Putting the Law School Curve Into Perspective

It's me again! Sorry I accidentally took like a month off from blogging but honestly with finals and then Christmas coming up it really felt like I only took 2 days off! But I know that right now is the hardest time of the year to be a 1L. You took your finals that were probably harder than you anticipated and now you just sit back and wait for your grades. I remember coming home from my first semester of law school and family friends would ask me how school was and my honest answer would be, "I don't know. I could've flunked out or I could be on the Dean's list so we'll find out once grades are posted." And it takes like a month for your grades to be posted! 

It's so nerve-wrecking because for almost all of your classes, your grade comes down to that one test. None of this oh if I make an 83 I'll get an A in this class math because you don't have any other grades to calculate and because of the curve, you don't know what you'll get in the class. I feel like the curve can be a major source of anxiety for anyone who isn't used to it, so I thought I'd dedicate a whole post to it since I've just mentioned it in passing before.

It's not as bad as you think

The curve was explained to me once as You don't have to outrun the bear, Just the other campers. This is the curve at it's most basic part, but isn't really the whole truth. I mean, yes, technically, if you do better than everyone else, you'll get a good grade. And yes, technically, this didn't really happen in college because if everyone else did just as good as you, then you'd all get a good grade. But here's the thing I've come to find out, the curve doesn't punish you like you'd think it would. 

In all actuality, law school is generally made up of some of some really smart people to begin with. The curve can show you who really understood the material (beyond just word vomit) and who really worked for it. The people who get A's actually do write a really great answer and the people who get F's actually do write a really blah answer. And the people who get B's/C's (whatever the curve median is set to) actually do write really average answers.

Most people know the right answer

Here's a very basic difference in the curve:
Dan punched Paul. Discuss the potential outcome of a lawsuit between D and P.

F answer: Paul can't sue Dan because it's totally legal to punch people.
D answer: Paul will win.
C answer: Paul will win because this is a battery by Dan. The elements to battery are... 
B answer: Paul will win because this is a battery by Dan. The elements to battery are... The elements of battery where met when... 
A answer: Paul will win because this is a battery by Dan. The elements to battery are... The elements of battery where met when (applying the facts to the rule)... This is similar to case X; there, the Defendant slapped the Plaintiff and the court found that the slap was a battery because...

F completely gets the answer wrong. D just barely answers the question. C answers the question and gives a rule and some elements. B does that plus applies the facts of the case.  See, up to this point, all answers that were right technically passed. A just goes that extra step and shows that they truly do understand and know everything they've learned about battery. There's nothing wrong with B but between the two responses, it's obvious who deserves an A. And there's nothing wrong with C but between the two responses, it's obvious who deserves a B. Law school doesn't just hand out 4.0's; you have to really work hard to earn them.

You'll still get the grade you deserve

I say this because it can be really easy to either be completely afraid of the curve or blame it for your grade. But just like in my example, it's usually pretty obvious who deserves the F and who deserves the A so it's not like people aren't getting the grades that they deserve. And actually, the curve can really help you. For example, in undergrad if there was a really hard test and most of the students got like 30-50% wrong, then they'd all fail. But in law school, if a test is really hard and most of the students got that, well then what do you know getting 50% correct is a C! That's right, sometimes the curve can pull you up!

It get's better after 1L

Here's another glimmer of hope about the curve: it gets easier after your 1L year (but also double check with your school before you rely on this). A lot of schools see the 1L year as a way to test out the class. Some people are only in law school because it was there backup plan (yes this is a strange concept to those of us who dreamed of only this for years). Some people are only in it because they were pressured by their parents to be a lawyer. Some only are here because they just want to be rich. Law school will test you to see who really will dedicate their time and effort to it and who will ultimately need to be weeded out because they just don't need to be a lawyer. And future interests in property are a way to haze you just for fun! Back to my point, once you survive to be a 2L and your school knows you're in it to win it, they don't have to test you as hard. This means that hopefully your GPA will go up just a smidgen. 

Related: A breakdown of the 1L curve and An example of the 1L curve

Beating the curve: review your finals

So, how do you beat the curve? The easiest way is to point chase, my friends. In the spring when you get your grades back, go to office hours and review all of your finals! While you're there, hopefully your professor will offer to let you see the best responses to each question. If he doesn't offer, ask to see it! If they don't allow this, then ask them to go over your final with you and see where you can improve. Usually really all you need is to just explain yourself just a little bit more!

Beating the curve: point chase

The secret key to point chasing is attack outlines! Condense all of the material from each chapter down to the main topics that you can fit on one page. So for this, I would have battery, the elements, and a relevant case name if there's one. If it's a closed-book final, memorize this and then write it down on scrap paper during the first minute of your test. This way, you have a little checklist of everything relevant to include on any one issue so that you can make sure you're covering your basis.

