1L Drama

[thorc954]

I came into this thread expecting to read about hookups and binge drinking, btw.

me too... I like binge drinking and hookups.

Umm.. OP, I think you are going about things wrong. 

Your first semester, you should not be outlining till five weeks before exams (1 week for each outline and the last week to update your outlines and organize them better).  Also, you should not be looking at supplements.  The only supplements I have ever used were old outlines (only to fill in concepts i didnt know when I made my own outlines) and multiple choice books (to prep for exams).  Anything else is a waste of time and money in my opinion.

As far as briefing cases, I spent the first year and a half briefing every case I read.  I found that it helped be prepared for class, but gave me little benefit beyond that.  Now, I just read for class and take detailed notes when I am in class.  I outline directly from my class notes and only go back to the book if there is a question mark next to my in class notes or Ive made a note to myself that I didnt understand a concept when it was taught.  You will realize when you get more into law school that exams are basically testing your ability to regurgitate information as fast as you can.  You cannot possibly say everything relevant during most exams, but you can cover most of the important stuff (which is what the professor covers in class).

Now, my first year I did a similar schedule to yours and I was miserable and did not necessarily do well (top 20% at a top 20 school which made OCI a struggle).  When I began to rely more on the classes, I moved up to the top 5-10%. 

I would do as much work as you need to do to feel confident that you are learning the material.  Just remember though, the only important thing from a case (with the exception of con law) is the holding of that case.  Everything else is just so that you dont look stupid in class.  The professor, or one of your classmates, will tell you the holding and relevant facts during the class time.

Good luck in all that you do.  Relax on the outlining till after Halloween and sell the study books on Amazon.

[Matthies]

I read supplements for about 50% of my classes, and only the ones by the highly recommended ones by the casebook authors (Dressler, Chemerinsky). For classes with Restatements, I go through those for the concepts covered in class.  (The examples help you see how it'd play out in other situations -- "other situations" are what is going to be on the exam.) E&Es are so superficial that if you go to a school where an E&E actually helps you, you need to ask them for your tuition money back.

I've never had to recall facts of a case for an exam, and usually in my outline I just wrote something to quickly remind me like "Hairy hand case" or "House with wrong pipes."

I read every assignment (not always before class), and I didn't take notes in class.  Seemed like too much effort and would duplicate my outline.  When I listened in class, it was more for the professor's reasoning and interests rather than any "bottom line." My outlines came almost exclusively from the book.  For one class, I used a canned outline (not a commercial outline) from the law review keyed to that professor.  Just check to make sure that's OK. 

I did not stress before the exam.  I relaxed, studied some, watched movies, and tried to anticipate questions.  I did only two practice exams total. 

I don't know of anyone who has good grades with no effort, but I and other people I know got very good grades off of a lot less effort than you're putting in. 

I agree, I hate E&E’s they are so dumbed down that they like Cliff’s Notes. I Liked the Gilbert Outlines and the Understanding Serious, but to be honest I rarely ever looked at them when I bought them I just tended to like the security of having it on my bookshelf in case I did need it, rather than actually looking at it. I also still brief every case (although book brief) and don’t take any notes or pay attention in lectures at all, I don’t do practice exams and I’m #13 in my class, I’m a book learner I get everything I need to do well in class from the book, well enough that I don’t have to listen to the prof and I can post here instead! 

Point is find whatever works for you and don’t worry about what everyone else, at your school or on the internets, is doing. 

[Thistle]

Point is find whatever works for you and don’t worry about what everyone else, at your school or on the internets, is doing. 

best advice in the thread.

second best advice: 

imo, get an outline from last year.  have it up during class.  go to relevant portion.  supplement what it says with your own notes to clarify. 

That's it.  That's all.  Readings should take no more than 1 minute per page. 

Your mileage may vary.

other advice:  pull up lexisnexis case briefs in class.  headnotes will mostly give you what you need to answer questions.  high court case summaries, keyed to your book, are golden and by far my favorite.

i havent briefed (or read all that much, for that matter) since my 1L year...i have 5 semester hours left to graduate, and i'm #27 in the class....

[Naked Promise]

i havent briefed (or read all that much, for that matter) since my 1L year...i have 5 semester hours left to graduate, and i'm #27 in the class....

#27 out of approximately how many?

27 out of 150, while still good, isn't nearly as impressive as say 27 out of 400.

[Matthies]

i havent briefed (or read all that much, for that matter) since my 1L year...i have 5 semester hours left to graduate, and i'm #27 in the class....

#27 out of approximately how many?

27 out of 150, while still good, isn't nearly as impressive as say 27 out of 400.

ProTip: Spend more time worrying about yourself and how you will do on your fist set of law exams rather than judging where someone else is ranked in their class at some other school.

[Thistle]

y'all are right, there's only 30 people in my class.

guess you better brief all the time, then.

