OUTLINING DOESNT AGREE WITH ME ANYONE ELSE FEEL THE SAME?

[Mimimimi]

The process of outlining also doesn't help me at all.  It does help me to HAVE an outline, but I used last year's outline with minor modifications that I made for all three of my classes, and I ended up doing pretty well.  Of course, you have to make sure that the info in the outline you have is correct.  Also, I really did not use my outlines at all in exams.  The only thing I think they are useful for is remembering case names. 

[jacy85]

People use outlining to learn the material.  If you find you don't learn well with an outline, then find some other way to do it, be it more textual organization, flash cards, whatever.

No matter which "method" you choose, remember that learning the material is only step one.  I disagree w/ jen's post.  It is a two step process, but its not outlining and then reviewing.  It's learning the material, then applying the material.

The reason it's vital to have your outline done a good couple of days before the final (if not sooner), is because you need both the time to learn the material in your outline, and then you have to practice applying the material.  I'm convinced that the difference between a good grade and an "ok" grade isn't the fact that one student knew the material better than another.  It's who analyzed the hypo and applied the material better.

So whatever method helps you learn best, use it, because outlining is only one step to where you need to be for exams.

[jd2b06]

Thanks for all of your comments guys    There's a lot of good information here. The checklist idea was especially insightful.   

[nate]

i love outlining. it sounds lame, but i really do; it's one of the miniscule things that li love about law school.

what i really want to know is what everyone does AFTER their outlining is done. when you have your outline ready to go, what do you do? do you narrow it down? do you make flashcards? do you leave it as is and start applying it to *EDIT: hypos/practice exams?

basically, i think outlining is good. it's something i won't stop doing. but what steps do you, personally, take beyond it?

[S|]

Personally, I cut the outline down under five pages and memorize it.  Ideally, by the time you have created your outline and trimmed it down, you should be able to recall the entire outline using the reduced version.

[Mimimimi]

i love outlining. it sounds lame, but i really do; it's one of the miniscule things that li love about law school.

what i really want to know is what everyone does AFTER their outlining is done. when you have your outline ready to go, what do you do? do you narrow it down? do you make flashcards? do you leave it as is and start applying it to flash cards?

basically, i think outlining is good. it's something i won't stop doing. but what steps do you, personally, take beyond it?

I would say do practice exams, or if you've done all the practice exams, then do examples and explanations or something like that.  That's the one thing I wish I'd done more of this past semester.  Knowing the law is just the first step; what seems like an easy concept can be difficult to apply in a hypothetical.

[qaz123]

i have never outlined for any class in my academic career.  i met with a group to outline for civpro to try it last semester and it was the biggest waste of time ever.  id rather just study and get an outline from an upper level student instead of wasting my time trying to make my own.

[pronback]

I did no outlining. I kept up on my reading, but didn't do any "studying" until finals time. I made note cards for torts and civ pro, but they were only really useful in torts because our prof required her exact language on the exam. Other than that, I just went over my class notes and talked about things with some people from class. E&E for contracts was required, so I read it all the day before the exam. I read the E&E for civ pro the day before the exam, too. I think the hypos in those books were very helpful.