Beating the curve: be time conscious

Another tip is to use your time wisely. If you read a fact pattern and realize that you don't really see any issues, skip that question and move on. It's better to spend your time answering questions that you truly know the answer for and get all the points on that one than to waste your time thinking shitshitshitshit for 20 minutes and then only having time for a half-hearted answer to the question that you do know the issues.

And unless your professor specifically tells you he wants a lot of info about the cases, don't get caught in a case time-trap. Hit the cases hard and fast. For example, just say Pennoyer instead of Pennoyer v. Neff. And spend no more than one sentence stating the facts and comparing/contrasting them to your facts, and no more than one more sentence stating the rule/holding and applying that to your facts. Lots of points in just a few sentences, and then move on. 

Related: How to point-chase in a final and More finals tips

How not to think of the curve

But ultimately, you're not going to have peace with yourself until you accept the curve. Yes, there are people who actually have perfect 4.0's in law school (my friend is one of them and I'm amazed). However, most likely you're going to be a B/C student and there is nothing wrong with that! Reread that sentence again and again until you can accept it. It's really hard for law students to accept this statement because usually we've always being overachievers and we've just come accustomed to have stellar grades. But if you're sitting there embarrassed about your 2.5 GPA, you're worrying and stressing over nothing. If anything, take comfort that a majority of your classmates are sitting right in the same boat with you. 

Also, don't waste your energy being jealous of the people with better GPA's than you. As you saw above, the people getting C's and the people getting A's generally understand the material the same amount, one just did a little better job explaining how she understood the material. And I swear if I ever find out any of my readers are trying to sabotage their classmates because you're in the mindset of "the worse they do, the better I'll do," I will save what little money that I make off this blog to personally fly out to your school and yell at you. Seriously though, that mindset is what leads to "if I hide this exculpating evidence then I'll for sure get a guilty conviction" behavior. It's just a slippery slope and if that's the only way you're getting good grades then brutally and honestly you didn't deserve that grade. I'm not saying bend over backwards to help your classmates study, but I am saying that a much more realistic and sane way to approach the curve is to just put your nose down and try your hardest.

Why the curve won't kill you

Which brings me to my last point (getting off my soap box now), I said it in my podcast episode and I'll say it again: all you need to do with the curve/finals is to try your hardest and have faith that your hardest was enough. You'll pass; you'll survive; you'll move on to the next class that you think will be your law school career; and then you'll graduate. Law school  is just about learning how to ride out the storm, my friends. 

let's be friends!

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Library Necessities

As I type this, my butt is numb because I've been sitting in this chair for over 7 hours straight. Yes that's right, it's time to live in the library! Since I need a lil study break, I thought I'd do a quick post over some lib necessities because really your whole study vibe can mess up when you're not prepared.

Of course, if you're over the library then check out my post on Where to Study for Finals for suggestions on where else to go!

Snuggie

I'm convinced that libraries only have two AC options, full blast in the summer or just turned off in the winter. No low setting, no heat when it's cold. Snuggies are the best because your full body can be warm but your arms are still free to highlight and type all night. Sure they might look a tad ridiculous, but at this point in the semester I bet you're rocking a greasy messy bun and sweats so we can all agree that looks don't count during the semester. 

Ear plugs

People ignore no talking signs. That's a fact. Ear plugs will allow you to block them out and will save you from having to shush people every 5 seconds. Some people swear by noise-canceling headphones but I've come to find that having no sound at all is way less distracting than even having study music on in the background. I keep a travel case with some ear plugs in my study carrel at all times and I think it really helps me get more done.

Blue-light glasses

After hours and hours of looking things on your laptop as you study, your eyes are going to start hurting and you're going to get a headache because that's just a thing that comes with technology. Blue-light blocking glasses are a cheap way to fix this and save your eyes from damage. These are actually just handy to have in general because I feel like law students are always on our laptops.

Every colored pen and highlighter you own

I usually keep my big stash of highlighters and colored pens in my house, but for a serious lib sesh I'll load them all up and take them on a little field trip. For some reason, I get very extra when I'm at the library. Idk if subconsciously I'm trying to use all these colors to show off like look at me color-coordinating I might as well run a studyblr or if it's just because I'm procrastinating by telling myself that I have to color-code before I even get started. Either way, go ahead and bring them all because you're going to want them.

Neck/back warmer

Okay, okay, so this is definitely even less fashionable than a snuggie so probably you would only wear this if you're studying in a study room where people can't see you or you've just gotten to the IDGAF stage of studying. I got this neck/back warmer on a recommendation from my doctor for when I study because the hours of looking down at my notes was starting to really make me be in pain. This thing warms up those muscles to help prevent them from cramping and as an added bonus libraries are always freezing so will warm you up too.

