1. When you don't understand something, ie the logical ordering of a specific sentence or concept of law, read 1-3 more books on the same subject. That will help iron down the correct logical ordering.

2. When dealing with caselaw based classes, eg civ pro and torts, create flow charts for each issue. When answering questions on the exam which bring to point those issues, follow the flow chart.

3. Do practice exams and cross ref the sample answers. If you were a baseball player, would you practice swinging a bat or reading about swinging a bat? Only one determines your payout.

4. Understand that studying 16hour days is normal in some parts of the world for 12 year olds. In my law school, everyone thought that stopping at 8pm was normal. They received worse grades than me.

5. Never trust anything someone says, and sometimes this includes the professor. And clarify when the professor is ambiguous or makes mistakes.

6. The goal of an law essay is to "convince" with "emotion". Not to only follow logic.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26314283)

I go to a LAW school that awards Honors or Pass and does not rank.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306898)

I know this because I scored higher than you on the LSAT.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306917)

my comments are consistent with your thread title and additional inquiries and statements.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306924)

Now assume I go to a law school where the Median LSAT of my class is 173. 25% and 75% are 170 and 176.

How do I perform better than my peers on the single exam that determines our grades at the end of the class?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306932)

Read Getting to Maybe, know your outline cold, an do a million practice exams. It's really that simple.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306951)

All of the above is what the LSAT tests which is why it determines grades relative to peers. In OP's case, if he didn't crack 173, he scored lower than HALF of his class mates. There is now way he can get better grades than half of them. No matter how much he tries, no matter how much he studies, half of his class will perform (and try harder) than he ever will.

xoxo

hth

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26306959)

Read the following two Delaney books:

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Legal-Reasoning-Briefing-Analysis/dp/0960851445/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410449106&sr=8-2&keywords=delaney+law

and

http://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Best-School-Exams/dp/0960851453/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410449123&sr=8-1&keywords=delaney+law

The second is more important for exams. The first can be helpful right before or as 1L starts.

Go to all classes and hand-write notes. You get better retention by hand-writing notes, and you won't be tempted to be distracted by surfing/IM during lectures.

Type up all of your handwritten notes. This acts as a review, and allows you to determine where there are holes in your understanding for further reading and/or office hours.

Print out your typed notes, and then write your own outline from your class notes (which were supplemented above). For most professors, class lectures will cover the areas they want to focus on. The key here is to read your notes and then condense them into an outline of your own words. No copy-pasta and don't just re-write your notes again. Class Notes could be 100 pages, but your outline should be like 20-25.

Print out your outline, and from reading your outline, write a short outline. I'm talking 2-3 pages tops. This should just be the most high-level information. By this point, you should know your notes and outlines very well, so that they are for quick-reference only during exams (you might want to print them all and put them in binders with tabs).

Do tons of practice exams, noting areas where you are deficient and practice the exam taking tips from the second Delaney book above.

One thing you should get is that law school exams are about setting up strawmen and knocking them down. You want to come up with every possible argument even if it fails (well, so and so might argue this because . . ., but it won't work because . . .). The more of these you can get in an exam answer, ideally with all these little strawmen going back to an argument that the professor briefly mentions in lecture, the better you'll do.

I wouldn't waste much time on supplements or other people's outlines unless there is a specific topic that you don't understand and your trying to get a grasp on it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26307926)

Credited. I mean there will be a certain hierarchy to the strawmen -- you'll get more points for hitting the more likely ones and fewer for the leftfield ones, but after you nail the main ones the way to rack up points is to think of as many others as possible.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26307949)

One thing you should get is that law school exams are about setting up strawmen and knocking them down. You want to come up with every possible argument even if it fails (well, so and so might argue this because . . ., but it won't work because . . .). The more of these you can get in an exam answer, ideally with all these little strawmen going back to an argument that the professor briefly mentions in lecture, the better you'll do.

I wouldn't waste much time on supplements or other people's outlines unless there is a specific topic that you don't understand and your trying to get a grasp on it."

CREDITED

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26307959)

those were my ideas 2 years ago, I don't see any reason to change them

I might incorporate spaced repetition software into it now

ala http://sivers.org/srs different context, but same idea

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26308191)

Use these so you can skim cases quicker while still getting something out of it, and so you don't have to scramble all class taking notes (since you have much of the lecture in the outline) and don't miss important shit when you inevitably zone out here and there.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26308247)

I also buy the whole silly thing about putting subheadings and brief-like structure in your answer, which is easier to do if you take five minutes to sketch an outline for your answer before you start spewing out words. There are professors who will just give extra checks for headings that are on point and there are profs who heavily reward organization and clarity as much as hitting every issue.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2671450&forum_id=2#26308293)