1L Exam Prep and Motivation Thread Forum

[maxm2764]

Thanks to beach_terror for starting this last year,it's definitely a great idea. I figured all of us 1L's could use a spot to commiserate together.

How's everyone feeling? Honestly, I'm terrified. Even though I've been putting in my time, I still feel like I have to learn everything within the next month or so.

Good luck everyone, and here's to getting through our first semester in one piece!

[adonai]

Even though I've been faithful in my studying, seems like I haven't learned anything. Now I understand the ones who just grind out the last month 24/7 and end up acing exams.

[c3pO4]

Even though I've been faithful in my studying, seems like I haven't learned anything. Now I understand the ones who just grind out the last month 24/7 and end up acing exams.

Ya step 1 is to realize you know nothing! But, in all seriousness, if you woke up from a coma today and studied around the clock you could ace your finals. The key is to actually put in the time doing the right things in the last month before finals. GL you guys.

--The lazy 2L who tries to get themselves motivated by lurking in the 1L motivation thread

[shock259]

Definitely good luck to everyone.

I'm feeling pretty good right now, but I have a huge amount of work to do still. And there's tons of different things to juggle (JAG interviews soon, 1l summer stuff to apply for, etc).

I have outlined and read ahead, but I seriously need to work on condensing and synthesizing all of the information. I also need to get used to the exam format and get familiar with issue spotting and writing the bll.

I'm going out this weekend for our Halloween party, but after that, I'm going to try and not go out until Christmas. I know I won't make it, but it's my goal. Note: to me, going out = pre-gaming, going to a bar, and waking up hungover and unproductive. I'll still go out to dinner with people and what not.

[SilverE2]

I've been fairly chill so far (keeping up on reading/taking notes but not doing much more), and only working weekends if I have legal writing). But this week I'm ramping things up. I plan to finish the reading for the week every week by Wednesday, and then Thursday through Sunday work on outlines. I'm going to finish outlines by Thanksgiving break, then use the break to do practice tests/take notes on anything I don't know, then ask the professors those questions when I get back.

[maxm2764]

Yeah, I've pretty much shut it down as far as going out, mostly because my first final is November 29th. The first draft of my memo is done and I'm furiously working on polishing up my outlines.

Hopefully I'll feel better once I start trying to commit everything to memory. I was pretty caught up with everything for our mid-terms, but now (especially in K's) I feel completely lost again.

I have a flight to San Francisco booked for the day after my last final, so do have a little extra motivation to get me through the final push. You know, besides getting a job/making LR/keeping my scholly/not begin homeless for the rest of my life.

[gdane]

I'm feeling good. I have my outlines done to this point and my plan is to finish all my readings and have my outlines competed by mid november. At that point I'm going to work on practice problems in my supplements. I'll also do my final memo at some point in time. My main goal is to have about two weeks prior to finals to take practice exams.

I'm just trying to stay on schedule. There is so much to do and I'm trying to got it in to about a month. I've been staying at the library until 10 this week to get stuff done, but I may have to start starting later. I actually went home early today though. I'm really sleepy and I have an 8 am class tomorrow so it would probably benefit me to rest tonight and but it hard tomorrow.

Good luck to us.

[beachbum]

Just wanna say good luck to everyone. Gonna start outlining soon, and then it'll be a nonstop grind to the finish.

"You can sleep when you're dead."

[Seminole_305]

Kinda started an outline for some classes and trying to finish up my open memo before I go hardcore on my prepping for finals. All the hours I put into my open memo I will devote to studying for finals. Not sure what to expect but I want to be as prepared as possible because this is my life.

Time to put on the warpaint!

[queenlizzie13]

Yup, Halloween is pretty much going to be the last hurrah for me in terms of major partying while going out. I still might go out on a Friday but just keep it more low key though so I'm not hungover.

I have ramped things up since the week before the midterm - torts and civ pro outlines are basically caught up to this point, but I am severely behind on contracts. Criminal law outline is mostly done, but still needs more work. Been staying later and later at the library.

Started revising my memo. Still working out though - that won't change (even just a 30 minute run is enough right now to keep me sane).

[WilliamMary123]

Even though I've been faithful in my studying, seems like I haven't learned anything. Now I understand the ones who just grind out the last month 24/7 and end up acing exams.

Ya step 1 is to realize you know nothing! But, in all seriousness, if you woke up from a coma today and studied around the clock you could ace your finals. The key is to actually put in the time doing the right things in the last month before finals. GL you guys.

--The lazy 2L who tries to get themselves motivated by lurking in the 1L motivation thread

Can you explain this to me? Maybe I'm just looking for comfort, since while I didn't slack off all semester, I certainly feel like I could have done more up to this point.

Is this true? Can I still get A's even though I don't think I've learned anything so far?

Thanks!

[maxm2764]

Still working out though - that won't change (even just a 30 minute run is enough right now to keep me sane).

+1,000,000. I think I'd go insane if I didn't maintain my workout routine through this race to the finish. Honestly, with all of the sitting we do, I'm always itching to get into the gym once class is over each day.

[ilovesf]

I have 1 outline done, going to start working on my second this weekend. This weekend is the beginning of my crunch time. I went to an exam preparation seminar that my school puts on today and it made me realize I have a lot to work on.

