Anyone else finding that they have a lot of free time..? Forum

[shock259]

Can't tell if my school is moving slow or if this is normal. I'm 3 weeks in now and I have loads of free time. Here's what I do:

-Read supplement/supplements for upcoming topics
-Read casebook and do minibriefs
-Work on outline after class discussion on the topic
-???
-Hang out/drink/whatever

I can't really take practice exams this early because I don't seem to know enough law yet.

It's just odd to me that I run out of things to do because the infamous posts about law school success from Xeoh, Arrow, and others usually have the author devoting 8-12 hours a day to studying (outside of class). I don't have that much material to study. I'm putting in a couple of hours each day on law school and I seem to "get" everything above.

Anyone else experiencing this? I know it is still early and what not, but it just seems odd.

*puts on flame suit*

[ilovesf]

I've been pretty busy, but I like to go to get into bed early, watch tv and relax. I do a lot during the week so I have a lot of free time on the weekend to do nothing but relax. If I concentrate I put in around 3 hours of studying a day.. with my LWR memo coming up though, that's taking up a ton of time and it's not even a GPA class. ugh. I do a lot of school related things that are taking up a lot of time though like joining a couple of clubs, making a study group, and I'm going to some school related events like job presentations and stuff. It might not be work, but I'm pretty busy with school stuff.

[hawkeye22]

Law school doesn't actually take a tremendous amount of time. This is how 2Ls are able to do what you are doing now, plus travel around the country for callbacks, write for a journal and participate in moot court.

[jwaters]

I have more free time than I expected, though that will probably change. I'm only three weeks in. I do all my readings on the weekend. On weekdays I review the reading for the upcoming day (which usually takes less than an hour), plus maybe some outlining and reading any supplements if necessary. I'm usually done by around 5:00 so I have the rest of the night to do whatever. This changes a little bit when I have stuff for legal writing due, but I usually try to do that on the weekend as well.

[OneEl14]

Can't tell if my school is moving slow or if this is normal. I'm 3 weeks in now and I have loads of free time. Here's what I do:

-Read supplement/supplements for upcoming topics
-Read casebook and do minibriefs
-Work on outline after class discussion on the topic
-???
-Hang out/drink/whatever

I can't really take practice exams this early because I don't seem to know enough law yet.

It's just odd to me that I run out of things to do because the infamous posts about law school success from Xeoh, Arrow, and others usually have the author devoting 8-12 hours a day to studying (outside of class). I don't have that much material to study. I'm putting in a couple of hours each day on law school and I seem to "get" everything above.

Anyone else experiencing this? I know it is still early and what not, but it just seems odd.

*puts on flame suit*

How many classes/hours/units do you have?

[kjadkins]

I feel the same way... I'm doing all the readings, briefing all the cases, taking in-book notes on non-case readings, reading supplements when necessary, and this week we had a short legal writing assignment due, but I'm definitely not doing more than 4 hours a day outside of class. We have 16 credits, so I feel like I should be doing more. Especially compared to my classmates, several of them have told me they're staying up till 2am, 3am or later just to get the readings done. But in class, I answer questions just as effectively as they do. I feel like my preparation is somehow inadequate, like I'm already at a disadvantage, but I don't know what more I could be doing at this point.

[crossarmant]

Sometimes there's slews of freetime, others it seems like I'm going non-stop from 7am to 10pm. Depends on how intense the readings are and how far we get in each class it seems. I've developed a nice system of reading for the next class immediately after that class, taking extensive notes while reading and simply adding to the reading notes with class discussion. And then on the weekends doing all my E&E reading to tie everything together and prep myself for the next week. I haven't started outlining yet since I've felt that two weeks worth of material wasn't enough, but I'll probably start all of my outlines tomorrow so I can just add as I go along from here on out.

But it definitely seems like a feast or famine with free time. Granted, there are some people that seem to have all the free time in the world and are out drinking every other night, but I don't know how they can do so.

[itsirtou]

Nah, I felt that way 1L year. In September, I had tons of free time. I wouldn't worry about seeing your classmates in the library 24/7 or talking about how many hours they've been studying or whatever.

[waxecstatic]

I feel the same way... I'm doing all the readings, briefing all the cases, taking in-book notes on non-case readings, reading supplements when necessary, and this week we had a short legal writing assignment due, but I'm definitely not doing more than 4 hours a day outside of class. We have 16 credits, so I feel like I should be doing more. Especially compared to my classmates, several of them have told me they're staying up till 2am, 3am or later just to get the readings done. But in class, I answer questions just as effectively as they do. I feel like my preparation is somehow inadequate, like I'm already at a disadvantage, but I don't know what more I could be doing at this point.

Any difference between this and saying you spend less time building something but the product you're building is the same as everyone else's? Perhaps you just get the concepts quicker. Four hours a day isn't anything to sneeze at really.

[kapital98]

I feel the same way... I'm doing all the readings, briefing all the cases, taking in-book notes on non-case readings, reading supplements when necessary, and this week we had a short legal writing assignment due, but I'm definitely not doing more than 4 hours a day outside of class. We have 16 credits, so I feel like I should be doing more. Especially compared to my classmates, several of them have told me they're staying up till 2am, 3am or later just to get the readings done. But in class, I answer questions just as effectively as they do. I feel like my preparation is somehow inadequate, like I'm already at a disadvantage, but I don't know what more I could be doing at this point.

