School Supplies Review

I thought I would do a follow up on which of the school supplies I bought at the beginning of the school year were useful and which weren't.

• eBags Router Wheeled Laptop Convertible: I used this bag everyday. It holds a lot: I could fit my laptop, two casebooks, assorted smaller supplements and my lunch bag in it along with all the necessary accessories. There are a lot of pockets and I used all of them. The pockets on either side of the retractable handle were good for an umbrella and my laptop power cord. The side pockets were good for water bottles or thermoses. The front pockets were good for organizing all the other miscellanea, like pens, highlighters, cellphone, etc. The bag rolls really smoothly, although towards the end of the year the wheels got a little noisier. The only problem I have with the bag is that it is pretty large and heavy. There are other bags that hold just as much that are not as big and heavy. However it has held up really well to daily use and still looks almost brand new.


• Elle Essentials - Christy Lunch Bag: I used this bag pretty much everyday as well. I could fit several gladware type containers in it for my lunch and snacks throughout the day. I like the way it looks, but this ended up not being at all important because I usually stuffed it into my backpack rather than carry it separately because the straps are not quite long enough to carry it over my shoulder. The shape of the bag worked well for being stuffed into my backpack because it is not very tall and fits in my bag on top of the books.


• Skullcandy Proletariat Noise Canceling Headphones: I didn't use these at all. They seemed a little too conspicuous and I usually didn't need to block out noise to study -- I can read cases with background noise. When I did need to block out some particularly loud or distracting conversations nearby I just used a pair of earbud headphones and some Brian Eno and that worked fine. I think these are probably best for listening to movies or music on an airplane.


• BookBuddy - Students Choice! BookStand-Snaps in a 3-Ring-Binder: I didn't use this either. Although it might have been better for my neck if I had, I need my book lying down flat so I can highlight it.


• Classic Collegiate Edition Weekly Wire Bound Planner - Aug 07 - Jul 08: This I used everyday. The weekly planner has just the right amount of space to keep track of classes and other appointments as well as to-dos. This was my main way of keeping track of reading and assignments as well as meetings and appointments. I still used my google calendar for appointments also, but having a paper planner is more useful when you are not constantly in front of a computer.


• Classic Julie Morgenstern Time Map: This was also pretty useful. I used it to create my weekly reading schedule for the semester, for example I would block out time to complete each reading assignment (for example on Thursday afternoon I had blocked out time to read for Tuesday and Wednesday's property class) and then each week I would refer to that schedule to fill in all my reading assignments. Of course a few weeks into the semester I didn't really need it anymore to figure out my schedule, but it was still useful to have just for planning purposes at the beginning of the semester.


• Sharpie Accent Retractable Highlighters Assorted 8 pack: These I used, but when they ran out I just bought standard yellow highlighters. I didn't need all those colors and even though they were retractable they ran out really fast. I still do occasionally use different color highlighters to highlight the case names in the notes or the name of the judge who wrote the opinion, depending on whether that's necessary for the particular class (It was mostly necessary in con law, not so much in the other classes), but for general highlighting I just use yellow.

Found Wisdom: Essential Law School Skills

So a long time ago I started a series of posts that I called Found Wisdom in which I shared useful articles, blog posts, etc, about law school that I had found and saved. So far there has only been one post in this series, but with classes about to start I thought it was a good time to have another installment. In this post I will share links to articles that discuss the essential law school skills of briefing cases and outlining.

Briefing

• The Power of the Brief: Why to brief


• How to Brief a Case: Intro to Briefing


• Ten Instructions for Briefing Cases: Detailed article on how to brief and how to use your briefs to help you do better in class

Outlining

• The Villanova Academic Success Program's article on outlining: A good, fairly detailed primer on outlining.


• Outlining Tips from CALI's Pre-Law Blog


• Tips for Outliners from Texas Tech

Installing Software for Law School, Part II

Aside from taking notes, the other important thing I need my laptop to do for me is help me keep track of what I need to be doing for my classes, for any other activities I get involved in, and also to take care of myself and my family. So, a good task management program and calendar is essential. And, for me at least, I think that task management is more important than a calendar. I may change my mind about this once school starts and I have a lot more things going on, but I feel like a program that helps me be productive during my unscheduled time is more important than a program that keeps track of my scheduled events. So these are the programs I have installed to help me manage my time:

Life Balance -- This is a great task management program which is available for Windows, Mac, and Palm. It is not cheap, but I haven't found anything else that has the features that this program has. The program allows you to break your goals down into tasks and sub-tasks, and sub-sub-tasks, ad infinitum. It allows you to specify whether tasks must be completed in order -- i.e. if one of your tasks is to write a paper, you might break it down into "pick a topic," "do research" and "write an outline," etc, and then specify that those tasks must be done in order, so that the program doesn't tell you to write an outline before you have even picked your topic. It lets you specify places for your tasks and even specify hours that those places are open -- so if one of your tasks is to go to the bank that task will only come up when the bank is open and you could actually go there. You can specify whether each task is a one time thing, something that has to be done by a due date, something that has to be done at a certain time (an appointment), or something that has to be done routinely (like once a week) and then you can set how much lead time you need for each task so that the program can start reminding you to do your task in time for you to get it done. You can probably tell I really like this program -- I haven't even mentioned the balancing part of Life Balance, but you can find out about that on their website.

