Outlining

It's about that time for law students, partcularly 1Ls, to synthesize everything they've read, heard in lecture, and discussed in class into the Grand Unifying Document™, also known as an outline.  There's a lot of advice on how to outline, what an outline should look like, even how many outlines to make for each class, but the one advice that isn't emphasized enough is to trust in one's own study habits.  

In many ways, this makes a lot of sense.  1L, everyone says, is about teaching a method of thinking as much as it is about teaching black-letter law.  And I've certainly noticed that; whether reflecting on my day "on call" for one of my classes last week or reviewing my notes, I can see my mind working at once more efficiently to highlight the pertinent details of a case or an article and also more expansively, trying (to varying degrees of success) to test hypothetical situations where a rule, or a theory, may apply.  

But exams are exams are exams.  Law school exams may be a really long exercise in problem-solving, but it's not like the answers can be pulled out of thin air--they have to reference the topics covered in the class.  I may take more practice exams or highlight my notes more than I have in past years, but I don't have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to preparation.  Moreover, I imagine most law students are the same way, but at some point during the first year, they question, or lose, their confidence in themselves and their ability to take a test.  I guess the cottage industry of how-to books, commercial outlines, and sundry other study aids would suffer if law schools reminded students of their basic test-taking abilities,  but I imagine that students' stress levels would improve dramatically.