Improve Your Second Semester of Law School
2L, University of Georgia School of Law
Many students start out law school with one study strategy, discover that it is not the most effective method for them, and then change their strategy for the second semester of their first year. This is exactly my experience. During the course of my first semester, I was mostly concerned about memorizing facts and principles that I was learning. Although this was important and helped me to perform well in my classes, I found that I did better my second semester when I focused on practicing my issue-spotting skills and analytic writing, breaking up my studying into chunks, and outlining as I went along.
A law student can know all there is to know about a particular subject, like Contracts or Torts, but if she is unable to spot issues in exam fact patterns and to analogize solutions to questions from cases or principles that she has studied, then she is unlikely to perform well. I noticed that as I consistently practiced my test-taking skills during my second semester, I was able to approach tests feeling more confident, and I was able to spend less time engaged in issue-spotting and more time writing my answers. This allowed me to receive higher scores on exams, with this translating into higher grades in my classes.
During my first semester of law school, I would often engage in marathon study sessions, spending all day at the library while only taking short breaks to eat. Although I did get a lot of study time in by doing this, I found that after a while my concentration would wander, with this meaning that my study time was not being spent in the most effective manner. During my second semester, I resolved to break my studying into chunks, taking time in between study sessions to workout, eat, socialize, and relax. This really helped me to be able to concentrate more while I studied, with this leading to more efficient studying on my part.
Outlining is essential for many law school classes. Unfortunately, law students can often be crunched for time at the end of a semester to author effective, comprehensive outlines. I found this was my experience during my first semester – I was rushing to complete my outlines before my exams. During my second semester, I resolved to outline as I went along, with this enabling me to be able to spend more time at the end of the semester reviewing my outlines and taking practice tests. This really helped me to be able to improve my exam performance.
All in all, I found that my second semester of law school went a lot smoother than my first. My focus on issue-spotting and analytic writing, breaking up my study sessions, and outlining as I went along helped me to complete the semester with higher grades and less stress. I know that as other law students apply similar adjustments to their study habits, they will also see benefits accruing to their law school performance.