Be Wary of Advice on the Grapevine

The grapevine (or rumor mill depending on your school's terminology) is working overtime right now. Students are coming in daily to tell me the latest that is circulating among the students – especially the 1L class. Some of what I am hearing has some truth, but much of it is mixed at best or totally wrong at worst. Here is some sorting of the wheat from the chaff:

Grapevine Advice #1: If you have any class absences left, now is the time to take them to gain more exam study time.

1. Pro: Selective use of a class absence on a day when you understood the material deeply and have a reliable friend to take notes might not be disastrous.
2. Cons: The disadvantages of using up class absences far outweigh this advantage.

•  The material during the last few weeks of class is also going to be on the exam, so skipping class is detrimental to your understanding exam material.
• Professors talk about the exams during the last weeks and provide more details. Relying on another student to pass on this inside scoop in all its detail is risky.
• Course material in the last weeks is often the very material that pulls together topics or the whole semester, so missing class impacts your synthesis of the course.
• Some professors test the last part of the course more heavily than earlier introductory/foundational material.
• Even your very best friend may not take notes that include information that you would include because your cognitive processing styles may differ.

Grapevine Advice #2: For the last weeks of class, study one course each week for any extra time you have in your schedule.

1. Pro: You focus completely on one subject matter instead of spreading your time and focus over multiple courses.
2. Cons: The disadvantages of focusing on one course each week outweigh this advantage.

• We forget 80% of what we learn within 2 weeks if we do not review regularly. Your knowledge of Course 1 will diminish over the intervening weeks before you cycle back to it.
• This review method treats all courses equally even though they usually are not equal. Amount of material covered, difficulty of material for you personally, your own status as to an up-to-date outline, type of exam questions, prior review that you have already completed, and more can make courses "unequal."
• You may not have enough weeks left to cover the number of courses you are taking. Upper-division law students often have more exam courses than 1L students.

Grapevine Advice #3: Focus on exam study for courses in the order of your exams.

1. Pro: It is wise to consider the order of your exams as an aspect of your exam strategy because you need to be ready by each exam date.
2. Cons: The disadvantages of making this your only criterion for exam study outweigh this advantage.

• The first two cons listed above for advice #2 also apply to this grapevine advice.
• An exam schedule is often not evenly spaced. If some exams are on consecutive days and other exams have gaps in between, that specific schedule should be considered.

Grapevine Advice #4: Study really hard for the courses that have more credit hours and consider the others as secondary.

1. Pro: You recognize that a 4-credit course covered more material than a 3-credit course, so it is important in your scheduling of study time.
2. Cons: The disadvantages of making this your only criterion for exam study outweigh this advantage.

• Every course can help or hurt your grade point average. You do not know how others will do in the course and how that will affect the grading curve.
• Your grade point average is based on both credits and quality points. An "A" grade in a three-credit course (4 quality points X 3 credits = 12 quality points) affects your grade point average the same way a "B" in a four-credit course does (3 quality points X 4 credits = 12 quality points).
• Legal research/writing courses often garner fewer credits, but employers put a lot of emphasis on those grades. They know you can learn a new topic on the job. They will not teach you to research and write on the job.

You want to study for exams in a way that will maximize your time and your strengths in exam preparation. Consider these things:

• Unless a professor says a topic is excluded from the exam, all material is fair game.
• Completing more exam studying before the end of classes will leave you less material to review for the first time during exams.
• Some students focus best with variety and would want to study multiple courses during the same day or week.
• Starting off with your most difficult course for a few days may lower your anxiety about that course, so you can then focus better on other courses.
• Some students are weaker on synthesis, policy, or sifting out the trivial things; they need more study time on these aspects.
• Some students are weaker on methodologies, nuances in applying the law, or preciseness in stating the law. They need more study time on these aspects.
• Any study schedule you devise needs to allow for lots of practice questions several days after you study a topic.
• You want to consider this time period to be a marathon and not a sprint. Short breaks every 90 minutes and longer breaks every 3 or 4 hours will help you focus.
• Remember to add sleep, nutritious meals, and exercise to your study schedule – you brain will work better.

If you want to brainstorm study strategies that will work for you, visit with your academic support professional at your law school. That professional can help you sort out the truth from the myth in the grapevine advice you are hearing. (Amy Jarmon)