tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18502518.post7289109365751817121..comments2023-10-25T00:54:05.329-07:00Comments on Law Career Blog: Answering my MailGregory W. Bowmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12793221328956712830noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18502518.post-72665372416151900052007-01-18T20:25:00.000-08:002007-01-18T20:25:00.000-08:00That's a very good point about the value of prepar...That's a very good point about the value of preparing your own outlines. Much of the benefit is that you learn the material better by preparing the outline yourself. It forces you to actively think about how the material fits together, instead of passively following someone else's line of thought. For me, it was much like calculus: you can follow it when the teacher does a problem, but only by doing it yourself can you really comprehend and understand it well.<br /><br />So prepare your own outlines. As I tell my students, preparing an outline actually helps you "pretake" parts of the final exam. You can prepare your summaries of the law and how the cases/authorities work, and then use those to craft the parts of your exam answers where you explain and summarize the state of the law. (Note: I give open book exams.)Gregory W. Bowmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793221328956712830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18502518.post-3233290493527803652007-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:002007-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:00The only strong correlation that I could find betw...The only strong correlation that I could find between my grades and my study habits is this. The classes for which I composed my own outline from scratch yielded good results. Thankfully this was the case for the majority of my classes. The two courses for in which I tailored and modified an outline from a previous year for the same exact class and professor, I was disappointed with the results. Honestly, I read through the outlines and decided that I could never make one as good as these. So I foolishly used someone elses work (which probably helped its author a great deal) and just used the extra time study the outline itelf. I spent a great deal of time composing my own outlines and sometimes felt like a fool for doing so. "Why am I I wasting my time doing what someone else has already done?" I asked myself. Even some 2L's and 3L's advised me to use someone else's if they were available and they of course know everything. But perhaps, the act of composition is what helps some students make sense of the material. I think it works for me and I'm sticking with it. As much of the weekend as it devours, I'm going to make all of my own outlines from now on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18502518.post-33958608561393854902007-01-15T18:35:00.000-08:002007-01-15T18:35:00.000-08:00By all means please educate us on the exam grading...By all means please educate us on the exam grading system. There is a theory circulating that professors throw darts or pull grades out of a hat since often there seems to be no correlation between how well we feel we grasp the material, how hard we studied the material, or how well we feel we have done on any given exam and the grades that we receive.<br /> The course that I had the most interest in and studied the hardest in, I received a C+. The course that I studied the least for and felt like I knew practically nothing about, B+. The more I talk to my fellow students, the more they seem to echo this concern. On at least one occasion I have helped a student study for a class where it was apparent they had less understanding of the material than myself and yet they manage to pull a full letter grade higher on the exam. Can you put some method to this madness so that students don’t apathetically assume that regardless of their efforts or understanding that they are going to make Cs anyway?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com