1st semester reflections, what are we changing for 2nd sem? Forum

[solotee]

Now that we've been broken in:

1) what have you learned this semester?

2) what will you change for next semester?


I'll start,

1) What I learned:
- not to be intimidated by all the smart people
- professors are a really good source for knowing what's expected on an exam
- and the biggest one: I was surprised how many people neglect to learn how to take a law school exam :/

2) What I'm changing:
- Not buying any hornbooks (they're all at the library)
- Not reading the cases as meticulously as I did
- exercise/ workout 5 days a week

[solidsnake]

shouldn't you wait to get grades back before you start making adjustments?

[Teoeo]

I'll try to stop browsing TLS

[beach_terror]

I'm not changing jack shit until I see my grades.

[solotee]

shouldn't you wait to get grades back before you start making adjustments?

ehh, you're probably right. I guess you don't really know what to change until you get feedback

[evilxs]

I think it is fair to say there are some things we know we should do differently. Even without grades.

I am going to make my flash cards at the end of each unit. It'll save me some time come the end of the semester. I am also going to locate and print practice exams before the crunch period so I don't spend so much time hunting for them so close to the finals. I wasted at least an hour of studying for each subject just wading through exams online to take.

Other changes will be determined after grades

[Tangerine Gleam]

Not study as hard the first two months, because I'm going to forget it all and have to re-learn it anyways. Some people have great memory capacity...I'm not one of them. I look forward to having a fairly normal January and February.

[beach_terror]

Not study as hard the first two months, because I'm going to forget it all and have to re-learn it anyways. Some people have memory capacity...I'm not one of them. I look forward to having a fairly normal January and February.

Somehow I lucked out and I don't have class on Friday's next semester...

THIRSTY THURSDAYS RETURN (at least for a month or two)

[Charles Barkley]

Not study as hard the first two months, because I'm going to forget it all and have to re-learn it anyways. Some people have great memory capacity...I'm not one of them. I look forward to having a fairly normal January and February.

This.

Regardless of how well I did, I'm not doing this again.

[chicagolaw2013]

Not study as hard the first two months, because I'm going to forget it all and have to re-learn it anyways. Some people have memory capacity...I'm not one of them. I look forward to having a fairly normal January and February.

Somehow I lucked out and I don't have class on Friday's next semester...

THIRSTY THURSDAYS RETURN (at least for a month or two)

Where's a high five emoticon when you need one? Mods???

Agreed, Thirsty Thursdays...YESSSSSSSSSS.

[Geist13]

I will be finishing all my reading for the semester a few weeks ahead of time. 3/4 of my professors piled on a ton of reading the last two weeks because they had fallen behind (apparently they don't consider that their fault). For one class we did 1/4 of the entire semester's reading in the last week. Almost all of that material came up on the exam. There's more than enough time during the middle of the semester to finish it all. Having to read the last couple of weeks while outlining was a huge pain.

I will also outline as I go along. I'm really slow at outlining and really didn't take that much out of it, until I started applying all the rules on practice problems.

Combined, these two strategies will hopefully make it so all i have to do the last two weeks of the semester is practice, practice, practice. That way I wont completely f up my exams like I have the first two of this semester.

[king3780]

Not study as hard the first two months, because I'm going to forget it all and have to re-learn it anyways. Some people have great memory capacity...I'm not one of them. I look forward to having a fairly normal January and February.

This.

Regardless of how well I did, I'm not doing this again.

Maybe I'm abnormal, but I found that the stuff I learn well the first two months of the semester takes very little time to review at the end of the semester and comes back to me much more easily on the exam than it would if I had just mastered it during the reading period. (2L FWIW)

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Not missing 40+ classes, throwing up for weeks at a time, and keeping my mental sanity would be a good place to start for me

[sethc]

Yeah, my shit's definitely subject-to-change depending on what grades end up looking like.. but I don't think anything is going to change in terms of how I prepared/approached exams. If my grades are shit, it certainly was not from lack of effort or preparation. I'd be more apt to blame OVER-preparing, but that's kind of an individual thing.

