ALL I DO IS READ!

AHH law school! I seriously think all I ever do is read! Read this, read that!

I generally have a fairly strict rule about finishing the assigned readings before a class. I tend to feel that if I do not do the readings first I will not do them. Of course, this works negatively because if I haven't done the readings I have previously felt that the class would not be of any benefit. Obviously this isn't a good way to go! In my first year I varied between reading before and after and I felt that before worked better for me.

 I've changed this policy this year, at least for my Medical law subject. While the lecturer may have a general plan as to where he will finish each lecture each week, the course is divided into seven general topics. It has taken two weeks thus far to complete the first topic and I almost gave myself a heart attack looking at the learning guide and seeing how much reading was expected for that first week. Needless to say I was unable to complete the hundreds of pages and was relieved to see that we only completed a third or so of the topic. I then decided it was probably more beneficial to do the readings after the class so I would know how far to go.

This week I extended the reading after lectures idea to all classes. It wasn't intentional as I had family commitments over the weekend that prevented me from doing all preparation over the weekend. I learnt that a real benefit of reading after you have been to class is that anything a lecturer emphasises is going to be something you pay more attention to. If you are reading prior to class you just have to assume everything is important. Sometimes a lecturer disagrees with the text they have assigned on important points and taking the text as gospel is useless. Of course, lecturers sometimes go the other way and don't emphasis parts of the textbook but expect you have paid attention to them in your readings when it comes to the final exam.

So what did I learn? I learnt that it is definitely the way to go for subject where how much content will be covered is not known, like my medical law subject. It is also a good way to go when the lecturer may have a different perspective to the text. Reading, or at least perusing the text, is better for more difficult subjects. For me, Trusts is more difficult and very heavy. It isn't helped that the class does not finish until 8pm and I have a busy day. When it gets to my trusts lecture, I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally so I struggle to actually absorb the information if it is 100% new. For this subject, I really have to be familiar with the content before I get to class.

What is your approach? Do you do your readings before or after class? Do you vary your approach based on the subject itself? I'm interested to see what others do!

Reality

I think I'm finally starting to realise that I'm in my fourth year of study. As I'm doing a dual degree, I'm essentially a third year law student.

At the start of my lecture today the course co-ordinator was outlining what he expects of us. He stated a few times that as the subject is a level 3 law course much more is expected than in previous courses. He outlined what is required for a mere pass and I was in absolute shock.

I have no doubt that there is a great deal more work that I could have done in the past, and that sometimes my assessment isn't as good as it could have been, but it seems like it's a rather large jump.

Perhaps the expectations aren't as high as the lecturer suggested. The jump between first year and second year was minimal and it seems unlikely to me that there would be too much of a difference in the grading schemes.

The Law Society at my University releases a 'guide' of sorts each year that compiles student feedback on subjects and includes a breakdown of the results. I usually forget to look at it until the end of the semester when I find valuable advice that would have been helpful 6 weeks earlier. I've had  a good look at both core subjects I am taking this semester and from what I can tell the marking last year was relatively lenient. I'm generally an optimist, so I'd like to think that the lecturer was just trying to encourage us to perform as well as we can.

Whether or not the lecturer was speaking truth, I'm stepping up my act. I doubt that I'll read every case, but I'm going to read as many as I can. I'm going to have a concise summary of my readings, lectures and tutorials completed each week.

I'm also probably going to complain about the unrealistic expectation I have of myself.

Promising yourself for motivation

As I write this I am sitting on my bed refreshing Ticketek and waiting for 9am. Yes, I'm buying tickets for a concert that I desperately want to go to. The problem is this: it is during exams.

Fortunately it is in the second week, so there is still a chance I can go. This was my dilemma a few years ago. I had bought two tickets to go to the last ever show of a certain band (ahem-Powderfinger-ahem) and ended up having to sell. I had used that concert as something I was working towards. I knew exams were going to be awful and I knew I was going to want to die but I had the concert.

Hopefully I can go to this concert I'm buying for today. What is slightly frustrating is I am buying pre-sale and I know that more shows will be released. Do I just wait for those and hope they will be later in the week not earlier? Do I buy tickets and sell them if the other concert fits better! The dilemma!

But seriously, promising yourself is a great way to stay motivated over a long period of time. As you may have read in earlier posts, I recently returned from a trip to the United States. I used that trip as motivation through my exams last semester. While it worked great, it probably wasn't the greatest source of motivation as once I finished exams I still had three months to wait!

