Confused!!! Can you guys please clarify...

[Gab092]

I am reading books and posts about outlines and briefs, to wait and not and get explanations and examples, to read cases...then to not.

Could a few people PLEEEEASE just give me a typical day.

Ok so go to class, come home, take a break, then start...briefing the cases you will do the next day or the cases you did in class? Then you outline the cases? The same cases your briefed?? Then you read for tomorrow's class?? And all of this takes people (depending on the person) 6-12 hours???

I know you guys are probably sick of dishing out advice to 0l headcases but please just give me your typical day in a clear format. Promise aftet his my freak out officially ends! Thanks!!!! 

[challandler]

Typical Day:

6:30am - Wake up
7:15am - Catch bus
7:45am - Arrive at school
8:00am - Class 1
9:00am - Talk about Class 1 over coffee, read for Class 1 tomorrowm, amd refresh material for Class 2.
11:00am - Class 2
12:00am - Lunch (usually a speaker talk or student group meeting, try and referesh for Class 3).
1:30pm - Class 3
2:30pm - Class 4
3:30pm - Talk about Class 2, 3, or 4 over coffee.
4:00pm - Read for Class 2 for tomorrow.
5:00pm - Catch bus home
6:00pm - Arrive home / dinner
7:00pm - Read for Class 3
8:00pm - Read for Class 4
9:00pm - Outline for Classes 1 & 2
10:00pm - Outline for Classes 3 & 4.
11:00pm - Sleep.


I don't brief.  I highlight as a read, then I outline (I use a very concise outlining method, so a whole day's reading is often 1/2 a page).   

[lawmama09]

Everyone has a different way of studying. During my 1L year, my classes usually ran from 10-3 Mon.-Thurs. and 10-12 on Fridays, with an hour for lunch and other breaks depending on the day and semester. I usually got to school an hour or so before class started, studied or chatted with classmates, went to class, studied through lunch unless I was attending a meeting or event, went to more class, stayed in the library studying until about 4:30. After that, I picked my son up from daycare and went home to make dinner, hang out and do stuff around the house. I usually got back to studying from about 8pm - 10 or 11pm, depending on my load.

For me during most of the semester "studying" was bascially reading assignments for the next class and briefing the cases (my briefs got progressively shorter throughout the year), making notes in the books and answering the questions my casebooks had at the end of the sections (which turned out to be good because my civ pro prof. used to cold call on people to answer the questions, and I usually already had it written down). You need your reading done before you get to class because that is what will be discussed in class and what you will get drilled on. I did not do outlines at all until much later in the semester, and then usually in a study group. For me, the act of making the outline at the end of the semester was a large part of my comprehensive review for the final.

This is just my system, tailored to my family priorities and the way I learn. Other people came up with different ways of studying and there is no one right way to do it. You have to find what works for you.

[jacy85]

I don't have the time to go into all your concerns, but here's a distinction:

You brief cases as you do the reading BEFORE class.  This is so you can learn/know the impt. facts, the rule, the holding, etc. and if you get called on, you'll at least have some idea what's going on.

You outline classes after the fact, so you can incorporate the reading notes you took and what the professor said in class.

I suggest you pick up Law School Confidential, or at least stop by a book store or library and flip through the first couple chapters.  The book is kind of intense, and I didn't follow its study "schedule" but it at least gives you an overview of the basics.

[Finally]

I don't have the time to go into all your concerns, but here's a distinction:

You brief cases as you do the reading BEFORE class.  This is so you can learn/know the impt. facts, the rule, the holding, etc. and if you get called on, you'll at least have some idea what's going on.

You outline classes after the fact, so you can incorporate the reading notes you took and what the professor said in class.

I suggest you pick up Law School Confidential, or at least stop by a book store or library and flip through the first couple chapters.  The book is kind of intense, and I didn't follow its study "schedule" but it at least gives you an overview of the basics.

This is EXACTLY how I did it as well. I outlined my class notes every few weeks. Sometimes it helps waiting a few weeks to fully understand the topic.

[kilroy55]

Typical Day 1L

7:00am -- wake up
7:30am -- walk to class
8:00-11:30 -- classes
11:30 - 12:30 -- lunch
12:30 - 5:00 -- Read for classes, sometimes had writing and research
5:30 -- Dinner -- Usually I am done for the day, except Fridays where I will work until Mondays work is finished (In the fall at least, I need college football and the NFL).

I start outlining in November, and I start practice exams then as well.  So this schedule will change somewhat throughout the semester.

[Butch]

During the first 3-4 weeks, I read and briefed all my cases. After that, I did margin briefing for the most part unless it was a really confusing case.

I didn't outline every day...I saved that for every couple of weeks and incorporated my class notes + my margin briefs, etc. (My outline was also heavily focused on the law itself, not really on cases...) 

My typical day was 9-5 at school for classes, meetings and what not -  perhaps one afternoon out by 2. I'd generally do 1-2 hrs of reading/briefing each night. I always took Fridays off and most Saturdays. Sunday was my work day. And, I worked really hard during the two weeks before finals. But, not so much during the semester. It worked well for me, but you have to figure out what works for YOU.

[Butch]

Oh - another method I would use for some classes (when the professor taught in a really clear, structural way) was to outline IN class.  I'd have one document up with my class notes, my book open with my reading notes, and then another document window open with my outline.  I'd take my class notes in the same fonts I'd use for my outline, then plop it in at the end of each section and then fill it in at the end of class.

[JG]

I posted this a couple of years ago, right after my 1L first semester:

A typical day (Monday-Thursday):

8-9 am:  get to school early, waste time chatting with friends (or, occasionally, finish reading for morning classes)
9-11 class
11-2: a long lunch spent chatting and reading the newspaper.  (occassionally, I'd spend an hour reading for the afternoon class)
2-3 class
3-5 waste time chatting with friends or surfing the internet.
5-6 dinner (yes, I'm 90 years old)
6-10 a combination of reading for class, watching tv, and working out that varied depending on how much I had to do for the next day

We don't have classes after noon on Fridays, so on Friday afternoons/evenings, I did nothing.  Weekends, I did legal writing assignments and read for the next week (I usually got a little bit ahead).  I'd say I spent some of Saturdays and most of Sundays studying.  As you can see, if I had made even the slightest effort to use my time wisely during the week, I probably could have had my weekends mostly free.

The last two and a half weeks of the semester,I studied and outlined for every waking moment.  It worked out great for me.  I was at the very top of my class (at a school not too far outside T14.)

[ohiostatelaw]

This was exactly the kind of thread I was looking for. I'm reading all kinds of advice that contradicts each other, and it's freaking me out.

Did you guys find your study schedules and techniques worked well in terms of final grades?