Getting To Maybe Forum

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adude

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by adude » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:00 am

Read any "How to do well in law school" post and you'll probably find GtM referenced at least once. From personal experience, I can also attest to how effective this book is. I took a course over summer and did so-so. I read the book during fall semester and my grades skyrocketed. I'm sure the articles on here helped, but GtM was essential. Read the book.

ogurty

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by ogurty » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:04 am

Getting to Maybe was by far the most useful book I read in preparing for law school. I also read Delaney stuff, Law School Confidential, Planet Law School, did LEEWS. For me, everything else was useless. Getting to Maybe was mostly useless and redundant, but there were enough golden tidbits to make it worth the time. And I don't understand why anyone would say it's not useful until school starts. I thought it was.

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rdcws000

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by rdcws000 » Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:43 am

I think it's perfect to read before school starts. It's good for a student preparing for law school because you don't need to know anything about law to understand it, and it is a good prep to get your mind to start shifting from overly conclusive thinking, to legal analysis.

I read it front to back before school, although I do agree all the meat is in the first few chapters (forks in the law, forks in the facts, etc). Then I browsed it as much as I could before finals.

bleedcubbieblue

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by bleedcubbieblue » Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:02 am

ogurty wrote:Getting to Maybe was by far the most useful book I read in preparing for law school.

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Tangerine Gleam

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by Tangerine Gleam » Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:18 am

I think it's definitely a good book, but I don't think it's the holy grail of exam prep that some have made it out to be. It depends where you're coming from; it's definitely a good primer for how to generally approach exams if you feel unsure how to do so.

Best thing to do in law school: do the reading, go to every class, pay attention in every class, and do as many practice tests as you possibly can. Especially if you can work with model answers. Consult treatises and hornbooks, but not excessively -- only when your professor isn't teaching you the applicable BLL or when they aren't explaining a given concept well.

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traehekat

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by traehekat » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:15 pm

It's a great book, but nothing than can't be summed up in a few sentences. Basically, facts can be interpreted in multiple ways, laws can be interpreted in multiple ways, laws can conflict, and there are multiple policies sometimes behind law. Know all this stuff, talk about it in some respect, and you will score more points on exams. That is the gist of the book. I think it is good to read before you start school because it gives you a way to attack class lectures. I imagine light bulbs go off more often after you read this book during class.

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Mroberts3

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by Mroberts3 » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:39 pm

The people who have said it can be summed up pretty quick are right, but I found that the book's usefulness (as others have said) is greatest when you read it multiple times -- before and then during your first semester. Sure, the basic point is to "fork" the facts and the law and argue both sides. However, its easier to say that you understand that than it is to do it on an exam. I think there is a danger that people will say they get it (because they do at the time), but its not in the long term memory so they just go through the semester and finals like everyone else. You need to have the GTM way of thinking going on during the semester and not just on the exam itself.

Buy the book and read it as many times as you can. LEEWS is kind of a crutch because it just gives you a formula to follow. I'm not saying LEEWS won't work, but GTM is what will help you "get it" at a more basic level.


Short version: GTM teaches you to "think like a lawyer" -- LEEWS just teaches you how to take a particular kind of exam.

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wiseowl

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Re: Getting To Maybe

Post by wiseowl » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:06 pm

GTM is fine and I've certainly used it, but it sorta assumes that your exam is an issue spotter with no word limits. Plenty of my exams have been multiple choice, short answer, or things like 500 word limits where you have to severely cut down the "you can get with this or you can get with that".

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