That said.. I have learned some very valuable experience so take this with a grain of salt as you may feel totally contrary to some or all of this and some of it might seem painfully obvious and/or cliche but it's very easily overlooked IMHO:

- It sucks coming in not knowing anyone, especially not knowing anyone who has already taken classes @ your school and/or with your profs - huge help
- Study groups suck
- Other students, for the most part, suck (this one will vary huge depending on class/school size.. plus I'm a cynical ass hah)
- A professor can make a MOUNTAIN of a difference in terms of exam preparation
- Case briefing doesn't need to be as thorough and time-consuming as I made it out to be
- Depth of briefing/reading for class depends a LOT on your professor's style
- Typing = infinitely better than writing anything in law school
- If a prof provides no (1) Teacher-assistants, (2) Handouts, (3) PowerPoints/online supplements via TWEN [or the like], (4) Old exams/answer keys then you are likely in for an uphill battle, at least in re: 1st term
- Commercial supplements can often do more to overload you than help
- Nutshells are sweeeet, but above still applies
- Condensing the entire semester-notes into a single OneNote page that is as bare-bones as possible with as many "buzzwords" & abbreviations/acronyms as possible is great for memory jogging during a closed-book exam
- If your prof says "know this for the exam" in reference to something specific - they aren't joking. This should seem obvious but often doesn't
- If you're clueless about outlines, the SBA (or if your school has it, an outline bank etc.) is a fine source to lean on.. but the caveat is to compile from 2-3+ and those 2-3+ are reliable and structured/worded in a way that is understandable (to you) -- they may claim they come from A or B students.. but I don't entirely believe that.
- If your school has schedule flexibility, you're unlikely to have deep regrets from erring on the side of caution by taking less as opposed to what you might face if you have too many
- Not missing class *really* counts for a lot when it's cram-time ESPECIALLY during dead week/review week
- TOTALLY IGNORE anyone you think/thought was a gunner during class.. they'll only piss you off and/or stress you out
- Talking with a handful of people after the exam can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you felt the test went for you, individually; it may not necessarily mean you did better or worse than you thought, but at the least knowing where you stand in comparison to a few others will make you FEEL better and calm down, if nothing else.
- As it relates to the previous bullet, don't freak if your essay answer(s) deviate from what they put - that's actually one good thing about law school essays.. if you were wrong it doesn't necessarily mean you won't get at least some credit unlike, say, m.c. (unless your answer was just WAAAYY off the radar)
- Know the structure of the exam going in and try to have some idea how to budget and manage time.
- Not using the library to study isn't necessarily a bad thing and you shouldn't feel like a slacker if you're not a fan of using it
- Falling behind on a particular concept/idea (e.g. Future Interests) shouldn't be doom and gloom. No matter how important it is or isn't, it doesn't even represent of a majority of what you're expected to know (MOST of the time) so don't panic, get stuck, and refuse to move on until you get it.. unless of course it's near the end of the course
- Course/teacher reviews may not help your cause, but take them seriously and thoughtfully - look at it as a duty to future students to do your part in not making anyone else suffer a shit professor.. even if the guy is tenured/big-wig it will at least let you anonymously vent and give the prof some kind of insight that they aren't perfect and there's room for improvement
- If you have a question in class, don't hesitate to ask it (EXCEPTION = GUNNERS) because you won't get a chance to do it when class ends because of said gunners, and you'll either forget to email your prof or forget the question altogether
- Earplugs can help more than you'd think during exams
- If it's possible, sit next to an empty seat(s) during the exam (less distraction for me)
- Stop after every couple of questions (mc) and after wrapping up a thought (essay) - stretching your neck/closing your eyes/deep breath can help with composure and anxiety
- The Honor Code and those that look for/report violations are VERY pissy and seemingly chomping at the bit to ream your ass.. for better or worse I guess, but just don't do anything that might resemble a violation - the investigation/review process is a pain and a worry and the paranoia can really interfere during an exam (trust me. and no, I didn't cheat.. just a bitch proctor that was clueless about technology and how Exam software works)
- If you have early morning classes, don't underestimate Rockstar/coffee or whatever works for you to get you out of groggy-sleep mode.. god knows it's saved my life numerous times in Property
- For the most part, professors are willing to answer any lingering questions if you reach out to them via email or office hours
- If your professor is ever giving advice at how to handle things that are school-specific, LISTEN! Sounds cliche and obvious, but it's easy to dismiss a teacher saying something if he/she's really old or seemingly out-of-touch by thinking "pshh he's 82.. what's he know about bein a student?"
- A tried and true method that I was told from many right out of the gate was the law student maxim of "Find what works to prepare for the exam and understand the material that is comfortable for you, REGARDLESS of what it is and USE IT and STICK WITH IT! I guess many might reserve agreeing with this until grades come back, but not I. Right at around week 7-8 I finally hit my groove and figured out what I needed to do for each class and when I needed to do it and how long it would take me etc. I'd venture to say that this is professor-specific, in large part, so there's no need to panic if it seems like it takes longer than it should.
- Thank god for an Adderall prescription, if you have one.

