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How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:02 am
by ashwini
I know each persons studying pattern is different and the amount of time needed depends on person to person and from law school to law school...But I just wanted a general idea of how much time people put into studying ....not including class time

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:05 am
by burtonrideclub
Two and a half hours a day. That is for the reading and maybe looking over a couple supplements. Add a couple of hours on top of that if I'm working on Legal Writing assignments. I'll try to work 5-6 hours total over the weekend, usually on friday afternoon and sunday night.

It seems too early to start outlining (though I will start soon), and don't want to waste practice tests when we know about a third of the material tops.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 11:32 am
by kalvano
There are several threads on this already.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:43 pm
by Doritos
Image

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:39 am
by GeePee
Doritos wrote:Image
LOL

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:55 am
by uvauvauva
stop caring wtf other people are doing and concentrate on what you are doing.

FTW

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:35 am
by rdcws000
Maybe OP just wants someone to talk to?

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:50 am
by Doritos
GeePee wrote:
Doritos wrote:image
LOL
I'm glad someone appreciated that

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 4:18 pm
by mikeytwoshoes
If you're at less than 18 hours, you're boned.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 4:25 pm
by mikeytwoshoes
burtonrideclub wrote:Two and a half hours a day. That is for the reading and maybe looking over a couple supplements. Add a couple of hours on top of that if I'm working on Legal Writing assignments. I'll try to work 5-6 hours total over the weekend, usually on friday afternoon and sunday night.

It seems too early to start outlining (though I will start soon), and don't want to waste practice tests when we know about a third of the material tops.
Never work on Friday afternoons.* After class on Friday is a holy time. This is your time to relax and unwind. You need this to prepare for your eight-nine hour days on Saturday and Sunday.

*Finals prep and other crunch time excepted.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:13 pm
by GoodToBeTheKing
about 10 hours a day i am on campus...

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:03 pm
by zeth006
Cutting out all my unproductive moments of checking FB, going to the bathroom, getting a drink, etc? Probably no more than 4-5 hours.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:07 pm
by zeth006
mikeytwoshoes wrote:
burtonrideclub wrote:Two and a half hours a day. That is for the reading and maybe looking over a couple supplements. Add a couple of hours on top of that if I'm working on Legal Writing assignments. I'll try to work 5-6 hours total over the weekend, usually on friday afternoon and sunday night.

It seems too early to start outlining (though I will start soon), and don't want to waste practice tests when we know about a third of the material tops.
Never work on Friday afternoons.* After class on Friday is a holy time. This is your time to relax and unwind. You need this to prepare for your eight-nine hour days on Saturday and Sunday.

*Finals prep and other crunch time excepted.
Agreed. I could never understood people who say you need to be working straight through Friday/Saturday/Sunday. After 5 straight days of class and studying, I just don't have it in me to outline or read another case. I use that time to go grocery shopping, cook dinner for the next few days, do laundry, and go out at night. Jamming 7/7 days a week is probably a surefire way to burn out in no time.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:11 pm
by Brawndo86
Since it's still September, I'm lucky if I read 3-4 times a week. Weekends are a deadzone with partying, college football Saturdays, and hangover Sundays. I get more serious in late October when it's time to start going through supplements.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 11:37 am
by Riles246
Part-timer here: 8 hours on Sunday and that's it. I'll brush up on the cases on the train ride in, but no serious reading can be done there.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 1:06 am
by Omerta
I don't do anything Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. I like to have more free time during the week so I put in pretty significant hours on the weekend. 12 hours of class a week plus I averaged 4.7 hours a day of no bullshit checking gmail/facebook/whatever studying for September. Some days are 0, some are 12. I put a huge amount of time into my first legal writing assignment, so my actual study time for classes is probably lower.

I really enjoy the material but I abhor Contracts. Hopefully it will start making more sense a little later on. For people who are worried about getting burned out from studying 2-4 hours a week now, good luck in practice.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:43 am
by DiscoveryDeadline
To each his own, but I actually LIKE to put in some substantial time on Thursday/Friday.

