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[floggered]

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[tittsburghfeelers]

It's gonna be hard to ask you questions without knowing what school you attend.

But, I'll take the bait.

Any idea how job prospects are for the 3L's? Summer jobs for 1L's?

[hurldes]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

What are 2-3 things that you did that you feel made the largest impact on your 1L success?
If you could go back and do something different with your study strategy, what would you change?

[floggered]

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[Kimchi_smile]

First of all, thank you so much for doing this!

Are you gonna transfer up? Do you think you have a chance at the upper half of T14 (HYSCCNB)?

Which subject did you find the most challenging in 1L? How did you conquer it?

[Corwin]

Thanks a lot for making this thread!

How important was collaborating with other students? Or did you go solo for a lot of your classes? What was the biggest thing you felt contributed to getting top 10%?

[floggered]

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[KingRajesh]

What do you think were the worst mistakes your classmates made (overall and in studying for exams specifically)?

[floggered]

First of all, thank you so much for doing this!

Are you gonna transfer up? Do you think you have a chance at the upper half of T14 (HYSCCNB)?

Which subject did you find the most challenging in 1L? How did you conquer it?

I'm not quite sure if I'll be transferring, I really like my current school. I've put in a few apps and will be sending one or two more out. Mainly, I want to see where I get in and how the law review competition plays out. I've applied to schools where my significant other lives, and if I get in, I'll likely accept the invitation.

As far as most difficult subject, I'd say Contracts simply because, aside from some logic-game UCC rules, it's pretty messy. Jurisdictions split and #-factored tests abound. Also, I had one heck of a difficult professor who demanded 3L-quality work from first semester 1Ls. Really, though, I think the difficulty level of any class depends on the professor, the textbook, and you. You may end up thinking K is cake, but find CivPro to be a bear.

[floggered]

Thanks a lot for making this thread!

How important was collaborating with other students? Or did you go solo for a lot of your classes? What was the biggest thing you felt contributed to getting top 10%?

I flew solo for the semester. Aside from last-minute study sessions (going over hypos or difficult rules), I did most of my studying at my home, with the TV off.

As far as my success, I think it comes down to being dedicated and motivated. I worked a few years in between undergrad and law school, and I think there is simply no better motivator than working in a job where you don't want to be. So, I put in the time so that I choose my career, no the other way around. Also, there comes a time in the semester where you can hit the cruise control button, or continue working your butt off. I think choosing the latter sets you up for success.

[floggered]

What do you think were the worst mistakes your classmates made (overall and in studying for exams specifically)?

Well, I can only tell you what I observed. Generally, the biggest mistake I found was avoiding their work or working with half effort. That is, using facebook while cite-checking their memo or spending ten minutes before class reading a case. That is death. Not to say you shouldn't find an outlet; like I said earlier, that's critical to keeping your sanity. Another mistake that I saw was trying too hard. While, in my opinion, the better of the two evils, you don't want to burn out after 6 weeks (which does and will happen). Pace and persistence is the key.

Again, for exams, I really can't pinpoint anything exactly. It's probably a component of the first. If you didn't read actively, follow along in class, and prepare, you aren't going to be able to pick that subtle issue resting in paragraph 3 of 9 of the exam.

Oh, and a side note, do not, under any circumstances, use gchat/facebook/hulu.com in class. Probably the dumbest thing I've seen people do.

[hurldes]

thanks floggered. That's solid advice. I appreciate it!

[skippy1]

Did you read LEEWS or GTM? Did you use supplements or rely mainly on the casebook and class lectures?

[kaiser]

What do you think were the worst mistakes your classmates made (overall and in studying for exams specifically)?

