Outlining Forum

[corporatelaw87]

Do you outline throughout the whole semester (like if you wanted to take notes on the E&Es or Hornbook you are reading)? Or do most people just take class notes, do reading, but outline like a month out from finals?

[Leeroy Jenkins]

You should do the former, and perhaps most people want to do the former, but everyone ends up doing the latter

[vanwinkle]

You should do the former, and perhaps most people want to do the former, but everyone ends up doing the latter

[Esc]

You should do the former, and perhaps most people want to do the former, but everyone ends up doing the latter

highly credited

[Leeroy Jenkins]

It also really depends whether or not your school has a reading week. If it does, you can really just cram outlining in there and still have a chance of making it out, but you will smell bad and you won't have time to shave. If your school has no reading week you simply cannot afford to put off outlining.

Also: Take the time during the mid-semester break (eg. Thanksgiving, Spring Break) to outline what you have already done, however you end up going.

[IzziesGal]

The WORST piece of advice I got 1L first semester was to start outlining about 3 weeks before finals. I have no idea why the ASP tutors say this. I couldn't really finish in time for finals, and I didn't feel prepared at all, even though I worked hella hard in those last 3 weeks. Took a totally different approach this semester....

This. Same school, different ASP, same bad advice. In fact, I heard this from SEVERAL 2Ls and 3Ls. It's just awful advice. You shouldn't be spending your last few weeks before finals outlining - you should be spending it memorizing your outline and taking practice tests.

[TTH]

What exactly should be in one's outline?

[Leeroy Jenkins]

What exactly should be in one's outline?

A logical progression of the BLL, supplemented with case law

[rbgrocio]

What exactly should be in one's outline?

Also... your professor opinion. If you write the way he talks, he will like you final better.

[Bosque]

I never started outlining until after classes were over, and I did well last semester (don't know yet for this one). I sometimes did not even make outlines, and even when I did, my "outlines" have always been short (8-12 pages usually). Usually I just make a 2-3 page summary sheet with references to where I can find more information if I need it (in notes, books, ect.)

Of course, I acknowledge that I am the exception. However, I just wanted to pipe up and say that no advice is going to be good for everyone. Some people are going to need more time to outline in order to feel like they understand it completely. Some people are going to be good with the three week mark. Some people are just going to be wasting time if they start more than a week before the final.

Best advice I was given: you have been going to school and studying all your life. You KNOW what works for you. Keep doing that, and don't let what everyone else is doing freak you out.

[kalvano]

The WORST piece of advice I got 1L first semester was to start outlining about 3 weeks before finals.

Wait, exams are basically open-ended questions that use whatever the class has covered throughout the semester, right?

So why wouldn't you keep a running outline through the semester, then use the last few weeks before exams to sort of sum it up?

It seems like a stupid idea to wait until the last minute to compile everything when you could have been doing it all along throughout the semester.

[Matthies]

The WORST piece of advice I got 1L first semester was to start outlining about 3 weeks before finals.

Wait, exams are basically open-ended questions that use whatever the class has covered throughout the semester, right?

So why wouldn't you keep a running outline through the semester, then use the last few weeks before exams to sort of sum it up?

It seems like a stupid idea to wait until the last minute to compile everything when you could have been doing it all along throughout the semester.

This would imply that there is some sort of logical progression in your classes, reading, the cases you cover. There is not, and it all depends on where your professor wants to start or skip or whatever. Torts, even in the same school, may be taught and learned very differently between two professors. Mostly 1L class are like this for the "teaching you to think like a lawyer" stuff by confusing the hell out of you and never bother to tell you what the damn point is till mid semester or later.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Wait, exams are basically open-ended questions that use whatever the class has covered throughout the semester, right?

Wrong.

[strike]So why wouldn't you keep a running outline through the semester, then use the last few weeks before exams to sort of sum it up?

It seems like a stupid idea to wait until the last minute to compile everything when you could have been doing it all along throughout the semester.[/strike]

[vanwinkle]

Wait, exams are basically open-ended questions that use whatever the class has covered throughout the semester, right?

So why wouldn't you keep a running outline through the semester, then use the last few weeks before exams to sort of sum it up?

It seems like a stupid idea to wait until the last minute to compile everything when you could have been doing it all along throughout the semester.

Translation:

I am a 0L and have no clue what I just said.

[General Tso]

I finished outlining for conlaw the night before the exam and I feel like I did a great job

[kalvano]

No, I mean that wouldn't it be simpler and more logical to organize as you go instead of waiting until the last minute?

[09042014]

I finished outlining for conlaw the night before the exam and I feel like I did a great job

How much of a white guy move is it to order General Tso's? Because I fucking love it.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

I finished outlining for conlaw the night before the exam and I feel like I did a great job

How much of a white guy move is it to order General Tso's? Because I fucking love it.

I haven't eaten it in months and I feel like I'm going to die.

[General Tso]

It seems like a stupid idea to wait until the last minute to compile everything when you could have been doing it all along throughout the semester.

You are going to be surprised how little time you will have outside of reading cases and drafting LWR memos. I can only work at home for 2-3 hours per day during the semester. If you want to work for 5+ hours per day throughout the entire semester, then by all means. You are going to be burnt out come exam time though, and could remain burnt out through your second semester.

[General Tso]

I finished outlining for conlaw the night before the exam and I feel like I did a great job

How much of a white guy move is it to order General Tso's? Because I fucking love it.

Very white guy...they dont even eat it in Asia.

[rayiner]

I'm in the other camp. Last semester I did the reading, then did my outlines a few weeks before finals. I find skimming through all the reading again in a 2-3 day binge while outlining the class really helps gel things in my mind and keeps me from paying attention to unnecessary details (because I have no time to). This semester I highlighted and took book notes. I'm not sure if that was a good idea. It made me a little lazier about paying careful attention to the reading again while I was outlining.

[kalvano]

Wait, exams are basically open-ended questions that use whatever the class has covered throughout the semester, right?

Wrong.

So then what are they?

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Unless your professor actually asks you an open ended question (like "Analyze the development of commerce clause interpretation from Gibbons to Raich"), law school exams are anything but. They are problems, and they have a solution. Looking at it from another direction is the second step to failure.

[kalvano]

Unless your professor actually asks you an open ended question (like "Analyze the development of commerce clause interpretation from Gibbons to Raich"), law school exams are anything but. They are problems, and they have a solution. Looking at it from another direction is the second step to failure.

So like what, analayze a case and draw conclusions?

I don't know, that's why I ask.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

more like a random fact background which asks you to apply the law to determine the legal outcome.