How many hours did you study for your finals? Forum

[Extension_Cord]

so when people say they spent 10 hours studying in one day, does that mean they had stuff in front of them for ten hours and took relatively consistent breaks to use the internet, watch tv, eat, etc.?

or is that actually 10 hours of real, actual studying?

if it's the latter then i am clearly missing something here.

I will study from 9 - 2 with a two hour break plus 15 minute breaks every hour. So thats 15 hours - round up to 4. Thats a good solid 11 hours studying. I do it last minute though. I had a week to prepare for my first final and I didnt start studying until 4 days before. I also didn't study the day of a final, so I just hit the books for two days getting in 20ish hours before my finals every three days after the first.

Lots of breaks, but study the entire day.

[johansantana21]

4 hours a day max.

I'm a 1L.

Yes I'm probably going to be below median.

[Extension_Cord]

4 hours a day max.

I'm a 1L.

Yes I'm probably going to be below median.

If you pace yourself you will probably do better that way, I just dont have any discipline.

[dreakol]

so when people say they spent 10 hours studying in one day, does that mean they had stuff in front of them for ten hours and took relatively consistent breaks to use the internet, watch tv, eat, etc.?

or is that actually 10 hours of real, actual studying?

if it's the latter then i am clearly missing something here.

I will study from 9 - 2 with a two hour break plus 15 minute breaks every hour. So thats 15 hours - round up to 4. Thats a good solid 11 hours studying. I do it last minute though. I had a week to prepare for my first final and I didnt start studying until 4 days before. I also didn't study the day of a final, so I just hit the books for two days getting in 20ish hours before my finals every three days after the first.

Lots of breaks, but study the entire day.

lol

[crossarmant]

During reading week, it's been about like 4-6ish hours each, undisciplined over the the course of like 4 days for each exam (Our are really far apart). Though, I feel better about the exams because I've tried to really learn the material throughout the semester and read multiple supps over the course of the class. There's really only so much more reviewing you can do when you've tried for 16 weeks to learn the material. That said... I'll still probably do only mediocre.

[JollyGreenGiant]

not enough... apparently..

[sundance95]

so when people say they spent 10 hours studying in one day, does that mean they had stuff in front of them for ten hours and took relatively consistent breaks to use the internet, watch tv, eat, etc.?

or is that actually 10 hours of real, actual studying?

if it's the latter then i am clearly missing something here.

I will study from 9 - 2 with a two hour break plus 15 minute breaks every hour. So thats 15 hours - round up to 4. Thats a good solid 11 hours studying. I do it last minute though. I had a week to prepare for my first final and I didnt start studying until 4 days before. I also didn't study the day of a final, so I just hit the books for two days getting in 20ish hours before my finals every three days after the first.

Lots of breaks, but study the entire day.

Glad this works for you, but it def would not work for me. Seems like just keeping up is a lot easier.

[alicrimson]

I'm not sure quantity is what is most important for studying. I think the appropriate study level differs for each individual. I know I started studying for exams around the last week of October. During the past month I've put in 8-12 hour study days but I still feel l like failure is imminent. I have come to accept that law school is not fair and just because you put in the most time/effort/practice, does not mean you will do well. I do know that for me, the odds of doing well or doing as poorly as I will be come January, would look alot worse if I had not studied in mass volume. /Defeated-first-semester-1L-"ifailed"-rant.

[CanadianWolf]

I disagree with the assertion that law school success is unfair because it does not necessarily reward long hours of study. Law school rewards understanding & the ability to communicate that awareness clearly. If I studied engineering, for example, I doubt that any amount of time spent studying would enable me to earn better grades than those with a natural interest & aptitude for the study of that discipline.

[bartleby]

So I'm pretty sure I A'd my Torts exam. This is a class I hardly studied for, mildly paid attention in class, read a lil here and there. 1L here with only 2 exams under my belt but for people who say grades aren't 35% luck is beyond me.

