Thread Unworthy 1L fears, inquiries, and rants welcome here Forum

[td6624]

I have no supplemental materials and have no idea if I need them and if so which ones would be best.

am i already doomed to the bottom half of the class?

[Duralex]

am i already doomed to the bottom half of the class?

No, not if the previous experience of plenty of other posters holds true. To sum up what I've read here and heard IRL, some people like/need supplements and others find them superfluous or even distracting and meddlesome.

What you should probably do is take a look at a few (in the library) and make your own assessment. (And look at more than one type--I'd say have a look at a few treatises, a few E&Es and a few outlines - mostly Gilbert's and Emmanuel's . And a hornbook. Those are the primary formats.)

And don't buy them retail. Buy them from Amazon used sellers @ "very good" or "like new" quality. You can often get them for almost nothing.

[beach_terror]

am i already doomed to the bottom half of the class?

And don't buy them retail. Buy them from Amazon used sellers @ "very good" or "like new" quality. You can often get them for almost nothing.

+1 got mine for ~5 dollars for the E&E's (one or two editions behind current, but they should be good enough for what I need them for).

[romothesavior]

I have no supplemental materials and have no idea if I need them and if so which ones would be best.

am i already doomed to the bottom half of the class?

--ImageRemoved--

[goosey]

I have no supplemental materials and have no idea if I need them and if so which ones would be best.

am i already doomed to the bottom half of the class?

--ImageRemoved--

Tell me about it. I am sick..and can feel its going to get really bad (was getting sick all week with a steady uphill climb in feeling utterly miserable.) Just woke up with a full blown cough, congested chest, and stuffy head. This wasn't allowed to happen until christmas break *annoyed* on the upside, at least I can come home tomorrow and take a gallon of nyquil. That's always fun

[Notor]

I am starting to freak out a little bit. I feel like I understand the cases and the black letter law, and am a pretty creative thinker in terms of applying the law to fact patterns, but I am completely blind as to what I should be doing outside of class. I read and brief the cases, and am prepared for lecture/cold calling, but I feel this has nothing to do with what is necessary on an exam. It doesn't help that I have no motivation whatsoever to study, which has been my M.O. since grade school. At every level I was told that "you have to study every night and not procrastinate, this isn't grade school/high school/college anymore" and it was always total bullshit and I ended up doing better than I had at the previous level by doing the same exact things.

Should I just rededicate myself starting now? Can anyone suggest some type of moderate technique or approach to studying? I have no motivation, class is boring, people in class are irritating with irrelevant questions pretentiously delivered, and I am basically just doing enough so that if I get cold-called upon I can answer with total competence. I think that law has the potential to be a very interesting career path for me and I enjoy reading the cases and understanding the rules and black letter law, but I am hating the process that is law school right now. Thoughts?

[traehekat]

Google hypotheticals you can go over. Go over the problems in your book. Get a supplement, find the relevant sections, and actually assign yourself some reading (this is what I am starting to do). Start outlining maybe.

I am starting to freak out a little bit. I feel like I understand the cases and the black letter law, and am a pretty creative thinker in terms of applying the law to fact patterns, but I am completely blind as to what I should be doing outside of class. I read and brief the cases, and am prepared for lecture/cold calling, but I feel this has nothing to do with what is necessary on an exam. It doesn't help that I have no motivation whatsoever to study, which has been my M.O. since grade school. At every level I was told that "you have to study every night and not procrastinate, this isn't grade school/high school/college anymore" and it was always total bullshit and I ended up doing better than I had at the previous level by doing the same exact things.

Should I just rededicate myself starting now? Can anyone suggest some type of moderate technique or approach to studying? I have no motivation, class is boring, people in class are irritating with irrelevant questions pretentiously delivered, and I am basically just doing enough so that if I get cold-called upon I can answer with total competence. I think that law has the potential to be a very interesting career path for me and I enjoy reading the cases and understanding the rules and black letter law, but I am hating the process that is law school right now. Thoughts?

[goosey]

realize this is for rants, but would like to rave

We have graded assignments in one of our non-legal writing courses. supposedly they can't hurt us because they dont count towards our final grade, but they can help us in that our professor has .33 leeway once our finals are graded. So I mean technically it does hurt us if its helping somebody us, because then we get pushed further down the curve. But in any case, it was curved as the final will be and a "practice test" of sorts (so glad we have this) and I got an A

This was the class I was most unsure about and felt like I do the least work for. I am SUPER excited.

