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A month out from finals and feel like I know nothing about the rules (which is practically the only thing we've touched this semester). Worse, its closed book, so I'm frantically trying to find shortcuts at this point. I understand the general principles but am lost when the professor starts digging into the strategic dynamics of procedure. Any 2 or 3L's out there with advice? Good outlines or supplements to help learn how to apply this stuff to fact patterns? I can read and memorize the rules all day, but I dont think thats going to be enough.

I felt the same way about civ pro. Throughout the semester, a month away from finals, the day of the final, right after the final, even now, etc. You'll most likely be fine; it's a tough class for A LOT of folks. The ones who do well are probably only slightly more comfortable with it than those who did worse. Since your exam is closed book, it will be that much more difficult for everyone else as well—not just you. So, relax.

For your specific woes, I suggest getting an E&E and reading the main concepts (SMJ, PJ, motions, etc.) very carefully without getting into the rules. Then, create an outline where you list the rules you've covered in class and fill in from the E&E appropriately; KEEP THE MAIN CONCEPTS IN MIND THROUGHOUT so you can see exactly how these pieces fit together. Study like a madman and reduce your outline appropriately such that you only need a table of contents to jolt your brain in the right direction.

If you are allowed absolutely nothing (i.e., not even a 1-sheet table of contents), spend your last day memorizing the reduced outline so that if you must you can just recreate in about 5 minutes on scrap paper for exam. Good luck.

Watch Freer's lectures on BarBri. I did this the weekend before the final and managed my best grade last semester. CivPro is a weird class.

Thanks to both of you

BasilHallward wrote:Watch Freer's lectures on BarBri. I did this the weekend before the final and managed my best grade last semester. CivPro is a weird class.

Yeah, do this and make the outline as you go. His lecture is structured in perfect outline format (e.g., he literally says things like "Part I, Subsection C is called Minimum Contacts"). His material didn't line up 100% with what my prof taught, but for the main concepts I used my Freer outline much more than the one I made from class notes.