[Baylan]

Yeah, my shit's definitely subject-to-change depending on what grades end up looking like.. but I don't think anything is going to change in terms of how I prepared/approached exams. If my grades are shit, it certainly was not from lack of effort or preparation. I'd be more apt to blame OVER-preparing, but that's kind of an individual thing.

That said.. I have learned some very valuable experience so take this with a grain of salt as you may feel totally contrary to some or all of this and some of it might seem painfully obvious and/or cliche but it's very easily overlooked IMHO:

- It sucks coming in not knowing anyone, especially not knowing anyone who has already taken classes @ your school and/or with your profs - huge help
- Study groups suck
- Other students, for the most part, suck (this one will vary huge depending on class/school size.. plus I'm a cynical ass hah)
- A professor can make a MOUNTAIN of a difference in terms of exam preparation
- Case briefing doesn't need to be as thorough and time-consuming as I made it out to be
- Depth of briefing/reading for class depends a LOT on your professor's style
- Typing = infinitely better than writing anything in law school
- If a prof provides no (1) Teacher-assistants, (2) Handouts, (3) PowerPoints/online supplements via TWEN [or the like], (4) Old exams/answer keys then you are likely in for an uphill battle, at least in re: 1st term
- Commercial supplements can often do more to overload you than help
- Nutshells are sweeeet, but above still applies
- Condensing the entire semester-notes into a single OneNote page that is as bare-bones as possible with as many "buzzwords" & abbreviations/acronyms as possible is great for memory jogging during a closed-book exam
- If your prof says "know this for the exam" in reference to something specific - they aren't joking. This should seem obvious but often doesn't
- If you're clueless about outlines, the SBA (or if your school has it, an outline bank etc.) is a fine source to lean on.. but the caveat is to compile from 2-3+ and those 2-3+ are reliable and structured/worded in a way that is understandable (to you) -- they may claim they come from A or B students.. but I don't entirely believe that.
- If your school has schedule flexibility, you're unlikely to have deep regrets from erring on the side of caution by taking less as opposed to what you might face if you have too many
- Not missing class *really* counts for a lot when it's cram-time ESPECIALLY during dead week/review week
- TOTALLY IGNORE anyone you think/thought was a gunner during class.. they'll only piss you off and/or stress you out
- Talking with a handful of people after the exam can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you felt the test went for you, individually; it may not necessarily mean you did better or worse than you thought, but at the least knowing where you stand in comparison to a few others will make you FEEL better and calm down, if nothing else.
- As it relates to the previous bullet, don't freak if your essay answer(s) deviate from what they put - that's actually one good thing about law school essays.. if you were wrong it doesn't necessarily mean you won't get at least some credit unlike, say, m.c. (unless your answer was just WAAAYY off the radar)
- Know the structure of the exam going in and try to have some idea how to budget and manage time.
- Not using the library to study isn't necessarily a bad thing and you shouldn't feel like a slacker if you're not a fan of using it
- Falling behind on a particular concept/idea (e.g. Future Interests) shouldn't be doom and gloom. No matter how important it is or isn't, it doesn't even represent of a majority of what you're expected to know (MOST of the time) so don't panic, get stuck, and refuse to move on until you get it.. unless of course it's near the end of the course