[GATORTIM]

I am starting to freak out a little bit. I feel like I understand the cases and the black letter law, and am a pretty creative thinker in terms of applying the law to fact patterns, but I am completely blind as to what I should be doing outside of class. I read and brief the cases, and am prepared for lecture/cold calling, but I feel this has nothing to do with what is necessary on an exam. It doesn't help that I have no motivation whatsoever to study, which has been my M.O. since grade school. At every level I was told that "you have to study every night and not procrastinate, this isn't grade school/high school/college anymore" and it was always total bullshit and I ended up doing better than I had at the previous level by doing the same exact things.

Should I just rededicate myself starting now? Can anyone suggest some type of moderate technique or approach to studying? I have no motivation, class is boring, people in class are irritating with irrelevant questions pretentiously delivered, and I am basically just doing enough so that if I get cold-called upon I can answer with total competence. I think that law has the potential to be a very interesting career path for me and I enjoy reading the cases and understanding the rules and black letter law, but I am hating the process that is law school right now. Thoughts?

This is exactly how I feel. I'm enjoying the material in the book, but I think the time I spend in class (aside from contracts) is largely bullshit. My profs frequently entertain assinine hypos and I find myself drifting off. I think that a lot of my frusyration stems from having been in the real world earning a pretty good living prior to LS and I'm seeking a practical application for the time/money I'm allocating toward this

[Ersatz Haderach]

I am starting to freak out a little bit. I feel like I understand the cases and the black letter law, and am a pretty creative thinker in terms of applying the law to fact patterns, but I am completely blind as to what I should be doing outside of class. I read and brief the cases, and am prepared for lecture/cold calling, but I feel this has nothing to do with what is necessary on an exam. It doesn't help that I have no motivation whatsoever to study, which has been my M.O. since grade school. At every level I was told that "you have to study every night and not procrastinate, this isn't grade school/high school/college anymore" and it was always total bullshit and I ended up doing better than I had at the previous level by doing the same exact things.

Should I just rededicate myself starting now? Can anyone suggest some type of moderate technique or approach to studying? I have no motivation, class is boring, people in class are irritating with irrelevant questions pretentiously delivered, and I am basically just doing enough so that if I get cold-called upon I can answer with total competence. I think that law has the potential to be a very interesting career path for me and I enjoy reading the cases and understanding the rules and black letter law, but I am hating the process that is law school right now. Thoughts?

This is exactly how I feel. I'm enjoying the material in the book, but I think the time I spend in class (aside from contracts) is largely bullshit. My profs frequently entertain assinine hypos and I find myself drifting off. I think that a lot of my frusyration stems from having been in the real world earning a pretty good living prior to LS and I'm seeking a practical application for the time/money I'm allocating toward this

I feel the same way. I think reading more real-life cases and examples will help a little.

I do everything assigned, I actually *hope* to get cold-called in class, I volunteer occasionally when open questions are asked, but there are rarely moments where I feel like OH I'VE GOT SOMETHING INTERESTING, because, let's face it, most of us did the reading, it's not that hard, and the facts aren't that hard to remember. It frustrates me when people totally botch simple facts and concepts, because it slows down the class and what did we even accomplish by plodding through to get the stuff right? No analysis, just a baseline that Jimmy McSchmuck couldn't bother to write down the night before. Or even google a case brief. Come on. I don't really care about the student, I care about the professor spending so much time on it. MOVE ON!

As for outside reading...I assign myself stuff but I am not motivated to do it. I added a hornbook for Ks, bought used E&Es and a legal writing book, and I am dragging myself to finish assignments.

I like class, though. Profs are good, material is interesting and amusing sometimes. It's not bad, it's just tough to know where I stand.

[keg411]

There is a lulzy "The Paper Chase"-esque study group in my section.

[Burger in a can]

There is a lulzy "The Paper Chase"-esque study group in my section.

Does anyone use the phrase "Robot Pimp"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGPahA5WSCw

[stocksly33]

lrw is a fucking succubus. i had no idea it would take up so much time.

[goosey]

lrw is a fucking succubus. i had no idea it would take up so much time.

+1 but its my bankable A. My first memo came back with really good feedback, so I am hoping its a sign. its a 2 credit class--an A would help a lot to balance out a lower grade (though the "lower grade" would have to be a B or something)

[kalvano]

You get feedback on your stuff?

I hate you.

[Baylan]

Had a "quiz" in Civ Pro today that will only count if it helps us on the final (worth 10% of our grade, so essentially irrelevant anyway)...

Man, that was hellacious. I've never spent so much effort on something so miniscule only to get to the end and think, "there is so much more that I could still say."

[Ersatz Haderach]

Had a "quiz" in Civ Pro today that will only count if it helps us on the final (worth 10% of our grade, so essentially irrelevant anyway)...

Man, that was hellacious. I've never spent so much effort on something so miniscule only to get to the end and think, "there is so much more that I could still say."

Wait...this quiz can potentially give you a 10% boost? And if it doesn't, it gets discarded? Good deal.

