Essay Competitions.... ultimate procrastination!

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I'm currently looking at a few essay competitions that end in December. I've printed out all the information for both and have started doing some rudimentary research. I know what you're thinking "Oh that's great that you're getting started early". The truth is, however, that I really shouldn't have started yet. Why? Oh just a little thing called Assessable Essays. Yes, I have been writing essays for competitions instead of working on my university essays.

Now it makes sense, in a way, that I should be starting now. Looking at my assessment planner for the remainder of the semester, it makes sense that I should do them now or not at all. Let's be honest, once I finish my exams I won't want to be writing essays!  As such I figure that writing an essay is better than watching endless movies or wasting time on Facebook. Whether or not this is true will be revealed soon enough!

Speaking of Facebook, I've started using it again. I went for 2 months or so without  using it and wasting my time but I relapsed!

Lawyer Jokes

We all love them, right?

The senior partner replied in haste,

"Appeal immediately."

"You're a cheat!" shouted the attorney to his opponent.

"And you're a liar!" bellowed the opposition.

Banging his gavel loudly,  the judge

interjected, "Now that both attorneys 

have been identified for the record, 

let's get on with the case."

Confessions of a Law School Stationery Addict

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I have a problem. I have a stationery fetish. It started slowly, having multiple coloured pens in my pencil case but I'm starting to think it has gone too far.

I have highlighters in almost every colour, at least two or three of most and a giant container of paperclips (which I don't use). I have at least 60 biros (no joke), which I rarely use, mainly just for exams. I have so many post-its and tabs, at least 12 different tabs labelled with things from 'To Do' to 'Whatever'. I have at least 15 Sharpies in black alone, and I don't even want to know how many coloured ones I have.

Like I said, I have alot of stationery. I'm fairly sure I could get through the rest of my degree without buying more!

I've read somewhere that law students seem to have a universal obsession with highlighters. I observed the extent of this in a recent english class when I observed that there were only two students that highlighted in their texts: another law student and I. I'm not sure whether the other students just don't like highlighters or if they wanted to resell the book later on. Either way, it seems fairly common among law students... right?

In the first week of this semester I made a giant semester planner with all my due dates, public holidays and the like. Even though I've had the planner on my wall for a few weeks I haven't really looked at it until yesterday when I was trying to make plans for the mid-semester break.

It appears that I have 3 pieces of assessment (weighted 20%, 30% and 40%) due within 4 days! The next week I have another piece worth 50%. This frustrates me no end as I won't be able to start most of them until closer to the due dates.

I miss first year with the law course co-ordinators communicating with each other to ensure that we didn't have too much assessment due at anyone time. Foolishly I thought this pattern would continue!

In the meantime I'm working on two essays for some competitions (The Governor-General's Undergraduate Essay Competition and Australian Legal History Competition). Neither are due until December but I know that once exams are out I will want nothing to do with libraries, research or essays. I figure it is 'productive procrastination'; I'm not wasting time on Facebook or YouTube but achieving something, albiet something only semi-important.

On that note I'm off to sleep. It seems that I have managed to become semi-nocturnal in little under a week after keeping normal hours for over six months. This must not continue and I must get back into the swing of things. First thing tomorrow I'm hitting the gym... maybe.

Studying in the library: Yay or Nay?

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So even though it's fairly early in the semester and exams are so far away they can't even be seen with a telescope, I started to wonder about studying in libraries. Early last semester I studied and worked in the libraries quite a bit, but as the semester drew on and it got harder to find a desk I stopped using the library as much.

Now when I think about it, I worked much more effectively in the libraries than in my dorm room, most of the time anyway. If I took just one lot of work I got it done quickly, but I usually took books for a few subjects. I didn't work in the Law Library at my univeristy very much, mainly because there was a library that was 24 hours a day and filled with just desks. It was always easier to find somewhere to work there. It makes me wonder though, is studying in the library better?

Various articles (here) and bloggers (here and here) suggest it is good to study in a library because of the quiet, the access to information and distance from distraction, among other reasons. 

What are your personal preferences?

Playing Catchup?

It's inevitable that at some point in your studies you'll get behind and need to play catch up. If it's ever happened, you know how stressful it can be. It starts when one day you decide that you don't need to go to your class or run out of time to work on the assigned readings. You think to yourself 'Oh it's okay, I'll just catch up tomorrow', but it never happens! It's an endless cycle. If you miss one lecture it becomes more difficult to understand what is happening at the next. So how do you catch up without totally depriving yourself of sleep?

Step One:
Try and make a list of all the readings you need to do, questions you need to answer and lectures you need to listen to. Making a list will undoubtedly scare you into getting started.