[Matthies]

Eh, it's an ok question.  I quickly learned that a lot of people on this board giving studying tips also had crap grades when I saw them posting on the job hunt side.

I dunno karma prevents me from talking out of my ass as much as it does judging where others fallout in the rankings before I even took my first semester of law exams. But hey that just me.  Besides when has never having had  a legal job stoped anyone on this board from telling others how they should get one and what they will be doing there? 

[nike6075]

Eh, it's an ok question.  I quickly learned that a lot of people on this board giving studying tips also had crap grades when I saw them posting on the job hunt side.

I dunno karma prevents me from talking out of my ass as much as it does judging where others fallout in the rankings before I even took my first semester of law exams. But hey that just me.  Besides when has never having had  a legal job stoped anyone on this board from telling others how they should get one and what they will be doing there? 

your bitterness towards the people on this board is astounding considering how much time you spend here.

[Matthies]

Eh, it's an ok question.  I quickly learned that a lot of people on this board giving studying tips also had crap grades when I saw them posting on the job hunt side.

I dunno karma prevents me from talking out of my ass as much as it does judging where others fallout in the rankings before I even took my first semester of law exams. But hey that just me.  Besides when has never having had  a legal job stoped anyone on this board from telling others how they should get one and what they will be doing there? 

your bitterness towards the people on this board is astounding considering how much time you spend here.

Hey for four years I gave honest advice based on things I have actually done, I never told people what they should do, only how my decisions worked out for me based on what I decided to do. I’ll put the quality of my posts up against anyone else here. But in the last week I’ve tried something new, being a douchbag a-hole who puts no thought into what they post and gets off on telling other people how to live their lives, not only is it intellectually easier, its kind of addictive, I can see why its so appealing to so many posters on here. This is the new kinder, gentler Matthies. So thanks for playing HTH, STFU.

[premieraw]

Thanks Scotter, mind elaborating a bit on your actual study strategies? (especially as it relates to classes you CANNOT bring in an outline) Did you spend a lot of time in supplements? Assuming you didn't even buy the casebook for some of your classes i'm really curious as to your method..

CLASS: My first study strategy was to attend class (luckily the ABA pretty much requires that anyway).  Since I was too lazy to read anything typically, I went to class and took notes of the relevant information (also this saves time, because if it was never even brought up in class, then it wont be on the exam and you don't need it in your outline). 

Other Outlines: I usually would get an outline/a couple of outline from a student(s) who took the class prior and of a student who I trusted as being fairly smart and organized. (Of Course I shared my outlines with them too and typically people wanted my outlines, even though I always gave them to anyone that asked).  Most outlines I got were nowhere nearly as good as the outlines I made, but they are useful to check to make sure everything is covered in your own outline. 

Casebook: If I had the casebook, I would actually read the intros and notes, because sometimes they can provide a good synopsis of the law and important cases. (it all depended on the casebook, I had an excellent oil and gas book but a terrible evidence casebook). 

Westlaw/Lexis:  Then if I still needed more clarity on the subject, I would use westlaw.  There are so many useful tools through Westlaw if you know how to use it (legal encyclopedias, restatements with notes, etc...).  In fact, I think people are completely dumb to buy commercial sources when they can get everything and often better materials for FREE with westlaw (but you have to be familiar with it, in my prior career I did a lot of computer programming so that definitely helped).  In fact, many classes will say that a required book is the restatement/Uniform Commercial Code/UPA/IRC/INA....I suggest you NEVER waste your money on those while in law school.  You can get everything through Westlaw/Lexis in a quicker to access linked table of contents.  Then, when a necessary statute arises in class you can just cut and paste it into your notes to add to your outline later on.  Professors always thought that I didnt have the book and therefore must not even be following along, when they called on me they were alaways amazed that I could get the statute much faster than anyone else.  Once again, it is a waste of time to flip through statute books on the test.

TESTS WITHOUT OUTLINES:  Follow the same process in making an outline.  Add the extra step of condensing the big outline into a much smaller bare-bones memorizable outline.  If it is an all multiple choice test (rare - - i only had one), then you dont need to memorize anything.  If it is essay you need to memorize all the legal rules and also memorize some way of recalling all the possible issues. For example in Criminal Procedure I memorized something like: "was there a search", "was the search lawful", "was there an arrest or a de-facto arrest", "was the arrest a lawful arrest",  etc...in a way to ensure that I could recall any possible issues and sub-issues.

Is this the same strategy you used throughout 1L? I guess i'm particularly curious how you developed your core understanding of the law. It seems almost immpossible to do this without consulting outside sources unless you dedicate 95% of your time to the casebook. (as im currently doing) The problem is after going through this laborious process i find myself forgetting what it is i learned in the first place. (a week or so later) Would you recommend i spend less time on individual cases and more time trying to figure how they relate, or is the supplement a more efficient way of accomplishing that?