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

[Stanford4Me]

[Baylan]

I'm not in this argument, but a cookie sounds great.

[Helmholtz]

Getting more substantive outlines in place earlier
Doing practice tests earlier
Going to every single class
Spend so much less time learning and so much more time applying
Start meeting with exam attack groups earlier.

You know, the normal stuff that would you have asked me three months ago, I would have said, "lawl, of course I'll do all those things!".

edit: oh yeah, and I wish I would have spent more time at office hours

[Oban]

I would like to finish my outlines a bit earlier, such as before reading period, and try to get one practice exam in that last week, that way i can beat the horde to office hours to get feedback. This semester i had to spend to much time waiting in line to talk to professors to get feedback on my practice tests, and i think that feedback helped me out a lot on exams.

[rowlf]

Things I'm not changing:
1.Positive attitude during exams. I dug into the ideas and didn't concern myself with the implications of the exams. I was very much of the school: "Keep calm and carry on." --LinkRemoved--
2. Eating well and working out consistently the entire semester.
3. Going to office hours, occasionally sending emailed questions, and making the occasional well thought out comment in class. If I need a rec, it's good that my profs (with the possible exception of one) should be able to jog their memory and recall who I am. It's also just nicer.
4. How I read cases. Yes, I use a multi-colored highlighting system, and I like it. But less superficially, I tend to think about the cases in really fruitful ways by changing the facts, thinking about why we're reading it now, etc. It takes a while but it's helpful later on.
5. Speaking in class rarely. I think through things better and thus learn them better in the first instance when I'm not concerned about how my arguments and ideas are being received.

Things I will change:
1. I started reviewing early, but I only started one outline early. I went over concepts and class notes for all of my classes, looked at hornbooks, watched the good BARBRI videos (civpro and property) such that when I started outlining proper later on, I already understood the material. However, late in the game, "understanding" is well and good, but you want an outline in hand so all you have to do is create an attack outline and take practice exams. I think I will start outlining after every section, but at the end of the semester, I will use correcting the outline and creating an attack line as the end-of-semester review. Outlining after every section was my original plan, but a lot of first semester stuff got in my way, it will hopefully be easier second time around.
2. I used E&Es a lot towards the end for practice fodder, but I'd do a few problems throughout the semester to get myself in the habit of analyzing the way you do on an exam (rather than the casual analysis I do after reading cases, at least when I'm not in a huge hurry).
3. More group review of practice exams.
4. Take a quick skim of GtM maybe two weeks before exams.

The above is on deck no matter how I do.

[Grizz]

What is a TTTOLIET?

[jdubb990]

What I learned without having my grades back.
-legal writing can be very time consuming and it forces you to take time away from substantive classes
-meeting with your legal writing professor is the key to success in LWRA
-because I have a good memory, editing my writing is difficult because I am so content on what I previously wrote


Things I'll do differently
-As soon as I get a writing assignment, begin research that day
-meet with my LWRA prof. more often
-as soon as I'm content with my research, immediately start writing

[TCScrutinizer]

More practice tests.

[goosey]

What I learned without having my grades back.
-legal writing can be very time consuming and it forces you to take time away from substantive classes
-meeting with your legal writing professor is the key to success in LWRA
-because I have a good memory, editing my writing is difficult because I am so content on what I previously wrote


Things I'll do differently
-As soon as I get a writing assignment, begin research that day
-meet with my LWRA prof. more often
-as soon as I'm content with my research, immediately start writing

I will follow what I did on my last memo next semester

first, I made an outline with the main elements and sub elements and pasted it into two different word documents. I went through allllll the cases and put case law under each element [along with the page number for pin cites]..then I went to the other document with a skeletal elemental outline and filled in facts under each element and sub-element--then I wrote the entire thing. The preparation took FOREVER but it was so easy to outline and my professor commented that it was "meticulously prepared"--definitely worth the extra worth upfront, because the writing process is SO MUCH easier..and the work shows through in the final product

[twert]

next semester i will not outline at all

i will not read cases before class. By the end of the semester i was reading cases in class as we were discussing them, and it saved time and was easier to digest.

i will spend even more time on lrw, because its more fun, more interesting, and because its the only actual learning i think i did last semester.

I will stop drinking caffeine.

I will go to office ours.

i will go to all those idiotic lunch presentations my school has and try to figure out what practice area i'm actually interested in

i will figure out a better way to network.

i will spend more time building relationships with fellow law students.

[Omerta]

next semester

i will spend more time building relationships with fellow law students.

This is the one thing I really didn't do as much as I should have.

Keep:
My study partner that I went over PEs with; we worked very well together
briefing every case. Blah blah waste of time but it was a way better use of time than reading supplements with rare exceptions

Do more:
Legal writing work early. I did an ok job of frontloading legal writing, but I can do better (especially now that I know what I'm doing).
Apply to more jobs
Studying in general. I didn't study very much during exams (maybe that was a good thing).
More office hours
Find a good card game. I live in Atlanta, shouldn't be that hard to find a good home game.

Do less:
I missed 4 classes last term, need to get that to zero

To be honest, I just need to keep doing most of the stuff I did last semester. I was a very consistent student that never killed myself studying, but didn't slack off. For those of you who haven't seen this, read it: http://calnewport.com/blog/ . I found a lot of the stuff he said to be very enlightening. Law school is more about the plasticity and limitations of arguments rather than rote memorization. That guy's study method helped me to approach cases and classes creatively and with genuine interest.

