Many law schools will finish classes before Thanksgiving Break and begin exams immediately afterward. Some law schools will have a week of classes after the holiday and then go into the exam period. In either case, law students often wonder how they should combine relaxing and studying.
Some thoughts regardless of which version of the academic calendar you are on:
- Most law students have to study during at least part of their Thanksgiving Break because of the difficulty of their exams and large amount of material to be studied. Gone are the undergraduate days of playing the entire time.
- You will get more done if you have a plan for studying laid out before you leave for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sit down with a calendar and map out for each day what you hope to accomplish.
- Unless your study situation borders on desperate, you want to take Thanksgiving Day off so that you enjoy your family and friends and feel that you have had a holiday. If you are concerned about taking the whole day off, then get up early before everyone else and put in a couple of hours or study in the evening after everyone has collapsed on the couch in front of the TV.
- Each non-class day has three parts: morning (8:00 a.m. – noon); afternoon (1:00 – 5:00 p.m.); evening (6:00 – 10:00 p.m.). Most students will probably need to get 6 – 8 hours of study in each day. If you take several days off, you may want to study more hours on your scheduled study days. Choose the parts of the day when you are the most alert and productive for your study time.
- Consider whether you can get some study tasks completed while traveling. There are several legal CD series that could be listened to while driving or flying. Flashcards and review of outlines could occupy those long airport layovers. If traveling with another law student, discussions of the material or practice questions might be good tasks.
- Determine the best place for you to study. It may be at home, or you may need to go to a local library or other location to get blocks of uninterrupted time.
- If your family situation means that you will not be able to study at home, consider leaving school a day later or coming back a day or two earlier to get additional study time.
Some thoughts specifically for students who have a week of classes after the holiday:
- You may want to complete all of your class preparation for the last week of classes while you are on your break. Then just review your briefs/problem sets for 1/2 hour before class to refresh. By finishing class preparation ahead, you open up more blocks of time during that last class week for exam preparation.
- To lighten your luggage for a flight, photocopy the pages you have to read for the last week of classes rather than lug all of your books. If you have e-books, you are set already.
- If you have assignment deadlines during your last week of classes, try to complete those assignments over the break so that you are not rushing during the final days to work on them. If you need to finish any tasks after the break on those assignments, try to have them be editing tasks rather than major writing.
Whatever your plans may be for the upcoming holiday break, have safe travels. (Amy Jarmon)
