Listen up kiddos cause this is actually great adviceÂ
Iâve seen a couple of the reblogs talk about how this doesnât address triaging when you fall behind, or preparing for classes that you have participation marks in, which are both fair points, but I think both of those can and do fit into the general theme of whatâs being talked about here (especially when you take into consideration that this advice was given by a professor talking to students in an attempt to motivate them to succeed).Â
1) Treat law school like a job, then have a life.Â
Maybe 8 hours a day doesnât work for you. Maybe youâre the type who instead of spending 40 hours a week on law school over 5 days likes to spend 10 hours a day on law school for 4 days. Or you want to spread it out and spend 6 hours a day for 7 days.Â
Just like a job, sometimes you work overtime, and sometimes you take holidays off. But if you donât treat law school with the respect of a job (even a job you hate) you are going to fall more than just behind.Â
2) Prepare for exams, not for class.Â
I think part of this comes down to know the materials for exams. Have a general knowledge of what youâre going to talk about in class. Even if you have seminar classes where youâre expected to participate, you arenât expected to know the material yourself, perfectly, the first time around. Like, jesus, if I could do that what the hell am I paying all this money for a professor?Â
3) Read ALL of the assigned materials.Â
This is probably the one we all fail at. This is probably the one we all triage. Iâll be honest - I never fucking read for classes where I had an amazing professor who explained everything to me. I still bought the book (except for that one time in 3LâŚ) and I still referenced it in my exams. But if I had one of those shitty professors who went all over the map with their lectures, damn right I was reading everything.Â
4)Â âBriefâ all cases.Â
This has nothing to do with when you do this, only that you should do it. Brief them for your outlines for 100% finals. Brief them before class for participation classes/seminars. But for the love of god make yourself a little case cheat sheet. Nobody cases how you do it (IRAC, CIRAC, or some other unholy acronym), but future-you will thank you.Â
I donât think anyoneâs arguing with this.Â
6) Listen to what your professor says.Â
They are paid for this shit. They are marking your exams. If they say something twice, bold that shit in your notes.Â
7) Review class notes everyday
This is a strength of understanding thing. Good students do this. Lazy students (aka me) donât. I would have absolutely have spent less time outlining for finals and studying had I done more work during the beginning of the semester, by reviewing my notes regularly.Â
8) Use study groups. Especially for practice exams.Â
Listen, you donât have to be a weekly âeverybody bring muffinsâ study group, but having friends in law school is a good thing. Got a shitload of reading to do for an open book exam? Split that shit between four people and create a reading study group. Everybody briefs Âź of the book. Done.Â
Practice exams and your group of friends are a godsend. You go through and you issue spot. You talk about relevant cases. You talk about what the professor has highlighted about those cases. These, honestly, were some of the best study experiences I had.Â
 9) Make your own outlinesÂ
For the love of god do this. No oneâs brain works quite the same. Make an outline that works as a point of reference for youÂ
The worst grades some of my smartest friends got were from classes where they just said âscrew it, Iâm using this personâs outline insteadâÂ
10) Start outlining earlyÂ
Also great advice. Because youâre making your own, it takes time. In semesters where I had 5 finals, I was starting to outline in the end of October. Why? Because it gave me the time to do it at a steady pace and make outlines the way I liked them to look.Â
Look, the reality is, sometimes you aim to do this, and you donât always hit the mark. Sometimes you have classes or commitments that demand different things from you. But for our 1L and 2L lawblr brethren (3Ls donât count because we all know youâre set in your ways!) these can be great starting points to commit yourself to better law-school oriented study habitsÂ