading chapter alone was worth it."
Daniel O.
Political science graduate → LLM
The complete 666-page preparation book with every module, case study and exercise.
€19.99
Buy Full GuideTransparency
Every Semester 0 guide is created using a combination of AI-assisted research, educational frameworks, and editorial review. We analyse recurring topics across leading Master's programmes and organise them into clear, beginner-friendly guides designed to help students prepare before their first lecture.
Our guides are independent educational resources. They are not official university materials and are not affiliated with any university.
Disclaimer: Semester 0 guides are independently created educational resources. They are designed to support students before their Master's begins and do not replace official course materials or university instruction.
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