When (specifically) should I start outlining? Forum

[theycallmefoes]

For those of you who advocate outlining early, after each section, how do you define "section"? For example, in Torts, should I start outlining when we finish discussing battery (then outline again after assault, etc.), or intentional torts, or defenses to intentional torts?

[BVest]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by those who advocate outlining early. Personally, I advocate outlining starting about the second week of October, and I know that my group was fairly early relative to our peers. By then you'll start to see for yourself what kinds of divisions make sense for your profs. Additionally, I advocate only working on one or two classes per outlining session and only doing one session per week (4-6 hours) for the first month and then going to two sessions per week as you get into the last few weeks of the semester.

I don't think that outlining too early in the semester is that valuable. Specifically I think you need to get through a few topics in a class first.

[Attax]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by those who advocate outlining early. Personally, I advocate outlining starting about the second week of October, and I know that my group was fairly early relative to our peers. By then you'll start to see for yourself what kinds of divisions make sense for your profs. Additionally, I advocate only working on one or two classes per outlining session and only doing one session per week (4-6 hours) for the first month and then going to two sessions per week as you get into the last few weeks of the semester.

I don't think that outlining too early in the semester is that valuable. Specifically I think you need to get through a few topics in a class first.

My approach as a 1L was going to be to just do it when we end a major section. Like in Property we are doing finder's cases atm, once that is done, outline them. When we get done with the next section, outline it and revise as needed on finder's cases. Not sure how credited this is, but seemed like it would be better than just doing it after every class.

[arklaw13]

The point at which you are certain you aren't going to be able to find a decent outline that someone else has written for your prof's class.

[tomwatts]

I don't think you have a clue what you're doing until at least a month in, so I didn't start until early October, and then I updated about every two weeks after that.

This was early. Some people didn't start until right before finals. I think they were more stressed than I was, but many of them did fine.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I would create outlines the first weekend of October and then update the outlines every weekend during the semester.

[BVest]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by those who advocate outlining early. Personally, I advocate outlining starting about the second week of October, and I know that my group was fairly early relative to our peers. By then you'll start to see for yourself what kinds of divisions make sense for your profs. Additionally, I advocate only working on one or two classes per outlining session and only doing one session per week (4-6 hours) for the first month and then going to two sessions per week as you get into the last few weeks of the semester.

I don't think that outlining too early in the semester is that valuable. Specifically I think you need to get through a few topics in a class first.

My approach as a 1L was going to be to just do it when we end a major section. Like in Property we are doing finder's cases atm, once that is done, outline them. When we get done with the next section, outline it and revise as needed on finder's cases. Not sure how credited this is, but seemed like it would be better than just doing it after every class.

Definitely don't do it after every class (I don't think anyone advocates that, so it's a bit of a strawman anyway). I know some people like to do the sections thing, but I found that to be too erratic in terms of timing. By scheduling regular outlining sessions (ours were 1 pm on Fridays, going until between 4 (early in the semester) and 7 (at crunch time), then later in the semester we added a Tuesday afternoon session), we didn't have to worry about what sections were ending in what classes to figure out when to do it. All we had to do was decide that week which one or two subjects we were going to work on.

As far as doing it as soon as you finish your first section, that's way too early and your outline will basically mirror your notes. You might as well wait until October when you'll have a better feel for quantity (though this gets honed further throughout the semester and you'll revise your outline late in the game).

[Attax]

Sounds good, thanks BVest. I wasn't sure, because I definitely don't feel like I'll have enough info, but didn't want to fall behind on it. Property so far seems like it'd be next to impossible even though our first section finishes next week.

[03152016]

tag

[filibuster]

October sounds right to me. I also studied in a group first semester and had regular meetings. Way more productive closer to crunch time.

[jbagelboy]

I took notes in class and tried to consolidate them each week. I started my actual outlines around second week of november by combining and formatting these weekly notes, and finalized them over thanksgiving weekend.

But you do what works for you. I know people who updated their outlines from the start of the semester on a daily basis and always worked ahead. They didn't receive better grades or anything tho

[sparty99]

Outline on day one. Read the case and then have the BLL.

[beepboopbeep]

I took notes in class and tried to consolidate them each week. I started my actual outlines around second week of november by combining and formatting these weekly notes, and finalized them over thanksgiving weekend.

But you do what works for you. I know people who updated their outlines from the start of the semester on a daily basis and always worked ahead. They didn't receive better grades or anything tho

That's basically how I did it, and did very well. PM if you want specifics.

The three things I'd emphasize from the above discussion:

1. I think it's important to have some distance from the material, and some larger view of how the material all fits together, before you start outlining. Knowing what the discussions look like in week seven should inform what goes into your outline from your week three notes. With some exceptions, professors view the subjects they teach as having overarching themes with some internal logic. The better understanding you have of that internal logic, the more useful your outline will be.

2. Similarly, I think it's important to have some proximity to the final. Outlining your week three stuff in week four means it's probably not fresh in week eleven or whatever when you're doing practice exams. Reasonable minds can certainly disagree on this. But it was crucial for me. It did lead to more stress in the weeks before finals, but also less stress during the quarter.

3. Disregarding all of the above, whatever method you use has to work for YOU. It's easy to get caught up in, "well, this person studies all the time and seems to do well, and they did things this way, so I should do things that way, too." Sometimes that will work out, and sometimes it won't (badly). But if you can be introspective and get a sense of what's working for you and what isn't, and adjust your studying/outlining accordingly, you'll do better. There's no set formula that works for everyone.

Like, I realized early on that if I had my laptop in class I would just play games and not pay attention, so I handwrote my notes the entire year. That may or may not be something that affects you or works for you, but it's the kind of decision you should be making - working smart means knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. If you need something like OneNote to keep your notes organized, use it. If you have a hard time extracting BLL from the facts, use supplements. Do what you need to do for you, not what you heard worked for other successful people.