I think very, very, very few people - Xeoh types - can sit and synthesize all the material in 4 substantive classes. Even fewer can do that with all the hornbooks and supplements. the funniest thing i did was by all the e&e's, a hornbook, and 3 siegel's; because i probably read 10% of it. and missed prolly 10% of my readings for classes

I think going into law school you have to ask yourself: are you a Xeoh? and if you aren't and you know you aren't, hope you get lucky

[johansantana21]

So I'm pretty sure I A'd my Torts exam. This is a class I hardly studied for, mildly paid attention in class, read a lil here and there. 1L here with only 2 exams under my belt but for people who say grades aren't 35% luck is beyond me.

I think very, very, very few people - Xeoh types - can sit and synthesize all the material in 4 substantive classes. Even fewer can do that with all the hornbooks and supplements. the funniest thing i did was by all the e&e's, a hornbook, and 3 siegel's; because i probably read 10% of it. and missed prolly 10% of my readings for classes

I think going into law school you have to ask yourself: are you a Xeoh? and if you aren't and you know you aren't, hope you get lucky

Medianpwned.

[CanadianWolf]

The most interesting aspect of bartleby's post is that apparently SMU permits self-grading by students.

[bartleby]

haha i don't go to SMU, it was a red herring. LIKE RES IPSA TODAY ON THE EXAM, SUCKERS

[FlanSolo]

I'm not sure quantity is what is most important for studying. I think the appropriate study level differs for each individual. I know I started studying for exams around the last week of October. During the past month I've put in 8-12 hour study days but I still feel l like failure is imminent. I have come to accept that law school is not fair and just because you put in the most time/effort/practice, does not mean you will do well. I do know that for me, the odds of doing well or doing as poorly as I will be come January, would look alot worse if I had not studied in mass volume. /Defeated-first-semester-1L-"ifailed"-rant.

I'm going to have to have to call your bluff here. What on earth were you doing in late October to prepare for exams? There's like 6 weeks of material left (probably closer to half the actual material when you consider how much things speed up). I mean, are you calling outlining/reviewing "studying for exams"?

[alicrimson]

I'm not sure quantity is what is most important for studying. I think the appropriate study level differs for each individual. I know I started studying for exams around the last week of October. During the past month I've put in 8-12 hour study days but I still feel l like failure is imminent. I have come to accept that law school is not fair and just because you put in the most time/effort/practice, does not mean you will do well. I do know that for me, the odds of doing well or doing as poorly as I will be come January, would look alot worse if I had not studied in mass volume. /Defeated-first-semester-1L-"ifailed"-rant.

I'm going to have to have to call your bluff here. What on earth were you doing in late October to prepare for exams? There's like 6 weeks of material left (probably closer to half the actual material when you consider how much things speed up). I mean, are you calling outlining/reviewing "studying for exams"?

Yes. I consider outlining, reviewing for two and a half hours for a specified class each night, and working my way through the e&e studying. isn't that studying? I didn't begin my practice tests until right before thanksgiving.

[Gecko of Doom]

This thread is making me feel better about not having put in ten-hour study days over the past month.

We'll see if I'm still feeling better once I get grades...

[jarv1506]

This thread is making me feel better about not having put in ten-hour study days over the past month.

We'll see if I'm still feeling better once I get grades...

+1

[094320]

..

[NotMyRealName09]

I'm still glad as hell that I didn't piss my social life away reading casebooks for 5 hours every day all semester. I have some friends that I haven't seen out at night since Hallow-fucking-ween. That's just ridiculous.

So you don't want to be top of the class then....

Oh, and this should have been mentioned earlier, but you really should have a steady mate before you enter law school. The need for good sex can be very distracting, and when I saw my peers discussing what bars they would hit up on thursday night, I smiled knowing that they would not present an obstacle to my A. And they didn't, because my love was at home, in bed, waiting for me, and while they drank, I rested or studied or played video games until 4 am because I got all my studying done during the afternoon. And she knew my success would get us out of our apartment, so she was supportive, and THAT is amazingly helpful. Women are crazy. Trying to court one is impossible while devoting the proper amount of time to studying. And law school chicks are DESPERATE, because they know youth is slipping away, so you're going to deal with a lot of bullshit dating in law school. Get them while they are young, make them understand you'll need accomodation during the semester, and concentrate on getting As. Yeah, a little late for this unsolicited advice, but there you go.