Rainlendar -- Although Life Balance can keep track of appointments, that is not really what it is best at, so I do need some kind of calendar program. I chose Rainlendar because it is a great little program that I can keep open on my desktop all the time that provides a visual representation of the events on my calendar, and because it is free. It looks like a gadget, and I wish it were because I keep it on the right side where the windows sidebar is and sometimes the sidebar interferes with me being able to click on it. Anyway, I love the little icons and the way the days can be displayed in different colors depending on what type of things are going on that day. Also, it is pretty easy to customize the display -- I took the skin it came with and changed it just a little to be more appropriate for me (i.e. less business categories, more school categories). Rainlendar uses standard iCalendar format, can display multiple calendars, and, if you buy the pro version, can display online calendars and Outlook appointments.

New Laptop: What I'm Installing for Law School

I am writing this post on my new laptop. It arrived on Monday and I have spent all week un-installing and installing and moving files and generally making it my own. Since this laptop is primarily for school I have been looking for software that will help me be more efficient and productive once school starts. I am going to do several posts on software that I think will work well for law school. First up -- note taking software. I know there are a lot of different options out there, but these are two that I think will work well for me:

• Microsoft OneNote -- Actually I got Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. I mentioned before the good deals on software from the Academic Superstore, but Amazon had the better price on this. Anyway, I have heard lots of good things about OneNote from other law student blogs, so I am going to try it out. I like the tabbed notebooks and the fact that you can type anywhere and include clippings from the web or wherever.


• ZuluPad -- This is a free text editor that works kind of like a wiki. You can create lots of pages that link to each other. What I like best is that this software creates links automatically when you type the name of a page. I was imagining using this for taking notes in class: say I have briefed a case and have a page with the case name as the title, then when I type that case name in my notes a link to my brief is automatically created, I could then click on the link to look at my brief in case I get called on, or just have it linked for reference when I am reviewing my notes. The main drawback to ZuluPad is that it is pretty much just a plain text editor. The $15 pro version has bold, italic and underline and lets you change the font (but it has to be the same font for the whole document), but I think that I am going to need more features than that.

In my next post I'll tell you what I've installed for time and task management.

Found Wisdom: Time Management

Over the last month or so I have been collecting links to various blog entries and web pages I have found that contain useful information or tips for law school. I am going to start posting these links under the title "Found Wisdom" so that other law students or law students-to-be can take advantage of them as well. This installment contains tips for how law school students (and others) can make the most of their time.

The first link comes from the University of Dayton School of Law's Online Academic Assistance site. Their Time Management for Law Students contains a discussion of goal setting, time perspective, and planning.

Villanova University School of Law's Academic Support site has a great article on managing your time by creating weekly and semester-long schedules.

The Law School Academic Support Blog recently posted about a variation of the weekly schedule described above, in which preparation for each class is done two days ahead.

At Top Law Student there is a great post about preparing an exam study schedule.

Finally, a couple of time management ideas that would be of use to anyone who wants to get more out of their day: Tapping the Power of Your Morning Routine and Harnessing your Interstitial Time (both via Lifehacker, another great resource for all kinds of tips).

I hope this is helpful. If anyone has additional time management tips or resources, feel free to share them in the comments.

Web 2.0 Application: Quizlet

Lifehacker recently posted about a new Web 2.0 application called Quizlet. I've checked it out and I must say, I am impressed. It is really easy to import words into your own vocabulary sets. You can enter the terms and definitions one by one or you can just copy the whole list into the their text box, tell it how to find the end of the term and defintion (e.g. a colon at the end of each term and a new line at the end of each definition) and it does the rest. It even lets you preview the terms and definitions before you import them so you can make any necessary changes. For example, it only took me a few minuters to import this list of 484 legal terms into Quizlet. Once you have your set, Quizlet gives you several ways to learn and test yourself on your terms. You can even share your sets and browse other peoples' sets. For example here is the page for the set I created. This seems like a great resource for students, or anyone who needs to learn a new set of vocabulary.

Discounted Software for Students

I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, but, if you are a student, you can buy discounted software online at the Academic Superstore. After placing your order you just have to email them a copy of your current student ID, or other document showing your student status (parents of students are also eligible!). They have great discounts on all kinds of software. For example you can get Microsoft OneNote 2007 for $44.95 or the Adobe Creative Suite for only $389.95 (compare with Amazon where these products are $93.95 and $1199.49 respectively). They also have EverNote Plus for 29.95 ($10 off the price on their website). In addition to the low prices on software, shipping is free!

I have purchased software from this site before -- last time I was a student -- and definitely plan to take advantage of the student discounts again as soon as I become a student again. They also sell hardware, such as printers, routers, mp3 players and camcorders, and other products like laptop cases and training manuals, however the few items I checked in these categories were not priced lower than Amazon. (By the way, I'm not affiliated with the Academic Superstore in any way, I just discovered them a while ago and thought that any other students who might read my blog would be interested.) evernote onenote student+discount software adobe

Testing Improves Memory of Non-Tested Material

Here's some research that is applicable to law school students:

A study done at Washington University in St. Louis found that students who were tested on material they read had better long-term memory of the material -- even of the stuff that wasn't on the test. All students read a passage about toucans. Some were tested on that material, some were given extra study and some were sent home. The next day all the students were tested using a test that contained the questions from the previous day's test as well as new questions. The students who had been tested previously did better on the new questions than either of the other groups. Another finding was that students who spent more time answering the questions on the first day did better on the second day. So, since law school classes typically only have one exam at the end of the semester, it is probably a good idea to take a practice exam if you can, and take your time thinking about the questions.test law+school memory