1Ls: What are you going to do differently next semester? Forum

[delusional]

This has been done in previous years, here's one for this year.

I plan to read further ahead than I did this year. I usually read the day before, but then when something came up I would struggle to catch up. Not sure yet if I'll do this regularly, or only as my schedule demands.

I will review the week's cases over the weekend. Nothing too deep, just drilling the case names. That was the most productive way for me to study for exams, and I was basically starting from scratch because I didn't remember the cases. Also, the professors usually seem to ask questions that are directly relevant to the cases rather than specific nuances that come up in complicated hypos. And upper level students say that citing cases = easy points on exams, even beyond getting the rule right.

I will study with a partner for all my exams. I only did it this semester for the last two, and I knew the material MUCH better than the first two.

When I need to miss class, I will do the reading anyway, and take better notes for it, since I won't have the backup of hearing it again in class.

I will pre-read outlines (if I can find them) so I know where the professor is going.

ETA: 2 and 3Ls: What did you plan to change after first semester? Did you follow through? How did it work out?

[bartleby]

I think I'm going to slow down in the early stages of the semester (first half). I'd like to pace myself for LRW part 2. I'm definitely going to take more practice exams.

Most importantly, I'm going to pay extra attention in the last 2 weeks in class instead of blowing them off as something I assumed professors didn't give a shit about and tacked on to the end.

[CactusPuppy]

MORE PRACTICE EXAMS

[Dicta in a Box]

[MrPapagiorgio]

Outline all the way through instead of waiting until the end and using the process as a review of the material. It ended up being a time fuck and inhibited my ability to take a lot of practice exams. It was a mistake but was more of an experimental mistake; I wanted to see what worked for me. Now I know that I need to keep up with the outline during the semester and not wait until the end. I don't think it screwed me too much (will find out soon though) but it was more stress than was needed at the end of the semester.

[094320]

..

[BackToTheOldHouse]

Outline all the way through instead of waiting until the end and using the process as a review of the material. It ended up being a time fuck and inhibited my ability to take a lot of practice exams. It was a mistake but was more of an experimental mistake; I wanted to see what worked for me. Now I know that I need to keep up with the outline during the semester and not wait until the end. I don't think it screwed me too much (will find out soon though) but it was more stress than was needed at the end of the semester.

This.

[paulinaporizkova]

MOAR DRINKING

[delusional]

I think I'm going to slow down in the early stages of the semester (first half). I'd like to pace myself for LRW part 2. I'm definitely going to take more practice exams.

Most importantly, I'm going to pay extra attention in the last 2 weeks in class instead of blowing them off as something I assumed professors didn't give a shit about and tacked on to the end.

My experience was just the opposite. One professor literally tacked on extra to the syllabus, and (I hope) none of it was on the exam, and another dedicated the last two classes to the meaning of law or something. The exams generally focused on the meat of the courses, which was in the middle of the semester. A friend of mine went AWOL after Thanksgiving to study, and I think I should have done that too.

[ahduth]

Outline all the way through instead of waiting until the end and using the process as a review of the material. It ended up being a time fuck and inhibited my ability to take a lot of practice exams. It was a mistake but was more of an experimental mistake; I wanted to see what worked for me. Now I know that I need to keep up with the outline during the semester and not wait until the end. I don't think it screwed me too much (will find out soon though) but it was more stress than was needed at the end of the semester.

This.

Ya this. Although one of my profs next semester will have no practice exams, so... who knows.

[NYC Law]

Do less for the first couple months and not stress over not doing anything aside from keeping up with the reading.
Though I would like to actually make my own outlines as I go, but we'll see if that actually happens.

[ahduth]

I think I'm going to slow down in the early stages of the semester (first half). I'd like to pace myself for LRW part 2. I'm definitely going to take more practice exams.

Most importantly, I'm going to pay extra attention in the last 2 weeks in class instead of blowing them off as something I assumed professors didn't give a shit about and tacked on to the end.

My experience was just the opposite. One professor literally tacked on extra to the syllabus, and (I hope) none of it was on the exam, and another dedicated the last two classes to the meaning of law or something. The exams generally focused on the meat of the courses, which was in the middle of the semester. A friend of mine went AWOL after Thanksgiving to study, and I think I should have done that too.

This is completely context-specific. Given that all of you seem to have studied far, far more than me however... I dunno. I found going to the final classes important for exams.

[Dany]

Pay attention in property?

[delusional]

I think I'm going to slow down in the early stages of the semester (first half). I'd like to pace myself for LRW part 2. I'm definitely going to take more practice exams.

Most importantly, I'm going to pay extra attention in the last 2 weeks in class instead of blowing them off as something I assumed professors didn't give a shit about and tacked on to the end.

My experience was just the opposite. One professor literally tacked on extra to the syllabus, and (I hope) none of it was on the exam, and another dedicated the last two classes to the meaning of law or something. The exams generally focused on the meat of the courses, which was in the middle of the semester. A friend of mine went AWOL after Thanksgiving to study, and I think I should have done that too.

This is completely context-specific. Given that all of you seem to have studied far, far more than me however... I dunno. I found going to the final classes important for exams.

