December 21 was a wrap for our co-hort’s first semester of law school. We were all exhausted at the end. 6 exams was a huge mountain to climb and we were all relieved to be on the other end.
First semester was tough; there were huge learning curves. I am quite happy with how it folded and looking forward to an easier second semester with learnings from the first.
I found it is especially important to find a good system of note taking and briefing cases. I highly recommend handwriting notes. One part is due to the benefits of heightened memorizing and recalling effect, and the other part is that law classes can be long and monotoned. Drawing in classes keeps me engaged (not dosing off) with the professor and the cases. I use a lot of fun and simple visuals, arrows to illustrate cases and connect concepts.
It is so helpful to read and brief cases thoroughly. At the end of the first semester, most of my classmates and I know what to expect in an exam. This helps us be more effective in reading cases and preparing for exams.
For exam prepping, I found it particularly helpful to do practice exams. It preps me well for time-constraint exams.
I owe much of my readiness with my study group as well. I love that we laughed, discussed, solved each other’s knots. It brings such great help. I also love independent study when I need to review by myself.
Other small tips and suport I found helpful is to build good habits for health and wellness, routines and invest in some good noise cancelling headphones 😄
Best,
Thao
#Day10 #30DayWritingChallenge