A week out from Exams, I have literally no notes or outlines Forum

[Stylistics]

How should I spend the next week?
I've read the casebooks only sparingly. In all but 1 of my cases, it's fair to say that I've read none of the cases. I've kept up throughout the semester by using commercial aids like Gilberts.

I scribbled in whatever book I had open whenever the professor began a sentence with "I think the majority..."

Most of the time I think to myself "well the professor is an ultra-liberal, so chances are he agrees with the Brennan types in, e.g., Penn Central" for property. There have been a few moments where the professor disagrees with a holding generally favored by people who lean as the prof does, but I can't remember/find them.

My plan is to use the commercial aids during open-book exams. Between now and exams, my plan is to go over the syllabus and read the cases the aids don't cover, and add them manually.

I'm not panicked, just wondering how to best spend the next week.

[ManoftheHour]

Does your school have an outline bank? If not, get one from one of your classmates (2L/3Ls), go over it, do some PTs, profit.

If you've paid enough enough attention in class and have a moderate understanding of the reading, usually when reading an outline, it'll all just come back to you.

Take with a grain of salt (I'm a 1L).

[WHJTMG178]

Outline Depot, read non stop and then do some practice questions

[Kratos]

Does your school have an outline bank? If not, get one from one of your classmates (2L/3Ls), go over it, do some PTs, profit.

If you've paid enough enough attention in class and have a moderate understanding of the reading, usually when reading an outline, it'll all just come back to you.

Take with a grain of salt (I'm a 1L).

This.

OP you might wanna make sure you can use commercial guides during exams. I've had a few that were restricted to your own notes/outline FWIW.

[thesealocust]

Get the best old outlines you can and learn from them. If you're a 1L, make sure you read about and practice exam writing too (there are like a million stickies on TLS).

I've always maintained that as long as you more or less know what you're doing and have access to a good outline, you really only need 48 hours or so to do all the prep you need...

[jbagelboy]

As others have suggested, get an outline ASAP from an upperclassmen that had the prof, a school-wide outline bank or drive for that prof, or at worst, an outline somewhere else for the same textbook editors if not necessarily the same prof.

Go through a practice exam with a sample answer using the outline and see how the issue spotting and case analysis flows so you can use it fluidly on the actual test.

Read over the important cases and supplement the outline where necessary and insert whatever policy clues you've picked up and jotted down into the appropriate section.

Do whatever additional practice exams you have time for with this personalized outline to make the process as smooth as possible.

You do not want to be the only student sitting for the exam without any annotated outline. Even if you're a brilliant writer or legal analyst, the way points are tallied on 1L exams comports with a surprisingly formulaic approach to issues and analogizing/distinguishing from certain precedent and you'll need that structure to score well.

Repeat for every class. God speed.

[hdunlop]