Is second semester of 1L year more competitive than first? Forum

[General Tso]

the same

[Drake014]

I felt like no. In fact, I would say I did less work than fall, but I ended up with better spring grades. Almost everyone I know was the same way.

+1. ~3.6 first semester, ~3.8 second semester...w/ way less work.

What were the major changes to your workload? What did you do less or more of?

Did less studying. Asked the professor in one class exactly what she was looking for on the final. Played more pc games.

[pocky jocky]

still waiting on my grades, and I have a bad feeling about two of my exams. do law schools give Fs? what would be a good GPA standard for a drop out/stay in decision?

1L at a Tier-1

[johansantana21]

Curious but less would be my guess. Who briefs after 1 semester?

[ilovesf]

Holy necro.
To answer above, I brief a little bit even this semester because all of my classes cold call and stay on you for a long time. Most of it though is book briefing then followed by 10 minutes of typing up my notes.

[Lasers]

Holy necro.
To answer above, I brief a little bit even this semester because all of my classes cold call and stay on you for a long time. Most of it though is book briefing then followed by 10 minutes of typing up my notes.

yeah, i've had to do a bit more of that this semester as well, which i actually think hurts me. i'm sure teachers think that cold calling keeps people more prepared, and while that may be true, i find briefing/reading cases closely wastes too much time and is not necessary at all for the final. i've made the conscious trade off of looking less than diligent when called on in class for saving time and focusing on other things. the sooner i realized that reading cases very closely did nothing for me, the sooner i became more productive last semester. i think the only exception is conlaw, which has been nothing but cases.

also, i think i will do worse this semester; people certainly do seem like they are more on top of things this semester, though it's hard to tell as it's so early in the new semester. the race is won in the last half/quarter of the semester, anyway.

as for this thread...i thought it was a new thread until i saw a general tso post. i wonder what he's doing now.

[ilovesf]

Holy necro.
To answer above, I brief a little bit even this semester because all of my classes cold call and stay on you for a long time. Most of it though is book briefing then followed by 10 minutes of typing up my notes.

yeah, i've had to do a bit more of that this semester as well, which i actually think hurts me. i'm sure teachers think that cold calling keeps people more prepared, and while that may be true, i find briefing/reading cases closely wastes too much time and is not necessary at all for the final. i've made the conscious trade off of looking less than diligent when called on in class for saving time and focusing on other things. the sooner i realized that reading cases very closely did nothing for me, the sooner i became more productive last semester. i think the only exception is conlaw, which has been nothing but cases.

also, i think i will do worse this semester; people certainly do seem like they are more on top of things this semester, though it's hard to tell as it's so early in the new semester. the race is won in the last half/quarter of the semester, anyway.

as for this thread...i thought it was a new thread until i saw a general tso post. i wonder what he's doing now.

I wonder if either of us have ever met him. My classes right now are definitely more challenging than last semester. My con law class had 40 pages of reading for our 1 hour class today, and that seems like it's going to be pretty normal (and it meets three times a week), and my moot court opinion I have to read for tomorrow is 100 pages, and then I have to read parts of 3 other opinions. Last semester was heavenly compared to this.

[Lasers]

Holy necro.
To answer above, I brief a little bit even this semester because all of my classes cold call and stay on you for a long time. Most of it though is book briefing then followed by 10 minutes of typing up my notes.

yeah, i've had to do a bit more of that this semester as well, which i actually think hurts me. i'm sure teachers think that cold calling keeps people more prepared, and while that may be true, i find briefing/reading cases closely wastes too much time and is not necessary at all for the final. i've made the conscious trade off of looking less than diligent when called on in class for saving time and focusing on other things. the sooner i realized that reading cases very closely did nothing for me, the sooner i became more productive last semester. i think the only exception is conlaw, which has been nothing but cases.

also, i think i will do worse this semester; people certainly do seem like they are more on top of things this semester, though it's hard to tell as it's so early in the new semester. the race is won in the last half/quarter of the semester, anyway.

as for this thread...i thought it was a new thread until i saw a general tso post. i wonder what he's doing now.

I wonder if either of us have ever met him. My classes right now are definitely more challenging than last semester. My con law class had 40 pages of reading for our 1 hour class today, and that seems like it's going to be pretty normal (and it meets three times a week), and my moot court opinion I have to read for tomorrow is 100 pages, and then I have to read parts of 3 other opinions. Last semester was heavenly compared to this.

ahha, i doubt i've met tso, but i sure would like to.

seriously...tomorrow i have 4 classes from 8-7. i have less time to focus on classes because i have to keep doing things just to keep up. moot court is ridiculous...i have to do my research log and finish reading some of the lengthy materials for tomorrow as well.

i thought i hated law school enough, and then spring semester came along.

[alicrimson]

Thanks 2 and 3Ls for sharing your experiences. It really helps. I'm a 1L also and have noticed several new faces from my section who are in the library a lot more often now. Supplement use also seems to be a lot higher. I remember last semester pretty much no one used them. Now, someone has atleast two supplements always on their desk. I figure this is zealous compensation for last semester or its a "New Years" thing and won't last through the month. What I should probably be focusing on though is myself.

[jess]

.

[Extension_Cord]

Spent no more than 10 hours in the library last semester, plan to spend even less there this semester.