Focus help

I use two little things to help me spend more time working and less time pinning on Pinterest. I've mentioned the first one in my Favorite Law School Apps post, but it deserves another shoutout. I have the Focus app on my phone and watch that helps me use the Podomoro study method of 25 minutes on-task and then a 5-minute break and repeat. It makes me take little breaks so I don't get burnt out or still, and then the "get back to work" alerts help me keep my study breaks from turning into an hour of doing nothing. The other thing is the Self Control app for my laptop. Basically you make a list of all of the sites that you know you shouldn't be on and it blocks those for you. If you're super serious about studying, you can use this app and then on your 5 minute breaks from studying, you can go on bathroom breaks or re-organize your to-do list. Basically you make the library 100% social media free.

Game plan

Here's literally exactly what I do when I get to the library so I can be my most productive. 

1. Turn on pocket points — Since my study app works on my watch, I turn on pocket points as another incentive to stay off my phone as much as possible. Plus I feel like getting a free cookie after several hours in the library is a pretty good reward for working hard.

2. Make a to-do list — I always go a little extra and write down more to-do's than I know is possible, because I'm the kind who will be like oh I only have one more thing to do tonight so I can take a longer break so I need the reminder to stay on-task. I also get extra and make to-do's about my to-do's. So like right now I'm writing a paper so I made a to-do list of every paragraph that I need to write and I'm checking them off as I go. This also helps because I jump around and don't write in order, so I need to make sure that I don't forget to go back and finish a paragraph.

3. Make a timeline — If you've got a lot going on, this will help. What I like to do is plan out and say okay I'll spend an hour outlining on this subject and then the next hour I'll review it. Then I'll move on to the next subject and do the same. Even if you just want to focus on one subject the entire time you're at the library, I really feel like planning out your to-do list will help it be more feasible and also will establish an end time. The end time helps because it can either be a motivation factor like okay only 3 more hours of making yourself do this crap and then you can take a bubble bath or will keep you reined in so you don't look up and realize that it's 3am and you have class in 5 hours and you just completely lost track of time.

let's be friends!

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Law School Supplements Explained

Being a blogger is so weird sometimes. The other day I was getting into my car to go to work and I thought wow how have I never written a post about what people are talking about when they're referring to supplements? and so here we are! I'm going to cover all of the ones that I can think of, but if I miss something please comment below so that I can update this! I just want my readers to be the most in-the-know students 💁🏻

Outlines

Outlines are the #1 study method in law school and because of this, everyone you meet is going to have a different opinions on outlines. So here's mine— outlines you make > outlines you get from upperclassmen > commercial outlines. Outlines are very casebook and professor specific. Outlines you make are the best because you're going to have a shitton of information to memorize for your final, so by re-reading your notes and re-writing the rules you're actually reviewing and working on memorizing the information. Outlines from upperclassmen can be helpful but only if they've had your same professor and book. If your class doesn’t use a book then the outline to that book would be full of cases that you didn’t even read and missing on a lot of cases that you are expected to know. I even have friends who have offered me their outlines because we had the same book but because they had a different professor than me, I don’t even bother because for all I know, my professor really emphasized Chapter 21 because he thought it was important but her professor only assigned 10 pages from Ch. 21 because he didn’t think it was important. That’s another big reason of why I don’t trust commercial outlines.

If you’re stressing about outlines or just want a little guidance, the best thing that you can do is join a student organization. Ask before you join what outlines they have because a good one will have an outline for almost every from a student who at least got a B. That way you know you’re getting the relevant information. My advice to you so that you don’t end up with a C- in every class is that if you do get ahold of an outline, don’t just study that! The best way to use someone else’s outline is to print it out with you (preferably double space) and then fill it out during class with any information you think should be added. That way you have less notes to take during class and can focus on listening, but then still get a lot of information in your class. And then take that filled-out outline and use that along with your other in-class notes to make your own outline. 

I know a lot of new 1Ls stress about what an outline should even look like or how to structure them, so I've uploaded my Civ Pro outline for y'all to see as an example of what you can do. Mine tend to be bare-boned and just what I want to memorize, but I know a lot of other students feel like they benefit from having full sentences and more information in theirs. Also, if you read through this after you finish your own Civ Pro class, you’ll see what I mean about how it really helps to have the same book and same professor for an accurate outline. You can view my outline example here. But if you're still stressing, Quimbee's outlines that they just came out with look like they're very straightforward and I personally do trust this company. I also know that a lot of my classmates prefer to use the Emanuel's outlines to help them.

Related: How to turn your class notes into an outline

Scripts

Another thing that organizations sometimes have for upper level students is what’s referred to as a script which is basically a whole bunch of people got together and wrote down everything from that class, that you can use to follow along and build your own outline from. Those are more helpful once you’re a 2L/3L because then you can just read their 4 pages over chapter 1 instead of all 42 pages of chapter 1 and still get the main information.