- Course/teacher reviews may not help your cause, but take them seriously and thoughtfully - look at it as a duty to future students to do your part in not making anyone else suffer a shit professor.. even if the guy is tenured/big-wig it will at least let you anonymously vent and give the prof some kind of insight that they aren't perfect and there's room for improvement
- If you have a question in class, don't hesitate to ask it (EXCEPTION = GUNNERS) because you won't get a chance to do it when class ends because of said gunners, and you'll either forget to email your prof or forget the question altogether
- Earplugs can help more than you'd think during exams
- If it's possible, sit next to an empty seat(s) during the exam (less distraction for me)
- Stop after every couple of questions (mc) and after wrapping up a thought (essay) - stretching your neck/closing your eyes/deep breath can help with composure and anxiety
- The Honor Code and those that look for/report violations are VERY pissy and seemingly chomping at the bit to ream your ass.. for better or worse I guess, but just don't do anything that might resemble a violation - the investigation/review process is a pain and a worry and the paranoia can really interfere during an exam (trust me. and no, I didn't cheat.. just a bitch proctor that was clueless about technology and how Exam software works)
- If you have early morning classes, don't underestimate Rockstar/coffee or whatever works for you to get you out of groggy-sleep mode.. god knows it's saved my life numerous times in Property
- For the most part, professors are willing to answer any lingering questions if you reach out to them via email or office hours
- If your professor is ever giving advice at how to handle things that are school-specific, LISTEN! Sounds cliche and obvious, but it's easy to dismiss a teacher saying something if he/she's really old or seemingly out-of-touch by thinking "pshh he's 82.. what's he know about bein a student?"
- A tried and true method that I was told from many right out of the gate was the law student maxim of "Find what works to prepare for the exam and understand the material that is comfortable for you, REGARDLESS of what it is and USE IT and STICK WITH IT! I guess many might reserve agreeing with this until grades come back, but not I. Right at around week 7-8 I finally hit my groove and figured out what I needed to do for each class and when I needed to do it and how long it would take me etc. I'd venture to say that this is professor-specific, in large part, so there's no need to panic if it seems like it takes longer than it should.
- Thank god for an Adderall prescription, if you have one.

The bolded is +591790283729183712987312. Ear plugs FTW during exams. Pure silence to think in.

[keg411]

I'm not changing jack shit until I see my grades.

This. Although I'm not expecting great grades, so I do have some ideas of what I want to change.

[SmittenMitten]

I'm not changing jack shit until I see my grades.

[solotee]

Maybe I'm abnormal, but I found that the stuff I learn well the first two months of the semester takes very little time to review at the end of the semester and comes back to me much more easily on the exam than it would if I had just mastered it during the reading period. (2L FWIW)

This. I felt like mastering the material in the beginning of the semester saved me a lot of time later in the semester.

[Stanford4Me]

Party even harder the first three months.

[sethc]

Yeah, my shit's definitely subject-to-change depending on what grades end up looking like.. but I don't think anything is going to change in terms of how I prepared/approached exams. If my grades are shit, it certainly was not from lack of effort or preparation. I'd be more apt to blame OVER-preparing, but that's kind of an individual thing.