I still don't know what you guys are doing in there.

[alicrimson]

Spent no more than 10 hours in the library last semester, plan to spend even less there this semester.

I still don't know what you guys are doing in there.

Probs same thing you're doing at home or where ever you study. Different people work better in different environments. I know the library is most convenient more me (4 hours in between classes everyday) and I focus best where I don't have fun friends around me, televisions, hair care products, baths, and where I feel judged for being off track (irrational but still...).

[nStiver]

Holy necro.
To answer above, I brief a little bit even this semester because all of my classes cold call and stay on you for a long time. Most of it though is book briefing then followed by 10 minutes of typing up my notes.

This. I "Brief" for every class, if by briefing you mean taking a couple lines of notes for each case I have to read. And copying the rule down into my outline.

[solotee]

3.9 first semester

3.7 second semester

Same amount of work just more disorganized

[Pricer]

Since grades are curved, I can't see how that would change the final result.

.

Yeah, I feel the same way but I can't help but think that it's certainly a viable possibility and one that might be a good idea to sort out before any more finals but that could just be me.

Wouldn't the curve preclude any possibility of teachers grading exams tougher?

[kapital98]

Since grades are curved, I can't see how that would change the final result.

.

Yeah, I feel the same way but I can't help but think that it's certainly a viable possibility and one that might be a good idea to sort out before any more finals but that could just be me.

Wouldn't the curve preclude any possibility of teachers grading exams tougher?

No, if the quality of all exams increase then it requires tougher grading.

However, I think this is a little overblown. As long as your professors have exams no file you should know what will be expected. Their past Spring exams will be roughly the equivalent of future Spring exams. In both cases there was "tougher" competition due to the Spring.

[jess]

.

[Sapientia]

So further on into the semester now, I think that 1.) exams will be tougher than last semester just based on the courses I'm taking and the nature of the exams and 2.) students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

Same here for #1, and I hope you're right about #2.

[Lasers]

students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

what school do you go to...geezus.

[alicrimson]

students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

what school do you go to...geezus.

We have drinking time every Thursday before Civ Pro...which only meets twice a week. By "we" I mean the large group of students who go during the hour between appellate advocacy and civil procedure. I have gone one time. I was slightly buzzed entering Civ Pro and decided I would never go again. The entire class period I was convinced the teacher could tell and just prayed she wouldn't call on me. I was also pissed at myself because I was convinced I was not going to retain information as well. If some people can do it, more power to them. I am not one of those people. For one day, however, I was a cool kid at the drinking between classes party.

[kapital98]

students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

what school do you go to...geezus.

We have drinking time every Thursday before Civ Pro...which only meets twice a week. By "we" I mean the large group of students who go during the hour between appellate advocacy and civil procedure. I have gone one time. I was slightly buzzed entering Civ Pro and decided I would never go again. The entire class period I was convinced the teacher could tell and just prayed she wouldn't call on me. I was also pissed at myself because I was convinced I was not going to retain information as well. If some people can do it, more power to them. I am not one of those people. For one day, however, I was a cool kid at the drinking between classes party.

I really want to know what school this is.

[Lasers]

students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

what school do you go to...geezus.

We have drinking time every Thursday before Civ Pro...which only meets twice a week. By "we" I mean the large group of students who go during the hour between appellate advocacy and civil procedure. I have gone one time. I was slightly buzzed entering Civ Pro and decided I would never go again. The entire class period I was convinced the teacher could tell and just prayed she wouldn't call on me. I was also pissed at myself because I was convinced I was not going to retain information as well. If some people can do it, more power to them. I am not one of those people. For one day, however, I was a cool kid at the drinking between classes party.

sounds like law school for AA members.

i've never drank before class...seems so...counter intuitive.

[ilovesf]

i don't know people who show up drunk, but i know people who have shown up high. that sounds like the worst thing ever to me.

[Always Credited]

students will be less prepared than last semester. It seems like everyone is only interested in getting wasted 24/7 this semester. People have started showing up to afternoon class drunk, and the professors seem really disgusted. And these are not people who can afford to drink every night instead of reading.

what school do you go to...geezus.

We have drinking time every Thursday before Civ Pro...which only meets twice a week. By "we" I mean the large group of students who go during the hour between appellate advocacy and civil procedure. I have gone one time. I was slightly buzzed entering Civ Pro and decided I would never go again. The entire class period I was convinced the teacher could tell and just prayed she wouldn't call on me. I was also pissed at myself because I was convinced I was not going to retain information as well. If some people can do it, more power to them. I am not one of those people. For one day, however, I was a cool kid at the drinking between classes party.

Sounds like GW, we partied pretty hard my first year. And by we, I mean the collective entity of my entire section. Drinking before every Thursday 6pm-8pm class, we destroyed another section on an exam for which we had a shared professor...after the curve, our B had the same raw score as their A+.

Some people are nerds. Some people are cool. Some are both. We were mostly both.

[lobolawyer]

I was thinking pretty much the same. The answer is probably obvious, but I still wanted to know the degree of the change and perhaps hear some stories on the topic.

Some who did well will be overconfident and slack off, some who did poorly will gun and do better. In my experience, after 2L OCI competition went out the window.