On a smaller scale I've done this too. If I'm working in a library during the day I'll bribe myself to work hard and say if I work solidly for an hour I can buy myself a coffee. Of course, I quite often move the goalposts when it's about working hard, but I think it does the job!

The more I think about it the more I realise I do this, not just while studying but in everyday life! Even when I have to go into work on holidays I make myself mental promises: It's okay! All I have to do is finish tonight and I can relax in front of the TV. At the shops: If I'm good and get all healthy food, I shall reward myself with marshmallows (yeah I know it's hypocritical!).

So yes, I think I shall buy myself a ticket. It may be in the second week of exams (on a week day too) and I may not be able to go but I'd rather buy a ticket and miss a show than to be free of exams and miss out all together. Plus exam timetables aren't out for another few months, so there is still plenty of time for the show to be motivation!

How about you? Do you ever promise or even bribe yourself to stay motivated? Does it work for you?

Study Groups? Effective or distracting?

NBC's cult hit Community features an odd-ball study group

Confession: I've always wanted to be a part of a study group.

While I lived on campus I briefly studied with fellow law students on a weekly basis, but my interest waned. I decided that studying with other people didn't help me to actually learn. Now, as I enter my third year of studies, I am pretty sure that I'd actually learn better.

Why the change in heart? I've finally worked out some of the benefits of working as a group.

• You can divide up the readings and make less work for yourself. Readings are a drag.  Any law student who tells you they do all the assigned readings each week is lying to you. Okay, maybe a few of them are telling the truth, but the fact remains that most law students don't manage to get all the readings done. If you're part of a study group you can split the readings  and make your own life much easier.
• You have others to bounce ideas off. Ever been confused about a concept but been too nervous to bring it up in a tutorial? There are so many occasions where I know I would feel more comfortable with legal principles if I had been able to bounce ideas off some others in an informal setting. Yes, you can talk about it all after class with some friends but I know I'd prefer to forget entirely about class the second I leave that room!
• No longer will you be unsure if your answers are wrong! While every study group has different objectives, answering tutorial questions and past exams can be a great way to boost your confidence. If you work with another to answer any set questions, not only will you feel more comfortable when it comes to answering in class but you will be able to sit back and relax in class, without having to try and jot down answers!
• If you miss a class you have contacts who will willingly help you out! Have you ever missed a class and been unsure what you should do? Yes, you probably have a few friends in the class but they might not be so willing to hand over their notes. A study group, however, is based on working together and sharing your knowledge. While you might not get an automatic yes, chances are someone from a study group will lend a hand.

Now that I know there are numerous benefits to working with other people I've decided I must work with others in the coming semester! I'm sure I will soon be wondering why I had not come to the conclusion sooner.

Do you have any experience in study groups? Do they work for you?

I failed! Now what? Part 4 - Making changes and sticking with them

This is Part 3 in my 4 Part series on what you should do if you fail in law school.


For those of you who missed the first part in this series I recommend you click the link and have a look.  Then you should check out the second part. Then, if you're not bored of me by then, check out the third part.

1. Identify the problem: Did you slack off and have no idea of the content? Did you have a medical issue going on through the semester? Did you try and learn in a way that just didn't suit you?
2. Work out your game plan: You can't just try to conquer the next semester the exact same way. You will need to make some changes. What are they going to be?
3. Make the changes (and be realistic about it): If you don't try to be realistic in your plan, passing will be anything but simple.

So my focus today is on actually making the changes (and trying to stick to them).

As I said in the third part, it can be easy to stick with a change when you don't have the pressure of 15 cases to read and 3 essays but the hard part is staying on track in the week where you have 4 pieces of assessment due in 3 days and haven't slept for 38 hours (not that you should ever do this! It is bad for your health). 


So how do you make sure you are sticking with these new and wonderful changes in your life? The thing that has worked best for me has been making sure I have some time each week where I sit down and go over everything that needs to be done. I read Getting Things Done last year and in a way my weekly time came from that. If I sit down every Sunday night and make a list of what I need to do, go over my calendar for the week and evaluate how I have been going, organisation-wise I can be sure that I am sticking to making a change in my life.


