The Exam Preparation Thread (2 Viewers)

[Frigid]

how do you normally prepare for your law exams? do you cram or consistently study throughout the semester, typing your law notes every week, breaking out and reading your law tomes every night?

spill your pre-exam-omg-i-need-help law study tips here.

 

[Soma]

spill your pre-exam-omg-i-need-help law study tips here.

I get off the internerd.

 

[MiuMiu]

Haha you start this thread 6 hours after I finish my final exam, thanks!

Im am a very last minute studier, usually cram a bit the day before and then wing the rest of it in the exam (thank god for law and its open books!)

If times are getting desperate though i usually just get a group together and divide up the semester's readings.

 

[ManlyChief]

right now in the other window on my computer i am typing up my law, lawyers and justice notes! how ironic that i should procrastinate by posting on a thread about studying for law exams ... i am so diligent

but seriously,

i have a love hate relationship with my law classes - i love the readings when i do them (seriously), but i just don't seem to ever get myself around to do enough during the semester than by exam time, i don't have nearly enough time to everything so i have to pick about half the topics to cram and leave the rest up to devine inspiration coming down upon me from the paintings of the dead white males that hang in the mclauring hall where i usually have law exams ... (it worked in crim , but not in contracts )

anyhoo, better get back to critical legal theory and the influence of feminist theory on the development of legal practice ... fun!

love you all,

 

[ManlyChief]

Haha you start this thread 6 hours after I finish my final exam, thanks!

Congratulations and well done to you

Lucky duck.

 

[Omnidragon]

right now in the other window on my computer i am typing up my law, lawyers and justice notes! how ironic that i should procrastinate by posting on a thread about studying for law exams ... i am so diligent

but seriously,

i have a love hate relationship with my law classes - i love the readings when i do them (seriously), but i just don't seem to ever get myself around to do enough during the semester than by exam time, i don't have nearly enough time to everything so i have to pick about half the topics to cram and leave the rest up to devine inspiration coming down upon me from the paintings of the dead white males that hang in the mclauring hall where i usually have law exams ... (it worked in crim , but not in contracts )

anyhoo, better get back to critical legal theory and the influence of feminist theory on the development of legal practice ... fun!

love you all,

I share your views.

When I feel like doing the readings, I could sit there for hours and really absorb and interact with the cases I'm reading. But when exam time comes, I usually can't be bothered going over the material, especially since I think I know most of it from previous readings (a very dangerous belief).

I try to get started early though... usually try to get all my notes done around 5 weeks before the exam so I have enough time to go over the notes.

 

[ManlyChief]

I try to get started early though... usually try to get all my notes done around 5 weeks before the exam so I have enough time to go over the notes.

:O

5 weeks! :O

 

[santaslayer]

Well, first session, a very good friend of mine gave me his law notes and I used them in the open book. It was difficult in terms of understanding what the hell he was crapping on about so I did a lot of mindless copying. It kinda worked. Marks weren't too crash hot though. Beggars can't be choosers though. Lucky it was a foundation course. LoLz.

 

[erawamai]

Exam preparation? I'm still belting out a 3500 word essay. Only 2200 words to go. At least it gives me room to be flowery and all.

 

[neo o]

right now in the other window on my computer i am typing up my law, lawyers and justice notes! how ironic that i should procrastinate by posting on a thread about studying for law exams ... i am so diligent

I'm in the computer labs printing mine out .

I don't like to use lecture notes. I don't cram, but usually two weeks before my exams I'll start listening to past lectures (if they were good) or catching up by summarising readings from the brick and the textbook (if the lectures were bad). I'll have a finished summary usually 4 or so days before an exam.