I actually think that it prevents burnout, because then I don't feel like I'm constantly scrambling to read an hour before class.

Of course, sometimes if you read too many days ahead, you completely forget everything by Monday. I have some extremely Socratic professors, so you have to be really on top of the material when class comes about.

I don't know ... a lot of this is just by feel. I think everyone is seeking the golden key to perfect grades, and it doesn't really exist.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:04 am
by RUQRU
DiscoveryDeadline wrote:To each his own, but I actually LIKE to put in some substantial time on Thursday/Friday.

I actually think that it prevents burnout, because then I don't feel like I'm constantly scrambling to read an hour before class.

Of course, sometimes if you read too many days ahead, you completely forget everything by Monday. I have some extremely Socratic professors, so you have to be really on top of the material when class comes about.

I don't know ... a lot of this is just by feel. I think everyone is seeking the golden key to perfect grades, and it doesn't really exist.
If the final is worth +99% of your grade why are you worried about flubbing up in front of an "extremely Socratic professor"? What happens to your grade if you can't remember the name of the characters in a case? Will knowing every minute fact get you a better grade?

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 3:41 pm
by DiscoveryDeadline
RUQRU wrote:
DiscoveryDeadline wrote:To each his own, but I actually LIKE to put in some substantial time on Thursday/Friday.

I actually think that it prevents burnout, because then I don't feel like I'm constantly scrambling to read an hour before class.

Of course, sometimes if you read too many days ahead, you completely forget everything by Monday. I have some extremely Socratic professors, so you have to be really on top of the material when class comes about.

I don't know ... a lot of this is just by feel. I think everyone is seeking the golden key to perfect grades, and it doesn't really exist.
If the final is worth +99% of your grade why are you worried about flubbing up in front of an "extremely Socratic professor"? What happens to your grade if you can't remember the name of the characters in a case? Will knowing every minute fact get you a better grade?
Good point. I should have been more clear.

The preparation isn't to cover your ass in case you get called on. It's to enable you to follow along with the discussion in the class. You can get lost in the thicket pretty quickly when you have a hide-the-ball professor running the classroom.

And the point of prepping isn't to memorize the minute facts of the case. It is to grasp the nuances of the legal reasoning. For all that we stereotype about professors grilling students on facts of the case that don't really matter, I would say 90 percent of Socratic questions are about the court's reasoning.

Re: How long and how often do you study a day??

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:00 pm
by zeth006
DiscoveryDeadline wrote:
RUQRU wrote:
DiscoveryDeadline wrote:To each his own, but I actually LIKE to put in some substantial time on Thursday/Friday.

I actually think that it prevents burnout, because then I don't feel like I'm constantly scrambling to read an hour before class.

Of course, sometimes if you read too many days ahead, you completely forget everything by Monday. I have some extremely Socratic professors, so you have to be really on top of the material when class comes about.

I don't know ... a lot of this is just by feel. I think everyone is seeking the golden key to perfect grades, and it doesn't really exist.
If the final is worth +99% of your grade why are you worried about flubbing up in front of an "extremely Socratic professor"? What happens to your grade if you can't remember the name of the characters in a case? Will knowing every minute fact get you a better grade?
Good point. I should have been more clear.

The preparation isn't to cover your ass in case you get called on. It's to enable you to follow along with the discussion in the class. You can get lost in the thicket pretty quickly when you have a hide-the-ball professor running the classroom.

And the point of prepping isn't to memorize the minute facts of the case. It is to grasp the nuances of the legal reasoning. For all that we stereotype about professors grilling students on facts of the case that don't really matter, I would say 90 percent of Socratic questions are about the court's reasoning.
Learned that the hard way today during Civ. Didn't read the dissenting opinion which actually happened to be really important. Glad I have my supplements to explain everything clearly.