[NeighborGuy]

Feeling okay right now, but I'm sure that will change as the final hours arrive. Outlines are up to date except for LegReg, but I'm not so worried about that one. Won't take very long to go back, extract and organize the relevant exam tools now that I know what to look for. Still have to go back over some sections in substantive law courses, get more detail out of them and organize the info in a way that will be more exam-friendly. November's gonna be busy!

[rocon7383]

my outline for crim is about 1/2 done, outline for torts is pretty weak and still needs a lot of work and civpro outline is about 1/4 done. Need to get up to speed in all of these over the next 2 weeks.

What's every ones approach to practice problems? I know I want to take practice exams closer to finals, but what if you dont have an "ideal answer" sheet and just the empty exam? Also, even though for some classes i am assigned the e&es, i have decided against looking at the questions and answers so far so i can do them closer to finals. anybody doing the same?

[Voltaire]

I guess I belong here too. I'm in the same boat as a lot of y'all. After this weekend, it's time to get pretty serious. Good luck everybody.

Luckily, I had one graded mid-term that I killed already. If we could just end law school with the grades we have right now, I'd be set.

[target]

I am checking in, and this is a great thread idea.

Feeling okay now. Will def pick up the pace after the first week of Nov when I turn in my second and last memo. Do we allow to post questions ITT?

[sundance95]

Checking into this thread.

Went over an exam Q w/my CivPro prof today; it *was* one of the classes I was feeling good about before that, haha. Definitely good motivation to get back on that outline.

[Metaread]

Scared here. 1 month to learn or re-learn all these concepts and master the art of taking practice exams. I'm not feeling too confident. 3 months passed by wayyy too quickly. Good luck to everyone, I will certainly need it.

[crossarmant]

Have a little over a month to master the practice exams and I feel wholly unprepared. I'm freaking out a little, got an A on my one mid-term exam, but I worry that it won't translate to an A final for that class and for everything else. I have basically a month to just shove everything in my head and be able to apply it and I'm freaking out.

Best of luck to everyone out there (Unless your in my section). Let the panic attacks begin.

[SilverE2]

I'm completely freaking out about contracts. We have over 100 cases, its closed book, he likes when we cite to cases, and he puts his own little twist on every single thing we study.. Really not sure what I'm gonna do.

[dabomb75]

when you guys say your outlines are done, how exactly are you dealing with stuff you haven't covered yet?

For example, in my civ pro class, all that we've covered so far is the steps of trial (pleadings, discovery, summary judgment, appeals, and trial) and personal jurisdiction.

We still haven't even touched SM juris., Erie doctrine, joinder, whatever else confusing there is in civ pro. Am I supposed to just read ahead and outline the rest of the semester's materials even though we haven't covered everything, and just use supplements when I don't understand the reading on my own?

My outlines are basically up to date with the class but I don't know how I can start practice testing without knowing the rest of the materials


Last hurrah this weekend and then the craziness begins

[dreakol]

when you guys say your outlines are done, how exactly are you dealing with stuff you haven't covered yet?

For example, in my civ pro class, all that we've covered so far is the steps of trial (pleadings, discovery, summary judgment, appeals, and trial) and personal jurisdiction.

We still haven't even touched SM juris., Erie doctrine, joinder, whatever else confusing there is in civ pro. Am I supposed to just read ahead and outline the rest of the semester's materials even though we haven't covered everything, and just use supplements when I don't understand the reading on my own?

My outlines are basically up to date with the class but I don't know how I can start practice testing without knowing the rest of the materials


Last hurrah this weekend and then the craziness begins

I read ahead in the class and then read 2-3 supplements for each class and made an outline off of those notes and older outlines I got from 2Ls

during class, if the professors says something that isn't completely obvious to me about a subject, I add it directly to the outline.

with that said, 2 outlines done out of 3 since the third didn't give syllabus and posts the readings only a week in advance. i've been doing practice hypos/exams since the beginning of the semester, so now it's just time to work on memorization of the bll/policy and keep on doing practice problems. i've also been practicing my typing for 30 min a day, which i feel is my biggest weakness.

I don't see any change in my schedule though with regards to putting in more hours, which is nice

[ilovesf]

I read ahead in the class and then read 2-3 supplements for each class and made an outline off of those notes and older outlines I got from 2Ls

during class, if the professors says something that isn't completely obvious to me about a subject, I add it directly to the outline.

with that said, 2 outlines done out of 3 since the third didn't give syllabus and posts the readings only a week in advance. i've been doing practice hypos/exams since the beginning of the semester, so now it's just time to work on memorization of the bll/policy and keep on doing practice problems. i've also been practicing my typing for 30 min a day, which i feel is my biggest weakness.

I don't see any change in my schedule though with regards to putting in more hours, which is nice

seriously? that seems like a waste of time to me, doing practice exams before you even are familiar with the material.. when so much of an exam is issue spotting aren't you kind of wasting that exam by doing it before you can spot a lot of the issues and can fully explain them?

[ilovesf]

how do you guys feel about study groups? i feel badly saying this, but a good friend here wants to start a study group, but i'm not so sure i want to study with her. she hasn't done most of the reading, she hasn't read any supplements, and in my opinion seems to be way too relaxed. she's a great friend, but i really feel like i wouldn't benefit at all from forming a group with her. i'm not as gungho as some of you (don't have all of my outlines done, haven't started practice exams, haven't read 100 supplements), but i'm definitely more with it than she is. At the same time, i know most other people have already formed them, so it might be this or nothing for me.