We did a practice exam in crim. I think I did well, judging from the number of totally off-base answers from other students. Maybe it would have been better if we hadn't done it (gunner!), but it was definitely an effective teaching tool.

[Baylan]

Had a "quiz" in Civ Pro today that will only count if it helps us on the final (worth 10% of our grade, so essentially irrelevant anyway)...

Man, that was hellacious. I've never spent so much effort on something so miniscule only to get to the end and think, "there is so much more that I could still say."

Wait...this quiz can potentially give you a 10% boost? And if it doesn't, it gets discarded? Good deal.

We did a practice exam in crim. I think I did well, judging from the number of totally off-base answers from other students. Maybe it would have been better if we hadn't done it (gunner!), but it was definitely an effective teaching tool.

Yeah, pretty much, still curious how this is going to work on the curve, though. If someone gets "bumped up" does that mean that someone else is getting "bumped down"? And so on and so forth. and hopefully I'm doing well enough that the bump is irrelevant...

I am excited to get actual feedback in how I'm doing in relationship to my peers. It is the only feedback we'll receive in any of our substantive classes until we get our grades back from 1st semester.

[beach_terror]

Yeah, pretty much, still curious how this is going to work on the curve, though. If someone gets "bumped up" does that mean that someone else is getting "bumped down"? And so on and so forth. and hopefully I'm doing well enough that the bump is irrelevant...

I really want to know this as well, but in relation to the bump they can give for class participation. I won't be raising my hand enough to get a bump, but some people are definitely trying for it. I'm concerned if they get the bump up, it'll be zero-sum, and someone will have to go down for it.

But then again, I should probably be worried about bigger things.

[Baylan]

Yeah, pretty much, still curious how this is going to work on the curve, though. If someone gets "bumped up" does that mean that someone else is getting "bumped down"? And so on and so forth. and hopefully I'm doing well enough that the bump is irrelevant...

I really want to know this as well, but in relation to the bump they can give for class participation. I won't be raising my hand enough to get a bump, but some people are definitely trying for it. I'm concerned if they get the bump up, it'll be zero-sum, and someone will have to go down for it.

But then again, I should probably be worried about bigger things.

All of my classes offer a half-grade bump for "exceptional participation" but I'm fairly sure that the annoying ones won't get it. I've been making an effort to ask a somewhat relevant question once a week... And have started visiting during office hours, if only for the Profs to see my face and hopefully know my name by the end of the semester. I figure if I ask questions it'll at least put me in the running for the participation bump, and the office hours will hopefully put me over the edge without pissing off my classmates.

[TTH]

lol @ Asahi shitshow

Update: Not lol'ing quite as much since I was cold-called for it. Still lol'ing though.

[clintonius]

Re: the bump for participation thing: I've heard one of my professors say that, if the bump is earned, it will happen if there is room in the curve. My school has percentile range requirements for each grade, so it's not totally specific. And there could be a little bit of math fudgework to be done. Say you're in an 83-person section and 15% (12.45, rounded down to 12 ppl) are supposed to get A- and 10% (8.3 ppl, rounded down to 8) are supposed to get an A. The prof gives out 20 As and A minuses, except the total percentile requirement for those two would require 20.75 ppl, rounded to 21, so there would be room to bump somebody up within or into that category as long as it didn't fuck up some other requirement.

I probably did something awfully wrong there, but I hope there's consolation in it.

[KIM_SAYS:]

I hate contracts.

That is all.

[Melkaba]

My current musing: Personally, I never would have thought that studying 5-6 (maybe 7 on a good day) hours every day (including weekends) would be too little studying for anything ever. Now I feel guilty and/or a slacker when talking to students who study 12 hours straight on each weekend days and/or stay up to 1 AM studying after class. Hell, I feel guilty enough that I try to take an hour/hour and a half for video-gaming/me-time/trying to clutch onto what little life I have each day when I can. I also talked to some people who already started working on their outline (and one person's was about 20 pages already).

[Bronte]

My current musing: Personally, I never would have thought that studying 5-6 (maybe 7 on a good day) hours every day (including weekends) would be too little studying for anything ever. Now I feel guilty and/or a slacker when talking to students who study 12 hours straight on each weekend days and/or stay up to 1 AM studying after class. Hell, I feel guilty enough that I try to take an hour/hour and a half for video-gaming/me-time/trying to clutch onto what little life I have each day when I can. I also talked to some people who already started working on their outline (and one person's was about 20 pages already).

I'm a 1L as well, but I wouldn't let it get to you. Brute force isn't a recipe for success. There's diminishing marginal returns to the hours you put in studying. Having a decent "life balance" is important, and I believe it will translate into better grades. If you're studying 5-6 hours a day in addition to class, you're working very hard.