I started using scripts that I was given this year and they definitely are a big help. I read them before class and then I'm prepared for questions that my professor might ask me (you never actually look forward to the Socratic method) and it allows me to be able to juggle preparing for class, working, and mediating. The one thing that I've learned since using these is don't think you won't need to take notes since you basically have what the professor's going to talk about. I still take notes just as if I didn't have the script or else it would be really hard for me to take all 220 pages of the script and turn it into an outline. Plus, it helps you pay attention in class because it can be extra tempting to zone out when you have the script right there.

Case briefs

Case briefs are another thing that are basically essential to survive in any law school class. The usefulness of these is that it forces you to pay attention as you're reading. The bad part is that they can take a really long time when you're having to stop what you're reading and write it down. I always say that for your first few months of law school, you really should be practicing your briefing skills because you will need these as an actual lawyer. But once you've practiced enough and really just need the briefs for the Socratic method, you can use commercial briefs. 

I personally recommend using Quimbee because that's what I've been using and I think their briefs are great. Quimbee will have subject-specific briefs. If their subject matches your subject, this is really helpful because it’ll cut out all the crap that you won’t need. They have all the major books and the only one they never got was because it was one that a professor from my own law school had written so they never got that. If Quimbee has your book, then you’ll be set and it’s amazing. Even if they don’t have your book, they might still have some of the cases. So like the book they didn’t have but then got was my contracts book but I would just search for the case and then sometimes they’d have it because it was in another contracts book. 

Related: Using Quimbee to help understand law school subjects

You do have to pay for Quimbee (put I seriously believe that you get what you pay for) but there's also OneL Briefs (free)  Casebriefs (free) and Oyez (free). Oyez is just better than Casebriefs, but neither are subject-specific so you will get all the information. But both will give you the facts of the case and the issue and the holding. 

Practice problems

E&E stands for Examples and Explanations. All they are is practice problems and answers. The practice problems will really help you see how to best answer a question. And yes they're a "commercial supplement" but y'all my commercial law professor had us doing Bar prep questions as practice problems and I could easily tackle them because I remembered what the E&E had taught me. If you spend the majority of your time going through these practice problems, it will really help you understand your outline as your review it. When I study, I do about 50% practice problems, 30% memorizing flash cards, and 20% reviewing my outline. In my opinion, E&Es are right up there with outlines as far as what you have to be doing for finals. Another great practice problems options are the Q&A books. Either way, I strongly suggest you either buy some practice problem books or see if your library has any to rent. I'm not kidding when I say doing these practice problems will really help you prepare for the final and help with your timing. And if you're a 1L who has no clue what type of questions to expect on your final, these are pretty close to what you'll have.

Summaries 

Another thing that is common for people to use to study with as it gets closer to time to study for finals (which starts 6 weeks before dead day) are summaries. The reason for a summary is that you can read a quick condensed version of your class to refresh your memories. But also I know some students actually prefer to read these before class starts so that you know what you're going to learn. While I don't think this is necessary in any way, I can see how it will help calm your nerves a bit when you've already started tackling understanding the tough subjects, so it's totally up to you how extra you want to be. One of my friends had to miss about a total of 2 weeks throughout the semester because of a family illness and he used the Short and Happy books and got the exact same grade as me so even though I've never personally used a summary, apparently they can help. Another popular summaries brands are the CrunchTime books and Gilbert's Law Summaries.

Flashcards

Lastly (well of what I can think of) there's flashcards. I like to make flashcards on Quizlet of the rule with the elements on the back or the case name with the rule on the back. But I know that one thing that's really popular for 1Ls are commercial flashcards like Law in a Flash. Commercial flashcards usually go beyond what I put on mine and even have hypothetical questions with the answers on the back. The only downside to this is that they don't have explanations for why the answer is right quite like E&E or Q&A books do. But they're great to review with either on weekends or at the beginning of studying for finals. 

let's be friends!

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Legal Analysis: CREAC vs. IRAC

My whole 1L year, I heard nothing but IRAC so that's what I did. It's how I briefed my cases and how I tackled my essay responses on my finals and it worked just fine for me. But then my 2L year I had a professor explain to us at the beginning of the year that he preferred CREAC so that's what we practiced all semester so we'd be ready for his final. He went to Syracuse and apparently the New York Bar prefers CREAC and that's where he got this from. So head's up NY students— this post will be helpful! 

Related: An example of IRAC

Basically what CREAC is Conclusion, Rule, Explanation of rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. The best way to explain how to use CREAC is to just show you an example. Just like with IRAC, you can use this method for both briefing cases to be prepared for class and for answering essay questions on your tests. FYI, what I'm going to do is a very watered down and simple answer just because no one wants to read a full on answer (they usually can take up a few pages). 

