Lazy's Guide to Top 10% Without Working Nights or Weekends Forum

[queenlizzie13]

Thanks for this lazy!! Awesome guide <3

[Mick Haller]

Dude this is not lazy. I stopped reading at the part where you said you did all the assigned reading. I didn't even buy the casebook for 2 of my classes last semester and got A's in both of them.

[Mick Haller]

my lazy guide got me top 20% without working until 3 weeks before the exam.

[zeth006]

As a rising 2L, the one point of advice that really stood out to me was the note-taking portion. I think writing my notes down and synthesizing them into an actual outline later the same day or next might be more efficient. It's just too tempting to transcribe the prof's words verbatim with a notebook.

[Giddy-Up]

At some point, someone is going to claim to have been in the top 10% without even enrolling.

[Lazy]

Dude this is not lazy. I stopped reading at the part where you said you did all the assigned reading. I didn't even buy the casebook for 2 of my classes last semester and got A's in both of them.

Laziness is relative (and I was comparing myself to my neurotic classmates), but hey! Congrats on perfecting your method! I wish I had the balls to rock it that way.

[Lazy]

As a rising 2L, the one point of advice that really stood out to me was the note-taking portion. I think writing my notes down and synthesizing them into an actual outline later the same day or next might be more efficient. It's just too tempting to transcribe the prof's words verbatim with a notebook.

See, I just can't write fast enough to transcribe verbatim; when I hand-write stuff I am slow as hell. So, for me, hand-writing pretty much guaranteed that I could only pick out the important things; that's all I had time for. For people who can write fast enough to transcribe verbatim, your suggestion might be better.

My only concern would be that, like I said, I think that outlining near the end of the semester is more useful because it's a forced review. But for folks who have the tendency to transcribe, and/or have the discipline to actively review as a separate activity (which I don't), I think you make a very good point. Thanks for contributing!

[Citizen Genet]

At some point, someone is going to claim to have been in the top 10% without even enrolling.

Top 5%, thank you.

[nOO law]

At some point, someone is going to claim to have been in the top 10% without even enrolling.

Top 5%, thank you.

170

[theturkeyisfat]

As a rising 2L, the one point of advice that really stood out to me was the note-taking portion. I think writing my notes down and synthesizing them into an actual outline later the same day or next might be more efficient. It's just too tempting to transcribe the prof's words verbatim with a notebook.

See, I just can't write fast enough to transcribe verbatim; when I hand-write stuff I am slow as hell. So, for me, hand-writing pretty much guaranteed that I could only pick out the important things; that's all I had time for. For people who can write fast enough to transcribe verbatim, your suggestion might be better.

My only concern would be that, like I said, I think that outlining near the end of the semester is more useful because it's a forced review. But for folks who have the tendency to transcribe, and/or have the discipline to actively review as a separate activity (which I don't), I think you make a very good point. Thanks for contributing!

I've read that, on exams, it's good to use the professor's wording if possible. Do you think that there is value to transcribing verbatim to the extent that it helps you use the professor's wording on exams?

[FeelTheHeat]

What are notes?

[zeth006]

As a rising 2L, the one point of advice that really stood out to me was the note-taking portion. I think writing my notes down and synthesizing them into an actual outline later the same day or next might be more efficient. It's just too tempting to transcribe the prof's words verbatim with a notebook.

See, I just can't write fast enough to transcribe verbatim; when I hand-write stuff I am slow as hell. So, for me, hand-writing pretty much guaranteed that I could only pick out the important things; that's all I had time for. For people who can write fast enough to transcribe verbatim, your suggestion might be better.

My only concern would be that, like I said, I think that outlining near the end of the semester is more useful because it's a forced review. But for folks who have the tendency to transcribe, and/or have the discipline to actively review as a separate activity (which I don't), I think you make a very good point. Thanks for contributing!

I've read that, on exams, it's good to use the professor's wording if possible. Do you think that there is value to transcribing verbatim to the extent that it helps you use the professor's wording on exams?

With exact wording, I'm not so sure. I'm skeptical, in fact. Some professors may have specific buzz words they just love using.


But I really wouldn't worry about specific wording. It's been my experience that who do best are ultimate those who have a pretty good idea of what the professor's looking for. This could include the consistent reappearance of specific rules or their omission across exams. Some profs have never tested on rape for crim law and never do (This was an observation of the #5 3L at my school).


