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

Tangerine Gleam wrote: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.

Tangerine Gleam wrote: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 wrote:

Tangerine Gleam wrote: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 wrote:

Tangerine Gleam wrote: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.

sethc wrote: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.

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

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

king3780 wrote:
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)

Baylan wrote:

sethc wrote: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.

dailygrind wrote: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.