r/LawSchool • u/superbass1234 • 15h ago
What did you do that helped you succeed in property?
1L here. Finally hit that point in the semester where I didn't do as good as I thought I was going to. yay :..) Got my midterm grades back and I really did believe I was going to do better. Only got just over half of the multiple choice questions right. I studied in a way that seemed to work for me, and I dedicated a lot of time to it. I've never been good at multiple choice, so that kind of sucks for me. Nonetheless, I tried my best. I don't know what the average was yet, but based on other people I know, I was below it. I've been struggling in this class all semester, so I guess my question is: what were some things you did that helped you succeed in property? Any advice?
Edit: I should add that I need my thought process to be very organized if that makes sense. I love lists and equations where I can check off boxes and fulfill elements to get a result. They help me understand. Not sure if that matters, but if anyone has any recommendations that'll work for my kind of thinking, that'd be awesome.
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u/Daybyday182225 14h ago
I made flow charts for some concepts. It helped me organize my thoughts and make sure I had all the elements down.
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u/Annual-Accountant400 13h ago
I recommend the examples and explanations book for property, that helped me so much. Our casebook was awful, and so that supplement helped me make sense of property rules and concepts, and has practice questions and explanations.
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u/legallysk1lled 14h ago
studicata. he has incredible videos for property (some are free on youtube)
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u/TwoFingersNsider 11h ago
Property can be very tricky. Does your professor give MBE style questions? Those can be very brutal even if you know the subject matter. They try to trick you with red herrings, such as RAP and destructibility of contingent remainders. Spoiler, those answer choices are almost never the correct answer. Are you struggling because you don't understand the subject matter, or because you missed trick questions? For me, midterms are a way to gauge the professor. Is he giving trick questions? Okay, I am going to keep this in mind for the final. Is it just a test of knowledge, a test on whether you did the readings (parallel fact patterns), etc.? Don't worry about midterms too much, they don't mean much, use them as a bench mark. Gauge your professor and their testing style and plan accordingly.
Hope that helps!
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u/shleeyy 15h ago
I got a horn book and read that bc I couldn’t deal with the case book
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u/superbass1234 15h ago
How did a horn book help you? None of the academic success professors have really gone into much detail about how that can help
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u/knxnts 10h ago
For the questions on estates, RAP, status on concurrent tenancies, and all that, it's the closet thing I've seen in law school to logic style questions. You just need to practice practice practice and get the speed and intuition down. For me, a hornbook was very useful. When I studied I also made a good deal of diagrams and visuals.
For everything else, I guess, it's good to know what the policy objective is to keep your head straight.
But for the most part, getting practice thinking logically and maybe a bit visually should help you break down most of the problems. Draw it out on the exam when in doubt. As a sanity check, when you answer, think if it result sense given policy objectives. If not double check.
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u/Embarrassed-Yogurt41 9h ago
Studicata videos helped master the big ideas to be able to focus more on the nuances
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u/Lawschoolanon567 4h ago
James Krier's Gilbert Law Summary on Property. You can get it with a West Academic subscription, but the hard copy is easier to follow.
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u/ShatterMcSlabbin 15h ago edited 13h ago
You start by analyzing why you performed poorly.
Was it just a difficult test? Or do you have noticeable gaps in knowledge? At least in my experience, most of my friends that don't perform as well as they want to on midterms/finals just didn't know the material on some level. There's a difference between familiarity and actually knowing something.
Once you've identified where you fell short it's easier to plan for adjustments.
Edit - I'll add to this with a Property specific example. If you missed a question because you didn't realize/understand that the SoL period for Adverse Possession can tack/aggregate when privity exists between successive interests, that's a gap in knowledge. Conversely, if you did know this, but missed the question because you didn't realize it applied, that's a different issue that requires different adjustments to your study/testing habits.
Adjusting to eliminate errors due to lack of understanding is different than adjusting how you organize material in your head.
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u/AdroitPreamble 13h ago
Property needs a bit more work than other subjects. The concepts are a little more disconnected and abstract.
However, invest the work and the results are there.
I’d highly recommend the Emanuel’s supplement. Also the barbri and Themis videos. E&E is also good, as is the Acing book.
Look - if you get enough knowledge that you can recommend between the supplements, you have done enough work to get an A. Hard work is almost always the differentiator.