Related: How to tackle practice essays

Hypothetical

Paul sues Dan, saying that Dan was negligent. Paul works for Dan as a painter and one day Paul fell off of the ladder. Paul claims Dan knew that the ladder was in bad shape and about to break at any moment, but still let Paul use it. Is Dan liable to Paul?

Conclusion

Because Dan had a duty to Paul, Dan breached his duty to Paul, Dan's breach of duty caused Paul's harm, and Paul has actual damages from the harm, Dan is liable for his negligence against Paul.

Rule

Usually the R and E can be combined into one paragraph. 

To be held liable for negligence, a party must have breached his duty. 

Explanation of rule

There are four elements to negligence: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages (and then explain what each of these are).

Analysis 

Pro tip: spend the majority of your time on the analysis! It's where most of your points will come from so try to make it your longest section.

Dan employed Paul, and Paul was within the scope of his employment when he fell, so Dan had a duty as Paul's employer to warn Paul of dangers that he knew about. Dan had commented to his secretary the day before Paul's accident that he had noticed that the ladder had some cracks in the side and some screws loose, but he was too lazy to replace it. When Dan knew that the ladder was faulty but still allowed Paul to use it while painting houses, Dan breached his duty to Paul to warn Paul of any danger that he knew about on the job. Paul's accident was a result of Dan's negligence; if Dan had warned Paul, no one would have been hurt. Paul did nothing wrong here and was only hurt because of Dan's failure to warn. Paul has a $8,000 hospital bill from his broken leg that resulted from falling off the ladder. Because all four of the elements of negligence have been met here, Dan was negligent.

Conclusion

Dan had a duty to Paul, which he breached when he let Paul use a ladder that he knew wasn't in working condition. Because Dan breached his duty to Paul and therefore was the cause of Paul's injury, he was negligent and is liable for Paul's harm.

Other tips

In your CREAC, the Conclusions are the least important and can be the shortest. Just make sure that your Conclusion isn't half-empty. A lot of people will lose points because they'll just have a conclusion that says Dan is liable. A good tip to keep you from falling into this trap is use the word because. Using because will help make sure that you're giving a complete answer. 

When it comes to the Rule and Explanation part, write as much as you can remember about the rule. Are there elements or factors to consider? Write those. Is there a majority and a minority rule? Add that. Same for if there is a common law rule and a statutory rule. Or if there's a traditional rule and a modern rule. Sometimes there's even an English rule and an American rule. Another common thing that almost all rules have are exceptions, so make sure you mention those as well.

For the analysis, make sure that every single thing you put in the R and E part are talked about here again. If there's three exceptions but none of them apply, don't just skip these! That's how you can end up losing points to your classmates. A simple sentence or two reiterating that there are exceptions and quickly explaining why each don't apply here can get you major points! Another thing, you might notice that I used a lot of names and not a lot of pronouns. This is because you want to make it super clear to your professor who you're talking about. If I had accidentally somehow made it seem like Paul was the one who had a duty to Dan, this obviously would've been wrong and could've been counted against me. In a final, you'll most likely be strapped for time. A lot of professors understand this so they're totally okay with you using P for Paul or D for Dan if you just start out by saying Paul (P) so that they can know your code. You can even use it for more than just names and say negligence (neg) the first time and neg every other time after that.

If your fact pattern is more complex, then your CREAC will be a little different. If it's 3 different employees all suing Dan for 3 different reasons, then each one of these cases will get its own CREAC. But if Dan did multiple things that made him liable to Paul, besides just not warning him about the faulty ladder, then you also could do C (for overall), REA (for first bad thing Dan did), REA (for second bad thing Dan did), REA (for third bad thing Dan did), C (for all 3). 

You don't always have to make each letter a separate paragraph. So don't worry about squishing a rule, explanation, and analysis all together in one paragraph. If it helps your reader (professor) follow your arguments better, this is totally okay! Good luck out there my little 1L's!!

Where to Study for Finals

Happy Good Friday, everyone! As excited as I am for this 4 day weekend, honestly a little bit of me died on the inside when I realized that I'd have to be packing my backpack along with my Easter dress because I have to study a little while I'm at home. Ugh, law school finals. However, the optimist in me saw this as a fresh studying scenery so I decided to make a post about study space options because I feel like everyone always forgets that you don't have to go to the library. Sometimes a change of location can shake up your attitude when you've been feeling blah going over law and more law and law again for so long.