Step Two:
JUST GET STARTED! The sooner you start, the easier it is and the less you'll have to do. The last thing you want is to be trying to catch up on 6 weeks of work before exams!


Step Three:
Grab a book, some pens and notepaper and head to a library. Take only what you need for one subject or you'll get so distracted that you will flit from one subject to another and won't get anything achieved.

Step Four:
Make yourself a promise. "If I finish reading and taking notes on those three Crim Law chapters I'll go to the movies!" It doesn't have to be something big or showy, something little works well.

Step Five:
If you have to catch up on listening to lecture recordings it is okay to listen to them faster then full speed, in fact, preferable. Some people work on listening at 2x speed but I personally stick to 1.3to1.4x. I find any faster and it is extremely difficult to take notes. Play around and see what works for you! You can speed up and slow down speeds in Quicktime, Windows Media Player, iTunes and VLC and I'm sure it works in other applications.

Step Six:
If you're desperate it is okay if you don't do all of the readings. While it's preferable that you do, the most important thing at this point is to get back on track.

I'm sad to say I'm playing catch-up at the moment. I know, however, that if I apply myself I can be back on track in no time! They say that a full-time law student should spend 40 hours per week, including class time. If you have a schedule you can find the time to catch up! The worst thing to do is to not start!

Balancing the Scales: When life gets in the way of learning

In all honesty, the title of this post would be more apt if it were "When learning gets in the way of life", at least for me! That said I have experienced life at both extremes and while it's usually the all work no play side, I think I know a little about what it's like when it's play all day and night.

In my first semester I remember I had a great balance. I went out and partied, I got my work done and I got great results. What's more was that I knew that I could have worked better, harder and generally just a whole lot more. From there things spiralled. I thought it was because I still wasn't spending enough time working so I tried to work harder the next semester. Obviously that was pretty much impossible as I had already eliminated any semblance of a life.

Instead of working harder I went the other way and got a life! What a life it was! I wasn't out partying but I enjoyed myself. I was having fun but I knew that the balance wasn't right. I knew that I was neglecting my work and would feel sick just thinking about how far behind I was. I was so stressed that there were times that I just wanted to quit. I didn't quit and instead sat down one night and made a list of rules that I was determined to follow for the next semester.

• Watching TV shows, movies or playing computer games is not a study break. Study breaks are away from the computer and desk, preferably outside. These things are allowed, but only at certain times, preferably after all work is done (I'm ashamed to say that I still break this one, watching certain shows as study breaks, but I make sure to try and leave my desk and go outside for most breaks)
• Sometimes it's okay to relax and socialise even if everything isn't done. Sometimes it is just needed. That said, it's not an excuse to avoid doing work.
• Keep business hours whenever possible. This is easiest to do if you schedule in what time you will work on certain subjects and try to keep to the schedule whenever possible.
• Don't make to-do lists. SAY WHAT?! I personally find to-do lists to be more stressful at times: you have a piece of paper filled with all the things that you need to get done. While crossing items off does feel rewarding it can be disheartening to find that you only accomplish a few tasks each day. Many people have a habit of underestimating the amount of time a task will take. Instead I just follow my schedule and in my timeslot for contract law, I spend however long I have allocated doing something for contract law. 
• Work outside of the bedroom whenever possible. I started working in libraries as much as I could and even outside in the sun at times. I found that the effort of leaving, combined with the great study environment forced me to get work done; I didn't want to leave the library until I had accomplished something. I find the less I take to the library the more I accomplish as well. I used to take books for 3 subjects and would get next to nothing done (I'd choose the fun task!) so now I just take one textbook and some note paper.

These are a few of the rules I made for myself. I don't follow them all to a tee (my schedule is extremely flexible at the moment) but I strive to stick to them as much as possible. I find if I work effectively and am organised I get more work done quicker, giving me time off. By sticking to 9-5 where possible I end up with nights off. Now I rarely finish at 5 but I don't have the need to pull awful all-nighters.

Do you have rules that you follow to keep your life-study balance in check?

Nietzsche and Potter, my day thus far

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It's rather ridiculous that I chose to take English Literature instead of Political Science. My reason for doing a dual degree was originally to dilute the heavy load of my law degree. I'm starting to realise that, by choosing English Literature I am greatly increasing my workload!

Just this week we had to read 20 pages or so of Nietzsche. For anyone who has read Nietzsche, you'll know it's not exactly light reading! This week it was The Birth of Tragedy and On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense and I'm fairly certain I no longer have any understanding of the concept of 'truth'!  I don't mind having heavy readings, but I'm realising that it's not a one-off. From our Nietzsche readings we have to do a piece of assessment in the next week, as well as reading a hundred or so pages of Freud and Marx. Somehow I have more pre-reading, and more time needed for preparation than for any of my law courses! So much for breaking up the workload!

