Law School Confidential VS Planet Law School II

[Which book is the best for law school prep]

Which book is the best for law school prep

Law School Confidential

 22 (27.8%)

Planet Law School Vol II

 20 (25.3%)

Something Else

 8 (10.1%)

Neither, read something fun instead.

 29 (36.7%)

Total Members Voted: 79

[bbhouston]

*

[SplitFinger]

And if you do all that (instead of building a birch bark canoe, or something useful, like holding down a job so you won't have to borrow quite as much), you know what grades you'll probably get?  Pretty much the same grades you would have gotten if you hadn't done all that crap over the summer, before you had any idea what you actually needed to learn.

I particularly love the folks who casually say you should read the E&E's - presumably cover to cover.  How freaking retarded.  At least a third of what's in every E&E will never be taught in your class.  Even worse, some of what's in there is just simply wrong (at least as far as your professor is concerned.)

But whatever, feel free to kill yourself if you think it will help you.  Maybe it will.  It probably won't, at least not enough to matter.  By the time the exam rolls around, pretty much everybody's going to know it backwards and forwards, and all those hours you spent reading the E&E will have been wasted.

[nike6075]

i read PLS II and read through some of the materials he recommends for a "three month" study regimen.  it certainly helped.  i think it bears repeating that most people who slam reading ahead of time didn't do it themselves.  unless you have the iq of a potted fern, learning basic terms and concepts will aid in your comprehension, especially early on.  the comment that there is no such thing as black letter law is also garbage.  assault is assault, res ipsa is res ipsa, a 12(b)(6) motion is a 12(b)(6) motion whether you are sitting in a torts/civ pro class at cooley or at hls.  law school is not that complex but professors will try (often unwittingly) to make it as confusing as possible.  hearing these terms for the third or fourth time in september necessarily will help you grasp the greater concepts behind these terms of art faster than your peers (who will look at the prof like a pig staring at a wristwatch the first time say, "consideration" is mentioned). 
another lame argument is that you somehow won't have time to "party like a rockstar" over the summer.  this type of thinking alone should tell you all you need to know about this category of people.  getting really sh!thoused is soooooooooooo awesome! yeah!  in my frat!  no....i didn't rape her! i love you man!  these lame a$$es really stick out in law school.
the only value in this line of reasoning is that you should absolutely find time to do f*ck-all and just relax.  if you spend a couple hours a day, 5 days a week doing a little reading, you should have tons of time to build a birch bark canoe by hand if that's your thing.
here is what i suggest
PLS II
Learning Legal Reasoning by John Delaney
LEEWS by Wentworth Miller
the E&E's for your first semester classes (except Crim, this varies too much by jurisdiction and some law schools don't even teach the model penal code anymore).
you'll use the E&E's over the semester anyway, so purchasing them now isn't a bad idea even if you don't make a big dent in them. 
just sayin'.

Typical GDI response.

[sstar]

GDI?

Gunner Dork Imagination?

[The Artist]

And if you do all that (instead of building a birch bark canoe, or something useful, like holding down a job so you won't have to borrow quite as much), you know what grades you'll probably get?  Pretty much the same grades you would have gotten if you hadn't done all that crap over the summer, before you had any idea what you actually needed to learn.

I particularly love the folks who casually say you should read the E&E's - presumably cover to cover.  How freaking retarded.  At least a third of what's in every E&E will never be taught in your class.  Even worse, some of what's in there is just simply wrong (at least as far as your professor is concerned.)

But whatever, feel free to kill yourself if you think it will help you.  Maybe it will.  It probably won't, at least not enough to matter.  By the time the exam rolls around, pretty much everybody's going to know it backwards and forwards, and all those hours you spent reading the E&E will have been wasted.

You continue to bash prepping and people who prep when you yourself didn't prep and probably didn't even read PLS. You are entitled to your opinion and I appreciate that you are trying to help 0Ls, but your view is no more valid than that of vercingetorix. In fact, I think V's argument makes more sense than yours.

[SCK2008]

There is no right or wrong answer here people...

We're doing a good job of getting to maybe I suppose, but that is all this thread is good for...