Don't worry about word for word transcriptions. Spend more time reading your professor's old exams and picking out an old trend or two that seem to repeat and may repeat themselves come finals.


That's what I plan to do when 2L begins. That, and of course, work on my writing skills.

[Lazy]

I've read that, on exams, it's good to use the professor's wording if possible. Do you think that there is value to transcribing verbatim to the extent that it helps you use the professor's wording on exams?

I think that there is basically no value at all to transcribing what the professor said verbatim. Like Zeth said, certain professors have specific buzzwords or patterns that they follow; those things are great to pick up on. So if your professor uses a particular word/phrase fifty times? Sure, write it down.

Don't waste time transcribing everything verbatim, though. One, if you get crushed for time in trying to write out (or type out) everything verbatim, you may miss things during your frantic typing that were actually important. Two, when you go through this stuff and make your outline, you're gonna need to condense it down because you've got limited exam time and can't be flipping through your notes the whole block. Even the people I knew with 60 page outlines (which I don't recommend) didn't have verbatim transcriptions in them. There just isn't space or time.

So yeah, learn what makes your professor tick, but don't copy/paste their lectures into your notes. It's a waste.

[Bronte]

This is very similar to the system I used, down to hand-writing notes and making outlines from scratch. It's just a common sense, traditional methodology. I usually worked 9am-7pm Monday through Friday plus four or five hours on Sunday, then 9am-9pm every day the two weeks or so before finals, so I put in a bit more time I suppose. But I was very successful with this method.

[Borhas]

Would a truly lazy person make such a guide?

I like it though, I did more or less the same thing first semester

[bport hopeful]

tag.

cant read this all in a sitting, but this makes me know ill like what i read:

"I hope most of you learned in undergrad what note-taking style works best for you. However, given that this is the lazy person’s guide to top 10%, it’s entirely possible that some people reading this have never taken notes before. "

[Deuce]

tag.

cant read this all in a sitting, but this makes me know ill like what i read:

"I hope most of you learned in undergrad what note-taking style works best for you. However, given that this is the lazy person’s guide to top 10%, it’s entirely possible that some people reading this have never taken notes before. "

We're called business majors

[bport hopeful]

tag.

cant read this all in a sitting, but this makes me know ill like what i read:

"I hope most of you learned in undergrad what note-taking style works best for you. However, given that this is the lazy person’s guide to top 10%, it’s entirely possible that some people reading this have never taken notes before. "

We're called business majors

haha not me man. Political Science, International Studies, History, Philosophy. Still never took notes.

[Kabuo]

tag.

cant read this all in a sitting, but this makes me know ill like what i read:

"I hope most of you learned in undergrad what note-taking style works best for you. However, given that this is the lazy person’s guide to top 10%, it’s entirely possible that some people reading this have never taken notes before. "

We're called business majors

English majors don't take notes. Especially English major splitters.

@ Lazy, thanks so much for this guide. I've read a bunch on here, and this is easily the one that resonates most with the type of student I am.

[sundance95]

@ Lazy, thanks so much for this guide. I've read a bunch on here, and this is easily the one that resonates most with the type of student I am.

+1

[Sentry]

I did more or less the same thing first semester

Now I'm curious. What'd you do differently second semester?

Cliffhanger...

[shepdawg]

I did all this stuff, but it took me a lot longer than it took you. This makes me think you're smarter or faster, or both. I'm jealous.

[Blessedassurance]

Quick question. Are Law School exams supposed to be typed? I peck the keys and I have fat fingers, which puts me at a considerable disadvantage.

[Michael_Vick]

Nice.

[Lazy]

Quick question. Are Law School exams supposed to be typed? I peck the keys and I have fat fingers, which puts me at a considerable disadvantage.

Law school exams are generally typed. There's a lot of debate on here about whether being a slow typist puts you at a disadvantage; I think it could hurt a little, but it may not be as big a handicap as you fear. That said, you might want to put some effort into increasing your speed. I have obese eight year-old hands and type moderately quickly, so fat fingers shouldn't stand in your way.

I did all this stuff, but it took me a lot longer than it took you. This makes me think you're smarter or faster, or both. I'm jealous.

I wish I could say I was extra smart; that'd be awesome. Sadly, I suspect that I just read fast. Apparently reading quickly is a learnable skill, though. So you're welcome to be jealous (it makes me feel pimp) or you might be able to decrease your time with practice.