Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ? Forum

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Anonymous User
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Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:12 pm

I wasn't a big fan of the ones stickied, for various reasons, so if there's any interest I figured I'd put one together. But if not, this would just be me jerking myself off on TLS, which we don't need any more of.

Credentials, to the extent that it matters: law review, top 3-5% at CCN.

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freekick

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by freekick » Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:50 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I wasn't a big fan of the ones stickied, for various reasons, so if there's any interest I figured I'd put one together. But if not, this would just be me jerking myself off on TLS, which we don't need any more of.

Credentials, to the extent that it matters: law review, top 3-5% at CCN.
Bring it on!

uncle_rico

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by uncle_rico » Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:01 pm

I might contribute as well to a post like this. I’m at a lower T-14 and went from slightly above median after first semester to top ~15% overall

LBJ's Hair

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by LBJ's Hair » Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:50 pm

uncle_rico wrote:I might contribute as well to a post like this. I’m at a lower T-14 and went from slightly above median after first semester to top ~15% overall
Hell yeah man

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Kiskeya

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Kiskeya » Tue Jun 26, 2018 12:13 am

Interested!

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cam1992

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by cam1992 » Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:28 am

I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!

palalc

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by palalc » Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:27 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I wasn't a big fan of the ones stickied, for various reasons, so if there's any interest I figured I'd put one together. But if not, this would just be me jerking myself off on TLS, which we don't need any more of.

Credentials, to the extent that it matters: law review, top 3-5% at CCN.
I assume all LR calls went out yesterday?

edit: just realized you said CCN- just assumed Kent cause “3-5%”

Anonymous User
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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 26, 2018 3:14 pm

palalc wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:I wasn't a big fan of the ones stickied, for various reasons, so if there's any interest I figured I'd put one together. But if not, this would just be me jerking myself off on TLS, which we don't need any more of.

Credentials, to the extent that it matters: law review, top 3-5% at CCN.
I assume all LR calls went out yesterday?

edit: just realized you said CCN- just assumed Kent cause “3-5%”
can neither confirm nor deny, but based on CLS EIP thread, looks like they did

Edit: And cool! Sounds like it's worth making a guide

sophocles

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by sophocles » Sun Jul 01, 2018 4:24 pm

cam1992 wrote:I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!
I would be interested to hear your story. I’m sure you went about things differently the second go-around.

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Drspencerreid

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Drspencerreid » Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:42 pm

Yes please!!!

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Colonel_funkadunk

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Colonel_funkadunk » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:49 pm

Do they actually rank you by the 3-5% band

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dj_spin

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by dj_spin » Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:55 am

Speaking of giving away a how-to-do-well guide, I am giving away copies of my kindle book "Breaking Down the Curve: Acing Law School Exams" on Amazon. You can either google it or head over there, but it is currently free to order for kindle through Monday, July 16.

I wrote it a few years ago, but I stand by what's in it. Credentials are D.C. Circuit clerkship, so-called "Unicorn Job" in Justice Department, now top-tier appellate group in DC.

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by Halltheway » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:17 am

Is this still happening?

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cam1992

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by cam1992 » Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:54 pm

sophocles wrote:
cam1992 wrote:I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!
I would be interested to hear your story. I’m sure you went about things differently the second go-around.

Sorry for the belated response. Honestly the biggest change I made was making my own outlines instead of relying on past outlines and those made by study groups (also realized that study groups do not work for me). I did not look at a supplement or someone else's outline until I synthesized and had a basic understanding of my reading and lecture notes. At least for me, the organizing of the outline and trying to make it succinct really helped. I also focused on straight up memorization, so I would memorize each page of my outline to the point where I could handwrite it out. For all three of my doctrine classes I was able to handwrite out all 20-30 pages of the outline. It took forever and I didn't really learn the material so much as aggressively memorized it, but by using this technique I significantly improved on all my exams. I also realized that certain things that they teach you in orientation (use a study group and case briefing techniques) did not work for me, so I basically reverted back to the way I studied and took notes in undergrad and that seemed to help. First years should know that merely because something works for most of the class, does not mean that it will work for you, and that is perfectly okay. Overall, I would say that I certainly didn't study harder, I just studied smarter!

sophocles

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by sophocles » Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:08 pm

cam1992 wrote:
sophocles wrote:
cam1992 wrote:I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!
I would be interested to hear your story. I’m sure you went about things differently the second go-around.

