Reading/Outlining Ahead Forum

[lawstudent8685]

Would would you suggest in regard to reading everything that is due for the semester within this month to take the entire month of November as a review of the material and taking practice exam/essays? Is it worth it? not a good idea? etc

[Lucidity]

I can't imagine reading SO FAR ahead. By the time you get back to the materials, you won't have a clue what happened and would likely forget everything and have to re-read. Also, i find some classes like civ pro notoriously hard to read ahead for, so I stopped trying. They are just simply far too detailed.

[goosey]

Why wouldnt you read the entire section during the weekend [all assigned readings for causation, for example] then brief the cases the day before the class youll be covering those specific cases in [this keeps it fresh for class...its really hard to take good notes when you dont even remember what the reading was about] and use your extra time to outline/do exams throughout the week.

It seems silly to outline something before you've gone over it in class because you could have it totally wrong/different than what your professor thinks. You dont want to solidify information in your mind that is inaccurate for purposes of your professors exams.

I'm a 1L so take what I say with a grain of salt, but Ive used a lot of what ppl have said on here and combined into what I think works for me and so far so good. I feel like I am on top of my work for class and my work for exams..and I can probably start taking practice exams at the end of october/early november without a considerable burden to my schedule.

I have short days on thurs and friday--so basically thursday, friday, sat and sunday are used for two things: Reading supplements that correspond to the class reading, reading either for the week in every class or else the entire section, and updating outlines. Starting this week I will begin using thursdays to practice hypos (not practice exams) the leews method to solidify exam taking skills before starting actual practice exams. And I use my commute on the train for all legal writing work.

If you think that will work for you, go for it. otherwise do what other people have done and take tls suggestions and make them your own..you know how you learn best..

[lawblahblah]

I think there are significant benefits. However, I am a 1L. Currently I am two weeks away from completing the reading for the semester (including reading notes). We'll see what happens.

[inchoate_con]

Wish I could... best I can seem to get done is a week ahead, on a good week. When I am ahead, which is rare, I just plug the lecture into my notes/outline.

[goosey]

I think there are significant benefits. However, I am a 1L. Currently I am two weeks away from completing the reading for the semester (including reading notes). We'll see what happens.

what benefits do you see in this? Genuinely curious, because I always thought it would be the same as reading ahead 2 weeks at a time, because in the end, youd probably have to re-read again

[lawblahblah]

I think there are significant benefits. However, I am a 1L. Currently I am two weeks away from completing the reading for the semester (including reading notes). We'll see what happens.

what benefits do you see in this? Genuinely curious, because I always thought it would be the same as reading ahead 2 weeks at a time, because in the end, youd probably have to re-read again

I have never had to re-read. Every time someone brings up reading ahead, the re-reading argument is mentioned. I am not sure why that would be required. The semester is only 15 weeks. If you do a careful reading you should be able to remember the material for a few weeks. I also take reading notes which take about 5 minutes to review while I am waiting for class to start, not a big deal. Besides, class performance is not graded, as long as you are able to follow the professor's points and pull out what will help you with exams, I am not sure what more you need.

There is another thread where I described my method. Most people did not agree with it. I do not know that it will produce the benefits I believe it will. We'll see.

If you are really curious here is the link: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 5&start=25

I'm probably wrong, so you may not want to waste your time.

[stocksly33]

It seems silly to outline something before you've gone over it in class because you could have it totally wrong/different than what your professor thinks. You dont want to solidify information in your mind that is inaccurate for purposes of your professors exams.

I've found outlining before class to be crucial.

I do it like this... do assigned reading (skip the cases for classes where reading cases is a waste of time), outline as I read > then organize outline > then look at outlines from past students to fill in gaps (this is very helpful for getting a head start on the direction the prof is going to take with the material during class) > then I read supps to add understanding (*but i mark any information from supps so i know it didn't come from the prof). In class, i know where shit is in my outline, and i just add/subtract based on what the prof says. I'm able to get much more out of class this way and i understand what's going on better.

other students take class notes, which i assume they'll just have to add to their outline later, seems redundant to me

[uwb09]

from here on out I am pretty much planning to read the next week's reading over the weekend, do margin notes, etc...

then during the week create a semi-outline type deal, basically taking out the most important parts of the cases (what the prof stresses/related to the subject matter), and whatever BLL/theory we cover in class in relation to the subject matter.

finally, after we complete a section of the course (aka finishing intentional torts, or finishing actus reus, etc...) take my semi-outline in my written notebook, and turn it into a form outline

I've been updating my outline today for Torts, and i'm finding myself shifting a lot of information around that i updated before we completed the section, because I personally find it more relevant to put a certain piece of info, or reference a certain case, in a different part of the section, now that I have the whole section body of work to deal with.

Hope this helps, I agree that reading too far ahead is pointless. You will be reading about stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with what you will do in class, and when you don't discuss that subject matter for a couple weeks, you will most likely need to re-read it to pull out stuff/understand it anyway

anyway, just what I find it starting to emerge as being my best "routine"

[kalvano]

I read about a week in advance, and then flip through it again before class starts, checking margin notes and such.

I've decided not to do outlining as I go. Outlining is a form of studying, and I really don't need a refresher on what I just studied a few days ago. I'll start a while before exams, but for me the whole point is to refresh myself on stuff I studied a while ago.

[LoriBelle]

I think there are significant benefits. However, I am a 1L. Currently I am two weeks away from completing the reading for the semester (including reading notes). We'll see what happens.

what benefits do you see in this? Genuinely curious, because I always thought it would be the same as reading ahead 2 weeks at a time, because in the end, youd probably have to re-read again

I'm a 2L. Last year, I finished my Torts I reading by September 15 and CALI'd the class. Similar story with crim law. Reading all the cases gave me a really great overview/big perspective that week-by-week reading would not have. I never re-read because rather than briefing (colossal waste of time), I highlight, underline, and take detailed notes in the margin. Preparation for class required at most a three-minute scan of each case, which I tend to need even if I did the reading less than 24 hours before class, and which can easily be done during class. Everyone's different. As I'm constantly saying, figure out what works for you and do that.