Outlining v. Hypos Forum

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KijiStewart

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Outlining v. Hypos

Post by KijiStewart » Wed May 03, 2017 9:47 pm

Any of you find doing hypos is an overrated study habit? I find it very rare that you'll get asked a question that directly relates to a past exam question or some hypo you can pull out from an Emmanuel so its best to just spend your time making an extended and short outline, then reviewing it.

Thoughts?

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lymenheimer

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Re: Outlining v. Hypos

Post by lymenheimer » Wed May 03, 2017 10:11 pm

You thought it might be a good idea to talk about exams once you finish them to get an idea of what you did wrong/where you stand, so I'd be wary of your intuitions here.

Past exams are helpful for figuring out the style of questions the professor asks and what kind of answers he is looking for. No, you won't get the identical question asked, but there are only so many topics covered in one subject, you can see how the professor styles his questions towards each topic. It also helps you with writing out the exam for the class. Knowledge of the material will be relevant regardless of the exact fact pattern and knowing that you can appropriately respond within the time allotted is more helpful than having your outline color-coded or whatever.

RaceJudicata

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Re: Outlining v. Hypos

Post by RaceJudicata » Wed May 03, 2017 10:54 pm

Past exams expose your weaknesses. Then you try to fill in those gaps in knowledge. If you only use outlines, you will (unless super disciplined) subconsciously gloss over subjects you find more difficult, can't do this with practice exams.

dabigchina

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Re: Outlining v. Hypos

Post by dabigchina » Thu May 04, 2017 12:34 am

Doing Hypos in E&Es are useful if you are trying to learn the basics of the course.

Doing previous exams help you integrate your knowledge.

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