Digest the information here and do what's best for you...

No need to get into a pissing match...

[The Artist]

There is no right or wrong answer here people...

We're doing a good job of getting to maybe I suppose, but that is all this thread is good for...

Digest the information here and do what's best for you...

No need to get into a pissing match...

I don't really have a problem with advice from 2Ls and 3Ls (aside from the fact than in the long run I end up with contradicting advice... go figure). But certain posters always say 'don't prep, its a waste of time, listen to us current students.' Then, in instances where a current student comes out and says 'actually, don't listen to them, prepping works, i did it and did well' they get called 'gunner douches' and are personally attacked and told that they were going to do well anyway. Why can't people just agree to disagree?

[SCK2008]

There is no right or wrong answer here people...

We're doing a good job of getting to maybe I suppose, but that is all this thread is good for...

Digest the information here and do what's best for you...

No need to get into a pissing match...

I don't really have a problem with advice from 2Ls and 3Ls (aside from the fact than in the long run I end up with contradicting advice... go figure). But certain posters always say 'don't prep, its a waste of time, listen to us current students.' Then, in instances where a current student comes out and says 'actually, don't listen to them, prepping works, i did it and did well' they get called 'gunner douches' and are personally attacked and told that they were going to do well anyway. Why can't people just agree to disagree?

That's pretty much what I was getting at...

But its nice to know ahead of time what actions might result in one getting called a gunner- d, so I appreciate the head's up from those that have been there...

Some folks take it too far though...

[The Artist]

There is no right or wrong answer here people...

We're doing a good job of getting to maybe I suppose, but that is all this thread is good for...

Digest the information here and do what's best for you...

No need to get into a pissing match...

I don't really have a problem with advice from 2Ls and 3Ls (aside from the fact than in the long run I end up with contradicting advice... go figure). But certain posters always say 'don't prep, its a waste of time, listen to us current students.' Then, in instances where a current student comes out and says 'actually, don't listen to them, prepping works, i did it and did well' they get called 'gunner douches' and are personally attacked and told that they were going to do well anyway. Why can't people just agree to disagree?

That's pretty much what I was getting at...

But its nice to know ahead of time what actions might result in one getting called a gunner- d, so I appreciate the head's up from those that have been there...

Some folks take it too far though...

The one thing I've learned is that I will never EVER in real life tell anyone I am prepping.

[SplitFinger]

And if you do all that (instead of building a birch bark canoe, or something useful, like holding down a job so you won't have to borrow quite as much), you know what grades you'll probably get?  Pretty much the same grades you would have gotten if you hadn't done all that crap over the summer, before you had any idea what you actually needed to learn.

I particularly love the folks who casually say you should read the E&E's - presumably cover to cover.  How freaking retarded.  At least a third of what's in every E&E will never be taught in your class.  Even worse, some of what's in there is just simply wrong (at least as far as your professor is concerned.)

But whatever, feel free to kill yourself if you think it will help you.  Maybe it will.  It probably won't, at least not enough to matter.  By the time the exam rolls around, pretty much everybody's going to know it backwards and forwards, and all those hours you spent reading the E&E will have been wasted.

You continue to bash prepping and people who prep when you yourself didn't prep and probably didn't even read PLS. You are entitled to your opinion and I appreciate that you are trying to help 0Ls, but your view is no more valid than that of vercingetorix. In fact, I think V's argument makes more sense than yours.

Actually, I did read it (I confess that I skimmed some of the longer rants).  I actually went so far as to read the Civ Pro E&E before starting school, as well as the first Delaney book.  Civ Pro wound up being my worst grade as a 1L, but whatever.  Also took LEEWS from Wentworth Miller personally.  IMHO, none of that particularly helped.  Your mileage may vary.  Ask enough people, and you can find an example to prove pretty much anything you like.

Just because my advice/experience doesn't conform to the way you want things to be doesn't mean that I'm "bashing" anything.  Just giving my advice based on what I have personally seen.  Feel free to do whatever you like.  Doesn't matter to me, I'm graduating next spring.  Hell, I'd love to tell you that prepping makes all the difference in the world, but from what I've seen, it just ain't so.