How important is it (or not) to do prep the summer before 1L starts? Forum

penn19 · Post by **penn19** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:07 pm

I've heard conflicting information about this. I'm tempted to just sit back, relax, and enjoy this summer before the craziness starts. But I don't want to be a deer caught in headlights when classes finally start. Any thoughts? Should I just read for pleasure while I still can? Any law-related books I should take a look at? Thanks!

lymenheimer · Post by **lymenheimer** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:16 pm

penn19 wrote:I've heard conflicting information about this. I'm tempted to just sit back, relax, and enjoy this summer before the craziness starts. But I don't want to be a deer caught in headlights when classes finally start. Any thoughts? Should I just read for pleasure while I still can? Any law-related books I should take a look at? Thanks!

The search function still works. Since I'm a 0L I'm not allowed to post my opinion. The tldr of all the past posts however is: no point in prepping.

penn19 · Post by **penn19** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:18 pm

lymenheimer wrote:
penn19 wrote:I've heard conflicting information about this. I'm tempted to just sit back, relax, and enjoy this summer before the craziness starts. But I don't want to be a deer caught in headlights when classes finally start. Any thoughts? Should I just read for pleasure while I still can? Any law-related books I should take a look at? Thanks!
The search function still works. Since I'm a 0L I'm not allowed to post my opinion. The tldr of all the past posts however is: no point in prepping.

Yes, was looking for the TLDR. Thanks.

Edit: Also, was wondering if anyone had experience with those "0L prep courses." I'm not inclined to try one given my nonprofit salary, but was wondering if anyone had experiences with those. Seems like there's a Spivey type one-on-one consulting prep for 1L, as well as online courses where you can do exercises/lessons and get feedback from instructors.

Good Guy Gaud · Post by **Good Guy Gaud** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:21 pm

Above poster is correct (this topic has been discussed at length, the search function should prove helpful).

I prepped before 1L and didn't find that it really benefited me at all. You can't really know what your professors are going to focus on. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the summer before 1L. You won't have many (if any) other extended periods of time to kick back for like ... ever after law school begins.

lymenheimer · Post by **lymenheimer** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:22 pm

penn19 wrote:
lymenheimer wrote:
penn19 wrote:I've heard conflicting information about this. I'm tempted to just sit back, relax, and enjoy this summer before the craziness starts. But I don't want to be a deer caught in headlights when classes finally start. Any thoughts? Should I just read for pleasure while I still can? Any law-related books I should take a look at? Thanks!
The search function still works. Since I'm a 0L I'm not allowed to post my opinion. The tldr of all the past posts however is: no point in prepping.
Yes, was looking for the TLDR. Thanks.

Justification against those who say you should: You will not be graded on what you know on day one. By exam time, everyone will be on equal footing with taught knowledge. If you want to prep, it will only make you more familiar/comfortable with what you are doing on day 1 (week 1?), but likely won't help your grade.

Also...what Gaud said ab not knowing prof's prefs.

penn19 · Post by **penn19** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:25 pm

Gotcha, thanks!

landshoes · Post by **landshoes** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:02 pm

I definitely wouldn't pay for a prep class. They don't seem that helpful.

Getting a Civil Procedure supplement and reading through it casually would probably be helpful, though, if you felt like doing something.

If anyone is going to UChicago I could recommend specific books that I think would help for UChicago but a lot of these things are really prof-specfic and it's better to just go in and learn what the prof wants you to learn.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:05 pm

You don't have to do anything to be successful.

Now, it wouldn't hurt to do research on how to law school. Most people on here realize that it's not like UG but you'll be surprised at how many of your classmates will nonetheless approach law school the same way they did college. That way you could at least come in with some sort of loose plan of attack which will reduce your stress in the first weeks.

Fwiw I did the Barbri 7 day prep course (I did not pay for it however, and absolutely nobody should). The only useful thing I got out of it was the professors they hired spoke candidly about what they expect and how they grade. They takeaway: every professor has a different approach to class and exams. Thus, just go to office hours and ask what they expect. Yes, they'll actually tell you! It always surprised me how many people would just guess or assume they knew what the prof wanted.

