It was not until I started my 2L year that I realized just how much I have grown since first walking into BC Law in August 2024. I feel like I lived 20 years in one, but I remember my first class––Critical Perspectives––like it happened a week ago.

In my short time as a 2L, I have been lucky enough to have two amazing mentees with whom I can grace with my law school wisdom. I also learned a lot from them about what it’s like being a 1L in 2025. Each year recruitment moves up, and more pressure is added to the exam period.

While I give all the student-experience advice I can to my 1Ls, I realize my experience is just that––mine. In law school, perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned so far is how individualized it is: students learn material differently, do readings differently, and prepare for exams differently. I asked 3 friends the same set of questions about their exam prep and for any advice to the 1Ls heading into their first exam season. They came from each of the Fall 2025 1L sections, and all performed well on their first exams. 

So much time has passed since my first blog post I made back in the early fall. While it is difficult to see it in the busyness of my school day, when I take a step back, I realize that those roughly 6 months have completely transformed me as a student and person. Downtime isn’t easy to find during 1L, but I decided to take the time here to discuss some of the things I found to be different between my fall and spring semesters. Disclaimer: this is my experience only; however, I am hoping it’s more relatable than not.

1. Classwork

Maybe it’s because Constitutional Law and Criminal Law speak more to me than Torts and Contracts, but the classwork this semester is just easier to understand and engage with. Having experienced a semester of sitting in class not knowing how to take notes, being afraid to start an outline then completing three, and taking my first law school exams, I now have an understanding of what is expected of me and how to actually do it (awesome!). The fall experience made me more confident in reading my assignments and going into class knowing what I should be taking away from the readings, but also not stressing if I don’t know because guess what: that’s the point of class! My comfort level in taking and organizing notes have also improved, especially with my late-fall discovery that I cannot focus on typing my notes using OneNote’s default Calibri font. Typing my notes in Times New Roman has been a huge game changer (whether this is scientifically backed or not is none of my business). To summarize, having 1L Fall under my belt has informed me on how I should properly and efficiently be gearing my focus this spring semester.