Another member of our nascent study group dropped out of our gang today, titling her email "They said this wasn't like divorce..."
Instead of outlining clases together, she said, perhaps our gang of three (down from four a few weeks ago) should just do group assignments and critique one anothers' already prepared outlines.
To the non-law student, this may not seem like a big deal. However, all the books say study groups are essential to success and sanity, since they help harness multiple minds to work together on the hardest task 1Ls face: synthesizing a whole lot of information into a usable structure for the final. Should we disband now or transform into some sort of group-lite, I would be afloat alone in my section after everyone else is settled down and has the group dynamics thing figured out. They might like to work alone, but I don't, and even if I did, I would follow every single piece of advice I have recieved about groups: namely, that I should be in one.
Paranoid much? Sure. I've already freaked out about getting called on and asking questions, not to mentioning making enough of the right kinds of friends - the ones that make you feel bad about not working hard enough when the temptation to slack off sits with a cold beer just for you down the block at the bar.
None of my worries are reasonable, none of my judgements of people's work habits are fair and nothing I am doing right now will either guarantee or eliminate the chance of getting good grades, but right now worrying is all I've got. The finals-centric system encourages flailing in the dark because it doesn't provide enough feedback on whether or not you're going in the right direction.
UPDATE: Damn, this is getting a little too LiveJournal for my comfort. I didn't know I could be so emo.
I think it stops being classified as "emo" when you legitimize yourself by doing something exceedingly difficult.
The primary use of study groups is to get yourself set up with an external source of motivation (i.e., fear of failing in front of the others in the group). If you don't need that, the value of a study group drops significantly.
Then again, almost everyone needs that.
Good luck. First year is probably the very last thing I'd ever want to do again.
Taking advice as a 1L was hard; giving it is harder, b/c I know that you've been smothered in advice for at least the past year. Nothing anyone tells you will make any sort of sense until it's too late. With that being said......it always seemed to me that only gunners really flourished/enjoyed/got anything out of study groups. Most study groups will only feed your stress, and bump it up a couple of hundred notches. After you've been in school a semester, you'll know who your real friends are (i.e. the non crazies who still have a social life), and you'll know who's on your academic level (meaning in terms of grades, study time, and how anal they are about law school in general). These are the people you should study with, b/c you won't be competing with them. If your study group turns in to a "look how much I know" event, you're going to be one miserable 1L. (And on the reverse, if you're studying with a bunchy of worrywarts who are convinced of failure, you'll also feel like shit.) Finally - if you're going to go to a study group, go prepared, with questions. Figure out what you don't get 100%, and ask someone else to explain it in his/her own words.
A long detailed outline is useless if you don't know the material. Flashcards are actually quite helpful. Emanuel gives way, way too much information, but is good for problem points.
Hope some of that helps. I just graduated and started my first job in the real world. This too shall pass, I promise, although the next 3 years will feel like 10.