Advice for a 0L hell bent on being near the top of his class?

[TheNewGuy]

I wanted to deviate a bit and post this on this thread b/c it attracts a lot of attention and good advice:

What about software for note-taking?  Anyone find that a certain type allows you to come up with a really nicely-organized system?

I'm thinking one-note has some good advantages (e.g. easier to consolidate from other file types; has a flagging feature, etc...)

I also just dropped $40 on this Aspen Law Studydesk... it is of course designed so you'll buy more Aspen products with it, but nonetheless I thought it looked pretty helpful. Anyone have experience with this or heard reviews?

Demo is here: http://www.aspenlaw.com/

Thanks!

[k2217]

I wanted to deviate a bit and post this on this thread b/c it attracts a lot of attention and good advice:

What about software for note-taking?  Anyone find that a certain type allows you to come up with a really nicely-organized system?

I'm thinking one-note has some good advantages (e.g. easier to consolidate from other file types; has a flagging feature, etc...)

I also just dropped $40 on this Aspen Law Studydesk... it is of course designed so you'll buy more Aspen products with it, but nonetheless I thought it looked pretty helpful. Anyone have experience with this or heard reviews?

Demo is here: http://www.aspenlaw.com/

Thanks!

You can check out Storelaw's Outliner software...it sets up your notes so that everything goes into an outline format from the beginning (and even better, it's "outlined" according to your specific casebook).

Once you buy the software, you can upload templates (from the outliner website -- for free!!!) that are specifically tailored to your casebook for each class.  So that your notes are organized under topics and headings for your class book, etc.

Anyway, it kept my notes really organized.  Especially with profs who jumped all over the place, I could simply click back on topic we discussed weeks ago and add in the new notes.  Whereas my classmates note taking programs went by dates and so they couldn't easily find where the last notes on a certain topic were.   

The program can also easily create a Word doc of your outlined notes, by a click of a button.  At the end of the semester, I'd create the Word Doc outline, clean up my "already in outline format" notes, and I was done.

www.storelaw.com

[TheNewGuy]

I wanted to deviate a bit and post this on this thread b/c it attracts a lot of attention and good advice:

What about software for note-taking?  Anyone find that a certain type allows you to come up with a really nicely-organized system?

I'm thinking one-note has some good advantages (e.g. easier to consolidate from other file types; has a flagging feature, etc...)

I also just dropped $40 on this Aspen Law Studydesk... it is of course designed so you'll buy more Aspen products with it, but nonetheless I thought it looked pretty helpful. Anyone have experience with this or heard reviews?

Demo is here: http://www.aspenlaw.com/

Thanks!

You can check out Storelaw's Outliner software...it sets up your notes so that everything goes into an outline format from the beginning (and even better, it's "outlined" according to your specific casebook).

Once you buy the software, you can upload templates (from the outliner website -- for free!!!) that are specifically tailored to your casebook for each class.  So that your notes are organized under topics and headings for your class book, etc.

Wow... ok I will hold off on buying things until I get a clue. Thanks, I've saved the link.

[jacy85]

I use and love MS OneNote.  It has a lot of the same capabilities as Word, but instead of having 80 different files for each lecture in each class, or having a few huge files, it has a folder/tab system.  It's searchable, and has a lot of neat features I love, and it lets me get away from a lot of the bad autoformating crap word does when you're trying to outline.  The only 2 problems I have is that you can't make tables inside (to solve this, I just make a table in word and then insert a screenshot).  The ohter problem is with printing; it can be a pain, and they've made it just sort of weird.  I survive with it though, it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

If you want to play with it, I suggest getting the free demo off the MS website.

[MiamiLaw]

I dunno if this was said before, but do you guys reccomend LEEWS?  I am working through it right now and I really enjoy it. I also read half of Planet Law School II already, and with this combo I seem to be getting a somewhat clear impression of what makes law school so hard, and what you have to do to not fall into the pitfall that many students get into. Hopefully LEEWS will help. A lot of it sounds like common sense to me but I will still utilize it nonetheless

[ANBUDOM]

I'm in agreement with pretty much everything I've seen.  I used 0 supplements this semester, did my reading consistently throughout the semester, saved most of my outlining for the last month or so, took a bunch of practice tests during the day or two before the exams, and ended up top 5% for the semester.

My biggest point of emphasis from last semester (where I was "only" top 20%) was focus.  When I set aside a block of time to work this semester, I would work--not surf the net, not daydream, but read, focus, and make sure I understood everything I was reading.  I switched from typed-up briefing to book-briefing second semester (although for some classes, I briefed the cases during class while professor was rambling or asking obvious questions), and I think it really helped, because I wouldn't decide to check email or surf the net or play poker while I was working.

I think relaxation is very important--for me, the key to relaxation was feeling prepared.  If you've gotten behind on your reading during the semester, it's hard to relax because the test is going to be throwing things at you that you feel like you should know, and it breeds a cycle of freaking out, losing concentration during the exam, then freaking out because you've lost concentration.  If you feel like you know the material well, and get a little practice applying it to new issues (taking practice tests) in the few days before the exam, this will really help you relax.

Believe in yourself, not in the hype.  Good luck.

I agree that keeping your sanity is important.  Some people work well under extreme pressure and stress but I think it may be counterproductive for most people.  I noticed that the hardest working and most stressed students at my school didn't perform as well as the more relaxed students (like alamo and myself). 

I dunno what the hell LEEWS is... what is that? 

Oh and alamo must be pretty gangster because I couldn't get away with law school without using supplements.  I used a lot of them and it helped me out tremendously. 

I would also strongly recommend that you look at previous exams from your professors or look at copies of A exams from the past.  I dunno if your school keeps these on file but looking at them can help you understand what sorts of answers the professors are looking for.  I noticed that a lot of students that knew the material much better than I did ultimately performed much worse because their test-taking abilities weren't so hot. 

[TDJD84]

COCAINE!!!!!!!

[jacy85]

I used LEEWS, and I liked it and recommend it.

[4DClaw]

LEEWS is good. But the guy makes it WAY more complicated than it needs to be, and the CD is about twice as long as it needs to be. I highly recommend Delaney's book on exam-taking. It lays out the method you need for a basic law-school exam, and it also gives good pointers if you have profs who like policy arguments (about half of my 1L profs were like that).

[juliemccoy]

LEEWS is good. But the guy makes it WAY more complicated than it needs to be, and the CD is about twice as long as it needs to be. I highly recommend Delaney's book on exam-taking. It lays out the method you need for a basic law-school exam, and it also gives good pointers if you have profs who like policy arguments (about half of my 1L profs were like that).

I agree. For a program that purports to cut through the confusion, it obfuscates with unecessary tangents. I felt the book was more helpful than the CDs, but even the book rambled. I finished it, and took a few lines of notes regarding the whole LEEWS process... I guess Wentworth Miller couldn't make $200 on info that essentially would fit onto a bookmark, so he had to stretch it out a bit!

I haven't read the Delaney book-- thanks for the advice!