HOW TO SUCCEED IN THIS COURSE
1. You should read the assigned material before you come to class, not after. It is impossible to gain full advantage of the lecture if you do not have some familiarity with the material already. The lecture does not merely repeat the text, but expands on it, explains it, and shows how it is useful. Some lectures cover material that is not discussed in the text. Exam questions may be based on such material. You will enjoy the lectures more, and benefit more from them, if you are already familiar with the topic area. Exam questions are taken from the text and also from class lectures and discussions. Cramming is not advisable. The many legal rules will confuse you if you attempt to learn them all at once.
2. Download the lecture outlines before coming to class. This will alert you to the issues we will discuss and it will facilitate your note-taking.
3. I strongly recommend that you form a study group of 4-6 students. For maximum effectiveness you should meet once a week and each member should bring several multiple choice questions to the meeting. Your testing of each other, and the discussions that will follow, are the best method of study. The next best method is to answer the problem questions at the end of each chapter. Do not let your study group become a “test-preparation group” that meets only before exams.
4. When preparing for exams, I suggest that you review at least five of the old exams, and use them as a “radar screen” to detect areas of weakness. Many students do not use the old exams to maximum benefit. If they miss a question they merely look at the answer key and move on. Instead, when you miss a question on an old exam, this is telling you that your knowledge of that topic area is weak. You should review that topic area until you are confident that you would have no trouble with another question from that topic area. If you do this 10 times, you have improved your knowledge in 10 areas. If you do this 50 times, you have improved your knowledge in 50 areas. By following this suggestion you will focus your study time on the topic areas that need it most.
There is a danger that I have observed some students falling prey to. Sometimes a student will see a question on a new exam that seems to resemble a question from an old test. That student might remember the old correct answer and choose a similar one on the new test. However the question might not be the same and so the answer is probably not the same either. When taking a new test, do not try to relate a new question to old questions that you recall. Treat each new question entirely on its own merits. If you understand the material that the question is testing, that will lead you to the correct answer.
5. Prepare a vocabulary list. Understanding basic legal terminology is necessary in order to communicate effectively with your lawyer and also in order to understand legal documents. Accordingly, each exam will have several questions which are definition-based. In order to master the legal terminology necessary I strongly urge you to compose your own vocabulary list of legal terms. Do not simply copy the definition given in the text; instead, write out your own understanding of the term. This will cause you to think about the term and the issue involved, and your own definition will be far more meaningful to you. Before exams, a review of your vocabulary list will help your performance on the exam.
6. Do not wait until two weeks before the final exam to ask for help if you are not doing well. The practice exam is your first performance feedback. If your score on that exam is not up to your expectations, please see me and we will discuss study methods that will improve your scores, and more important, your understanding. The earlier you take corrective action the better. Remember, your letter grade in this course is based exclusively on your exam scores.
7. Warning: It is easy to develop a false sense of security about the material in this course, and then to do poorly on the exams. This is because the material may appear simple on the surface, but actually it is complex. The only way to penetrate beneath the illusion of simplicity is to work with the material by making up test questions, taking mock examinations, answering the problem questions at the end of each chapter, and discussing the material with your study group.