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Does anyone know anyone who did really well (top 10%) without studying? I have only heard rumors about people who don't take notes, don't really do the readings, and only pay attention in class and have done really, really well (No GTM, LEEWS, supplemental reading either). Basically, they treat law school like those smart kids treated high school or college, depending only on class discussion-- and still excel.

Are they out there? <Alien/Space music>

Pay attention in class? No, I didn't even GO to class. Finished top-10%.

When it comes to preparing for exams, law school classes and casebooks are no more efficient -- but much less than painful -- than if you'd spent the entire semester banging your head against a wall.

Buy a decent hornbook 2 weeks before the exam, save time and money, thank me later.

Buddy at Seton Hall was complete slacker and was one of the top 15 students. Now doing IP Lit for a NYC boutique.

Absurd wrote:Pay attention in class? No, I didn't even GO to class. Finished top-10%.

When it comes to preparing for exams, law school classes and casebooks are no more efficient -- but much less than painful -- than if you'd spent the entire semester banging your head against a wall.

Buy a decent hornbook 2 weeks before the exam, save time and money, thank me later.

I don't know why, but I just can't bring myself to believe this. This is awful advice.

There is absolutely no way someone could not go to class, buy hornbooks 2 weeks before the exam, and make top 10%

Okay, I'm done now, becuase now I feel like an idiot for even commenting on such complete BS

lol, i'm just taking a break from whittling down my con law 50 page outline to 20 pages so i'm finding it hard to believe that it comes so easily for others. at the same time, there must be some people out there. will hunting mf-ers.

I don't know why, but I just can't bring myself to believe this. This is awful advice.

There is absolutely no way someone could not go to class, buy hornbooks 2 weeks before the exam, and make top 10%

Okay, I'm done now, becuase now I feel like an idiot for even commenting on such complete BS

Hey man, I'm sorry you're stuck with doing things the hard way, but that doesn't mean everyone is.
I'd send you my transcript, but I don't want to.

lol, yeah I feel certain there are people who can do it. not looking for advice, just evidence that some unique could-be-posner's but are slackers instead lurk around

Things I've learned from law school...

1. If you write well, you will do well.
2. Study smart, not hard.
3. Apply law to fact. Apply law to fact.

Kids who are in the top 10% all write well. Than there is the next tier of people, like me, who write well when given time, but grammar is gone during finals.

bartleby wrote:lol, yeah I feel certain there are people who can do it. not looking for advice, just evidence that some unique could-be-posner's but are slackers instead lurk around

You're really overestimating things. Hyperbole like "geniuses" and "could-be-posners" is inaccurate and counterproductive.
Law school and law-school exams are games. And like all games, people figure out ways to beat them. It's that simple.

..

Absurd wrote:

bartleby wrote:lol, yeah I feel certain there are people who can do it. not looking for advice, just evidence that some unique could-be-posner's but are slackers instead lurk around

You're really overestimating things. Hyperbole like "geniuses" and "could-be-posners" is inaccurate and counterproductive.
Law school and law-school exams are games. And like all games, people figure out ways to beat them. It's that simple.

Well, no, I wasn't looking for people who knew "smart" studiers who took short cuts and stuff. But two weeks w/ 3-4 different treatises/hornbooks and scoring in the top 10% or higher is unique (and some would believe impossible). Could-be-Posners is hyperbole...maybe

bartleby wrote:lol, i'm just taking a break from whittling down my con law 50 page outline to 20 pages so i'm finding it hard to believe that it comes so easily for others. at the same time, there must be some people out there. will hunting mf-ers.

There's actually a girl in my section who I call "Good Will Hunting" all the time. She just texts during class the whole time but will just pick up everything with a quick glance at the book. I'm more than a little jealous.

bartleby wrote: Well, no, I wasn't looking for people who knew "smart" studiers who took short cuts and stuff. But two weeks w/ 3-4 different treatises/hornbooks and scoring in the top 10% or higher is unique (and some would believe impossible). Could-be-Posners is hyperbole...maybe

Unique, maybe, but I can promise -- from my own experience -- it's not impossible.
Honestly, I'd thought this was more common.

Absurd wrote:

I don't know why, but I just can't bring myself to believe this. This is awful advice.

There is absolutely no way someone could not go to class, buy hornbooks 2 weeks before the exam, and make top 10%

Okay, I'm done now, becuase now I feel like an idiot for even commenting on such complete BS

Hey man, I'm sorry you're stuck with doing things the hard way, but that doesn't mean everyone is.
I'd send you my transcript, but I don't want to.

