How detailed are you making your outlines? Forum

[Gettingstarted1928]

I'm making my outline for Torts right now, and there is just sooooo much to remember. Is it necessary to remember all the little details? On exams do professors expect you to know nuances (ex. if a specific activity or group of people is or is not covered), or are we good to go as long as we get the big picture?

[biglaw$]

I'm making my outline for Torts right now, and there is just sooooo much to remember. Is it necessary to remember all the little details? I mean, do professors generally throw in little nuances (ex. if a specific activity or group of people is or is not covered), or are we good to go as long as we get the big picture?

Rules, exceptions, circuit splits, policy = FTW

[Extension_Cord]

I'm making my outline for Torts right now, and there is just sooooo much to remember. Is it necessary to remember all the little details? I mean, do professors generally throw in little nuances (ex. if a specific activity or group of people is or is not covered), or are we good to go as long as we get the big picture?

What kind of exam is it?

Depends on each particular teacher.

My Con Law Teacher wants us to know everything, and my outline is 50 pages (kind of crazy for con law). My torts professor just wants us to know the basics but spot as many issues as possible with less application.

My contract professor is a written exam and my outline is 35 pages.

[Gettingstarted1928]

I'm making my outline for Torts right now, and there is just sooooo much to remember. Is it necessary to remember all the little details? I mean, do professors generally throw in little nuances (ex. if a specific activity or group of people is or is not covered), or are we good to go as long as we get the big picture?

What kind of exam is it?

Depends on each particular teacher.

My Con Law Teacher wants us to know everything, and my outline is 50 pages (kind of crazy for con law). My torts professor just wants us to know the basics but spot as many issues as possible with less application.

My contract professor is a written exam and my outline is 35 pages.

I wish I knew. Sometimes in class (or after reading a case), I'll learn, for example, that a specific action does not qualify as a legitimate intervening cause in showing proximate causation.

[ph14]

Take some practice exams and look at model answers.

[Gettingstarted1928]

Take some practice exams and look at model answers.

Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to do that. I really wanted to complete my outline first. I guess I need to stop making my preparation so rigid.

[shock259]

Second the practice exams. You'll probably get a sense of what you can cut from taking a few. Most of mine are between 15-20 pages. I included extremely brief case descriptions on there. Haven't used them yet when taking a practice test, so I'll probably cut them.

Overall, once you really know the material, it's sorta surprising how little you actually need your outline. Generally, I think the shorter the better.

[ph14]

Second the practice exams. You'll probably get a sense of what you can cut from taking a few. Most of mine are between 15-20 pages. I included extremely brief case descriptions on there. Haven't used them yet when taking a practice test, so I'll probably cut them.

Overall, once you really know the material, it's sorta surprising how little you actually need your outline. Generally, I think the shorter the better.

Yeah, at least for my in-class exams, i'm working on making really condensed outlines of about 3-5 pages. Not quite sure how to handle my take home ones though. All my original outlines are kinda crappy though since I made them as I went. Don't think I have time to go through and completely fix the long ones.

[Gettingstarted1928]

Are you all including cases in your outline?

[ph14]

Are you all including cases in your outline?

Yes -- all my professors seem to want cases to lessor or greater degrees.

[ilovesf]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

[Eco]

Everybody is different. For the actual exam, if you're allowed to take it into the exam, you just need a 10-20 page outline with the basic rules. If you're doing a negligence question, just know the elements of negligence and apply them to the facts, add some policy shit, and you got the A.

Some people (me included) like to make a huge outline filled with every rule and every case. Then, when that process is done, we make the 10-20 page outline by summarizing our big one.

I like doing that because it forces me to go over the material all over again. Which is the main point of outlining.

[Gettingstarted1928]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

I actually wish we couldn't bring them in mine

[ph14]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

I actually wish we couldn't bring them in mine

Haha, I kind of feel the same way. I'm sure that's a grass is greener thing though.

[Gettingstarted1928]

Everybody is different. For the actual exam, if you're allowed to take it into the exam, you just need a 10-20 page outline with the basic rules. If you're doing a negligence question, just know the elements of negligence and apply them to the facts, add some policy shit, and you got the A.

Some people (me included) like to make a huge outline filled with every rule and every case. Then, when that process is done, we make the 10-20 page outline by summarizing our big one.

I like doing that because it forces me to go over the material all over again. Which is the main point of outlining.

Do you add policy even when the question is an issue spotter?

[ilovesf]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

I actually wish we couldn't bring them in mine

Haha, I kind of feel the same way. I'm sure that's a grass is greener thing though.

I'm pretty good at memorizing things, so I don't mind. From what I hear from 2Ls, you should have your outline so memorized that even if you do bring it in, you don't have to look at it. That's ideal of course.. but I'm sure not how it always works out.

[ph14]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

I actually wish we couldn't bring them in mine

Haha, I kind of feel the same way. I'm sure that's a grass is greener thing though.

I'm pretty good at memorizing things, so I don't mind. From what I hear from 2Ls, you should have your outline so memorized that even if you do bring it in, you don't have to look at it. That's ideal of course.. but I'm sure not how it always works out.

Yeah, it just kind of simplifies things I think. That's kind of why i'm not looking forward to my take homes.

[Gettingstarted1928]

I can't bring my outlines into any of my tests, so brevity isn't as much of an issue.
Torts: 18 pages
Property: 28 pages
Civ Pro: 23 pages

Property is much longer because at the end of the semester we started reading 8 cases a night, so there are really a ton of cases to add.

I actually wish we couldn't bring them in mine

Haha, I kind of feel the same way. I'm sure that's a grass is greener thing though.

I'm pretty good at memorizing things, so I don't mind. From what I hear from 2Ls, you should have your outline so memorized that even if you do bring it in, you don't have to look at it. That's ideal of course.. but I'm sure not how it always works out.

This is why I think my outline must be missing some details in my outlines, because I'm find that I'm able to basically memorize everything just by the process of outlining. I guess maybe that's the point of outlining? I assumed that I would make my outline and then spend a bunch of time trying to memorize it.

[shepdawg]

Example section from my torts outline --LinkRemoved--
Scroll down a little to see the torts example.