Another way to ensure you are sticking to any changes is to make yourself accountable. You can do this by asking a room-mate or family member to remind you to write down assignments or even just to ask you every now and then how your change is going. If you really want to make yourself accountable, why not start a blog? If you have a blog already, mention the changes you want to make to yourself. If you don't want to do that, just make a new one. Even if no one is reading it, you have still put your proposed changes out there for everyone, but mainly you, to see. 


Although it's probably a little immature, I've even considered starting a sticker chart for myself! 


If you find, after a few weeks, that you've done well at implementing your latest change why not pick another? Just remember to keep it realistic.


If you slip-up and start to revert to your old habits, don't worry! It's natural! You just have to get back on the horse of change and keep on going to the finish line. Don't wait until SWOTVAC/STUVAC/Study Week until you make huge changes because it's generally too late!  That first piece of assessment and first exam after failing will be tough, so you have to make sure you are super prepared! I'm talking starting the assignment the day you get it, not the day before it is due! 


So you failed a subject. It's not the end of the world and if you use the experience to make some positive changes to your study techniques and personal habits you will become a better person! Good luck in the coming semester!

I failed! Now what? Part 3

This is Part 3 in my 4 Part series on what you should do if you fail in law school.


For those of you who missed the first part in this series I recommend you click the link and have a look.  Then you should check out the second part.

1. Identify the problem: Did you slack off and have no idea of the content? Did you have a medical issue going on through the semester? Did you try and learn in a way that just didn't suit you?
2. Work out your game plan: You can't just try to conquer the next semester the exact same way. You will need to make some changes. What are they going to be?
3. Make the changes (and be realistic about it): If you don't try to be realistic in your plan, passing will be anything but simple.

So my focus today is on working out the game plan.

Okay so if you followed Part 2 you should have either a list or a basic idea of what you need/want to improve upon. Now in a perfect world you would be able to make all the changes at once and stick to them forever. In a perfect world you probably wouldn't have any changes to make either. So unless you're totally amazing (which you very well could be) you will probably have to choose one or two things to  to work on for now and come back to the rest another time. This may be next semester or even in a few weeks.


Okay so take out your list, or think about your list of things that you want to change. Pick one or two of them, depending on what they are. If you are wanting to work on time management, you're never going to succeed if you also plan to spend more time summarising your lecture notes on a weekly basis, to get involved in extra-curricular activities and to read every single word of assigned reading. 


If you're going to pick something like time management, you could take that on as a whole or break it up. Personally, time management is an ongoing area of trouble for me. I always have and always will have to work on it so rather than just trying to improve, I pick an area to work on. I've worked on developing study plans and sticking to them, worked on scheduling my work and so on. This means each semester I am improving in my time management without neglecting to work on other areas. IF I were to only try and improve my time management I would never get to work on anything else!


I think time management is likely to be high on many law students lists, in some form or another. Although classes don't start for weeks, have a go at making up a rough daily schedule. Take your diary or calendar and mark in dates your assessment is due, as well as any classes that have already been set. If you have your Course Profiles (or whatever it is that your school calls the outline for each course), go through and look at the assessment page. While you may not have your assessment topics yet, break down each piece of assessment. If you do this for each subject and, depending on how nerdy you are feeling, put them up on your wall you will have a good idea of where you are heading.


The idea is to know exactly how you want this next semester to go. I once read somewhere that basketball teams run certain plays over and over again until they can do them automatically without thinking. These aren't the plays they use all the time, but when push comes to shove and they are exhausted, they can do them automatically. You need to be as prepared as possible now so when your work starts to pile up you will automatically know what to do. 

Return for Part 4 where I will be talking about making (and sticking) with the changes.

I failed! Now What? Part 2

This is Part 2 in my 4 Part series on what you should do if you fail in law school.


For those of you who missed the first part in this series I recommend you click the link and have a look. To summarise, the best thing to do immediately is to talk to the examiner and have a look at your exam or the piece of assessment that led you astray. While this is useful, my focus is on what to do in the following semester. I broke this into a number of steps.

1. Identify the problem: Did you slack off and have no idea of the content? Did you have a medical issue going on through the semester? Did you try and learn in a way that just didn't suit you?
2. Work out your game plan: You can't just try to conquer the next semester the exact same way. You will need to make some changes. What are they going to be?
3. Make the changes (and be realistic about it): If you don't try to be realistic in your plan, passing will be anything but simple.

So my focus today is on identifying the problem.