 

[MissSavage29]

i've just got all my 'flowchats' and 'principles of law' together so i can understand them and they are easy to read - do some practice questions to make sure that i know how to apply everything and know where everything is.

i like to have a look at past papers to get an idea of the sorts of questions they will ask

um and yeah since they are all wonderful open book exams i make sure i'm familiar with my notes
seems to work

 

[Frigid]

it's not all so bad...

on the bright side, cramming aint all that bad. at least, in my opinion, cramming develops your high-intensity, large-quantity, maximum-efficiency studying skills.

thus, for your illustrious career at the Bar, where they give you your brief two days before you are due to appear, you should be thankful that your well-honed cramming/rote-learning skills can make you a world authority on battered women syndrome in 48 hours.

 

[charlie_charlie]

it's all about the art of procrastination combined with furious cramming. rather like coffee breaks and getting work done before the deadline in the real world.

maybe we shall all evolve to the point where we can one day sleep on our notes and absorb the notes and information through osmosis.

 

[ManlyChief]

on the bright side, cramming aint all that bad. at least, in my opinion, cramming develops your high-intensity, large-quantity, maximum-efficiency studying skills.

thus, for your illustrious career at the Bar, where they give you your brief two days before you are due to appear, you should be thankful that your well-honed cramming/rote-learning skills can make you a world authority on battered women syndrome in 48 hours.

in all seriousness, i totally agree with you on this point, frigid.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

right now in the other window on my computer i am typing up my law, lawyers and justice notes! how ironic that i should procrastinate by posting on a thread about studying for law exams ... i am so diligent

but seriously,

i have a love hate relationship with my law classes - i love the readings when i do them (seriously), but i just don't seem to ever get myself around to do enough during the semester than by exam time, i don't have nearly enough time to everything so i have to pick about half the topics to cram and leave the rest up to devine inspiration coming down upon me from the paintings of the dead white males that hang in the mclauring hall where i usually have law exams ... (it worked in crim , but not in contracts )

anyhoo, better get back to critical legal theory and the influence of feminist theory on the development of legal practice ... fun!

love you all,

Yep that's like me.

Also I always do my property notes then leave no time for Crim, so I read Crim on the bus and end up with no notes at the end of the semester for it.

Arts subjects, while I am interested in them, never get proper attention. In class I pay attention and am interested but I devote no out of class time to them.

 

[011]

In response to frigid's thoughts on cramming, that's a theory I've kept in my mind for a long time now...there's something in cramming which can make it effective in some ways, for example the focus you devote to the task. Too often my marks have been unusually good when cramming then not so when I have really taken my time.

I also think that you pass an optimal point in which to immerse yourself in course materials before exam time. After that point your time becomes redundant and wasted, and you may shoot yourself in the foot for going too far off the point. Much like a y = 1/(1 + x^2) curve.

 

[erawamai]

Arts subjects, while I am interested in them, never get proper attention. In class I pay attention and am interested but I devote no out of class time to them.

I think you would have to be brilliant to be devoted too all your subjects equally.

 

[Frigid]

Extreme stress, but it's worked for me up until this point!

the only downside, my friend, is my doubt on how long my luck is going to hold.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

Seriously, regardless of how much work you do during the semester - you still end up doing the same amount of work during exams anyway and realistically, your exam marks aren't that much better. The only thing that can be said for consistent work is that it means you generally go in with higher marks from the alternative assessment items and you may have 1 or 2 areas that you don't have to spend so much time on.

Law subjects are all the same, just different content. (except for ones that have complerely different type exams - jurisprudence, ethics ect.) and the same formula can be used for all.

I am hopeless at making my own notes, but much better at using others' notes, so I always make sure I get a good set a couple weeks out from the exam. Then apply the following formula:

Read study guide, read lecture slides, read notes. Do all the tutorial problems, do every past exam paper I can find and have time for.

Has never failed.

 

[erawamai]

- Create your own set of notes. Other peoples notes are generally crap. Try not to put your law degree into other peoples hands by taking other peoples notes on face value. They can often be wrong. Back yourself to make your own good notes.

- Know your cases and principles well. Know your exceptions. Ir helps to know what the judges in each case said. Teachers seem to expect you to know more than what the case stood for and require more than general principle application. Harder markers require innovating arguments.

- Read the facts of the exam twice.

- Structure your answer to the problem question. HEADINGS!