Park

This is my favorite place to study! Not only is the fresh air sooo much better than being inside a library, the atmosphere always makes me feel better! There's this big park that I love going to because I can find a huge tree to set up under that's far enough away from the playsets that I can focus without the screams of little kids. I take a roll up beach mat with me to sit on because it's thick enough to be comfortable on the hard ground and has a lumbar pillow with back support. The absolute best part about studying at a park is that you don't have wifi on your computer so it automatically takes away the temptation to slowly sneak over to Pinterest or any other distraction. And without being on wifi, you'd be surprised at just how long your laptop's battery can last! So it ends up being okay that you don't have an outlet to plug it in to.

https://brazenandbrunette.tumblr.com/post/151480254699/10716-it-finally-feels-like-fall-and-is-chilly

 

Pool

The first rule of this is avoid the "party pool" — the pool at my friend's apartment is like a spring break pool party every day so that's definitely not the place you want to be studying. Luckily my apartment isn't brand new like hers so my pool is much quieter. I love to save all of my outlines to my iCloud docs and then lay out in a lounge chair and go over them or my flashcards on the Quizlet app on my iPad. Jumping in the pool during study breaks is amazing because the water is so relaxing and swimming around is great after being so still studying. I just make sure to bring two towels so that I can have one to dry off with and one to keep my iPad safe, but if you want to be extra safe you can always get a waterproof iPad case and then hey I guess you can study in the pool which would be pretty amazing! I also like to bring a few beers with me and then when I'm done studying for the day me and my friend have a little pool party 😎

Balcony

In case you haven't noticed, studying outside is my favorite study trick. It's honestly really peaceful and I just love it. I recently got this patio coffee table set and outdoor rug for my apartment balcony and honestly I've been living out here ever since. In fact, right now I'm out here making this post haha. Even if your apartment doesn't have a balcony or a patio, I almost guarantee that it has some outdoor lounge area that you could use! Really the idea here is to just trick your mind into thinking that you're just lounging and relaxing so that studying for finals doesn't seem so bad. 

New blog post up and spending this beautiful morning working on more! 🍀🌈 pic.twitter.com/MHVRtS4ape

— Brazen and Brunette (@brazennbrunette) March 17, 2017

Apartment study lounge

I live in student housing so my apartment building has a little study lounge that is always empty. It's perfect because it has little study rooms you can lock yourself in with a huge table and computers and a dry erase board. Last semester, me and a few friends took total advantage of this and basically just camped out here for a few days. Two of them weren't in law school so I'd stay and save the space and study while they were taking a final and then they'd come back and do the same for me. It was also really nice being so close to my apartment so it wasn't some big waste of time if I had to go back to my room to get a jacket or find more highlighters. 

Your friend's place

This has a little of the best of both worlds because you're not at your own house so you don't instantly go into I'm-at-home lazy mode, but you're still in the comfort of a home. It's kinda like the mutual motivation you get when you have a workout buddy because you're like oh I gotta work as hard as her while she's thinking the same thing about you! It's also great because you're not out in public so you can spread out everywhere and if y'all don't want to wear pants, then you don't have to haha! Bring a bottle of wine with you for when y'all get done and I promise your friend will love you.

One Month Law Schools Finals Study Schedule

Ok guys don't freak out, but now's the time to get down to business [to defeat the Huns]. If studying for law school exams sends you into a whirlwind of stress like it always does to me, stop, take a deep breath, and remember that you have a month to study and you'll do fine. So, here's how I tackle this last month before law school finals.

Go MIA

Remind your friends and family of your life-- you're in law school and you have finals, so things are going to be different for a little bit. Unless they've gone to law school or some other really hard school, they won't get it. I've had a few people be like "chill you have a whole month!" because they don't understand how much I have to know for these tests and how little time a month really is. I know this sounds like something stupid that a blogger says to do but doesn't really do it (ugh I hate when I can tell that when I'm reading a blog), but I really do this. 

I do this and let them know in a way: 1. I can't hang out. I'm not ditching you, I'm just seriously busy. 2. I can't help you. Whether it's telling my sister I can't babysit or a friend that I can't help her pick an outfit for a date, they need to know that I seriously don't have time for that. 3. I'm stressed AF right now. TBH the closer it gets to finals, the more irritable I get, so I have to let them know that if I blow up (whether that's getting mad for no reason or crying for no reason) it's because of the stress. Does anyone else think stress is worse than PMS?

Organize your game plan

Make a giant to-do list for what you need to study before your law school exams. Again don't let this overwhelm you because you have a month to slowly chip away at this! What I do is take a paper and divide it into however many classes I'm taking. Then under each class I make a to-do of everything that I need to get done, like: Evidence- type up written class notes for chapter 1, outline chapter 1, make flashcards for chapter 1, make case list for chapter 1. This helps me keep track of everything that I need to get done so I don't miss anything when I get scatterbrained. This what I model mine after.

from Tumblr

Create your game plan 

Find out when your finals are (check your syllabus or law school website). First things first, make a reminder in your phone for the date, time, and room that your final will be in and set reminders for 1 day before and 1 hour before the test time. This will help you be at ease later on when you start being paranoid that you missed a final and will help you not get your finals mixed up. And while you're checking your syllabus, it's a good idea to double check if you're able to bring in your book or any other study materials. 

