How to Finish Top of Your Class? Forum

[Mr.Esquire]

I would like to get some insight from those who have graduated top of their class or even top 3% on how they achieved such.

[helfer snooterbagon]

There are a ton of guides on here touting paths to success. None are identical. There is no magic formula.

[hephaestus]

So in your posts you claim the following:
You have a 3.1/171 and ask where to apply
You are practice testing in the mid 150s and hope to get 170s, but state you're not taking until June 2014.
You are doing a judicial externship this semester and are looking for something for the spring semester (which implies you're a 2L).
You now want advice on how to do well in law school.

Care to clarify?

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think he's doing the internship as an undergrad.

OP, that is a huge question to which there is no guaranteed answer, since if there were, everyone would finish top of their class (which is, of course, impossible). As noted, read through the many guides on this site (look at the stickied posts at the top of the various forums). Also, wait until you're actually accepted to law school before you start asking how to be top of your class.

[stillwater]

Be good at law exams. Be prolific and apply law to fact.

[TheGreatFish]

In my experience, strong writing ability is a substantial help. I had poor study habits in law school, but I was a pretty good writer and I managed to place in the top 10% of my class every year.

I also studied with quite a few people who knew the law far better than I ever did, but because they were such atrocious writers they were always struggling to maintain decent grades.

If you want to finish at the top of your class, you should start working on your writing.

[shock259]

Read all the TLS guides. Blend the information. Find something that works for you. Do lots of practice tests. Pray.

[dj_roomba]

In my experience, strong writing ability is a substantial help. I had poor study habits in law school, but I was a pretty good writer and I managed to place in the top 10% of my class every year.

I also studied with quite a few people who knew the law far better than I ever did, but because they were such atrocious writers they were always struggling to maintain decent grades.

If you want to finish at the top of your class, you should start working on your writing.

What do you mean when you say writing skill helps?
Do professors care about how well you write? Or is it more about how clearly you can convey an idea?

[justinp]

In my experience, strong writing ability is a substantial help. I had poor study habits in law school, but I was a pretty good writer and I managed to place in the top 10% of my class every year.

I also studied with quite a few people who knew the law far better than I ever did, but because they were such atrocious writers they were always struggling to maintain decent grades.

If you want to finish at the top of your class, you should start working on your writing.

What do you mean when you say writing skill helps?
Do professors care about how well you write? Or is it more about how clearly you can convey an idea?

Those are not different things. When people in law talk about good writing they mean precisely writing that clearly (and persuasively) communicates whatever it's supposed to communicate. It's not "how lovely is my prose," it's whether a prof who is grading each exam in the space of less than 10 minutes can read your exam start to finish and never have to sit and figure out what the heck you're trying to say, and (icing) whether they're struck by how clearly your writing shows your understanding of the law.

[Mroberts3]

Don't forget to end each essay with "I AM THE LAW."

Professors love that.

[FKASunny]

Don't forget to end each essay with "I AM THE LAW."

Professors love that.

Also, don't forget to devote a large chunk of each exam to the intricacies of the writ system.

[Cicero76]

Go to Yale. I'm ranked first in my class and I've hardly worked at all.


(trolling because I assumed this was a troll thread)

[IpleadtheFiF]

Don't forget to end each essay with "I AM THE LAW."

Professors love that.

Almost. You have to write it as well as declare it when you finish your exam.

[stillwater]

fill the pages with INNUENDO. professors are a saucy bunch

[North]

Don't forget to end each essay with "I AM THE LAW."

Professors love that.

Almost. You have to write it as well as declare it when you finish your exam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM

[Void]

Remember to write with absolute certainty. Like "A is definitely, inarguably liable for battery. There is no imaginable universe in which A is not 100% liable." Professors love that.

[IpleadtheFiF]

Don't forget to end each essay with "I AM THE LAW."

Professors love that.

Almost. You have to write it as well as declare it when you finish your exam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM

YES

[Nyclawyer618]

I would like to get some insight from those who have graduated top of their class or even top 3% on how they achieved such.

Just make really good grades