On another note I checked my email this morning and saw an email from Pottermore with the subject 'Congratulations!'. I got so excited, thinking that the email was going to tell me all about how I could now use the site after qualifying for early entry last week, but alas, it was merely an email to let me know I will be getting an email at some stage, which I already knew! I couldn't help but be a little disappointed but at the end of the day, it's just a website. One that will get a huge amount of hits, but a website nonetheless.

Getting Started Early

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Time and time again I've been told to start studying early. I always try to start early, organising notes and the like. I always find it difficult to continue studying and keeping everything organised when the end of semester is so far away. The first week always goes okay, but week two and three are when it just becomes too difficult. I make flash cards and each semester I try to make them as the semester progresses, yet it's just a little to difficult. I'm not sure why. Maybe I secretly enjoy the end-of-semester stress... scrap that thought!

Starting assessment early is another thing that is difficult, but really quite important. In my International Relations classes I've found it so important to start working on essays early, if for no reason other than finding the resources needed. I've learnt the hard way that starting an essay a few nights before it is due isn't a good idea. Sure, you might not do too badly. You might even get a great grade. You'll just want to die from all the stress that you won't care about the grade!

So when I discovered an essay topic for one of my subjects had been uploaded last week I immediately began. It felt a little ridiculous, considering it isn't due until mid-September, but after I had a few pages of notes and had found some cases to use I felt like I was way ahead.

In a way, I think starting early like this is just as dangerous as starting late! I know that some of the most difficult and stressful assignments have been those that I've started early, fooling myself into thinking that  I'm ahead of everyone else. Surely I'm not the only one, right?

I'm going to try really hard not to let that happen this time! I'm not sure how it'll go, but I'm certainly going to try.

The Case of the Missing Textbook

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So here we go with another semester. Into the third week and the work load has already begun. For a change my study has already begun as well.

Through school, and even early into university, I always thought it was an unofficial rule to let students be a little slack in the first week. Obviously someone forgot to inform my Contracts lecturer! For week one we had 2 chapters and a multitude of cases to read. To this day I haven't entirely finished one of those chapters for Contract week one. I have a good excuse though... I swear!

My excuse? A missing textbook! (Cue Law and Order sound effect)

At the end of last semester I carefully packed up my books and the older ones from first year were put into a box and taken to my grandparents. I was careful that I didn't pack any I could possibly need and wrote the subject names on the box to remind me what was there. I was at my grandparents  the Sunday before classes started picking up my computer and printer and my father asked if I needed the books:

Me: "Oh no, I was very careful in packing it"
Dad: "Are you sure? Just check again!"
Me: "See I wrote the subjects on the box. I don't need any of these"
Dad: "Okay! Let's get going"

On Tuesday I tore my room apart searching and I couldn't find either of my contract books or my old criminal book which I suspected I would need. I searched the college storage room and there was still no sign of the books. At 8:45pm I rushed to the Law Library and loaned out a copy of the text book just in case. On Wednesday I was starting to panic. My class was on Thursday afternoon and I always prefer to do the readings before class otherwise there is a chance I won't do them. I made a list of all the bags, boxes and crates I had packed and, checking each potential hiding spot, I still was textbook-less. At 3:30pm I rang my grandparents to check they were at home. The last thing I wanted was to drive across town in the after-school madness only to find an empty house and no way in. Thankfully they were.

I watched Bold and the Beautiful with my grandmother and had an early dinner. My grandparents are Italian, so the meal which only really lasted 15 minutes filled me for at least a week! At the end of the meal my grandfather put the books in my car and I headed off.

I began the drive, terrified that I wouldn't find the books. I was so fearful that after 5 minutes I had to pull over. Some tape had been placed on the top, so any onlookers would have seen me furiously stabbing something in the boot! The top layer of books were old politics texts and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I get to the bottom of the box and, thankfully, the books were there. They were laughing at me.

So that's the reason why I still haven't finished that chapter on rescission (and why spell-check had to spell it for me). I'll read it... maybe.

Introducing Obiter Girl

If you've somehow stumbled onto this little blog of mine, welcome!  I'm Obiter Girl, an Australian law student constantly searching for answers.  I have a love of English Literature and Politics and, let's be honest, am a bit of a nerd.  I'm living the college lifestyle and loving every minute of it!

While I don't have a crystal ball (not yet anyway!), one can expect me to be writing about law school, life and general observations of society, and the college lifestyle.  I'm fairly sure there will probably be posts on my various passing obsessions as well. How often I update will depend on whether I am studying or not (because let's face it, there is only so much study you can do, right?) and if I'm in one of my self-imposed technology breaks.

So for now, goodbye! Hope to see you here again soon!

Obiter Girl