Crunch time is fast approaching for law students. Exams are getting closer now that we are nearly two-thirds of the way through the semester. It is a time in the semester when students begin to make study choices that superficially seem good but are really very counter-productive. Here are some tips on making wise decisions:
- Cramming promotes forgetting material as soon as it is dumped on the exam. By reviewing and applying material multiple times, it is more likely to end up in long-term memory – the filing cabinet of your brain. Long-term memory helps you use the material in later courses and retain more material for your ultimate goal of bar review.
- Merely re-reading an outline several hundred times will not result in deep understanding. Remember to really grapple with the material and ask yourself questions. What does this element's definition really mean? How do these rules work together? What fact scenarios would change the outcome when this rule is applied? How would the analysis change under the common law/majority jurisdiction rule and under the restatement/uniform code/state-specific law/etc.?
- Students often take a compartmentalized approach of some variation to studying: two weeks on course 1; the next two weeks on course 2; then two weeks on course 3. However, we forget 80% of what we learn in two weeks if we do not review regularly. By focusing on only one course at a time, you have brain leakage on the other courses – especially the last one in the list.
- It is human nature to spend time on what we already know well and avoid what we do not understand. We go for the safe and cozy. You need to allot sufficient time to address the really difficult material and not leave it until the end for cramming.
- Students often fall for the open-book trap. They study less diligently because of a false sense of security. In reality, students rarely have time in an exam to look up much material. It is better to study the material well with the goal of limited use of any open-book options during the exam.
- It is inefficient to complete intermediate- or expert-level practice questions when one has not studied the material yet. If you do not know the material, you are unlikely to learn it in an organized fashion and synthesize it properly with random exam questions. Learn the material well first so that you can truly monitor your understanding and practice your exam-taking skills to the most advantage.
- Have at least a few days lag time between learning the material and doing those harder practice questions, however. If you do the practice questions right after your review, you will get them right because of the timing. A time lag allows you to monitor your retention and true ability to apply the material.
- Beware of avoiding practice questions because you do not know yet the type of exam (objective, short-answer, essay) you will have. Do a variety of questions for now. You will be ahead of the game if you do as many practice questions as possible to monitor your understanding and application of the law. When your professor announces the exam format(s), switch your efforts to those specific types of practice questions.
- Memorization of the law cannot be done in major stretches of time. Your brain chunks information and has limited capacity to memorize lots of rules at once. Limit your memory drills to bursts of 30 minutes or less. The number of drills for a course will depend on the amount of material and its difficulty.
- Students can be tempted to spend too much time preparing to study or over-elaborating tasks, so that more effective study tasks with lots of results get lost in the process. It is easy to distract oneself with neatly retyping notes, designing artistic visuals worthy of an art gallery, searching for the perfect binder and tabs, cleaning one's study area, lining up highlighters and pens, and stacking up one's study aids. Go for oomph instead of frills.
- Sleep is one of the first things to go (if it has not already). However, lack of sleep is one of the main reasons for low productivity, fuzzy thinking, poor retention/recall of material, and brain freeze. Get 7 – 8 hours every night (preferably with the same bedtime and waking hours) in order to get much more done in less time with the added benefits of real learning and focus.
You want to be efficient (using time wisely) and effective (getting real oomph from that time) during the remaining weeks. By carefully choosing your strategies, you can maximize your exam review. (Amy Jarmon)
