a Tale of Two Outlines

[Astro]

what stuff won't i know?

would you say that this discussion covered it, or is there anything else i'm missing?

This discussion covered most of it.  Can't think of anything else right now.  Not regarding academics, at least.

[Astro]

what about legal writing?  i haven't thought much about that class.

Depends on your school and its program. 

Where I go, LRW is everything.  It's tremendously rigorous and taxing.  But at most schools, it's a pass/fail course.  Work hard to get it right because it's the basic tool of your trade, but don't stress it too much if you're not being graded.  Prioritize only if need be.

[likewise]

Sure, there's a bunch of stuff, but you gotta feel it out once you get there.  Like, am I in the a.s.s.hole section, the quiet section, or the gossip girl section?  Who's fun to hang with, who's helpful, who might be good to study with? Which prof's exam can be prepared for in the two days before it? What time should I get up every day?  Bed? How much sleep, exercise, food, sex, studying do I need so I don't go insane?

These are all things you need to figure out on your own.  Don't rush.  Feel it out for the first month.  Adjust as necessary.  And, don't be an a.s.s.hole-->help other people, befriend fellow students, have coffee, BS in the lounge for a couple hours a day.  This is key:  creeps and freaks don't get jobs usually.  Yes, good grades help, but if you've the social skills of a serial killer and haven't made any friends, you'll have no network and get no summer job / perm job.  

Deep breaths.  Big smile.  Hi, how are yous?  Where are from?  Wanna get some some coffee?  That's lawyering.

what stuff won't i know?

would you say that this discussion covered it, or is there anything else i'm missing?

[Astro]

Sure, there's a bunch of stuff, but you gotta feel it out once you get there.  Like, am I in the a.s.s.hole section, the quiet section, or the gossip girl section?  Who's fun to hang with, who's helpful, who might be good to study with? Which prof's exam can be prepared for in the two days before it? What time should I get up every day?  Bed? How much sleep, exercise, food, sex, studying do I need so I don't go insane?

These are all things you need to figure out on your own.  Don't rush.  Feel it out for the first month.  Adjust as necessary.  And, don't be an a.s.s.hole-->help other people, befriend fellow students, have coffee, BS in the lounge for a couple hours a day.  This is key:  creeps and freaks don't get jobs usually.  Yes, good grades help, but if you've the social skills of a serial killer and haven't made any friends, you'll have no network and get no summer job / perm job. 

Deep breaths.  Big smile.  Hi, how are yous?  Where are from?  Wanna get some some coffee?  That's lawyering.

what stuff won't i know?

would you say that this discussion covered it, or is there anything else i'm missing?

The most valuable advice in this thread.  Law is a social career.  It begins at school.  It also makes life fun.

[goaliechica]

I'm just piping in to say belatedly that for my exams, class notes were HUGELY important. There were things on my civ pro exam that you just wouldn't have known if you hadn't written it down in class. Again, I think every prof and every exam is different, but for me class was super important.

[upgrade]

I have viewed similar outlines and one I found (contracts from Harvard) was pretty interesting.  At the beginning the student made a flow chart for decision making.  The chart took about two pages and then he had a normal looking outline after that.  Have you found preparation like this useful or is the chart going to have just the immutable concepts whereas the test will want the idiosyncrasies that need to be further fleshed out in a normal outline format anyways?  Thanks for your insight so far.

[likewise]

Flowcharts work for Ks better than other 1L classes.  I think, though, that whether a flow is useful depends on how one thinks.

I have viewed similar outlines and one I found (contracts from Harvard) was pretty interesting.  At the beginning the student made a flow chart for decision making.  The chart took about two pages and then he had a normal looking outline after that.  Have you found preparation like this useful or is the chart going to have just the immutable concepts whereas the test will want the idiosyncrasies that need to be further fleshed out in a normal outline format anyways?  Thanks for your insight so far.

[goaliechica]

Flowcharts work for Ks better than other 1L classes.  I think, though, that whether a flow is useful depends on how one thinks.

I have viewed similar outlines and one I found (contracts from Harvard) was pretty interesting.  At the beginning the student made a flow chart for decision making.  The chart took about two pages and then he had a normal looking outline after that.  Have you found preparation like this useful or is the chart going to have just the immutable concepts whereas the test will want the idiosyncrasies that need to be further fleshed out in a normal outline format anyways?  Thanks for your insight so far.

Yah. I found them useful in order to study with, and made some, but didn't use them on the actual exam. I thought they helped after doing practice exams in which I realized that my outline was unwieldy in some places.

[upgrade]

Flowcharts work for Ks better than other 1L classes.  I think, though, that whether a flow is useful depends on how one thinks.

That's why I was asking, I like a mechanical approach to many things and the flowchart seemed like it fit with my thought process.

What are Ks?

[Astro]

Flowcharts don't help me much.  Another solution is to have three different outlines.  The first is the detailed one.  The second is a pared-down, bare-essentials version.  The third is an attack plan outline, where you list a number of questions that you will go through for each type of fact pattern, and the parts of your outline that you're going to try and remember for that.

The two exams I did this for were by far the quickest and easiest to finish.