Hm. Whatever. I'm not stuck doing things the hard way; I'm just too big of a pussy to try what you're suggesting.

Some people can achieve top 10% with much less work, but I don't know anyone who put in that little work and got top 10%.

Mostly because no one is dumb enough to do that little work 1L year.

johansantana21 wrote:Mostly because no one is dumb enough to do that little work 1L year.

Oh, 1L I still went to about half my classes, more or less, depending on the professor/time of day (prob only 1/4 or so of the really shitty/early ones). Finished 1L in the top 5%.

I didn't start seriously skipping until 2L.

Absurd wrote:

johansantana21 wrote:Mostly because no one is dumb enough to do that little work 1L year.

Oh, 1L I still went to about half my classes, more or less, depending on the professor/time of day (prob only 1/4 or so of the really shitty/early ones). Finished 1L in the top 5%.

I didn't start seriously skipping until 2L.

This guy is full of shit

Seminole_305 wrote:Things I've learned from law school...

1. If you write well, you will do well.
2. Study smart, not hard.
3. Apply law to fact. Apply law to fact.

Kids who are in the top 10% all write well. Than there is the next tier of people, like me, who write well when given time, but grammar is gone during finals.

Totally agree with the bold. I have done practice exams with some really smart friends. I usually think their answers are more "right" than mine (for example, thinking of narrow exceptions that are applicable that didn't pop into my mind), but they unanimously think my answer is better just because it is written more logically and coherently.

AVBucks4239 wrote:

Seminole_305 wrote:Things I've learned from law school...

1. If you write well, you will do well.
2. Study smart, not hard.
3. Apply law to fact. Apply law to fact.

Kids who are in the top 10% all write well. Than there is the next tier of people, like me, who write well when given time, but grammar is gone during finals.

Totally agree with the bold. I have done practice exams with some really smart friends. I usually think their answers are more "right" than mine (for example, thinking of narrow exceptions that are applicable that didn't pop into my mind), but they unanimously think my answer is better just because it is written more logically and coherently.

Top 10% here and I write like a retard.

jbc7 wrote:This guy is full of shit

I'm sorry you feel that way and can't find more effective uses of your time.

If you'd like, I can tell you what methods / supplements worked for me. But directing your frustrations at me rather than at the circle-jerk that is law school academia probably won't get you anywhere.

I know about 6 of the top 10% at my school.

5 of them work so absurdly hard I am happy to be just above median.

1 of them, though... I swear I didn't see him study at all until the last few weeks, and even then all he did was hypos. Did casebriefs online and nothing else during the semester.

Course, he is in the bottom of the top 10%, but still.... I has envy.

Absurd wrote:

jbc7 wrote:This guy is full of shit

I'm sorry you feel that way and can't find more effective uses of your time.

If you'd like, I can tell you what methods / supplements worked for me. But directing your frustrations at me rather than at the circle-jerk that is law school academia probably won't get you anywhere.

Okay kid, I'm sure your delusions and day-dreaming while sitting in a high school class really does equate to this thing called reality.
Get a grip, stop being full of shit.

jbc7 wrote: Okay kid, I'm sure your delusions and day-dreaming while sitting in a high school class really does equate to this thing called reality.
Get a grip, stop being full of shit.

Wow, guess I really struck a nerve here.

I won't apologize for being a successful student while you struggle to keep up.

But good luck with the rest of your studies as you continue to put in ten times the effort for half the grade, and graduate a mediocre, jobless douchebag, saddled with debt and bitter at the world that convinced you that all that mattered was that you tried your best.

Grow up.

I don't know about reading absolutely nothing, but I know a couple who do nothing more than read the casebook and screw off on the internet during class.

Also, the writing thing is true. Instinctively writing well is huge on exams. So is typing at least moderately fast for some exams.

I'm kind of insulted that this thread has gone without anyone mentioning me. As all of TLS (I thought!) knows, I made top 1% at a t14, after acing things at the t30 school I transferred from, without really studying at all or taking any notes during class. I read the casebook, made 8-page outlines a week or less before the exam, and that's it. I do read the casebook pretty carefully though. But I'm sure for other people mastering a really solid supplement works too. I imagine I could've gotten A's in con law from reading Chemerinsky, though my exam-writing style is really dependent on detail I get from the cases.