Clearly · Post by **Clearly** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:38 pm

Just read getting to maybe at some point, which you should prob do during 1L anyway

Br3v · Post by **Br3v** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:44 pm

Clearly wrote:Just read getting to maybe at some point, which you should prob do during 1L anyway

emkay625 · Post by **emkay625** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:48 pm

1. Read getting to maybe and I'd also recommend reading law school confidential.

2. Buy cute office/study supplies if you're into that sort of stuff.

3. Drink a lot.

4. Do nothing else.

cheaptilts · Post by **cheaptilts** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:50 pm

did very well at my t14 with mediocre to okay grades from my UG state school, median LSAT (that I actually studied p hard for), and no legal work/extracurricular activity experience that would help w/ law school or suggest a background in legal studies. No prep.

People will say it helps and people will say it hurts. Just throwing it out there that it's definitely not necessary. I would definitely read a few chapters of GTM and like 60 or so pages of the Vale of Tears thread

penn19 · Post by **penn19** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 4:02 pm

emkay625 wrote:1. Read getting to maybe and I'd also recommend reading law school confidential.

2. Buy cute office/study supplies if you're into that sort of stuff.

3. Drink a lot.

4. Do nothing else.

Re: the cute office supplies, already one step ahead of ya: http://abovethelaw.com/2014/08/the-esse ... ing-guide/.

(PS, fav so far is this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5K ... JDQPHDVX54)

RaceJudicata · Post by **RaceJudicata** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 4:07 pm

It is important to NOT prep. Enjoy summer.

NoBladesNoBows · Post by **NoBladesNoBows** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:26 pm

psu2016 · Post by **psu2016** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:29 pm

Go to http://play.typeracer.com/ and work on getting your typing speed up. That's the only thing that is guaranteed to help you on exams.

malleus discentium · Post by **malleus discentium** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:52 pm

You definitely do not need to do any substantive preparation, and it may be counterproductive if your professor teaches things very differently from how you learned it. That said, if you want to do something productive, I would read Democracy and Distrust. It's not very long but Ely comes up all the time.

Hand · Post by **Hand** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:14 pm

After finishing my first semester, I feel that this is one of the few things on which the TLS echo chamber is spot-on: don't waste your time doing this. If you want to get ahead of the curve, start reading E&Es or whatever else you like as soon as classes start. While at one level everything you'll learn is, essentially, boilerplate stuff that doesn't differ much no matter where you'll end up going to school, at the same time every professor will focus on some stuff and not on others, will want it talked about in a certain way, and filling your head with stuff that stands a decent chance of being irrelevant (and therefore perhaps even harmful, since the last thing you'll want to do on a timed exam is getting confused with thoughts about issues that didn't make it into your syllabus), don't do it.

Kinky John · Post by **Kinky John** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:16 pm

psu2016 wrote:Go to http://play.typeracer.com/ and work on getting your typing speed up. That's the only thing that is guaranteed to help you on exams.

On a related note, learn how to type with all your fingers if you don't already. Takes about a week.

landshoes · Post by **landshoes** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 7:02 pm

I can't emphasize enough that you should just be skimming and not studying anything you do look at.

My civpro prof didn't test us on ANY TIME LIMITS. At all. None of that was on the test. You can very easily waste a ton of time. For the most part you should relax, make sure your health and living situation is taken care of, and start refreshed and rested.

A. Nony Mouse · Post by **A. Nony Mouse** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 7:11 pm

malleus discentium wrote:You definitely do not need to do any substantive preparation, and it may be counterproductive if your professor teaches things very differently from how you learned it. That said, if you want to do something productive, I would read Democracy and Distrust. It's not very long but Ely comes up all the time.

It's probably an excellent book but I have never heard of Ely before.

penn19 · Post by **penn19** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 8:37 pm

Kinky John wrote:
psu2016 wrote:Go to http://play.typeracer.com/ and work on getting your typing speed up. That's the only thing that is guaranteed to help you on exams.
On a related note, learn how to type with all your fingers if you don't already. Takes about a week.

Do some people in your class type out their exams with just two fingers?

Kinky John · Post by **Kinky John** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:25 pm

penn19 wrote:
Kinky John wrote:
psu2016 wrote:Go to http://play.typeracer.com/ and work on getting your typing speed up. That's the only thing that is guaranteed to help you on exams.
On a related note, learn how to type with all your fingers if you don't already. Takes about a week.
Do some people in your class type out their exams with just two fingers?

Not that I'm aware of, and that's the point.

TracyFletcher · Post by **TracyFletcher** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:32 am

mod edit: spam

Hikikomorist · Post by **Hikikomorist** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:53 am

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