That said.. I have learned some very valuable experience so take this with a grain of salt as you may feel totally contrary to some or all of this and some of it might seem painfully obvious and/or cliche but it's very easily overlooked IMHO:

- It sucks coming in not knowing anyone, especially not knowing anyone who has already taken classes @ your school and/or with your profs - huge help
- Study groups suck
- Other students, for the most part, suck (this one will vary huge depending on class/school size.. plus I'm a cynical ass hah)
- A professor can make a MOUNTAIN of a difference in terms of exam preparation
- Case briefing doesn't need to be as thorough and time-consuming as I made it out to be
- Depth of briefing/reading for class depends a LOT on your professor's style
- Typing = infinitely better than writing anything in law school
- If a prof provides no (1) Teacher-assistants, (2) Handouts, (3) PowerPoints/online supplements via TWEN [or the like], (4) Old exams/answer keys then you are likely in for an uphill battle, at least in re: 1st term
- Commercial supplements can often do more to overload you than help
- Nutshells are sweeeet, but above still applies
- Condensing the entire semester-notes into a single OneNote page that is as bare-bones as possible with as many "buzzwords" & abbreviations/acronyms as possible is great for memory jogging during a closed-book exam
- If your prof says "know this for the exam" in reference to something specific - they aren't joking. This should seem obvious but often doesn't
- If you're clueless about outlines, the SBA (or if your school has it, an outline bank etc.) is a fine source to lean on.. but the caveat is to compile from 2-3+ and those 2-3+ are reliable and structured/worded in a way that is understandable (to you) -- they may claim they come from A or B students.. but I don't entirely believe that.
- If your school has schedule flexibility, you're unlikely to have deep regrets from erring on the side of caution by taking less as opposed to what you might face if you have too many
- Not missing class *really* counts for a lot when it's cram-time ESPECIALLY during dead week/review week
- TOTALLY IGNORE anyone you think/thought was a gunner during class.. they'll only piss you off and/or stress you out
- Talking with a handful of people after the exam can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you felt the test went for you, individually; it may not necessarily mean you did better or worse than you thought, but at the least knowing where you stand in comparison to a few others will make you FEEL better and calm down, if nothing else.
- As it relates to the previous bullet, don't freak if your essay answer(s) deviate from what they put - that's actually one good thing about law school essays.. if you were wrong it doesn't necessarily mean you won't get at least some credit unlike, say, m.c. (unless your answer was just WAAAYY off the radar)
- Know the structure of the exam going in and try to have some idea how to budget and manage time.
- Not using the library to study isn't necessarily a bad thing and you shouldn't feel like a slacker if you're not a fan of using it
- Falling behind on a particular concept/idea (e.g. Future Interests) shouldn't be doom and gloom. No matter how important it is or isn't, it doesn't even represent of a majority of what you're expected to know (MOST of the time) so don't panic, get stuck, and refuse to move on until you get it.. unless of course it's near the end of the course
- Course/teacher reviews may not help your cause, but take them seriously and thoughtfully - look at it as a duty to future students to do your part in not making anyone else suffer a shit professor.. even if the guy is tenured/big-wig it will at least let you anonymously vent and give the prof some kind of insight that they aren't perfect and there's room for improvement
- If you have a question in class, don't hesitate to ask it (EXCEPTION = GUNNERS) because you won't get a chance to do it when class ends because of said gunners, and you'll either forget to email your prof or forget the question altogether
- Earplugs can help more than you'd think during exams
- If it's possible, sit next to an empty seat(s) during the exam (less distraction for me)
- Stop after every couple of questions (mc) and after wrapping up a thought (essay) - stretching your neck/closing your eyes/deep breath can help with composure and anxiety
- The Honor Code and those that look for/report violations are VERY pissy and seemingly chomping at the bit to ream your ass.. for better or worse I guess, but just don't do anything that might resemble a violation - the investigation/review process is a pain and a worry and the paranoia can really interfere during an exam (trust me. and no, I didn't cheat.. just a bitch proctor that was clueless about technology and how Exam software works)
- If you have early morning classes, don't underestimate Rockstar/coffee or whatever works for you to get you out of groggy-sleep mode.. god knows it's saved my life numerous times in Property
- For the most part, professors are willing to answer any lingering questions if you reach out to them via email or office hours
- If your professor is ever giving advice at how to handle things that are school-specific, LISTEN! Sounds cliche and obvious, but it's easy to dismiss a teacher saying something if he/she's really old or seemingly out-of-touch by thinking "pshh he's 82.. what's he know about bein a student?"
- A tried and true method that I was told from many right out of the gate was the law student maxim of "Find what works to prepare for the exam and understand the material that is comfortable for you, REGARDLESS of what it is and USE IT and STICK WITH IT! I guess many might reserve agreeing with this until grades come back, but not I. Right at around week 7-8 I finally hit my groove and figured out what I needed to do for each class and when I needed to do it and how long it would take me etc. I'd venture to say that this is professor-specific, in large part, so there's no need to panic if it seems like it takes longer than it should.
- Thank god for an Adderall prescription, if you have one.

