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Best Use of Supplements?

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:29 pm
by paisa_sandia
Talking all manner of supplements: E&Es, Glannon's, whatever. How do y'all utilize your supplements?

The two main approaches seem to be, naturally enough, 1) reading through the supplements before the actual material in the casebook to establish a foundation and 2) reading through them afterward to fill in the gaps. While certainly you could, and perhaps should, do both, it seems to me that to a certain degree the benefit of one approach is lost when engaging the other.

Thoughts?

Re: Best Use of Supplements?

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:56 pm
by cbbinnyc
My personal experience has been that establishing a foundation with supplements is the way to go. By having a basic understanding of the material before reading specific cases and attending the lecture, I'm able to spend less time trying to grasp basic concepts and more time understanding the professor's particular take on the topic. I also find that supplements are helpful to use in putting together an outline throughout the semester - in a couple cases, I found that they organized the material more logically than the professor/casebook did. However, I'd say the general consensus here is that optimal supplement use is going to be personal. Some people swear by supplements, some people swear by avoiding supplements and just reading the assigned cases.

Re: Best Use of Supplements?

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:15 am
by jaekeem
just to fill in gaps for things I don't understand from lectures/office hours alone.

I'm sure reading them before is fine, but I have never gotten the sense that kind of preparation was necessary for me to understand the material.