Consecutive Hours Studying Forum

[Panth8080]

Dear all:
I spent lots of time today at the library reading/outlining Torts and Contracts (morning to sunset, not leaving the library except for a quick bite to eat). So this made me wonder what is your record for consecutive hours studying? 10? 12? more?
My plan definitely wasn't to study for that long, but nobody was at the library, and I was in such a "groove" that I couldn't stop!

[ThreeRivers]

My last 3 years of college I attended almost every single 1 of my classes / took good notes, but did absolutely NOTHING outside of class until the day before an exam, paper, or assignment was do.

I just basically enjoyed life, and then pulled 12 hour or so stay up all night cram sessions. In very rare circumstances (huge paper) I may have allowed myself 2 days. I had a 3.9 my last 3 years so it worked out.

I think 21 hoursish would probably be my longest. Obviously I got side-tracked a little during it, but to write my thesis I basically started at 6 PM night before and went until 3 PM (was due at 6 PM the next day) not 100% sure on hours, but I know it was close to 24 hours.

Obviously not a reccomended study strategy though lol

[Scotusnerd]

Do you know what your professors want to test you on? I sure don't with mine. I can guess smaller issues here and there but...

Are you SURE you need to be putting in this much time this early? I mean...really? Can't that time be better spent networking or relaxing and having a balanced life, particularly this early in the semester?

12 hours of studying when you've had at most a week or two at classes...I mean...

Do your classmates even know your name yet? Do your professors? I am dead serious when I say this: who you know will be just as if not more important than what you know. Unless you're at HYS or your pappy is the partner at a major firm, you really should find some other uses for that time right now. As in meeting people. And being a well-adjusted human being.

[kaiser]

You shouldn't have to read or study for that long, especially at this early point in the semester. Its probably just a sign that you are inefficient at this point, and I don't mean that in an insulting way. By inefficient, I mean that you haven't gotten down a system of digesting and processing the cases quickly, and likely aren't honing in solely on the key details. After all, once you cut the fat, it never takes more than a few hours to get through assignments. Its early, so no one can blame you for poring over every detail or trying to learn it all through mental brute force. You will be amazed in a few weeks just how much more efficient you get once you get in the groove.

[FeelTheHeat]

Unless you're hopped up on adderall, enjoy burning out.

[drmguy]

I agree with all thr posters above. If you are studying for 12 hours this early on, you are doing something wrong.

Remember, the person who knows the most black letter law doesn't win. The person that is the best at law school exams wins.

[EvilClinton]

Dear all:
I spent lots of time today at the library reading/outlining Torts and Contracts (morning to sunset, not leaving the library except for a quick bite to eat). So this made me wonder what is your record for consecutive hours studying? 10? 12? more?
My plan definitely wasn't to study for that long, but nobody was at the library, and I was in such a "groove" that I couldn't stop!

This is a huge waste of time this early in the semester.

Work smarter not harder.

[NotMyRealName09]

Yep - the people I knew who were not going to do well spent all day in the library. I don't know why, that's just how it was. Probably because they weren't figuring out what was important and were wasting time on unimportant details. Also probably because they didn't let their brains decompress.

Now, come post-thanksgiving exam study period, it was all day - 12-16 hours, just nuts, constant. But that was the pre-finals outlining rush, only for a few weeks.

So I think we all mean this nicely when we say - chill out, go have a drink, socialize a bit, get the hell out of the sterile panic-nest that is the library. Make a friend or two (or three), then in a few months you can buckle down.

You truly are setting yourself up for burnout, and you'll NEED those 12 hour days before finals - don't get sick of them already.

Something I don't think a lot of people appreciate - your brain works when you are not conciously thinking about a topic. If you study 2 hours per class, then an hour and a half for class and stop there (say, 6-7 hours of thinking about school per day), that night, as you eat dinner, get ready for bed, and dream, your brain is filing away everything you learned that day behind the scenes. It is making associations, organizing what you learned, and without even realizing it, you'll also be thinking about what you did that day - "oh, now I see what the professor was getting at" you'll casually say to yourself as you wash your hair without even realizing it - that's a part of learning. But your brain cannot do that if you keep throwing more information into it and don't let it work without supervision.

You likely are better served resting your mind longer than you are describing - you WILL remember more if you rest your brain. There's probably some science on that or something.

