How Many Weeks Are Left Until Final Exams?

Today I was sitting with a student who had just come back from spring break. I asked him a very important question: “How many weeks until your first exam?” When we got out the schedule the answer was sobering — less than six.

What about you? Have you taken out the calendar and counted how many weeks are left until final exams? If not, it is a worthwhile exercise (even if it is scary). Here are some tips for managing your time for the last few weeks of the semester.

Step 1 

Mark down all of the dates of your exams or when any papers or projects are due. Make sure you note which exams are open book exams and closed book exams (you may prepare a bit differently for each).

Step 2

Evaluate how your outlines are coming. Are they up-to-date? Are they close to being up-to-date? Do you have time set aside each week to continue to update them? If not, you likely want to do that. Set a goal for having your outlines completely updated (hopefully by the end of classes). Need some outlining tips? These posts can get you started:

• How to Turn Your Class Notes Into an Outline
• Can Your Outline Be Too Long?
• Taking Your Law School Outlines Beyond “Legal Trivia”
• What Most Law Students Forget to Do: Think About the Material

Step 3

Have you collected practice exams for all of your classes? Remember practice is an essential part of getting ready for exams. If your professor hasn’t released questions, do you know where else you can get practice questions?

Step 4

Once you have the class outlined, you should start writing out practice questions. Make sure you get feedback on your practice questions by going to the professor and trying to solicit feedback. You are going to want to be writing every week if you can. You can almost never do too much practice (especially if you are getting feedback).

Step 5

If you are working on other papers or projects, set some interim goals for yourself. When do you want to have a draft done of the paper? When do you want to get feedback on the paper from your professor? When is it due? You don’t want to leave this project until the last moment when you need to be studying for exams.

You want to go through these steps and generate a working calendar for yourself with weekly goals. It is a bit frightening to feel like finals are just weeks away, but planning and managing your time well will help set you up for being well prepared by final exams.

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Want more tips on exam prep and time management? Sign up for our free mailing list today.

And check out these helpful posts:

• The Three Most Important Things You Can Do as Exams Approach
• Need More Time? Study Smart Before Your Law School Class
• A New Time Management Technique I’m Trying
• It is Important to Be Realistic About Assignments

Image by rdragan79 via stock.xchng.