With your first semester of law school behind you, it can be easy to forget to reflect and reevaluate your performance in the Fall semester. Critical self-evaluation is not easy, but it is essential to success in law school. However, most grades are not released to students until mid to late January, which further complicates the ability of students to find time to review. Additionally, the intensity of law school increases substantially in your second semester, and it is easy to get bogged down keeping up with your current assignments. Do not fall for this trap! [Read more…] about Reflecting on Finals and Moving Forward
Search Results for: finals
Exam Playlist: My Top Song Choices to Help You Get Through Finals!
It’s that time of year again, exam season! One of the most stressful times in a young law student’s life. After all, you spend an entire semester trying to learn the law and now your grade is dependent on being able to piece together your knowledge, put it on paper, and have it make sense in your exam answers. Final exam season can be a very daunting period for many law students. I would argue that the worst part is preparing for final exams. Since many professors base your grade solely on your final exam, it makes sense that you want to take studying seriously and feel fully prepared. However, studying itself can be an overwhelming task. One thing that has helped me through studying for finals is music. So here is a little list of some music genres that have helped me survive final exam season to assist you in your studying. [Read more…] about Exam Playlist: My Top Song Choices to Help You Get Through Finals!
5 Ways to Prepare for Law School Finals
No matter where you are in your law school career, finals probably always seem stressful and overwhelming. If you’re a 1L, you might struggle to identify the most effective ways to prepare. If you’re an upperclassman, you’re probably balancing studying for exams on top of a whole lot of other commitments. There is no single, right way to prepare for exams, but there are a number of things you should consider to perform your best. [Read more…] about 5 Ways to Prepare for Law School Finals
Why It’s Important to Prepare for Finals Early
There are two words you will hear over and over again when you begin law school: “outlines,” and “finals.” These words strike fear into every first semester 1Ls’ hearts. At least, they did for my class. From the moment school started, I felt like I was behind on outlining. It took me until my second time taking the bar to truly understand what outlining is, and why it is so helpful.
Before I get into why it’s important to prepare for finals early, let me give a brief overview of outlining.
In school, you are given a lot of cases to read. You’ll find that it’s easiest to remember them if you break them up into case files. Outlining is the art of organizing all that law and facts into smaller nuggets that are easy to remember and regurgitate on the exam if they relate to a particular issue. Everyone will find a different way to outline that works for them. Some of my classmates could only outline with notecards, others had to type them out. My style depended on the class, the final, and the professor, and usually changed multiple times per class before I figured out what worked best for me in that moment.
So, now that you know what outlining is, let’s jump into the two biggest reasons why you should prepare for finals early.
[Read more…] about Why It’s Important to Prepare for Finals Early
How to Maintain Momentum During Finals Season as a 3L
I think it’s safe to say that during law school, nothing tops the pinnacle of complexity like finals season. Yes, it’s generally difficult to make the transition into this new world of stress-filled days complete with legal jargon and a side of anxiety, but finals season no doubt ups the ante on this experience. Now the good news is that by the time you make it to your 2L year, you’ll likely begin to hit your stride as you may be equipped with the resilience and armor needed to fight your way through finals. However, by the time you get to your 3L year, finals season may become the most daunting uphill battle because, despite surviving four semesters of this fight, you may find yourself in a position where you just don’t care. When you just don’t care, it’s hard to maintain focus and find the resilience you need to complete extensive hours of outlining and studying. When you just don’t care, it’s hard to remember that you need to succeed in 3L year if you want to achieve your J.D. When you just don’t care, it’s hard to fuel the momentum you need to get through this trying season. But I get it. It’s easy to not care when you’re so close to the finish line and you’ve already surpassed two years of struggle. Heck, you’re probably even entitled to a moment of not caring, but finals season isn’t the time to do it.
So how do you find the motivation that you likely threw out the window the moment you stepped into 3L year? Admittedly, it’s difficult to pull this motivation out especially when you’ve been successfully coasting all semester and doing the bare minimum just to get by, but trust me, if you’ve made it this far it’s there. Finding this motivation and maintaining your momentum will just be a process of mind over matter. Simple right? Jokes aside, garnering this momentum won’t be without difficulty but maybe the below three suggestions can get you on the right track.
[Read more…] about How to Maintain Momentum During Finals Season as a 3L
Beyond Outlining: 3 Additional Strategies to Help You Prepare for Finals
It doesn’t take long for even the greenest law student to discover that a good course outline is important in law school. Law school hallways are often filled with gossip about who has a great outline, where you can acquire outlines from top students, or which commercial outline is best for a particular class. Outlining is indeed essential to law schools success, but it shouldn’t be the only strategy you rely on when preparing for finals. In addition to creating, reviewing, and practicing with your own course outline, you should plan to incorporate some additional strategies into your finals preparations in order to ensure that you have fully mastered the material and skills you will need to succeed on your exams. Here are three additional strategies that go beyond traditional outlining to help you prepare for finals: [Read more…] about Beyond Outlining: 3 Additional Strategies to Help You Prepare for Finals