Law Schools, Law Students

More Advice For 1Ls: 7 Tips For Scheduling

Advice for 1Ls can be really overwhelming, but all you really need is a schedule. Here are 7 tips to help you out.

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By now, you’ve probably read 300 books about how to succeed in law school, along with all the stuff posted on the Internet. Sometimes the advice conflicts, frequently they are full of stories of “what I did to succeed.”  I’ve often thought about publishing a guide to law school that said, “Bringing a statue of a goat really helped,” and then noticing how many pictures of goats appeared in the study halls. Then I thought: I’m pretty sure that’s already been done.

There are, however, some commonalities about the advice being given out there. Avoid distractions. Study. Prepare. Study groups (mixed opinions about this online). Exercise. Sleep. Outline.

In other words, do everything.   The advice can be overwhelming, but not mutually exclusive. What you need is a schedule.

Some of your schedule is already set for you by your school.   Those moments between classes are not going to be good times for studying. You’re going to be tired from the prior class. You’re going to want to make sure your notes are complete. You’re going to want to make sure you have a moment to recharge your brain.

Here are 7 key tips to making your own schedule:

  1. Friday and Saturday nights are off limits to studying. You need down time. Go to a movie. Go see a play or a good concert. Go out to dinner with people who are “nons” (people who are not lawyers, law students, judges, etc.).   Watch bad TV. Hang out with significant others and family. This is your time to recharge your energy, having had it drained all week long.
  1. Schedule the first two hours after you wake up as crunch time. The first two hours after you wake up in the morning is your most productive time. Get up, get coffee (if you drink it), have a good breakfast, and then do whatever requires the most energy from you, such as reading cases or doing your legal writing assignment. It’s called the ultradian rhythm (no, it just just sounds like it has to do with Star Trek). If you rest, grab a power nap, and you’ll get another productive cycle right after that.

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  1. As you work throughout the day, schedule breaks. Our brains are hard-wired to only be productive for about 90 minutes at a time. If you just got out of class, you’re going to need a breather before turning toward the next class. Take that time to answer texts from friends, or perhaps to check out the musings of @lawprofblawg on Twitter. Actually, just go ahead and do that first.
  1. Schedule exercise. The best way to eliminate stress and maintain perspective is to schedule exercise. If you don’t schedule it, you’ll hear the casebooks call to you harder than the Ring called to Frodo. You’ll need the exercise, and it has to be scheduled. I’d recommend sometime after your last class of the day.
  1. Schedule sleep. You need a regular and decent amount of sleep. This isn’t because you are lazy. It is because when you sleep is when your brain actually processes what you’ve learned. The fragments converge. It is an integral part of studying, and if you aren’t sleeping, you aren’t studying well.
  1. Schedule your meals. While it is fun to go out at lunch and eat a burrito, you’re setting yourself up to pass out during your afternoon class. If you haven’t eaten a decent breakfast, you’re going to be dying and more focused on your hunger than the morning classes. Thus, it is important to plan your meals. For lunch, focus on lighter foods, such as a salad with chicken, or a sandwich with whole grain bread. Your law school will likely give you an hour or so for lunch. Don’t eat over a book. You’ll be lagging on the reading, and you’ll give yourself indigestion.
  1. Avoid deviating from your schedule. If you keep changing and altering your schedule, it isn’t a schedule. Sure, you need to make sure your schedule works for you, but that doesn’t mean changing it on a whim. That’s the Ring calling you again, Frodo.

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The result? Hopefully you’ll feel less overwhelmed, you’ll feel more in control, and you’ll have time to recharge your energy, as opposed to just burning it.

LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter (@lawprofblawg). Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.

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