Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Mr. Elshal]

Anyone know how accurate the tentative exam schedules are? Trying to book flights and was wondering if they (Fall 2014) were likely to shift at all in terms of time and date.

I've never had one change.

Same.

[despina]

Anyone know how accurate the tentative exam schedules are? Trying to book flights and was wondering if they (Fall 2014) were likely to shift at all in terms of time and date.

I've never had one change.

Same.

Same.

[juzam_djinn]

thanks for the responses!

[Inboston]

Can any 2L/3Ls weigh in on when they recommend starting to use supplements (E&Es or otherwise)? It would seem that you need a least a few weeks of material to make the supplements a beneficial addition but I'd really like to hear the opinion of students who have been there/done that. Thanks!

[Cravin]

I needed a few weeks of the supplements to make the materials beneficial. but that might just be me.

[tomwatts]

I use supplements pretty lightly, and then generally only toward finals. I think I started reading Glannon for Civ Pro either over Thanksgiving or during reading week. Didn't start the Torts supplement until reading week. Both seemed useful and timely then. I think I tried to read a supplement earlier in the semester in the spring for Crim, and it was basically useless for me. But then, I didn't start reading the supplement for Property until right before exams, and it seemed like it would have been helpful earlier.

I'm not sure that there's a good general rule, but what comes out of my experience is as follows. If your prof isn't very clear or isn't covering very much material, start reading earlier and see if it seems useful. You can probably tell if it is or not. If your prof is pretty clear and covers lots of ground that you understand reasonably well with studying, don't worry about supplements yet. You can use them for practice and review closer to exams.

Also, in no class other than Civ Pro did I find a supplement necessary or even all that helpful, and I haven't used one since 1L year.

[NoLongerALurker]

Can any 2L/3Ls weigh in on when they recommend starting to use supplements (E&Es or otherwise)? It would seem that you need a least a few weeks of material to make the supplements a beneficial addition but I'd really like to hear the opinion of students who have been there/done that. Thanks!

Started Civ Pro during Thanksgiving. Started reading every other supplement ~ 3-5 days before exam, then sped-read/skimmed them entirely. 6 H and 4 P for what it's worth, but I think I got lucky (could easily have ended up like 3/7) and if I'd started in mid October would probably have done better (like 8/2?). I think a speed-read of a supplement is solid to give you a >50% of an H, but the way I did it left no time for practice exams. Those are what you should be doing in those last couple days.

No huge regrets though. Didn't bid DC/SF and don't want to clerk, so really the marginal returns on the extra work would probably have not been worth it. But maybe that's just plain rationalization.

Edit - To be clear, for Civ Pro I think Glannon is single handedly enough for the course. For the rest of the courses, I studied exclusively on old outlines and E&E's. Property E&E wasn't helpful, I found.

[Inboston]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

[euskadi]

Is anyone in Dharan's Intro. to Accounting? Stupidly bought the text, which I can't return, and have had to drop the course. If you'd like the book at a nice discount, PM me!

[TripTrip]

Is anyone in Dharan's Intro. to Accounting? Stupidly bought the text, which I can't return, and have had to drop the course. If you'd like the book at a nice discount, PM me!

On that note, if anyone is taking his 3-week course and doesn't have the book yet, PM me. There's 70-80 of us who took the 3-day course. If I sell my book, I know at least a dozen people I can put you in touch with.

[tachikara]

It's not that hard to join ACS. As of last year, you had to pay $10 and attend two events. ACS hosts a ton of interesting lunch events, so it's not a great burden.

http://www3.law.harvard.edu/orgs/acs/el ... uirements/

so, can someone be in both fedsoc and acs for the outlines/exam banks

Tons of people do this. They don't care because $$.

I don't think they charge money. If they do, the membership is cheap (I think <$10?).

In either case, you'll find that getting access to outlines is not as easy as just signing up. FedSoc has gradually tightened their requirements and only gives outline bank access to members who are active in FedSoc and/or involved in JLPP, and I think ACS is moving in the same direction (although not 100% sure of this). I mention this as a warning in case you were thinking you could just get outlines access at the end of the semester -- not quite that simple. Perhaps someone else more familiar with the respective ACS and FedSoc requirements can speak to them.

in that case any idea which group has more resources and is more commitment friendly for 1Ls?

[Mr. Elshal]

Are professors typically understanding of 2Ls missing class, during the first week, for interviews?

[Fred012]

anybody here ran for section rep / been one?

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Can anyone recommend a supplement for contracts w/ Randall Kennedy or property w/ Mann?

