Entering the second semester of 1L, I’m definitely a little burned out. But I’m no longer burdened by the uncertainty I had when I came to law school. I’m a little wiser now. Here is what I wish I knew for my first semester of law school.
- Prepare for every class like you’re on call.
Many of us get to experience the luxury of not being on call every day. For all of my first semester classes, I either had an on-call day or panel system. In one of my classes, I wasn’t called on until the very end, so I prepared each and every Wednesday, week after week to be ready. A little annoying, but it paid off. This may seem obvious, but letting your mind think you’re always on call makes your understanding that much better. While not always feasible, it pays off in the long run – you’ve had more time to process the material and it makes finals season that much easier.
- Do practice midterms.
Practice midterms come at a daunting time and they might be scary. I remember feeling like I knew nothing. But professors offer practice midterms for a reason: they are the best way to gauge what your final will be like. My best strategy is to mimic your exam conditions as much as possible: keep to the time limit and only use permitted resources. This gives you the most accurate assessment of what you need to work on and improves your efficiency with exam writing.
- Don’t forget about the facts.
When writing up case briefs, I never knew what the perfect balance was. I tended to focus almost exclusively on the rule, holding, and rationale. But don’t forget about the facts. Oftentimes, professors will create similar fact patterns to those covered in class, so knowing them (at a high-level) makes the issue spotting process easier and may even help determining what principle applies.
- Outline early.
I was so panicked about outlining, I started relatively early. But even then, I felt pressed for time, as did most of my peers. Try to get to outlining as soon as you can, maybe at the end of each big unit or the end of each month. Outlining early makes the last few weeks of classes less stressful and importantly, it gives you more time for practice exams and other review during study days.
- Attack, attack, attack.
My second piece of outlining advice: make an attack outline. This was helpful during the review process, but even on exam day. Rather than flipping through my lengthy outline, I had a quick guide to refer to with all the important information. And most of the time, that was all I needed.
- Enjoy the learning process.
Throughout the semester, I found myself thinking about doing well on exams and lost sight of the real purpose of class: learning. Not everything you learn in 1L may interest you, but it’s not all just going through the motions. There can be joy in readings, class discussions, even outlining (especially if you make flowcharts like I do). Looking back on this past semester, I surprised myself with how much I’ve managed to learn in just a few months. Regardless of the outcome, enjoy the learning process.
Sangeeta Kishore is a first-year student at BC Law and vice president of the Impact blog. Contact her at kishorsa@bc.edu.
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