To Prep or Not To Prep

[Thane Messinger]

[“Goodness, you have to prepare! You’ll be lost!! Why aren’t you done yet!!! Where’s my Prozac!!!!”

The first camp is not the camp to be in. If you decide not to prepare you will be way, way behind and lost. It might be useful, however, to discuss why this is true, so that the importance of preparation will make sense, and so that you’ll know what and how to prepare, in a way that is manageable and beneficial. You should enjoy your summer before law school (as you should enjoy all summers). But you absolutely should not blow off preparing for what’s to come.][Thane]

PS:   Wow, whoever wrote that must be really on the ball.  = :   )

Thank you.

[NavyLaw2016]

What does prepare mean?

Outline the entire course?
Learn to brief a case, spot the issue, use IRAC method?

I'd love to outline the entire course and feel that would be the best course of action because you can adjust it as you progress through the course, but how much detail should be involved in that initial outline.

Does anyone have any 1L Outlines they would like to share?

[Thane Messinger]

What does prepare mean?

Outline the entire course?
Learn to brief a case, spot the issue, use IRAC method?

I'd love to outline the entire course and feel that would be the best course of action because you can adjust it as you progress through the course, but how much detail should be involved in that initial outline.

Does anyone have any 1L Outlines they would like to share?

NavyLaw: 

You're not outlining the course, you're outlining the subject.  (The distinction is important, as what will be tested is the subject; what is covered in class is often tangential and plain irrelevant.)

How much detail?  Surprisingly, not that much--or certainly not as much as most assume.  As students we twist ourselves into knots, but the truth is that excellent exams use basic principles . . . very, very well.  That's the key.  Outlines are a tool, they're not the donut.

Do NOT use someone else's outline.  You must do your own.  In fact, you must do two. 

You *can* use another outline to confirm points of law--and you should and will use commercial outlines for this purpose.  But the work must be your own, and the main effort is not the outline, but in what you do with it.

Thane.

[Thane Messinger]

Do NOT use someone else's outline.  You must do your own.  In fact, you must do two. 

I should have specified "Do not use someone else's 1L outline."  Different rules apply after first year.

I know I'm . . . against the wind, but for first year you MUST do your own outlines.  All of them.  It will make a big difference.  (But the outlines are only the starting point.  They're not the goal.)

Thane.