Given that I meet the same description as OP with regard to the thread title, I hope he doesn't mind if I step in and offer my thoughts. Here are some of the biggest mistakes I saw people make. Didn't necessarily hurt them all, but more times than not, these things seemed to be detrimental:

-Outline early. If you spend all of study period outlining, you will have no time for practice exams, which are the most important part of your exam preparation

-Getting too "lost in the trees". Don't sweat over every tiny detail in every case. You need to remember the bigger picture. Draw out the important overarching rules. Its hard at first to understand this, and at first, it will take a painfully long time to read everything because you won't know what is important and what is not. But you will learn quickly. But someone people couldn't divorce themselves from the idea of pouring over every minute detail and word. This doesn't help in the end because you lose focus on the bigger picture

-Spending too much time trying to memorize things and not enough time applying things. This relates back to point one. By the time study period rolls around, you should ideally have much of the course material memorized. That is the foundation of your exam attack plan because you can't apply things you don't actually know. But the most important part is applying it in the way your professor intended. In 2 of my 3 classes, we had practice exams on file. In those 2 classes, I got A's. In the one that didn't I got a B+. Coincidence? Not at all. Without practice tests, I had no clue what style to prepare for and my grade reflected my inability to adapt in the moment. But where practice tests were available and I had the material memorized with days to learn how to apply it, the results are all there.

-Don't worry about other people and don't pay any attention to them. People will try and intimidate you with their own preparation and their own knowledge. They will pontificate and flex their academic muscles. You must push this aside. The few weeks before finals were maddening because I hated being in the law school building. So as soon as I could escape, I set up shop in a different part of campus and avoided what I call the "trauma ward" during preparation time. It helped keep me at ease and made my preparation much more effective.

-Don't spend too much time perfecting your outline. In my experience, my best classes were those in which I never consulted my outline at all. Outlining is all about the process for me. By the time exams came around, it was already branded into my head. Sure, I might have checked a detail or 2, but don't think of it as a crutch. Too many people came into the test thinking it was a life jacket that would keep them afloat, but the time rush of exams doesn't allow you to flip through your outlining as much as you think. People came in with hundreds of pages of notes and far too many extraneous things. Keep it light. Make a bulletpointed summary outline for quick reference.

[kaiser]

Did you read LEEWS or GTM? Did you use supplements or rely mainly on the casebook and class lectures?

I read the first 100 pages or so of GTM and I put it to good use. That book could have been much shorter and if you can just pick up the major overall idea, you can approach the exams in a more intelligent way. LEEWS I found to be too much. I listened to some of it, but I didn't find it helpful. Supplements can be helpful from time to time, but only as a way of filling in the blanks or bolstering the few weak points here and there. The same goes for hornbooks in that, if there was a case I was confused by, I would look it up in the index and read the few pages on that material. But pretty much everything came down to reading and understanding the actual cases, talking about them with my classmates and then filling in any leftover holes with the supplements. Never rely on them primarily unless you teacher follows it word for word.

[kaiser]

Thanks a lot for making this thread!

How important was collaborating with other students? Or did you go solo for a lot of your classes? What was the biggest thing you felt contributed to getting top 10%?

I found my collaboration with my study group to be very useful, especially during exam time. On the average issue-spotter exam, there are tons of little issues and tricks to find. At first, I would often miss quite a few. But my team and I (3 people in total) would confer and write down all the combined issues. No one had a perfect exam, but by combining what we saw, we could come up with something that matched the model answer. And after 3 or 4 practice tests, our answers began to mesh together more and more. By the end, they were nearly indistinguishable since we all took the best lines and tricks from each other. I would say that taking those practice exams was the biggest factor in doing very well.

[floggered]

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[floggered]

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[Skyhook]

Thanks for the advice Floggered and Kaiser.
Would you mind giving us a "typical week" i.e. # lectures per day, how much study you do, what you have time for on weekends, etc.

[clevermoose]

Thanks for the advice Floggered and Kaiser.
Would you mind giving us a "typical week" i.e. # lectures per day, how much study you do, what you have time for on weekends, etc.

+1
thanks for taking questions

[floggered]

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[lawschooliseasy]

Also happy to answer any questions. TLS has helped me immensely. I finished 1L at a T30 with a 4.0+.

[Corwin]

Also happy to answer any questions. TLS has helped me immensely. I finished 1L at a T30 with a 4.0+.

Are you thinking about transferring?

[sanjola]

taggers

[splitmuch]

taggers

+1