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

[EzraFitz]

Just wanted to add a testimonial to Lazy's guide. I finished within the top 5% (also had one B, ha!) following Lazy's guide, while enjoying my nights and weekends. Thanks Lazy.

+1
Top 5% at a T1, also with one B. Enjoyed the hell out of the year. Just proves you don't have to kill yourself for 1L success. Thanks Lazy.

This is funny, top 5%, T14, one B+. Everyone has that one professor haha.

[Lazy]

Just wanted to add a testimonial to Lazy's guide. I finished within the top 5% (also had one B, ha!) following Lazy's guide, while enjoying my nights and weekends. Thanks Lazy.

+1
Top 5% at a T1, also with one B. Enjoyed the hell out of the year. Just proves you don't have to kill yourself for 1L success. Thanks Lazy.

This is funny, top 5%, T14, one B+. Everyone has that one professor haha.

Glad you both had a great year! Congratulations!

[monceau]

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[Cscottrun]

This is the furthest thing from a lazy guide. It's a great guide, but it should be called the efficiency guide. Not doing work on the weekends and squeezing it in during the week before, between, and after your classes, does not make you lazy. I do, however, agree with this method. No reason to burn time between classes doing something other than assigned readings.

During my 1L year, I did an hour or two of reading on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Squeezed some readings in during my down time on Mondays and Tuesdays, and by the time Wednesday came around, I was already done with all my work for the week.

[lymenheimer]

This is the furthest thing from a lazy guide. It's a great guide, but it should be called the efficiency guide. Not doing work on the weekends and squeezing it in during the week before, between, and after your classes, does not make you lazy. I do, however, agree with this method. No reason to burn time between classes doing something other than assigned readings.

During my 1L year, I did an hour or two of reading on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Squeezed some readings in during my down time on Mondays and Tuesdays, and by the time Wednesday came around, I was already done with all my work for the week.

I don't think you read it. Here is from the OP:

For the record: “Lazy Person’s Guide” does not mean “no work.” You will still have to put in some effort; you will still have to do things like attend class, take notes, and make outlines. Without doing these things you will be in for a world of hurt unless you’re some kind of law school savant. This guide attempts, however, to show you how to do those things without having to give up your evenings and weekends to the oh-so-seductive law school library. The Lazy Guide’s premise is that you can succeed in law school without working at night or on weekends*.

[dylicious]

Just wanna say this guide is terrible. I just got grades back at my T14 and I'm only sitting at around top 15%, not 10%! What a ripoff! Seriously though, I followed this guide pretty much exactly except I also got some E&E's and wound up surprising myself. Thanks, Lazy!

[Lazy]

Just wanna say this guide is terrible. I just got grades back at my T14 and I'm only sitting at around top 15%, not 10%! What a ripoff! Seriously though, I followed this guide pretty much exactly except I also got some E&E's and wound up surprising myself. Thanks, Lazy!

Congratulations on a good semester!

[m27]

Ended up top 2%! Highly recommended guide. Thanks, Lazy!!

[Lazy]

Ended up top 2%! Highly recommended guide. Thanks, Lazy!!

Congrats on owning the curve!

[kestrel452]

This post is pretty awesome, thanks Lazy.

One thing I wanted to ask the forum about is how this comports with the "official" studying advice given by a couple of my professors this past week. I am a 1L who just started classes at Chicago-Kent. Basically, they said the "official" guidelines for studying is that you need to spend at least 2 hours studying/outlining/reviewing outside of class for each hour of lecture (basically 4 hours for every 2 hour class).

Having taken Criminal Law over the summer and looking at Lazy's guide, I am not sure whether that advice is overkill. It certainly did not take me 4 hours to read and brief cases for each class, it was more like 2 hours. Perhaps this could just be my own naivety, but I don't see needing 2 hours to outline after each lecture unless it's 2 weeks out from exams and are starting from scratch. Maybe I was just fortunate in that my class notes ended up essentially being a pretty good outline. My Legal Writing prof said to start outlining the first week or two of the semester, which also seems out-of-step with advice received elsewhere.

[basketofbread]

This post is pretty awesome, thanks Lazy.

One thing I wanted to ask the forum about is how this comports with the "official" studying advice given by a couple of my professors this past week. I am a 1L who just started classes at Chicago-Kent. Basically, they said the "official" guidelines for studying is that you need to spend at least 2 hours studying/outlining/reviewing outside of class for each hour of lecture (basically 4 hours for every 2 hour class).

Having taken Criminal Law over the summer and looking at Lazy's guide, I am not sure whether that advice is overkill. It certainly did not take me 4 hours to read and brief cases for each class, it was more like 2 hours. Perhaps this could just be my own naivety, but I don't see needing 2 hours to outline after each lecture unless it's 2 weeks out from exams and are starting from scratch. Maybe I was just fortunate in that my class notes ended up essentially being a pretty good outline. My Legal Writing prof said to start outlining the first week or two of the semester, which also seems out-of-step with advice received elsewhere.

You have to take professor advice with a grain of salt and figure out what works for you. And by "what works," I mean what studying method demonstrates effectiveness by your ability to answer questions from the supplements. Because you have no other way of getting feedback, and your first round of feedback better not come from your exams. You should read all of the other 1L sticky guides as well. This guide is good but I sure as hell worked nights and weekends, and felt like I needed it. Your experience may differ.