Your Guide to Law School Outlines
by Remy Outlines Staff
There are many tips and tricks someone may give you when it comes to making outlines. The guide below is by no means all-encompassing. However, it highlights and elaborates on what we believe are the four most important things for making an outline. Enjoy! 😺
TAKE NOTES
Creating a great outline begins before finals season comes around. If you want to create your own, taking notes in class every day, consistently, is a key to being successful. However, this doesn’t mean you need to start from scratch. We’ve found that one of the most effective note-taking strategies is taking an older course outline and highlighting and writing in the margins during each lecture. Remyoutlines.com is a great place to find quality course outlines made by other law students who took the same courses as you.
ORGANIZE
Now that your classes are wrapping up and the finals study period is fast approaching, it’s time to start organizing your notes into an outline. If your notes are written in the margin of an older outline, you can use that as a starting point. Rearrange and reformat it in a way that best suits your study style, while adding any additional information you picked up during lectures or assigned reading. You can also look at old outlines for ways to organize your outline.
Another good place to get inspiration from is your course syllabus. It’s likely that your professor organized the course in a way that makes sense for your outline.
You should also consider whether you should create an attack outline for your exam. An attack outline is a step-by-step checklist or decision tree that guides you through the correct approach — a plan of attack — for each issue. Many courses in law school will require this type of approach. For example, it is common for most students to have an attack outline for their contracts exam.
Lastly, make sure your outline is readable. We recommend you use a 14-point font you are used to reading. Bold the topics in your outline to make it easier to find things when you are studying for your exam. Having a readable outline is especially valuable for open-note exams.
USE HYPOTHETICALS
You should make sure your outline uses hypotheticals. Hypos will allow you to better understand the law you are studying. Furthermore, all law school exams are made up entirely of hypotheticals. The hypotheticals in your exams will closely mirror ones your professor has gone over in class. Make sure you write down any hypothetical your professor gives you in lectures.
CONSULT WITH YOUR PROFESSOR
Your professor is not likely to review your whole outline. If they did that for you, they would have to do it for everyone else, which would be overly time-consuming and unreasonable. However, it is a good idea to go to your professor’s office hours before the exam and get clarification on topics that confuse you.
Before the meeting, go through your outline and highlight things you don’t quite understand or need clarification on. You can also write notes in the margin. After your professor has clarified your questions in office hours, edit your outline to be written in a way that helps you better understand the area of the law that was confusing you.
We hope this guide proves to be a helpful resource throughout your time in law school.
