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When I work exam-style hypos... I skim the fact set once for the gist, and then read it one more time carefully to spot issues. Then I do my outline of the answer...

but after I'm done, I review my answer and the fact set, and always find a few more issues. I'm wondering if maybe 1 more quick read would be good to find those extra issues, or if that's wasting too much time.

As many times as I need.

You're over-thinking this.

Be careful you don't misread the hypo. In my torts exam, I misread an aspect of almost every question because I was really nervous. Because it screwed up my analysis, I got an A- when I could have easily achieved an A. I knew that shit cold.

First i read the question.
Then I skim the facts once for the gist, noting all of the parties involved.
Then once more for issues.

I don't know if it's how many times you read the fact set as opposed to how thoroughly you read it. I can read the fact set several times and still miss things. I'm planning on slowing down and asking myself the purpose of each sentence, no matter how hard my mind and hand are telling me to jump the gun and start outlining/writing the answer.

Amy wineBerry wrote:I don't know if it's how many times you read the fact set as opposed to how thoroughly you read it. I can read the fact set several times and still miss things. I'm planning on slowing down and asking myself the purpose of each sentence, no matter how hard my mind and hand are telling me to jump the gun and start outlining/writing the answer.

This. Read once slowly to start, then reread as necessary until you understand enough of what's going on to start trying to answer. There's no magic "read X times", you have to make sure you're understanding things, and if you're not you're screwed no matter how much time you saved/wasted under your "read X times" strategy.

I read the fact pattern once very slowly and thoroughly, jotting notes in the margins next to issues. Then I would outline and start writing and refer back to my notes and the facts.