[tomwatts]

Can anyone recommend a supplement for contracts w/ Randall Kennedy or property w/ Mann?

I hear that there's a pretty good set of class notes for Mann (which even has a recommendation for a supplement) that's available on the open outline banks (at least on HLS Dope). This is what I hear. Through the grapevine.

[TripTrip]

Can anyone recommend a supplement for contracts w/ Randall Kennedy or property w/ Mann?

The E&Es are pretty good for both of these. Plus, you don't need the latest E&E for Property like you do for Civ Pro, so you can grab it from a 2L/3L.

[wwwcol]

Can anyone recommend a supplement for contracts w/ Randall Kennedy or property w/ Mann?

The E&Es are pretty good for both of these. Plus, you don't need the latest E&E for Property like you do for Civ Pro, so you can grab it from a 2L/3L.

I'm not sure whether you're referring to E&Es generally or wrt those particular professors, but there's really no supplement necessary for Kennedy, nor do I think one is useful. His teaching style is very cut and dry - here are today's three or four cases, a few minutes discussing the issue, then open discussion. I got the impression that he did not want us to bring in any outside knowledge and feel like supplements could be counter productive here, but maybe others have different views

[jingosaur]

Anybody have trouble sleeping during 1L? If so, any recommendations? I've tried using sleep aids before, but they tend to put me out beyond waking up to an alarm.

[heythatslife]

Anybody have trouble sleeping during 1L? If so, any recommendations? I've tried using sleep aids before, but they tend to put me out beyond waking up to an alarm.

Scotch. Which is what I'm doing right now.

[Single-Malt-Liquor]

Anybody have trouble sleeping during 1L? If so, any recommendations? I've tried using sleep aids before, but they tend to put me out beyond waking up to an alarm.

Melatonin is solid, it's a natural sleep aid and doesn't leave you with that droggy feeling in the morning. Or you can do your leg/reg reading at night, up to you.

[despina]

Anybody have trouble sleeping during 1L? If so, any recommendations? I've tried using sleep aids before, but they tend to put me out beyond waking up to an alarm.

I have trouble sleeping whenever my mind is "too full" and I find it racing at night to process everything I learned during the day. This happened to me the first few weeks of 1L, the first few weeks of a new job with a steep learning curve, etc. One thing that sometimes helped me is keeping a notepad by the bed and jotting down a few things that are on my mind before I go to sleep. Sometimes that helps me feel like I can "let go" and relax. That also helps a lot when what's keeping me up is balancing a complex or long to-do list. At least writing things down reassures me that I won't forget something overnight.

Also, this isn't always possible (especially during 1L I know!), but I try to leave the last hour before I go to sleep for non-law school fun stuff -- watch TV, read a novel, snuggle my sweetheart, whatever.

[Mr. Elshal]

Anybody have trouble sleeping during 1L? If so, any recommendations? I've tried using sleep aids before, but they tend to put me out beyond waking up to an alarm.

I have trouble sleeping whenever my mind is "too full" and I find it racing at night to process everything I learned during the day. This happened to me the first few weeks of 1L, the first few weeks of a new job with a steep learning curve, etc. One thing that sometimes helped me is keeping a notepad by the bed and jotting down a few things that are on my mind before I go to sleep. Sometimes that helps me feel like I can "let go" and relax. That also helps a lot when what's keeping me up is balancing a complex or long to-do list. At least writing things down reassures me that I won't forget something overnight.

Also, this isn't always possible (especially during 1L I know!), but I try to leave the last hour before I go to sleep for non-law school fun stuff -- watch TV, read a novel, snuggle my sweetheart, whatever.

I also do the bolded.

Also, be careful with melatonin and do not try it for the first time on a night when you have something important the next day. I tried it during exams and was caught in a state of waking sleep for 8 hours. I was sleepwalking but couldn't control it, I started hallucinating, and all other kinds of weird crap happened. This all could have been just a very vivid dream but, regardless, I did not feel rested the next day and I was pretty miserable. With that said, some people have no side-effects at all, in which case it's probably a good suggestion.

[kcam1991]

Are all research assistants paid? How much can you expect per hour?

[ph14]

Are all research assistants paid? How much can you expect per hour?

It's $11.50 an hour.

[esther0123]

Some people are taking notes explicitly and briefing every case. I'm just highliting and scribbling notes on the side due to time constraints but I'm wondering if this will lead to mediocre grades. people tell me conflicting things (e.g. briefing and note taking is excessive waste of time...) so I'm not sure what to think