How many hours do you read/brief for a typical day of class? Forum

[Patent2014]

Just curious. I spoke with a couple friends at other T1 law schools recently (all full-time programs) and it varied markedly. This is ONLY time spent on the assigned reading and associated briefing for a typical day of classes.

[monsterman]

who the hell spends 8 hours a day reading

[Ron Don Volante]

who the hell spends 8 hours a day reading

lol it's absurd that it's even an option

[Patent2014]

I'm not quite at 8 hrs but I'm at least 6hrs for sure. On average I have 20-30 pages for each class with 3-5 cases per class, so that typically results in ~2-3hrs/class with ~60-80pgs of reading and ~10 cases per day.

[BigZuck]

who the hell spends 8 hours a day reading

lol it's absurd that it's even an option

Anything over 3 hours is absurd I think

15 hours a week reading? lolno

[Patent2014]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

[buckythebadger]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

If you need to read for 3 hours for every class you are doing it wrong.

[Tiago Splitter]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

No, you're just doing too much reading. Reading so you're prepared in class is great, but there's no need to go so hardcore. Just know the facts well enough to follow the class discussion. Most of what you write out beforehand will prove useless and a total waste of time when the professor distills the entire takeaway from the case down to one sentence.

[Patent2014]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

If you need to read for 3 hours for every class you are doing it wrong.

It's not 3hrs of reading alone. Briefing 3-5 cases on top of the briefing adds more time. It's taking the time to effectively brief it and take notes that takes the additional time. I know for those of you who have 10 pages and 1 case per day, then yes, it can be done in an hour, but if you get 3x that every day, it takes a bit more.

[BigZuck]

Don't brief dude

I actually do kinda brief sometimes just to jog my memory right before class but it takes me literally like 3 minutes to write one up after reading the case

[Patent2014]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

No, you're just doing too much reading. Reading so you're prepared in class is great, but there's no need to go so hardcore. Just know the facts well enough to follow the class discussion. Most of what you write out beforehand will prove useless and a total waste of time when the professor distills the entire takeaway from the case down to one sentence.

I get what you're saying and I agree you can probably cut corners to survive in class. I like putting in more time up front and then less down the road. To each their own though.

[Ron Don Volante]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

If you need to read for 3 hours for every class you are doing it wrong.

Yep.

Also aren't you a 2L? How are you possibly putting that much effort into prepping for class, still? And where do you have time to outline and what not if you're spending 8 hours a day just keeping up on reading?

[Tiago Splitter]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

No, you're just doing too much reading. Reading so you're prepared in class is great, but there's no need to go so hardcore. Just know the facts well enough to follow the class discussion. Most of what you write out beforehand will prove useless and a total waste of time when the professor distills the entire takeaway from the case down to one sentence.

I get what you're saying and I agree you can probably cut corners to survive in class. I like putting in more time up front and then less down the road. To each their own though.

I have a tough time arguing with any 1L who wants to do all the reading as that's probably best and since you're not complaining about your workload there's not much to say. Just don't feel like you need to work quite so hard if you're feeling burnt out.

Also, if you didn't do as well last semester as you hoped then consider mixing it up. If you crushed it last semester then by all means grind away.

[NotMyRealName09]

I seem to remember reading about an hour per hour of class. I'm from the old school view of law school, where I read the assigned readings and found value in doing so.

But You do you. Results are all that matter. If you read 80 hours per week but are #1, that's great. If it takes you 10 hours, that's fine. I'm not sure there is a standardized rate of reading required for success. There is no one proper, best way to study.

In law school I think it's ok to over prepare.

[Patent2014]

I wish i went to all your law schools lol 3hrs of reading would be so nice

No, you're just doing too much reading. Reading so you're prepared in class is great, but there's no need to go so hardcore. Just know the facts well enough to follow the class discussion. Most of what you write out beforehand will prove useless and a total waste of time when the professor distills the entire takeaway from the case down to one sentence.

I get what you're saying and I agree you can probably cut corners to survive in class. I like putting in more time up front and then less down the road. To each their own though.

I have a tough time arguing with any 1L who wants to do all the reading as that's probably best and since you're not complaining about your workload there's not much to say. Just don't feel like you need to work quite so hard if you're feeling burnt out.

Also, if you didn't do as well last semester as you hoped then consider mixing it up. If you crushed it last semester then by all means grind away.

I am a 1L, and thanks for the insights. I've always heard how important briefing EVERY case for EVERY class is, especially from the law review/top students, but I'm glad to hear you can do well without. I'll continue to do it this semester but may relax a bit 2L year. It did work really well for me first semester as I finished top 10% and got a biglaw V50 SA lined up.

[NotMyRealName09]

I am a 1L, and thanks for the insights. I've always heard how important briefing EVERY case for EVERY class is, especially from the law review/top students, but I'm glad to hear you can do well without. I'll continue to do it this semester but may relax a bit 2L year. It did work really well for me first semester as I finished top 10% and got a biglaw V50 SA lined up.

Then don't change a thing.

[BmoreOrLess]

25-30 pages of normal reading takes me about an hour or so (which also like you includes 3-5 cases usually). However I will admit I spend 2-3 hours on that amount for crim pro, but that's just because our prof relentlessly cold calls and so i actually take notes/brief (which i know is stupid, but i do have an irrational fear of getting cold called in this class).

[anyriotgirl]

where is the 1 hour option?

[A. Nony Mouse]

I seem to remember reading about an hour per hour of class. I'm from the old school view of law school, where I read the assigned readings and found value in doing so.

This is basically exactly what I was going to say. (We usually had 25-40 pps per class, though number of cases, I have no idea.)

Though I don't know anyone ever who says that briefing EVERY case for EVERY case is important. I briefed for about 3 weeks to figure out what I needed to be reading for, then I book briefed (which is a fancy name for scribbling in my books).

[shifty_eyed]

1L year I generally spent 30 minutes to 2 hours per day reading, but often spent more than that on weekends. I never briefed. I don't think 3 hours/day is outrageous, but anything more than that is probably superfluous.

[AReasonableMan]

As a 1L about 6 hours a day outside of class, but about 1/2 of this wasn't assigned reading. After 1L probably 10 hours total per class all semester. Obviously my grades dropped but not substantially so. The bar to pull median at any school isn't that high. It's amazing to me how outside of the top of the class how easy law school is. I don't think studying a lot means someone's doing it wrong. There is definitely a necessary workload needed to get all A's.

I don't think don't change anything is correct advice for someone who did well first semester. There's always room to get better, and if you can recognize what worked and what didn't there's no reason to keep the exact status quo.

[jbagelboy]

What's briefing

Rly tho anything more than3 you're doing it wrong

[pancakes3]

I'm at 3ish. I can't even imagine 6. Class from 9-2, and then read until 8pm?

[Young Marino]

Read/Brief takes me about 2-3 min per case since I use Casenote Briefs for that bs but I definitely spend more time revising and reviewing my outline trying to get the black letter law down becuase, you know, that's what we're actually tested on. I usually get out of class by 3 everyday and put in work at home til about 5-5:30

[romothesavior]

Lol at people who read more than an hour or two a day. And LOLOL at people who spend hours on top of that briefing.