Studying Tips? 2L and 3L please! Forum

[WilliamStrong]

I have been researching for Law Schools, and in one of the books that I read, it says one reason the 2L and 3L students found they have lighter workloads is because they have found what they need to study and what work they did during 1L was a waste of time. So, what are these studying tips? Like, what work is necessary for getting a high grade in class, what work that 1L people stress over that you think is a waste of time, what law students should focus on, what they should not, and what other tips for studying efficiently in law schools?

[banjo]

All of the threads on this topic arrive at the same conclusion: work hard at doing what works for you. Radically different approaches can arrive at the same GPA. Everybody should study past exams half-way through the semester. Beyond that, some people read the casebook like a bible and take fantastic notes, never touching a supplement. Others work through the supplements multiple times and review tons of outlines from 2L and 3Ls. You can't do everything, so do some combination of things that gets you to understand each rule of law and how it might be tested on an exam.

2Ls and 3Ls study less because they care less, take subjects they're already interested in, and know what works for them.

[LRGhost]

The work you put in during week two won't matter as much as the work you put in towards the end. As with all advice, your mileage may vary. I was able to chill and have a light workload for two months but I grinded for three weeks (with a steady ramp up a week or two before) before first semester finals. Everyone worked hard in that month including super-study kids who were at school late during the first part of the semester.

Studying smart to me means recognizing that the points at the end of the game mean more than the points at the start.

[NYULawStudent123]

Although it is always good to find what works for you, if you can't or what you find isn't efficient, here are some tips that I think are ideal (I didn't take all my advice, but from my experience, I feel these would be effective methods for the average student).

1) SUPPLEMENTS. Use supplements as supplements, not as your main source of information. By that, I mean they should be there in case you don't understand a small topic, but the casebook, lecture, and office hours should be your main sources of information.

2) BRIEFING CASES. Not necessary. It is perfectly okay to brief cases early in the semester if doing so will help you understand the information better. But as the semester goes on and time becomes scarce, briefing outline will be a poor use of time, and you should try to avoid doing so during the final month of prep.

3) OLD OUTLINES. To expound on #1, the best supplements are old outlines. During the first few weeks of the semester, find yourself a few good old outlines from 2L's or 3L's and use them as a supplement as you read the case book. If you find good old outlines, you will know what the professor is looking for and will know what topics to focus on throughout the semester.

4) OUTLINING. You should outline each topic after you complete it. For example, after completing personal jurisdiction in civ pro, you should outline it. This is a good practice, as it will keep you up to date throughout the semester. If need be, you could take your outlines on each topic and make a more condensed outline a 6 weeks before exams (30-70 pages would be ideal). You will want to make your attack outline 1-2 weeks before you exam--it should be 5-15 pages, depending on amount of material.

5) PRACTICE EXAMS. Start doing practice exams 3-4 weeks before finals. Start off by doing one every few days, as you finish up outlining, so you get a feel for what you should be outlining. Read over model answers carefully. If your professor doesn't have many old exams, find exams from professors who test similarly. Save at least three exams to do after you make your attack outline. Doing a few exams before making your attack outline will be very beneficial, as it will give you an idea of what you will need to be completely focused on.

6) TEST TAKING. Test taking is an art. If you get a hang of it early, you will be in amazing shape. As for taking LEEWS or reading some book, I read portions of "Open Book," but I didn't find it to be so helpful. It had some good points, but I didn't think about them while taking exams. I naturally thought in the way these programs try to get you to think. What I think the issue with these books and course is that they are made for the masses, and if you fall into the masses, your grades will be average. The key to test taking is to know what your professor is looking for. There is not exact right way to take an exam. The ideal way is how your professor likes, so taking old exams and reading model answers will give you an idea of what the professor is looking for. That is why it is crucial to talk with upperclassmen and learn what your professor likes and looks for, so you can tailor your exam to the professor's liking.

[GouldGirl]

If you think back to the LSAT, the thing that made it difficult was the time limits. Aside from exam strategies and tactics taught in LSAT prep programs, students that score highest on the LSAT have the ability to think or reason at an incredibly fast pace.
Like the LSAT, law school rewards people that synthesize, reason and comprehend convoluted information faster than others. During your 1L year, you are given more information and tasks than there is reasonable time to accurately complete. On the LSAT the test stimuli are complicated and convoluted. In law school the cases are long, complicated and convoluted. The cases keep coming and the professors never slow down, rarely simplify the information, and most professors have a knack for never being straightforward. Students will refer to this as “hiding the ball.” On the LSAT we call these tricky questions.
When taking the LSAT, the pressure of the clock meant there was no time to review your answers. Law school is much the same. Week after week, more cases, more lecture and more assignments are piled on at an increasing rate. There is no time for review and falling behind is easy and sometimes inevitable.
Under these circumstances, the ability to synthesize, read and comprehend dense material and information faster than others would be a distinct competitive advantage. You would also be at an advantage if the information presented was consistent with your individual learning style.
Law school is an academic setting that disproportionately rewards a certain learning style. Many of my students are bright and capable. A fair amount of them learn best when they are given time to process voluminous information at a more reasonable pace. This way they actually have the time to adjust the material to their particular learning style.
Students who are more visual (spatial), social (interpersonal), aural (auditory) or physical (kinesthetic) are at a distinct disadvantage in law school. Of the seven learning styles, the vast majority of the law school experience caters to the verbal (linguistic), logical (mathematical) and solitary (intrapersonal) learning styles.
A fast pace joined with an incongruent learning style can make an already difficult academic setting more challenging than it need be. My strategy is simple find out what your classes are and who your professors will be before school starts (there are ways to get law school administrators to get this information to you as early as July). One you know who the professors are get there previous outlines. If you cannot get them from a student you knew or met then go to Outline Depot.com (it will cost $10 or so but its worth it…PM me if you want to know how to choose the best previous outline using this site.) With the previous outline you have everything you need to determine (1) the rules of law that will be covered in the class (2) the professors policies that are unique to him or her (3) the cases that the professor will be assigning. Now you can key important supplements like E&E's directly to your specific course. The reason you key the outline to the E&E is because the substantive section of the E&E will help you understand what the outline is saying (One of he only classes I would not use the E&E for is contracts but its really on a case-by-case basis and I have some of my own preferences like everyone else). An outline is too brief for someone just starting law school but you need it so you can focus on the portions of the E&E that are relevant to your class and you are not blindly reading information in the E&E that is not relevant to your class. This approach can be done in advance of class starting so that once the semester starts you have slowed down he pace of law school and will understand far more of what is going on in class. This also means that you can begin and finish outlining ahead of the rest of the class and ultimately begin taking practice exams before others as well. Hope this helps.

[kalvano]

If you don't have it already, buy the "8 Secrets to Law School Exams" by Charles Whitebread. It will be immensely helpful, and it's like $8.

[foundingfather]

tag

[linkx13]

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[timmyd]

I actually might have studied about the same my 2L year as my 1L year, but I was a transfer student eager to prove myself. I don't brief cases, I just outline. Usually, the prof will touch on what's important about a case in class. I do take copious notes. In some classes I try and write down everything said and sift through the relevant material later. In others, this approach does not work as well. Law school is as much about knowing a prof as it is the law.