Most of us have seen a variation of the quote attributed to Ben Franklin, “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.” Professors, mentors, and motivational speakers espouse the quote whenever possible. I say it at least a few times a year to students. Planning is critical, but haphazard planning is only marginally better than no plan at all.
I meet with many students who tell me they plan to study and work on outlines when they have free time in April. Unfortunately, many of those students will meet with me at the beginning of next semester to work on planning because they didn’t have enough time at the end to study effectively. Remember, law school is constantly busy, and life never slows down. Waiting for free time inevitably means not finishing outlines or studying before reading week. Plan to finish outlines early and study more with reverse planning.
Reverse planning is ideal when a particular task has a hard deadline. Reverse planning advocates starting at the end date and working backwards to allocate time for each step to complete the task on time. The setup makes it easy to see exactly how much time is necessary to be prepared by the deadline.
Reverse planning works great for finals preparation. Exam dates for each class set the hard deadline. Print out a calendar of April and May. Handwrite the dates for each final on the Calendar. I know it may sound low tech. However, research on the benefits of handwriting seems to be published daily. Psychologically, individuals tend to be more committed to a plan he/she writes down by hand and places somewhere he/she can see it regularly. I then suggest writing down all class times to show when studying isn’t possible. The free space is when studying is possible. You can also check out Amy Jarmon's recent post for tips on using a calendaring system.
Start with practicing and memorizing right before exams. Set out when to complete practice questions, when to send them to Professors for feedback, when to learn outlines, and what the few days before each test will look like. From there, start working backwards on how to get all your outlines complete. Attempt to schedule enough time in April to complete outlines prior to reading week. Also, try to allocate both practice and learning time throughout April, not just at the end.
While I advocate for studying as much as reasonable, make sure to keep reasonable in mind. Be realistic with the plan. Don’t plan during times you know you will be tired or won’t study. Make sure to leave ample relaxing and sleep time. Put breaks and relaxing time on the schedule. Post the schedule on your refrigerator or a bulletin board you always read. Check off tasks as you complete them. Celebrate long study days with bad TV and a scoop (or pint) of ice cream at night.
Studying for finals is stressful and difficult. Setting a good plan can alleviate some stress and ensure being well prepared for finals.
(Steven Foster)
