should I make an outline? Forum

[swtlilsoni]

I have an exam tomorrow and I already did all the readings, but didn't take notes or make an outline. Should I bother going back and taking notes on the readings tonight? I was just planning on using the book during the exam (its open book) and just flipping through the book to remember things because it's going to be annoying to go back and take notes. But if flipping through the book is going to waste too much time (it's 3 hours) then I guess I should suck it up and make an outline tonight.

My status: I understand the concepts in the readings but I don't remember all of them so I'll have to look through the readings during the exam to make sure I didn't forget anything

I know I could make a checklist, but that is also going to be annoying to go back to every single reading and write down everything I need, plus I could always just look at the syllabus (my prof lists the "topics"..not very detailed but a basic overview) to refresh my memory, and for further analysis just go to the book.

[Bronck]

Uh, there's no way you'd be able to make an OL in time... and there's no way flipping through your book during an exam is a good idea.

Why not just have a friend send you their OL, or find canned OLs on the subject?

[mushybrain]

I don't understand how you could think you'll have time to review your textbook if it's too annoying to flip through it to make a checklist when you're not in the middle of taking the exam.

[09042014]

I have an exam tomorrow and I already did all the readings, but didn't take notes or make an outline. Should I bother going back and taking notes on the readings tonight? I was just planning on using the book during the exam (its open book) and just flipping through the book to remember things because it's going to be annoying to go back and take notes. But if flipping through the book is going to waste too much time (it's 3 hours) then I guess I should suck it up and make an outline tonight.

My status: I understand the concepts in the readings but I don't remember all of them so I'll have to look through the readings during the exam to make sure I didn't forget anything

I know I could make a checklist, but that is also going to be annoying to go back to every single reading and write down everything I need, plus I could always just look at the syllabus (my prof lists the "topics"..not very detailed but a basic overview) to refresh my memory, and for further analysis just go to the book.

lulwut.

You don't have an outline, and you are planning on just using your book. LOL ur fucked bro.

[RaleighStClair]

What class is this for? Do you have the rules memorized?

Flipping through a goddamn casebook is obviously out of the question, and it's far too late to make your own outline. The only thing you can do is go from memory and perhaps get an "outline" or preferably just a list of rules from a friend or online.

I wish you the best of luck.

[stillwater]

I have an exam tomorrow and I already did all the readings, but didn't take notes or make an outline. Should I bother going back and taking notes on the readings tonight? I was just planning on using the book during the exam (its open book) and just flipping through the book to remember things because it's going to be annoying to go back and take notes. But if flipping through the book is going to waste too much time (it's 3 hours) then I guess I should suck it up and make an outline tonight.

My status: I understand the concepts in the readings but I don't remember all of them so I'll have to look through the readings during the exam to make sure I didn't forget anything

I know I could make a checklist, but that is also going to be annoying to go back to every single reading and write down everything I need, plus I could always just look at the syllabus (my prof lists the "topics"..not very detailed but a basic overview) to refresh my memory, and for further analysis just go to the book.

yea, this is, uhh, ill-advised. find an outline. search online, search any outline banks you have access to. considering the casebook is fucking useless from Day 1, it's not something I'd want to ride or die with.

[shock259]

Good thing you didn't save this little thought for the last minute. Coulda been bad.

[3|ink]

I would shit myself walking into an exam without an outline. Even after doing all of the readings. You're better off doing none of the readings and spending a day studying someone else's outline.

[Myself]

.

[Scotusnerd]

My guess is that this was a harsh lesson for OP.

Do the readings when you look at them in class. Take good notes. Make an outline. Unless it's an open-note test, then you might not need it.

But for God's sake, if you have an open-note exam tomorrow, don't get a new outline to study. It's too late to cram. Just take some post-it notes and mark spots in your book that are important. It's a much better use of your time.

You can use the remainder of your time to pray before the exam gods.

[09042014]

My guess is that this was a harsh lesson for OP.

Do the readings when you look at them in class. Take good notes. Make an outline. Unless it's an open-note test, then you might not need it.

But for God's sake, if you have an open-note exam tomorrow, don't get a new outline to study. It's too late to cram. Just take some post-it notes and mark spots in your book that are important. It's a much better use of your time.

You can use the remainder of your time to pray before the exam gods.

You have WAY wrong. You can memorize a new outline within 12 hours. Post it noting a book? LOL.

[Scotusnerd]

You have WAY wrong. You can memorize a new outline within 12 hours. Post it noting a book? LOL.

Worked fine for me. Know the material, know where to find the material. I fail to see what the problem is.

Besides, sure you can memorize it...but what about the exam itself? Doing a law school exam on two hours of sleep with an exhausted brain is the height of idiocy.

[09042014]

You have WAY wrong. You can memorize a new outline within 12 hours. Post it noting a book? LOL.

Worked fine for me. Know the material, know where to find the material. I fail to see what the problem is.

Besides, sure you can memorize it...but what about the exam itself? Doing a law school exam on two hours of sleep with an exhausted brain is the height of idiocy.

1) You are presuming the person has a good working knowledge of all the cases, which is pretty stupid to assume when the person is looking to an outline the night before an exam.

2) Doing an exam without knowing the material is much worse.

[KD35]

Good thing you didn't save this little thought for the last minute. Coulda been bad.

TCR

[Scotusnerd]

1) You are presuming the person has a good working knowledge of all the cases, which is pretty stupid to assume when the person is looking to an outline the night before an exam.

2) Doing an exam without knowing the material is much worse.

Eh, fair enough. I had presumed that they had done more than be on facebook during the semester. Either way they're fucked.

[nucky thompson]

OP may have been fine coming up with an answer on the exam, but yes - OP is/was fucked. While OP is just taking his book into an open note exam, other people are taking in pre-written rule statements. Not only do other people have the necessary information more readily accessible, they already have that info in pre-packaged format.

Thus OP is competing with people that have much more accurate/comprehensive rule statements and such (assuming pre-writers know what they are doing) AND those same people with better/more accurate rule statements also have more time to include subtle facts in a nuanced way, because they are not flipping through the book trying to patch together an exam response.

[stillwater]

I dont think the fact people may have prewritten answers to be the source of the problem. I dont think prewriting answers really helps. its just OP had nothing to fall back on or study with.

[swtlilsoni]

I don't think it was THAT bad. But maybe that's because this class was International Law..so there really weren't any rule statements to begin with. I can see how this would be a major problem for something like Civ Pro. However, in IL the exam was mostly just making us reference random events that we studied about and I thought it was hard to make an outline for this class because there's so much random information and no clear rules.

Anyway, during the exam, for example if the question was about the law of the sea, I just flipped to that chapter and wrote down stuff from the book. I also used the internet since it was allowed.

All in all, I definitely think I would have had more time if I had a comprehensive outline and/or had stuff memorized, however I think since it was IL and there were no rule statements it wasn't as bad as it would have been for other classes.