If you failed a subject, like it or not, something went wrong. You may have procrastinated a little too much and spent much too long on Facebook. You may have completely missed the point of a major essay and was unable to recover later on. Maybe you just had a hell of a semester. The fact is, whether there were unavoidable factors (such as poor health or a messy breakup) or whether you spent too much time watching Buffy reruns, there is a good chance that you could have done better if you had been prepared or had different study techniques.

Personally, I've always thought that I can be very effective. I have, however, often been told that my study habits are hardly time efficient. Each semester I try to reflect on how I worked the semester before and how I can improve my study habits. I have done this all semesters, whether I have done poorly the semester before or not. Certain things (ahem time management ahem) crop up nearly every time I look over how I could improve. I also often find I could start working earlier and be more organised.

Nobody is perfect and I am sure that you all have an idea of what things you can work on improving. Whether you failed a subject or not, you need to sit down (or stand - it's really up to you) and reflect on your habits and work out a few areas you need to improve on. Be honest with yourself and you may be surprised.

Return for Part 3 where I will be talking about forming your semester game plan.

I failed! Now what? Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been wanting to write something about what happens if you fail a class (or two) in law school. It's an experience that I have had the displeasure of having (more than once) and one that I hope to never have again. It's a little disconcerting to check your grades and discover that you didn't really ace that contract law exam. Failing is horrible. You feel sick in the stomach and a feeling of dread every time you get results from there on in. Sometimes however, failing isn't all that bad. I've failed. I'm not proud of it, but it's a part of my academic history and I think it has helped me to become the law student that I am today.

When I failed my first subject (yes that is right folks, I've failed more than one), I told a few people, but I didn't really mention it to any of my law friends. I was dreadfully ashamed of it. The thing is, keeping it to yourself isn't necessarily the way to go. Don't get me wrong, I hardly go around uni wearing a t-shirt that says "I failed! How about you?" on it, but I no longer hide my past.

So what should you do? If you've talked to other people about it, they may have suggested contacting your lecturer and making a time to speak with them, particularly to review any assessment. I definitely recommend doing this, although I did not do this myself. I had the intention, at least with my first subject, but was embarrassed. If you, like me, are too ashamed to do this, at least try to look over the  answer guide if it is made available to you. It is not the same as looking at your actual exam script and seeing what you wrote although it is fairly good. You will usually be able to get a general idea of whether you were way off in your answer or if you were on the right track.

While it is most definitely the first step you should take, my focus of this series is more what to do after that, in the semesters that follow. The steps are:

1. Identify the problem: Did you slack off and have no idea of the content? Did you have a medical issue going on through the semester? Did you try and learn in a way that just didn't suit you?
2. Work out your game plan: You can't just try to conquer the next semester the exact same way. You will need to make some changes. What are they going to be?
3. Make the changes (and be realistic about it): If you don't try to be realistic in your plan, passing will be anything but simple.

I will cover each of these in the coming week in this four part series.

Check out the rest of the series:
Part 2 walks you through identifying what went wrong
Part 3 helps you to work out how you will move forward

How flash cards help me ace law exams

Image:limonada / Flickr.com

Flash cards... we've all used them at some point. Children use them all the time while learning basic mathematics and learning how to read. People use them extensively when learning vocabulary. So what about using flash cards to study law? I use flash cards extensively. I usually start making them in the first few weeks of a semester but struggle to continue making them until exams are close. Yet again it happened this semester, although I'm still ahead of last year!

Flash Cards? Why would I want flash cards?

Lots of people know what flash cards are and how to use them, but don't actually know how they work. According to Wikipedia, flash cards work by engaging active recall, which supposedly works better than passively reading notes. I'm not the only law student who uses flash card (here and here plus many more) and there is a good reason why: they work!

So what do I need?

Image: ObiterGirl/obitergirl.blogspot.com

You're going to need some index cards, preferably 3x5. In Australia you can buy a box of 500 for around $15 or a 100 card packet for less than $5. I prefer to use plain white, although you can get a number of different colours.  

You'll also need your notes and some pens. I like to use permanent markers, at least for the prompt side, but you have to be careful that the pen doesn't go through to the other side.

If you want to put your cards on a ring you will need a hole punch and some clip rings. If you want to colour-code them for each subject you could put coloured-circle stickers on them. I used to do that but don't anymore.

So how do I make these?

Take a flash card and write your prompt on the front. Flip the card upside down and write the answer on this side. On the bottom right hand corner of the card draw three squares in a pen not pencil. If you want to flip through them on a ring (or two) punch a hole in the card and attach the rings.