Good luck.

[Bigbub75]

I kinda disagree with the people that say you are gonna burn out. If this is your routine everyday, then yes, you won't last. But if this is just on the weekend I don't see a problem with it. I do all of my reading for the week on the weekend so I put in a good 8-10hrs on Saturday and again on Sunday. But during the week, outside of attending class, I put in minimal work. Of course this changed during finals time.

[lakerinstl]

I was wondering if this was normal at this time of year myself. I saw one of my fellow 1Ls post on Facebook about how she has been studying for 12-14 hours a day so far (we've only been through 2 weeks as of today, and she posted this after the first week of classes). I was sitting there thinking if we have had that much material to cover yet, and this one 3L just said she must be really slow in trying to grasp the material. It really hasn't been that hard yet, I don't know what the hell to do for 14 hours 1-2 weeks into the semester. At first I was thinking about was there some lack of work on my part (I hate being outworked), but then I realized that she is over doing it and might be burned out by the end of September or something like that.

[drmguy]

I kinda disagree with the people that say you are gonna burn out. If this is your routine everyday, then yes, you won't last. But if this is just on the weekend I don't see a problem with it. I do all of my reading for the week on the weekend so I put in a good 8-10hrs on Saturday and again on Sunday. But during the week, outside of attending class, I put in minimal work. Of course this changed during finals time.

I'm not saying that he/she is going to burn out, but that is a possibility. I'm saying that amount of effort is not necessary. For example, last year I talked to a girl who had never received a B in her life. She studied like the OP the whole year and ended up at median. Why did that happen? She didn't understand that you need to master law school exams, not black letter law.

[northwood]

It's a marathon not a sprint. Until you know exactly what your profeasor's tendencies likes and dislikes, whatbtheyvemphasize and don't just get the big pout and rule/ changes and call ur a day. Save the 12 hour marathon for finals. You will burn out and soon otherwise. Or at least waste time an energy you need to focus on exam taking not the black letter law

[Panth8080]

I guess I should have been more clear in my original post. Uninterrupted studying from morning to night is not my daily routine - I admit that I got a little bit sidetracked in the prior week, so I spent yesterday getting caught up with all my readings/outlines.
The goal of the original post was to inquire about consecutive hours studying in order to understand what to expect during the week before exams.

[jarofsoup]

Try to enjoy your first few weekends. Read ahead a bit, but do not outline it is wayyy to early.

The hours will get crazy towards the end of the semester, and burning out is really really really bad.

The hours will pick up when you start getting legal writing assignments and this is where a lot of people start getting behind on reading. So my suggestion is try to give yourself a bit of a reading bufffer...be about 1 class ahead in every class so when you get busy you can take a night off of reading and just write or do and ace whatever terrible legal writing assignment you may have.

[Gorki]

Try to enjoy your first few weekends. Read ahead a bit, but do not outline it is wayyy to early.

The hours will get crazy towards the end of the semester, and burning out is really really really bad.

The hours will pick up when you start getting legal writing assignments and this is where a lot of people start getting behind on reading. So my suggestion is try to give yourself a bit of a reading bufffer...be about 1 class ahead in every class so when you get busy you can take a night off of reading and just write or do and ace whatever terrible legal writing assignment you may have.

This. Last year I was like many in this forum saying LS was a joke... Then after our fall break reading assignments doubled or tripled in some cases right when our LRW assignments started making up substantial parts of the grade.

I think OP is getting caught up in the shitty brief-or-die culture that permeates 1L in a lot of schools... Trust me, its better to know the rules and how they apply to the case and muff up the stupid "What color was Defendant's fence?" questions. You will be better for it in the long run. Trust me.

[Scotusnerd]

In case y'all didn't notice, OP clarified a bit.

He's talking about how long anyone has consecutively studied. I can safely say about six hours...

I'm sure I'll be laughing at that amount by the end of the semester.

I have no idea about final exams yet. Sorry.

[NYC2014]

I read/wrote for -literally- 44 hours during my 2 day writing competition. Ate two or three times, no shower, sleep, or sunlight.

That shit was cray.

[LazinessPerSe]

inb4 OP overlooked big picture of how Battery/Offer appears on exam to get every hornbook fact-specific nuance that will never make it on an exam to be useful.