Legally Broke

7 Weeks In

2011-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

I've survived my first 7 weeks and my first graded midterm! While I will not receive my grade for another week or so, the experience was very helpful. I now have a better idea how to effectively study for my exams and have come up with some tips that will hopefully help others.

OUTLINE OUTLINE OUTLINE! At first I didn't understand why there was such an emphasis on outlining. To me, reading over my notes seemed sufficient enough. However, after looking over sample outlines provided by 2Ls, I realized the importance. Outlines provide a concise and organized view of your notes. If your notes are anything like mine there are random bits of information here and there, and incomplete sentences. None of the information on its own makes sense. Outlining takes those incomplete bits and makes them coherent. I would have been lost without my outline
Hypotheticals. While it is important to memorize the important parts of your outline, it won't do any good if the concepts cannot be applied and expanded on. This is where I most likely lost all of my points. I am used to the "memorize and regurgitate" aspect of undergrad testing. My preparation was revolved around that sort of testing model. Law school exams are not memorize and regurgitate. It is important to have the main concepts memorized, but it is just as important to think of hypothetical situations and apply the concepts to them. My outline was severely lacking in hypos, making it difficult for me to apply certain concepts to the fact patterns given. Hypos also allow you to intertwine the concepts. The "bigger picture" if you will.
Breathe. The biggest stressor of studying was not the material itself, it was my classmates. Stress builds in groups, so while small group study sessions are helpful make sure to have time to yourself. I was more stressed when I was around my friends. Because they were stressed I felt like I needed to worry about the exam more. Don't. You'll survive. Give yourself 30min or so to relax or to work on something else. Find somewhere outside of the law library to study.

Come exam time I will definitely be putting these tips into good use.

Week 1: Survival

2011-08-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Good news, I survived my first week of law school! If this first week was any indication, I am going to be once sleep deprived girl by Christmas. Despite the initial shock and stress I've learned a lot about what I need to do to be successful this semester. I thought I had pretty good time management skills as an under grad. But those time management skills are not transferable to law school. Reading a casebook is like reading another language that you have some knowledge of but are not yet fluent in. While I may only have 20 pages to read for a class, those 20 pages may take me an hour to read. Even after the initial read, I have to read it at least once more to fully understand in. So to fully prepare for a class it takes around 2-3 hours, and that doesn't include the time it takes me to review what I learned today. Right now I am trying to figure out how to best balance school, working out, a long distant relationship and some semblance of a social life. As I figure it out I'll keep you posted. It's a lot of work, but I am (for the most part) enjoying the subject matter. Hopefully the lack of sleep will someday pay off

Back to School Shopping

2011-07-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has arrived for back to school shopping! This is one of my favorite times of the year because, for whatever reason, I love shopping for school supplies and home furnishings. I have a sneaky suspicion that I am one of the few. Since I have never actually lived in an apartment before I have to buy a ton of appliances. Thankfully my parents are helping me with those, but I am still on a tight budget so hopefully some sales will be popping up quickly. However there are some big ticket items that I have to finance myself:

new computer
digital voice recorder
printer

Now, two of the items on the list are not a necessity for me. My current laptop is 5 years old and is a bit slow but is in generally good working order. I had to replace the hard drive in November and if I keep it I'll have to replace the battery before school starts. Plus, after 5 years my poor laptop is pretty beat up. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

The voice recorder, also, is not a necessity but I think it'll be a good idea to record all my lectures just in case I missed something.

I need a new printer. Mine has been broken for over a year.

If anyone knows of any deals on any of these items (or home furnishings) please let me know! I'll keep you posted with any deals I may find.

One Month of Freedom...

2011-07-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

In a little more than a month I will starting the most terrifying, stress inducing and (hopefully) rewarding 3 years of my life - law school. While I am excited to start this adventure I'm also a bit fearful. I know it will be a lot of work and very stressful. I'm prepared to kiss my social life goodbye for the next few months, so I'm hoping this blog will help me keep some bit of sanity. So until mid August I'm just going try to relax, enjoy the rest of the summer and try to find good deals on computers and school supplies. Because, well, let's face it - I'm broke.