What goes on these cards?

If you usually summarise your readings and class notes, making flash cards is relatively simple. Some people recommend only making your cards once you have outlined. Ideally that does make it easier, especially in exam preparation. If I've already made a summary, I use that to guide my flash cards. If I define something in my summary, I make a flash card. For a legal rule, I try and put the entire rule on a card, but it can be difficult. 

If you haven't outlined your work or you are making your flash cards throughout the semester it can be more difficult. If you summarise your notes week-by-week (because we all intend to do it!) you can use that. I know that when I am making my cards week by week I end up with many more than I would if I was making them in the last few weeks before exams. 

For cases I write the name of the case on one side (usually just the parties and the year) and the facts on the other. I break a case card into a few sections. At the top of the card I write what it applies to, particularly if it is an authority case. The next section is Facts, which I try to keep minimal. I also put the Issue and what was Held. If there is anything else that is important to the case, I also put that in at the end. I don't recommend making a card for every case that you are given to read or is listed or you'll never finish making them. I just make a card for the authority cases and any cases that are starred in my teacher's notes. At my law school important cases (ie: the ones we should read) are starred and we are expected to know these in detail. If the teacher went into detail on a case I make sure that I make a card for that one as well. Ideally you want as little information as possible, so try and keep it simple; some facts, and the law. 

What about those little squares?

When I'm studying properly with them I try and review the cards 3 times a day. Every time I get a particular card correct I use a pencil to tick one of the boxes. The next day's first review is important. If I get a card with 3 ticks correct again it gets moved to the inactive pile. Inactive doesn't mean that I don't review it again but that I only review it once per day as opposed to 3 times each day. My ultimate aim is to have all cards in my inactive piles before the exam. 

Why 3 times a day? I got the idea from here a few years back. The main part of this technique is getting the answer correct after a night of sleep. If you get it wrong then you don't know it, no matter how many times you answered correctly the day before. Does it work? It works for me. Having the squares and the goal of moving it into the other pile is incentive. Yes, gaining the knowledge should be your incentive and goal but when you're frantically studying, gaining knowledge for your future career isn't exactly what is on your mind!

So what do I do with all these cards?

I don't write questions on my cards because, let's face it, it's not necessary. If you write a term or legal principle and definition on the cards you can usually use them back to front. I like to answer the cards out loud, mainly because it means that I can't cheat! You could get a friend or family member to help but in my experience it is easier to work through them myself. It does take quite a bit of time to work through all cards, particularly at the end of a semester and if you have made cards for each case. The time it takes in itself if incentive for getting the answers correct and moving them into the inactive pile.

What about all my subjects?

Flash cards are a great way of studying, but if you are taking a full load of classes, particularly law classes, getting through all flash cards can be a challenge, particularly if you keep the cards grouped separately. So should you mix them up? I say no, and I'm not alone. While there are topics that can interact, in law school it's a little unlikely as each subject has a distinct focus. Keeping the subjects separate also makes it easier if you want to focus solely on a single subject.

Electronic vs Paper?

I said I wasn't going to talk about Anki and such but I just couldn't help myself. If you have a look online there are plenty of people who are advocates of electronic flashcards through programs such as Anki and Quizlet. Anki is great because it spaces your cards out based on how well you know them. Spaced Repetition is a well-known method of learning and, in a way, is what my method of revision with my flashcards does. My main issue with Quizlet is that there is such a large bank of legal flash cards so there is a temptation to use these instead of creating your own cards. There are many problems in this, not only because creating your own cards helps to solidify the knowledge but also because jurisdictional differences could result in you learning the wrong information. Anki has the benefits of an iphone application and accessibility from anywhere in the world, although I do believe that paper-based cards have their own benefits. 

Making the cards may be more time-consuming on paper, but actually writing the cards out helps to learn the information as well. Paper cards are portable regardless of whether you have a smart phone. There is also the benefit of being away from a computer or device capable of promoting procrastination!

I must say that I do use Anki, but I wouldn't use it for studying my class notes for exams. I have used it for French vocabulary and I prefer it to my paper based cards for that.

The Verdict?

Ultimately, flash cards are a great study tool. They are, however, a study tool and are not a replacement for any other methods of studying. I don't use flash cards alone, I still summarise my notes, make mindmaps (depending on the subject) and do past exams and practice questions.