[NotMyRealName09]

so when people say they spent 10 hours studying in one day, does that mean they had stuff in front of them for ten hours and took relatively consistent breaks to use the internet, watch tv, eat, etc.?

or is that actually 10 hours of real, actual studying?

if it's the latter then i am clearly missing something here.

I will study from 9 - 2 with a two hour break plus 15 minute breaks every hour. So thats 15 hours - round up to 4. Thats a good solid 11 hours studying. I do it last minute though. I had a week to prepare for my first final and I didnt start studying until 4 days before. I also didn't study the day of a final, so I just hit the books for two days getting in 20ish hours before my finals every three days after the first.

Lots of breaks, but study the entire day.

I watched TV constantly while I studied (something in the background, not to engaging, but something that you could pay attention to for a few minutes and then drop), and surfed the internet whenever I felt like it. You HAVE to or else you will go insane. If I said "I studied for 10 hours," that included TV and internet. But, like the poster above, I was doing this from end of Thanksgiving break through the last final, constantly, with the only off days being exam days. (If you have back to back finals, or one on Monday and one on Tuesday, you adjust these rules as needed).

[NotMyRealName09]

I'm not sure quantity is what is most important for studying. I think the appropriate study level differs for each individual. I know I started studying for exams around the last week of October. During the past month I've put in 8-12 hour study days but I still feel l like failure is imminent. I have come to accept that law school is not fair and just because you put in the most time/effort/practice, does not mean you will do well. I do know that for me, the odds of doing well or doing as poorly as I will be come January, would look alot worse if I had not studied in mass volume. /Defeated-first-semester-1L-"ifailed"-rant.

I respectfully say this is the wrong attitude. You have to believe you are the best. Your grade depends on doing better than your peers, so FUCK THEM ALL! Its not personal, but every class mate is an obstacle to your success. So, while they all may be very nice, and of course I am always nice and never did anything to undermine anyone, but that said, on exam day, I hate them all and I hope each and every one of them fails miserably, because then I can succeed. Don't blame me, blame the law school grading format, which punishes collaboration (by flattening the grading curve) and rewards selfishness (because if you are the smartest student, you have nothing to gain by sharing anything with anyone). Maybe I'm an asshole? Or a weird loner? Maybe I figured it out before everyone else? Oh well, it was all TOTALLY worth it, and I didn't go to law school to make friends. That can wait until you begin working at your law firm.

[Tanicius]

I'm still glad as hell that I didn't piss my social life away reading casebooks for 5 hours every day all semester. I have some friends that I haven't seen out at night since Hallow-fucking-ween. That's just ridiculous.

So you don't want to be top of the class then....

Oh, and this should have been mentioned earlier, but you really should have a steady mate before you enter law school. The need for good sex can be very distracting, and when I saw my peers discussing what bars they would hit up on thursday night, I smiled knowing that they would not present an obstacle to my A. And they didn't, because my love was at home, in bed, waiting for me, and while they drank, I rested or studied or played video games until 4 am because I got all my studying done during the afternoon. And she knew my success would get us out of our apartment, so she was supportive, and THAT is amazingly helpful. Women are crazy. Trying to court one is impossible while devoting the proper amount of time to studying. And law school chicks are DESPERATE, because they know youth is slipping away, so you're going to deal with a lot of bullshit dating in law school. Get them while they are young, make them understand you'll need accomodation during the semester, and concentrate on getting As. Yeah, a little late for this unsolicited advice, but there you go.

I made the mistake of going to college thousands of miles away from California and in a town of 5,000 people, most of whom are over the age of 50. Dating sucked after sophomore year when everybody knew each other.

[luthersloan]

I have spent the last 30 straight hours studying....

[094320]

..

[bk1]

There's really not all that much material to synthesize at all. Application to facts, on the other hand...

Nothing has prepared me better than taking practice exams (preferably from my prof) and just getting comfortable with doing what you have to do on the actual exam.

Pretty much everyone is going to know the BLL (I mean in many classes everyone is going to have made a fully fleshed out outline). And I think pretty much everyone will be able to do basic exam stuff like arguing both sides and doing things in an IRAC-esque format. But not everyone is going to have the same speed/comfort in spotting issues and applying law to those issues.

Then again I'm just a naive 1L likely to get medianpwnt.