I also feel like I studied less than everyone else. Maybe everyone feels that way.

[marmot8]

I think I'm going to slow down in the early stages of the semester (first half). I'd like to pace myself for LRW part 2. I'm definitely going to take more practice exams.

Most importantly, I'm going to pay extra attention in the last 2 weeks in class instead of blowing them off as something I assumed professors didn't give a shit about and tacked on to the end.

My experience was just the opposite. One professor literally tacked on extra to the syllabus, and (I hope) none of it was on the exam, and another dedicated the last two classes to the meaning of law or something. The exams generally focused on the meat of the courses, which was in the middle of the semester. A friend of mine went AWOL after Thanksgiving to study, and I think I should have done that too.

This is completely context-specific. Given that all of you seem to have studied far, far more than me however... I dunno. I found going to the final classes important for exams.

I also feel like I studied less than everyone else. Maybe everyone feels that way.

I feel like this most of the time, then I question how much harder I could have studied without burning out. I don't see how people can grind like it's finals the entire semester, and even if they can, how productive can it be?

[D'Angelo]

two of my professors are not going to have practice exams! Otherwise there would be so many practices taken

but I am going to definitely make an effort to actually take decent hand notes in classes with no computer...even though my handwriting is terrible!


this semester was in lockdown for me starting thanksgiving...even then it was difficult for me to keep studying all the way to the last final I had! but I echo the reading farther ahead part so that the last 5 weeks will be less grinding.

[bk1]

MOAR DRINKING

This.

[NYC Law]

My experience was just the opposite. One professor literally tacked on extra to the syllabus, and (I hope) none of it was on the exam, and another dedicated the last two classes to the meaning of law or something. The exams generally focused on the meat of the courses, which was in the middle of the semester. A friend of mine went AWOL after Thanksgiving to study, and I think I should have done that too.

This is completely context-specific. Given that all of you seem to have studied far, far more than me however... I dunno. I found going to the final classes important for exams.

I also feel like I studied less than everyone else. Maybe everyone feels that way.

I feel like this most of the time, then I question how much harder I could have studied without burning out. I don't see how people can grind like it's finals the entire semester, and even if they can, how productive can it be?

I also feel like I studied less than most, even during finals. But I don't think it really hurt me (though I'll find out for sure soon enough). At some point you're just studying useless details that much more likely than not will not be tested and won't get you extra points. After you review the lecture notes and assigned reading the marginal utility of any extra material drops close to zero for most professors. But I also had an easy course load this semester (Prop, Torts, Crim). I'd rather just stay relaxed, keep focused on the big picture, and hone in on the details the professor cares about.

[D'Angelo]

property torts and crim as an easy course load? sounds pretty brutal to me...

[adonai]

Probably will continue frontloading all the work like first semester--outlining from day one, reading ahead, etc. It really helped with days I was forced to miss studying and when I just needed a break. A lot of personal/family things came up this semester, and was forced to take a few weekends off. I was also able to take a couple weeks off from everything prior to finals, but I would probably start reviewing for finals a bit earlier though. Not having that pressure of ever having to read for class really took a load off my shoulders.

[NYC Law]

property torts and crim as an easy course load? sounds pretty brutal to me...

Conceptually easy, plus our prop prof didn't even cover RAP, skimmed over future interests, no easements/takings/etc.

[NeighborGuy]

property torts and crim as an easy course load? sounds pretty brutal to me...

Conceptually easy, plus our prop prof didn't even cover RAP, skimmed over future interests, no easements/takings/etc.

Wow, that's even more trimmed down than our prop course was.

Next semester I'll make better use of time in between classes. I had been just screwing around and socializing during those times last semester and leaving the heavy lifting for the nighttime at home (when I'm more productive anyway). This time around I'll have like two-hour breaks in between classes almost every day, so I have no choice but to learn to study productively at the law school.

On a similar note, no more screwing around before the work for the next day is done. I screwed around way more than I deserved to last semester and ended up showing up to certain classes unprepared way more often than I care to admit. I caught up during Thanksgiving, but I missed out on a lot of quality class discussions because I was totally lost at the time.

Also, mini-briefs for every case right from the start. They may or may not be helpful for the final, prof depending, but they hardly take any effort at all, they are easy to memorize, and they would have been handy for at least a couple of finals last semester.

[ahduth]

Also, mini-briefs for every case right from the start. They may or may not be helpful for the final, prof depending, but they hardly take any effort at all, they are easy to memorize, and they would have been handy for at least a couple of finals last semester.

Yeah, I stopped briefing before day one last semester, but I may try a more thorough note-taking approach that incorporates something akin to briefing this time around. Issue-spotters are just typing speed tests, so I guess I'll try and find out how my new profs have tested in the past - I guess briefs of some kind might have been useful before I start outlining for issue-spotters. If it's like our contracts exam (5 hours, 1400 word limit total plus 8 MC), I just need to learn the material better, and it entirely depends on how the prof is teaching it.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

No more briefs.

Outline outline outline.

[D'Angelo]

our contracts exam (5 hours, 1400 word limit total plus 8 MC)