The bolded is +591790283729183712987312. Ear plugs FTW during exams. Pure silence to think in.

Gracias, sir. I hate that I was so dismissive of some of these things when they were told to me beforehand.. but I guess experience is the best teacher sometimes. Plus, when you hear some dry ass old lady or some student-leader that is/was most assuredly a "gunner" or the like, it's hard not to tune out. I'd like to think that if someone was elected to put this sort of thing bluntly to incoming 1L-ers they would be more apt to listen *shrug*

[dailygrind]

gonna do a little more outlining as i go. having to pull it all together at the end was extraordinarily painful. the problem i had this semester was i wasn't always sure how/why to use each case until the end. this may have been because i didn't know my ass from my face, legally, at the beginning of the semester, or it may be because it's difficult to get an overview of the class until you're near the end. if it's only because of the former, i'll outline more as i go. if it's the latter, i guess i'll have to do the same mad rush at the end.

[keg411]

gonna do a little more outlining as i go. having to pull it all together at the end was extraordinarily painful. the problem i had this semester was i wasn't always sure how/why to use each case until the end. this may have been because i didn't know my ass from my face, legally, at the beginning of the semester, or it may be because it's difficult to get an overview of the class until you're near the end. if it's only because of the former, i'll outline more as i go. if it's the latter, i guess i'll have to do the same mad rush at the end.

As someone who did the "outline as you go" thing, I plan to outline less. It takes a while to get the bigger picture and "outlining as you go" makes it harder to see. I won't save it until the end of the semester, but maybe after each section rather than after every class. I think I can make better use of that time and it was mostly a waste, since I didn't know how things fit together at all. I think it made me feel more secure in the beginning (like, "I'm doing something proactive"), but I can't say it was super helpful in the end.

Unless, of course, my grades end up being awesome (unlikely), in which case, "yay! outlining as you go WORKS!" . (Nah, I'll probably scrap it either way)

[chango]

What I'm changing:

1. Spending less time briefing cases
2. Never opening facebook while in class
3. Doing one practice problem/exam, under timed, closed book conditions, after each major topic completed
4. My study group
5. Attending more office hours
6. Immediately returning any used book that has too much highlighting
7. Caring less about what people think of me
8. Doubling the amount of time I spend on my legal writing assignments
9. Socializing more with my non-law school friends.
10. Having more sex.

[BriaTharen]

Not changing anything preparation wise until I see my grades.

Though will be changing:
1. How often I got stuck being DD for bar reviews
2. Drinking less coffee
3. Eat more raw food and cook at home more often
4. Get back on P90X

[Sakura3210]

Outlining after ever major section. Waiting to do it til the end of the semester was a BAD idea for me. I think I do best when I just have to review and write an "attack" outline. Unless my grades say otherwise.