Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

noah I want to get around a 170 to make sure I get into USC....


is it just study study study my little ass off until i consistently score that high on practice tests?

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

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Do you have any hints or ideas as to how we could track down an outline for his class?

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I've never understood the point of this. 99.9% of the benefit of an outline comes from making it. Same for the 4-person strategy above...just seems dumb to me. Make the damn outline, you'll learn the stuff much faster than by tracking down outlines, writing a treatise on K, or whatever else people think of.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

So you'd never use a commercial outline or hornbook? There's value in gaining a new perspective, especially from someone who has taken the class already.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

Meh, I would buy them but I hardly ever used them. It was more of a comfort thing. Of course there is value to them, but I knew of way too many people who used the hornbooks/past outlines/etc. as crutches and didn't do the work on its own. The only time I used them was if I really didn't understand something or, in my second or third year, when I didn't go to class at all and had to learn it on my own. I'd still make the outline, but I'd use those things to help fill it in.

Anyway, I guess my only point is don't use only those things, I've seen the results of that, and they are not pretty.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

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Meh, I would buy them but I hardly ever used them. It was more of a comfort thing. Of course there is value to them, but I knew of way too many people who used the hornbooks/past outlines/etc. as crutches and didn't do the work on its own. The only time I used them was if I really didn't understand something or, in my second or third year, when I didn't go to class at all and had to learn it on my own. I'd still make the outline, but I'd use those things to help fill it in.


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This was my strategy as well. I would take the syllabus, make a basic outline structure, and fill in from horn books/other outlines. This all started two weeks or so before the end of the semester. As for whether you need to read, you need to realize that reading the case book isn't about learning the black letter, it's about FINDING the two-sentence black letter law in a 20-page case. Once you know that, there really isn't a reason to read all the cases (especially if your professor doesn't cold-call).

I hated group study sessions; I always felt that they were extremely inefficient. For going over practice exams, maybe, but not for studying and learning the material.

I have to reiterate, though, 1L is DEFINITELY not the time to cut corners. EVERYONE works their tail off first year, and you don't shouldn't gamble trying to figure out if you can succeed without going full force. You really just have to figure out what works for you.

That being said, I believe in spreading the wealth, so if anyone wants any outlines for pretty much any class (including upper level courses), let me know.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

All of my professors cold call and most take attendance. Under 80% attendance=automagic failure. I guess that's a beat.

It's not like I'd want to do all my studying off this one outline, but it's a visiting professor using a book that he's an author of(and that apparently is not tremendously popular). I don't know how rigid and conventional 1L tort teaching is.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

Two things to understand.

1. Grading is on a curve. Studying like everyone else might not always be the best thing.

2. People will constantly be saying things like "lol you read the cases?", but those people probably read them 20 times. These are the older version of the people that tell everyone they got drunk the night before the SAT. They're lying/showing off. Nobody wants to be "that guy" but sometimes "that guy" gets As and gets the job of his choice. SO study as much as you feel comfortable/can handle.

I say read the cases, but if you don't have time and need to read the hornbook or case summary, it's not the end of the world.

Definitely no need for "exam prep" until probably mid-November. So no taking old exams just yet. Just keep on top of your reading, bust your ass in legal writing and research, and try to show up to class as much as possible.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

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All of my professors cold call and most take attendance. Under 80% attendance=automagic failure. I guess that's a beat.

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A lot did during my 1L year, a few did 2L, almost none did 3L, but I took a lot of small seminar-type classes those last 2 years, so it was pretty obvious when you did not show up, and even though they didn't officially take attendance, it was pretty easy to see who missed a class.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

bump for being a useful thread.

Re: Ask Noah About First Year of Law School, Getting inTop 10%, Law Re
 

I think I might have gotten screwed with curriculum re-reading this thread. My 1L contracts course has a bunch of UCC [censored] in it and the teacher pretty strongly implied that some of the exam will be a borderline UCC case(like a $150 part being installed by a mechanic for $100 in labor).