Now then, prioritize your finals. I make two lists. On one I number them 1-5 in reverse order of when they are (so my first final is 5 and my last final is 1, because I have five finals). Then I number another 1-5 of which final I dread the most (1 is easiest and 5 is most) and for that I consider both is the subject a tough one or one that I understand pretty well and do I expect my professor to make the test impossible or okay. Then I combine the two lists and know how to generally make a study schedule - and I start tackling my to-list from step two in order of which subject ended up having the highest number. 

Study a little more each day

Be that try hard person. Here's how I ramp up my finals study schedule for law school. If I have four weeks to go, I'll spend about 2-3 hours on Saturday and another 2-3 hours on Sunday studying (when I say studying I mean studying for the finals not preparing/reading/studying for class). I also make myself study an hour after school. Three weeks to go, I add an hour so now it's 3-4 each weekend day and 2 on a week day. Two weeks to go, I add another hour so it's 4-5 each weekend day and 3 on a week day. And by the time I have one week to go it's dead day/week so then I go more and basically study 6-8 hours a day, every day.

Yes I know this is A LOT but hear me out. You have 24 hours in a day so if you're at school for 8 hours and then even if you add 4 more hours for finals studying, that still gives you 12 free hours in a day, 8 to sleep, and 4 to either prepare for class or just do whatever. Also, I cannot stress to y'all enough how much it helps to study a little at a time over a month instead of trying to cram. There's just so much to remember that your brain literally can't cram all this. 

Practice test problems

Try to get yourself set up to review/practice as fast as you can. What I mean by that is spend the first week or so of studying for finals by wrapping up your outlines and flashcards. That's why I start "studying" so early. Writing out an outline or making flashcards does help you a little, but that won't get you the best grades. Want to know what will? E&E books! Guys I just learned about these last semester and they boosted my GPA. I can't say this enough. In my opinion, E&Es are right up there with outlines as far as what you have to be doing for finals.

E&E stands for Examples and Explanations. Last semester my commercial law professor didn't even use a text book, just had us slowly work through these and I got a B+ and was very close to getting an A because of these. You can go to your library and ask to check these out and study with them there, or if they're always taken (because they're seriously a key to success) or if you want to write in them, it's worth the buy. They have E&Es in every subject, don't worry.

All they are is practice problems and answers. The practice problems will really help you see how to best answer a question. And yes they're a "commercial supplement" but y'all my commercial law professor had us doing Bar prep questions as practice problems and I could easily tackle them because I remembered what the E&E had taught me. 

Another way to study that I always do is go to Quimbee. This is another thing that really helps me get the big-picture for each class. I watch each video and then later come back and take the quiz for the video (I don't take it immediately because I like to test myself on what I retain/understand more than what I know from my short-term memory) and then I take the section quizzes. 

Understanding the big picture is also another key thing to help you do better than your classmates and rack up points. On those big essay questions that take you like an hour to do, the question will be complex and this is where you need to know big-picture. Not only will you need to be able to spot all of the multiple issues (usually there's an issue per chapter that you learned), but you need to be able to connect these. This is where the big picture comes in. You'll need to know how one issue affects (or triggers) another issue and the broad videos on Quimbee helps with that. 

If you spend the majority of your time going through these practice problems, it will really help you understand your outline as your review it. When I study, I do about 50% practice problems, 30% memorizing flash cards, and 20% reviewing my outline.

Make an attack outline

This is what you should do about a week before each test. Take your outline, and condense it to one page. By the time you get to an attack outline, you should pretty much have everything on your outline memorized, and this will just help you memorize it.

Sorry I never kept one of these to show you what I do but I'll update this with one after this semester. What I do is make a an outline with Roman numerals for each chapter, and then capital letters under those for the main points. 

Lololol just found my serial killer notes, AKA my attack outline written over and over again pic.twitter.com/fLA1icyC41

— brb on a bar prep hiatus (@brazennbrunette) August 3, 2017

This is exactly how I memorize it (I just write it down lots of times to do that) and exactly what I put on the back of my test or a scrap paper when I get into the test. This is so I don't forget anything. The numbers remind me how many things are associated with that (so 2 types of brokers or 3 types of listings) or how many elements there are and the abbreviations do too (req = requirements for that, def = definition, M = majority rule, m = minority rule, CL = common law, TL = traditional law, and ML = modern law). Sometimes if there's a lot of capital letters, I'll make a mnemonic to put by the roman numeral to remember all of them. 

