Class notes=useless.
As I write this, i'm sitting in class. This could be why but it's not.
I came to the conclusion last week that if I had to make an outline and be prepared for a law school final based solely on my notes, I would fail out. I hear no one fails out but without any type of supplement, I would go against that notion.
It's not that I take terrible notes....well not in every class anyway. The thing is, notes are generally haphazard and contain things like "?" and "I don't know". That cannot be helpful for the academic hazing known as first semester 1L finals.
From speaking to upperclassman, however, I see that this isn't limited to 1L's. In fact, people seem both surprised and impressed that I still go to class and take notes at all. Notes, to me at least, seem good to get some basic black letter law, some policy, and make use of my "?" key. It also prevents me from playing spider solitaire for the entire 1 hour and 50 minutes of class. There is no way in hell that these notes alone could be enough.
In beginning to make my torts outline, i've noticed that i've relied mostly on Emanuel for structure and information and very little on the majority of my notes. Sure, stuff has gone in there, but by and large I wonder why I helped facilitate the early on-set of carpal tunnel syndrome by typing down 70% of this.
Paying attention is beginning to get hard. It's November and we are tired. The people that speak most have begun to ask the professor things that even he or she does not know. Safe to assume it won't be on the final?
Finals and one last memo loom. I have come to terms with my mediocrity.
I came to the conclusion last week that if I had to make an outline and be prepared for a law school final based solely on my notes, I would fail out. I hear no one fails out but without any type of supplement, I would go against that notion.
It's not that I take terrible notes....well not in every class anyway. The thing is, notes are generally haphazard and contain things like "?" and "I don't know". That cannot be helpful for the academic hazing known as first semester 1L finals.
From speaking to upperclassman, however, I see that this isn't limited to 1L's. In fact, people seem both surprised and impressed that I still go to class and take notes at all. Notes, to me at least, seem good to get some basic black letter law, some policy, and make use of my "?" key. It also prevents me from playing spider solitaire for the entire 1 hour and 50 minutes of class. There is no way in hell that these notes alone could be enough.
In beginning to make my torts outline, i've noticed that i've relied mostly on Emanuel for structure and information and very little on the majority of my notes. Sure, stuff has gone in there, but by and large I wonder why I helped facilitate the early on-set of carpal tunnel syndrome by typing down 70% of this.
Paying attention is beginning to get hard. It's November and we are tired. The people that speak most have begun to ask the professor things that even he or she does not know. Safe to assume it won't be on the final?
Finals and one last memo loom. I have come to terms with my mediocrity.
posted by T.A.L. at 11:15 AM
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3 Comments:
I feel the same way. Mostly the class notes are rehashing what we've read either in the text or in something like the Chemerinsky horn book.
I take reading notes and almost never add anything to them. Especially in a class like Cohen's.
Class notes have not helped my in outlining at all.
My notes suck as well, particularly from Civil Procedure, but like you I have found it's the only way to keep from losing all attentiveness in class. (Mostly I would just get myself thrown out of class from laughing at my friends' IMs.) In particular, I have found that my notes contain useful statements like "Complex case," which I clearly must have written because the professor said it. As to whether that was useful when doing my outline? Um, not at all. And I had that garbage instead of the details and holding of the case.
So what I have realized is, the most useful notes I take are those I take while reading. Which doesn't mean that attending class should be optional. Except con law, for which one only need to do the reading and read Chemerinsky, at least if you have the prof. I do.
But I digress. If anyone figures out the secret to law school notetaking, let me know...
Spoken like a true champion. You speak for us all!
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