Sorry for the belated response. Honestly the biggest change I made was making my own outlines instead of relying on past outlines and those made by study groups (also realized that study groups do not work for me). I did not look at a supplement or someone else's outline until I synthesized and had a basic understanding of my reading and lecture notes. At least for me, the organizing of the outline and trying to make it succinct really helped. I also focused on straight up memorization, so I would memorize each page of my outline to the point where I could handwrite it out. For all three of my doctrine classes I was able to handwrite out all 20-30 pages of the outline. It took forever and I didn't really learn the material so much as aggressively memorized it, but by using this technique I significantly improved on all my exams. I also realized that certain things that they teach you in orientation (use a study group and case briefing techniques) did not work for me, so I basically reverted back to the way I studied and took notes in undergrad and that seemed to help. First years should know that merely because something works for most of the class, does not mean that it will work for you, and that is perfectly okay. Overall, I would say that I certainly didn't study harder, I just studied smarter!
Thanks for the response. Sounds like some of the strategies listed in xeoh85's old writeup if I recall correctly. The adjustments obviously worked out pretty well for you.

cprit91

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by cprit91 » Mon Jul 30, 2018 12:12 pm

cam1992 wrote:
sophocles wrote:
cam1992 wrote:I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!
I would be interested to hear your story. I’m sure you went about things differently the second go-around.

Sorry for the belated response. Honestly the biggest change I made was making my own outlines instead of relying on past outlines and those made by study groups (also realized that study groups do not work for me). I did not look at a supplement or someone else's outline until I synthesized and had a basic understanding of my reading and lecture notes. At least for me, the organizing of the outline and trying to make it succinct really helped. I also focused on straight up memorization, so I would memorize each page of my outline to the point where I could handwrite it out. For all three of my doctrine classes I was able to handwrite out all 20-30 pages of the outline. It took forever and I didn't really learn the material so much as aggressively memorized it, but by using this technique I significantly improved on all my exams. I also realized that certain things that they teach you in orientation (use a study group and case briefing techniques) did not work for me, so I basically reverted back to the way I studied and took notes in undergrad and that seemed to help. First years should know that merely because something works for most of the class, does not mean that it will work for you, and that is perfectly okay. Overall, I would say that I certainly didn't study harder, I just studied smarter!
To be fair, isn't it pretty obvious that using someone else's outlines instead of creating your own is an awful idea? I mean, that goes back to high school.

cam1992

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Re: Anyone want a 2018 "how to do well at law school" guide ?

Post by cam1992 » Mon Jul 30, 2018 7:54 pm

cprit91 wrote:
cam1992 wrote:
sophocles wrote:
cam1992 wrote:I'm at Texas. 3.1 my first semester and 3.9 my second semester. Happy to contribute about how to come back from a truly terrible first semester!
I would be interested to hear your story. I’m sure you went about things differently the second go-around.

Sorry for the belated response. Honestly the biggest change I made was making my own outlines instead of relying on past outlines and those made by study groups (also realized that study groups do not work for me). I did not look at a supplement or someone else's outline until I synthesized and had a basic understanding of my reading and lecture notes. At least for me, the organizing of the outline and trying to make it succinct really helped. I also focused on straight up memorization, so I would memorize each page of my outline to the point where I could handwrite it out. For all three of my doctrine classes I was able to handwrite out all 20-30 pages of the outline. It took forever and I didn't really learn the material so much as aggressively memorized it, but by using this technique I significantly improved on all my exams. I also realized that certain things that they teach you in orientation (use a study group and case briefing techniques) did not work for me, so I basically reverted back to the way I studied and took notes in undergrad and that seemed to help. First years should know that merely because something works for most of the class, does not mean that it will work for you, and that is perfectly okay. Overall, I would say that I certainly didn't study harder, I just studied smarter!
To be fair, isn't it pretty obvious that using someone else's outlines instead of creating your own is an awful idea? I mean, that goes back to high school.

Totally fair :P . I should add that I still "made" my own outlines in the sense that I put everything into my own words, but I "heavily borrowed" formats from old outlines and synthesized ideas from supplements. I basically tricked myself into thinking I was making my own outlines, and when push came to shove, well....3 B+s and a B- speaks for itself. One would think that 1Ls would learn, but I feel like it is a pretty common mistake.

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