Any difference between this and saying you spend less time building something but the product you're building is the same as everyone else's? Perhaps you just get the concepts quicker. Four hours a day isn't anything to sneeze at really.

That's a full time job in Europe.

I think most of the people are spending so much time studying because they don't know what to look for. I have plenty of free time and still think I understand the material (there is barely any material but all the exceptions require work to remember.)

After first semester grades come out everyone will have a better understanding of time requirements.

P.S. LWR sucks.

[queenlizzie13]

I feel that way as well and it feels odd. But I think also that I don't get distracted while reading/studying. I aim to get it done because a) I want to go for my runs and b) want to go out and hang out.

I am doing supplements and reading the casebook and still have time to put in a lot of effort to LRW...

Our torts readings are pretty easy...it's the e&e that takes the longest, but I think it's good practice and from it I start to see where the gray areas are.

[Lawst]

Um, NO. But good for you, I guess? I find that I'm exhausted when I get home from classes, so I do like 80% of my reading and case briefing on the weekend, if not more, and I almost never get all the briefs done before the weekend is over, so I end up waking up at the ass crack of dawn to try to get briefs done. This is harder than any full-time job I've ever had.

[youarereadingthis]

I find that I would have lot's of free time if I just prepared for classes. But when I'm done with everything (reading cases, preparing for class, extracting rules for the day) I find myself getting bored with my "free time" and I end up going back to think about the hypothetical questions and open-ended issues that I can't resolve and try to refine my understanding of them. This is where most of my time goes not because I feel like I need to keep thinking about it. I simply am fascinated by the uncertainty and don't feel like pulling myself away (and this extra thinking time is probably wasted to be honest).

I wouldn't say I "work" all day, but I get sort of absorbed in what I'm learning and keep thinking about it. Again this is probably a waste of time, and I recently picked up all my supplements (E&E's and hornbooks), which is probably where my "extra thinking time" will be going from now on.

Is this the right approach? I feel like going to "bar review" nights, watching tv, and hanging out with friends is boring in comparison anyways... but maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase of law school. Any thoughts from some 2L's?

[094320]

..

[iShotFirst]

2L here, my experience was that in September the people that were just staying in the library until 2am were either 1) boasting 2) lying or 3) doing it because they thought they had to. Most of those people will burn out by late October, just when you should be ramping up. There is no reason to sit and stare at a book (or gchat in the library) until 2am in early days (or ever in my opinion).

As long as you are spending your study time actually studying and getting the work done, why not have free time? Don't feel guilty. It's not like you can really start preparing your final outline for exam or anything yet.

[FeelTheHeat]

Um, NO. But good for you, I guess? I find that I'm exhausted when I get home from classes, so I do like 80% of my reading and case briefing on the weekend, if not more, and I almost never get all the briefs done before the weekend is over, so I end up waking up at the ass crack of dawn to try to get briefs done. This is harder than any full-time job I've ever had.

lolwut

[Knuckles]

Um, NO. But good for you, I guess? I find that I'm exhausted when I get home from classes, so I do like 80% of my reading and case briefing on the weekend, if not more, and I almost never get all the briefs done before the weekend is over, so I end up waking up at the ass crack of dawn to try to get briefs done. This is harder than any full-time job I've ever had.

lolwut

Spend all day
Briefing in despair
What to change?

[thecilent]

If you have that much free time it means you are not drinking enough

[chrisbru]

If you have that much free time it means you are not drinking enough

TITCR, from what I've seen.

[ahduth]

If you have that much free time it means you are not drinking enough

TITCR, from what I've seen.

Either that or you (meaning I) should start briefing cases for courses other than Civ Pro. Miller gets through 2/3rds of a case per class too, so... yeah. I don't feel like I have very much work at all.

[agathos]

How many pages (just case book )you need to read per week.... I have nearly 150 pages ... some times it just boost up to 200 or 250....

[Cupidity]

I had a ton of free time.

You get it or you don't.

If you get it, enjoy the party.

[Stringer6]

I had a ton of free time.

You get it or you don't.

If you get it, enjoy the party.

LOL

[kjadkins]

How many pages (just case book )you need to read per week.... I have nearly 150 pages ... some times it just boost up to 200 or 250....

The first couple of weeks it's been around 250-300 per week, I'm anticipating that that will go up soon though.

ETA: That's including the reading we have in our LWR book, which varies so widely. Lately it's only been around 25 pages, but I see on the syllabus in a couple of weeks we have 60+ pages.

[Extension_Cord]

How many pages (just case book )you need to read per week.... I have nearly 150 pages ... some times it just boost up to 200 or 250....

The first couple of weeks it's been around 250-300 per week, I'm anticipating that that will go up soon though.

ETA: That's including the reading we have in our LWR book, which varies so widely. Lately it's only been around 25 pages, but I see on the syllabus in a couple of weeks we have 60+ pages.

We have the same reading, 250-300 pages a week (minus any supplement, I read emmanuels between classes). Some reading is a lot more dense, like Con law and Contracts. Others are a cake walk like torts and LRW. However I have my first LRW paper due this monday, and I wont be enjoying any free time this weekend. LRW reading takes like 2 hours a week tops to get through, atleast for the first couple weeks.

Cheers!