Why do this? 1. It'll speed you up. Time is your worst enemy in a final so this helps you defeat that. 2. You'll give better answers. If your classmate says "the rule is X" and you say "traditionally the rule was Y but now the rule is X," you just got 2 points for that sentence and your classmate got 1. Both were the right answer, but you point chased. 3. You won't forget anything. When you get in a rush during you test (which you will) it's easy to forget little things. This is like a little check list to go through to make sure you didn't forget anything. My general rule is include all relevant information. For example, if a question mentioned anything out of Roman Numeral I, I would include all of the other the information related to it, so here A-D. Again, this helps you point chase.

Other tips

Don't try to study for long periods of time without breaks! The little breaks help your brain stay more focused while you're studying and prevent you from burnout. I use this app to study for 20 minutes and then take 5 minute breaks. 

During your breaks, make sure to get up and walk around a little. I literally will be scrolling through Instagram but still make myself stand up while I do it. This will be a great relief for your neck, back, and butt when you're sitting a lot.

On that note, try to move while you're studying. One thing that I like to do is record my outline on my phone and then listen to it while I take a walk. Saying the outline helps me to understand it, hearing it helps even more, and hearing it while walking around makes me pay attention to what I'm hearing. So go to a park!

Also, check out my Finals Posts Round Up post for more tips to help with your finals!

Bouncing Back from a Bad Grade in Law School

I know I just got done bragging about my grades, but it was a struggle to get there. To be real with y'all, I got a few C's my first year of law school. Luckily mine were at least C+ and I got more B's than C's so I was content with that. But I know realistically some of you reading this didn't do so hot your first semester. First off just know that I'm here for you if you want to vent or talk about your grades or anythings else. I hope y'all feel free to email me whenever you have something to ask me. So here's what you can do. 

Related: How to Get an A in Law School

Calm down

I know that's the easy thing to say right now but I'm being serious. Don't be too hard on yourself. Yes you didn't do as well as you had expected and even if you did slack a little, what's done is done and beating yourself up isn't exactly going to help you stay positive next semester if and when school gets hard again. In law school, you really do have to learn to be your own cheerleader or this can get really overwhelming. Sure a little kick in the rear might be what you need to get yourself together and get motivated, but seriously don't waste your energy tearing yourself down. 

Also, know that in law school it's super common to get a C so even if you got a D you're not that far behind everyone like you might be if this is undergrad. And don't you dare start trying to find out what your friends made or compare yourself to them! It's toxic and it literally won't help your self esteem at all. Even if you did better than your friends thats not going to help you at all when you're trying to improve yourself. 

Related: Keeping You Confidence in Law School

Figure out what happened

If you got a bad grade then something went very wrong and you're going to have to figure out what it was. If timing was your issue and the test simply ended before you had time to finish, then this semester you need to work on doing full length practice problems until you get faster. If you had okay answers but got your grade because of the curve, you'll need to start strategizing on how to point chase better. If you had a nervous break down and just couldn't (you think I'm kidding but this actually happens), then you need to get to know yourself and learn what you can do to keep yourself calm, cool, and collected. Of course, most of the answers to your questions will come from when you meet up with your professor to review your test/grade. Trust me, I know that it's embarrassing to go in there and feel like an idiot but you can't expect to improve your grade when you're not certain about what your test grader is looking for. 

Related: Tips for Law School Finals

Be careful with asking for help

Not to talk badly about anyone's job, but through undergrad and going to two different law schools I have learned that academic support is either a hit or miss. Sometimes they will basically just say what I said in my last point but will know of resources that your school has, such as tutoring or subelements for subjects in the library or old tests to practice on. Other times they might just scare you in to thinking that if you do not wake up at 6 am to study before class and then study from after class until midnight then you will definitely for sure absolutely flunk out. I advise you to ask around to any upperclassmen that you might've met to make sure that they're the first type before you make an appointment.

Also be a little careful asking a new friend to help. You don't know for sure that they actually did well on their tests so it could just be the blind leading the blind. And their study methods might not even help you. For example: I like to zone out on review days right before finals because other people's questions tend to confuse me on topics that I already understand, but for other people these are the classes where they can get some last-minute learning in. Everyone is different so don't think just because your study style is different that it's any worse. What's more important is working to find what study style does work for you!

Power on

If there is one thing that I learned last year is that "fake it 'til you make it" should be the mantra for all 1L's. Seriously, even the top people in your class are probably still confused about a lot of legal concepts. You gotta keep pushing on. You might not realize what it was that was detrimental to you at once, but you still need to be trying to improve yourself. If you wait until you're the perfect student to start studying then you're going to miss most of this next semester and seriously screw yourself over even worse. Again, the bad grade happened, it sucks, but you still gotta get through this next semester.

And remember, C's get degrees. Realistically, only like your first one or two employers will care about your grades. The rest will care more about your legal skills and reputation. Getting a bad grade in law school doesn't necessarily mean you'd be a bad lawyer, it just means that the other students that you went up against just so happened to do better than you on that one particular test.

Related: How to save your law school GPA