Homework in Law School...How Does It Work? Forum

[lavarman84]

I mention the law profs opinions in my other post, and which parts to ignore that on as well.

But I'd lean MOST on the canned ones. Just my honest opinion to avoid scabs on the GPA even in doubt. (if you are a 4.0 law student you know who you are and disregard this)

While I understand that worked for you, the point I'm making is that it may not be the best choice for everyone. I did not use any canned outlines. I made all my own outlines. I found it to be really helpful for refreshing myself on material before the exam. All in all, though, I don't think understanding of black letter law will be the thing that hurts most people's GPA. I think the vast majority of people know it coming into the exam.

So basically, you can succeed doing either one. Which one is the best for a prospective 0L? Don't know. Trial and error, my friends. Good luck.

[joejoe]

You sound like the smart kid I was talking about........you should ignore everyone else (you already know you are doing ok)

those doing what you are saying and falling behind..........THOSE are who I was talking to

but I agree, that not one size fits all here. Agreed.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Worst thing you can do? Make and study your own notes from class like the Prof tells you to. Classic 1L mistake.

Eh, this is what I and a number of people I know did, and succeeded. The classes where I relied on canned outlines were by far my lowest grades. So again, it completely depends on the individual (and prof). (Though I agree that if you've fallen completely behind, using canned materials is better than trying to complete the semester in the three days before your exam.)

[registering]

Worst thing you can do? Make and study your own notes from class like the Prof tells you to. Classic 1L mistake.

Eh, this is what I and a number of people I know did, and succeeded. The classes where I relied on canned outlines were by far my lowest grades. So again, it completely depends on the individual (and prof). (Though I agree that if you've fallen completely behind, using canned materials is better than trying to complete the semester in the three days before your exam.)

Agreed. I saw a lot of people follow that advice about just taking other people's outlines and revising them, and it did not work. The people I know who got top grades tended to make their own outlines, and read enough to keep ahead of class. Maybe you can afford to stop reading after you know your system works, but I don't think that's TCR for people who are just starting out fall semester.

If I ever gave away my outlines they'd be shitty resources to use in lieu of actual learning, because I tailored them to how I learned, and they've already digested the material once and am just jotting down the key points where I might have missed something. Other people make enormous 80 page outlines which are basically just reorganized notes with not too much reprocessing going on when they're rewritten verbatim.

Canned outlines are more class-specific I think. It helps in classes where professors actually teach material because there's too much shit to cover (not enough time for people to raise their hands and talk about their feelings). I think they help less in common law classes where there's more Socratic discussion and the professor is waiting to drop selective nuggets of insight in the discussion.

[gnomgnomuch]

So basically you all went to easy schools? My freshman year history class, the syllabus was 10 monographs, and we read all of all of them. I was a history major; I read way more in undergrad than I ever got assigned in law school.

Poli Sci major with double minors in Business Journalism and Corp Comm.... way too much reading. The worst class I ever had was American Political Thought. Not only was that class INTENSELY BORING but the professor made us read 3 books and like 2-3 article per class. On the other hand my social welfare policy class had 1 book for the entire semester and it was like 150 pages long.

I'm currently looking through the syllabus for my MPP reading intensive courses, and it looks like the equiv of about 150 pages per week per class. I might actually be thankful for the econ and stats classes lmao.

[maroon175]

On a somewhat related note, does/has reading ahead worked for any of you? E.g. doing a whole week's worth of reading a week or two ahead in order to lessen your workload for a week where a writing assignment is due?

[mylifeis24]

On a somewhat related note, does/has reading ahead worked for any of you? E.g. doing a whole week's worth of reading a week or two ahead in order to lessen your workload for a week where a writing assignment is due?

I do this. I finish all my week's readying over the weekend or at the latest by monday night.

[03152016]

i usually read the night before or the day of class
but everyone's different