Finals Prep. Forum

[drwho97]

will one month be enough to prepare for finals? I plan to start this Monday. I started since day one organizing my notes and outlines for all my classes. I plan on using the supps starting Monday? what do you guys think?

[lawstudent8685]

anyone?

[dougroberts]

I studied anywhere from 3 days to 1 week for each of my finals. For the classes that I had not outlined for, that took 1 week to outline, learn the material, and do practice exams.

And, FWIW, I finished top 11%.

[98234872348]

will one month be enough to prepare for finals? I plan to start this Monday. I started since day one organizing my notes and outlines for all my classes. I plan on using the supps starting Monday? what do you guys think?

Different things work for different people; if you think this is consistent with what it takes for you to synthesize and learn to apply the material, you should be fine.

[Gamecubesupreme]

Well really, even if we say "No, it's not enough, you're doomed now that you started this late," what can you do?

Just do what you think feels right. It is unlikely for you to "burn-out" if you start in mid-October.

[drwho97]

Well i am not behind on anything, my outlines are all up to date. I just wanted to start the practice problems and essays on the E&Es and other books to really drill the material. i will start practice exams prob the first or second week in November.

[uwb09]

As a 1L, this is merely just my opinion, but I'd say you don't need to "study" (aka hardcore long days in the library) the BLL/cases more than needed to just remember them, if you already understand/know the law, why spend more 8 hour days in the library staring at the text books? wasted time IMO

the rest of your study time should be spent on practice exams/hypos/really casual studying (sitting around watching football, and every commercial break maybe writing down your checklist for a class, or writing out the elements of a rule)

aka being able to recall the things you will write down on exam day when you are more removed from your study period

just how I am planning to do things, have outlines done by 2nd week of November, do 1-2 of hardcore/no life studying, then doing casual studying/practice exams after that till exams

[drwho97]

I agree, and that is what i will start doing next week. i bought a lot of supps with hypos in them.

[random5483]

I am only a 1L, so my advice might not be worth much.

Way I see it, I know most of the substantive materials in my classes. It's hard to outline and not remember the information you have: 1) Heard, 2) taken notes, and 3) outlined. Spending all day memorizing my outline word for word seems to be better served for the "study" period right before finals. However, now is the time to get your brain thinking the right way. Basically, work on all the practice multiple choice and essay questions you can. Look up past exams and work on them. Improve your effectiveness writing essays and your ability to answer multiple choice questions. The easiest part of studying is memorization. Save the memorization for after Thanksgiving (I am assuming you know most of the rules/details of your outline....just not every specific detail).

[lawstudent8685]

Great idea Random, I agree with your advice. I think the more practice exams, hypos, essays, etc you could et your hands on would be the best way to begin preparing. Random, do you think 1 month is more then enough and then the final week to memorize?

[zeth006]

I studied anywhere from 3 days to 1 week for each of my finals. For the classes that I had not outlined for, that took 1 week to outline, learn the material, and do practice exams.

And, FWIW, I finished top 11%.

You, like many others who pull off such feats, are my inspiration.



So question: Should I stop worrying about keeping up with outlines and just concentrate on understanding the material and reviewing it over the weekends? I'm still a bit fuzzy on Civ Pro as an example.

[solotee]

I studied anywhere from 3 days to 1 week for each of my finals. For the classes that I had not outlined for, that took 1 week to outline, learn the material, and do practice exams.

And, FWIW, I finished top 11%.

You, like many others who pull off such feats, are my inspiration.



So question: Should I stop worrying about keeping up with outlines and just concentrate on understanding the material and reviewing it over the weekends? I'm still a bit fuzzy on Civ Pro as an example.

I'm a 1L right now, but my strategy is to master the material while outlining.

You don't won't a finished outline at the end of the semester only to realize you still need to master the material. Outlining is not an end itself, it's a means to an end.

[BarbellDreams]

If you didn't start studying your professor's material before September all hope is lost.

[A0566]

1) Do every practice you can, and do it under timed conditions. Finish the test, and don't half ass your answer. At least for the first couple of answers. Get used to figuring out how much time a question takes you and how fast you have to push yourself through it. Figure out how careful you can be. For most of your tests you won't be able to stop to think. So learning to just vomit/analyze within the problem-solving context of each exam is helpful (although there are those few and rare succinct but comprehensive issue spotting exam answers)

2) Outline. Condense. And do it for yourself. I found I just took whatever outline/notes I had and went back through it and forced myself to make a new more pure condensed version of that outline in a separate document. It's the process that forces you to condense. Learn to boil down cases to one sentence or simple rule statements. Then, maybe add one or two helpful sentences on policy.

3) Do every practice you can. Because a large part of the test depends on your ability to recall rather than recognize, this requires practice and familiarity with the simple aspects of the doctrine.

FWIW, I was pretty slack and casual throughout the entire semester, and picked up the slack in the last 2-3 weeks before exams. During the week before exams, my life became intensely exam orientated.

Finished in top 5% at a T14, and that's including an exam that I did much worse than average on due to girlfriend issues right before an exam, and a couple classes I was just lazy about in studying and so did not as well as i could have (i.e. not doing enough practice exams all the way through)

[A0566]

I studied anywhere from 3 days to 1 week for each of my finals. For the classes that I had not outlined for, that took 1 week to outline, learn the material, and do practice exams.

And, FWIW, I finished top 11%.

You, like many others who pull off such feats, are my inspiration.



So question: Should I stop worrying about keeping up with outlines and just concentrate on understanding the material and reviewing it over the weekends? I'm still a bit fuzzy on Civ Pro as an example.

I'm a 1L right now, but my strategy is to master the material while outlining.

You don't won't a finished outline at the end of the semester only to realize you still need to master the material. Outlining is not an end itself, it's a means to an end.

Kind of true. It's good to organize the material in a way that's accessible and understood as you go through the semester. It's just really hard to boil down the information in a way that's really internalized as you go through it. I'd say outlining as you go helps a lot, but you most likely will have to do a shortened version of outlining again before your exam. Unless you really are diligently reviewing and internalizing all the way up to the exam.

[zeth006]

1) Do every practice you can, and do it under timed conditions. Finish the test, and don't half ass your answer. At least for the first couple of answers. Get used to figuring out how much time a question takes you and how fast you have to push yourself through it. Figure out how careful you can be. For most of your tests you won't be able to stop to think. So learning to just vomit/analyze within the problem-solving context of each exam is helpful (although there are those few and rare succinct but comprehensive issue spotting exam answers)

2) Outline. Condense. And do it for yourself. I found I just took whatever outline/notes I had and went back through it and forced myself to make a new more pure condensed version of that outline in a separate document. It's the process that forces you to condense. Learn to boil down cases to one sentence or simple rule statements. Then, maybe add one or two helpful sentences on policy.

3) Do every practice you can. Because a large part of the test depends on your ability to recall rather than recognize, this requires practice and familiarity with the simple aspects of the doctrine.

FWIW, I was pretty slack and casual throughout the entire semester, and picked up the slack in the last 2-3 weeks before exams. During the week before exams, my life became intensely exam orientated.

Finished in top 5% at a T14, and that's including an exam that I did much worse than average on due to girlfriend issues right before an exam, and a couple classes I was just lazy about in studying and so did not as well as i could have (i.e. not doing enough practice exams all the way through)

Is November a good time to begin doing practice tests and multiple choice questions in supplements? I'm behind on my outlining and want to get it all done this weekend.