[BriaTharen]

MORE PRACTICE TESTS. And starting them way earlier.

[09042014]

Even if I get good grades:
More PT's
More time learning my outline, but that comes with more PT.
Figure out LRW

If I get bad grades:
I'll use supplements
Start outlining earlier
Take better class and reading notes
Go to office hours

If I get bad grades in classes I used an old outlines (used someone else's for one, used my own for two, used a hybrid for my last class):
then I'll make my own.

I'll probably still attempt to make my own if I get good grades in classes I used old outlines (unless I only did bad in selfmade classes).

[heyyitskatie]

1) Go to Office Hours more often.
2) Be less afraid to seek help from 2Ls and 3Ls
3) Try to keep daily readings to about 2 hours per subject
4) ditch the multi-colored highlight system (I opened my casebooks maybe five times when preparing for finals)...one color is fine
5) start outlining a few weeks earlier
6) care less about what law school people think of me

[zeth006]

1) Go to Office Hours more often.
2) Be less afraid to seek help from 2Ls and 3Ls
3) Try to keep daily readings to about 2 hours per subject
4) ditch the multi-colored highlight system (I opened my casebooks maybe five times when preparing for finals)...one color is fine
5) start outlining a few weeks earlier
6) care less about what law school people think of me

Care to elaborate on (6)?

[zeth006]

MORE PRACTICE TESTS. And starting them way earlier.

+1,000,000. I did decently in preparing for class, but did horribly on this.

[Holly Golightly]

Definitely more practice tests. ALL the practice tests.

And when I get my grades back, there is a huge chance I will become an egregious gunner who starts reading billions of supplements and reviewing old outlines at the beginning of the semester.

[random5483]

My grades were much better than I expected, but I did not network or make the contacts I should have. My plans:

What I Plan to Do:

1. Network more
2. Attend more school lunch events
3. Socialize more with fellow students
4. Join more student organizations
5. Meet professors during office hours

What I will Not Do:

1. Type a brief for every case (I stopped this for most classes around October)
2. Read cases more than 2-3 days before the day of class
3. Stress out about exams and law school grades (this will be hard to pull off!)

[Holly Golightly]

Oh yeah, I'm also trying to pay more attention in class this semester. Already somewhat difficult, since my conlaw professor likes to talk about....well, I'm not totally sure what it is he's talking about. But I'm pretty sure it's not conlaw.

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Turning off the internet for class will be huge for this semester . . . if I actually do it.

[nn223]

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

--ImageRemoved--

[soaponarope]

I did well, so I'm going to do everything the same... except this time around I plan on getting more than 1-2 hours of sleep prior to my exams.

[uwb09]

1 - do way more practice tests, easily the most effective way I prepared for my finals, and still had whole folders of PDF practice tests I could have taken but ran out of time

2 - gonna sound opposite of some in here, but more thoroughly read the cases. This was the best way that I personally was able to learn the law and how to apply it. When I spent time really tearing apart cases and analyzing them piece by piece, things became clear as day

3 - start outlining a little bit earlier, I liked that I spent my reading period before finals condensing my outlines, but some of the classes I was also filling in more than I wanted to while condensing

4 - make flash cards earlier, flash cards FTW

5 - more communication with professors

6 - dominate

[3ThrowAway99]

I like this thread.

Definitely how my grades come back could affect my attitude and approach. For instance, since I worked really hard, if my grades come back lower than I hope or expect, I think I will have a pretty nonchalant attitude next semester. I think I would basically feel like my hard work had not paid off, and I'd be inclined to put in way less effort next semester. If my grades come back as hoped for or expected (or better), then I think I will be inclined to continue with somewhat of a gunnerish approach. Regardless, biggest things I plan to do differently:


- Don't stay up all night before any exams. Not kidding. Did this with one exam and it felt like a nightmare. I would say this was hands down my biggest mistake of last semester.

- Keep briefs brief.

- Try to speak less in class. I think participation is valuable, but I know sometimes this drained me, and I'm pretty sure I did annoy other people at times.

- As much as I hate it, make sure to do plenty of essay writing (practice exam questions). Maybe even a full exam for each class.

- Work on disciplining myself with timing and organization for exams by whatever means possible.

-Back-up my outlines/ class notes partway through the semester. Had to start from scratch late in semester because my computer died.

-Collaborate more (study with others etc). At the very least I think this could make things more enjoyable.

-Legal writing and research: other than my bad exam experience in terms of going in without sleep, I would say that LWLR was another low-light of my last semester. There actually were a few parts of those classes I liked, but I felt pretty miserable working through some of the stuff. Last semester wasn't graded but next one is. I def want to work hard and do a good job, but I think one of my goals for these classes is not to overdo it.



** Oh yeah: make regular exercise and other activities conducive to mental and physical health a priority. Did this somewhat last semester, but I don't think I did it enough. It's so counterintuitive to think that this could actually increase my chances of doing well even though I will be spending less time studying, but I def think it is the case.

[heyyitskatie]

1) Go to Office Hours more often.

6) care less about what law school people think of me

Care to elaborate on (6)?

Sure. I think as a result of admiration of my classmates and insecurity about what I would do if I didn't make a lot of friends in such a small group, I spent too much time caring about how my actions were interpreted by other people and wondering if people "liked" me. I'm hoping that this semester, I can continue getting to know people and developing friendships, but that it's without caring so much about what people think... I'd like to be as laid back and independent as some people in my section seem to be.