Law students create every excuse in the book. They continuously do the very thing that hurts them the most without even realizing they are doing it.
If you have decided to convince yourself of these things, catch yourself now so that you do not negatively affect your outcome in law school:
(1) I am too busy reading that I cannot do anything else to prepare for finals
Most students spend 80% reading and preparing to be called on in class. They only spend 20% doing practice exams. That means they are “thinking” 80% of the time and only “doing” 20% of the time. Most of us understand that those individuals who merely think about something, compared to those individuals who actually do something, are the ones who accomplish something! It is simple math, even for those law students who were trying to get away from doing math. The time you need to practice exams needs to come from somewhere in your schedule. LST – Law School Tutor helps students cut down on those common useless tasks and makes students focus on that golden 20%, which will get them somewhere.
(2) Mere reading is enough
Whether you are reading through your class notes, supplements, or your case books every single day, mere reading alone is not enough.
Students must practice going through hypothetical exams to become better writers. There has never been a student who told us that they did not gain a tremendous amount of benefit from doing our LST law school exams.
If you take a stab at answering law exams for the first time during your finals week, you may be in for a rude awakening when you receive your grades. Although you may deduce that your professor’s comments are just to nit pick, do not assume that you know everything.
Do not get discouraged. Law students do not automatically good at answering practice exams. In fact, they look quite awful when we review them for the first time, during their first law tutoring session. Students often try to run through a few sentences explaining that what they turned in was bad. We get this all the time so there’s no need to apologize on your end, if you are one of our clients. That’s why you hired us! To catch things and fix things in advance. If you turned in perfect exams, you would not need us as your law school tutor.
(3) Waiting until I know the law before doing exams is the best strategy
Do not wait to do all of your practice exams until you know the law – it is a huge disservice to yourself, your law grades, and your GPA in law school, not to mention your scholarship. It can feel awkward to jump into something without having everything down, especially for law students who happen to be Type A perfectionists.
We liken it to learning how to swim. You would not stand around a pool and listen to a swim instructor tell you how to swim, over and over again for several months, and then attempt to jump in the pool for the first time on the day of your swim meet. The same comparison works for a marathon. No one waits until the week of a marathon and expects to be able to run full-speed the entire time, for all of those miles, and get a good time at the end.
(4) I will use my friend’s outline alone
Your friend’s outline works well for your friend, not necessarily for you. The process that makes a law student learn material in school is the same process used in developing your own outline – a process of condensing the material from class and readings, and then writing bullet-points for the must-know pieces of information.
You may be able to do well in a class where you never developed an outline. However, it is significantly more difficult. You are likely to not understand each point because you did not put forth the work that friend took to develop their short outline.
(5) I do not connect with my professors so I refuse to meet with them
Sometimes the professors who seem mean or intimidating in class are actually very helpful during office hours. Do not be afraid to approach your professor after class or during office hours, especially if you received a low grade.
LST – Law School Tutor assists students in achieving high grades, in order to ensure that they have better academic opportunities during law school and better job opportunities after law school.
For more information, please contact LST at info@law-school-tutor.com