Law School Outshining Guidance
Before starting with, let me make some assumptions.
You are a law student.
You want to Outshine.
You really want to outshine.
But you don’t know how to do?
What to do?
Where to start and when to start?
First of all believe in yourself that you can do it and only you can do it, nobody is born smart. Start dreaming and imagining but doesn’t just stick to it start planning as well but now the problem arises that how to plan don’t be panic! You are born in a Google era and if you find problem even in that to then start with this guide. You will find people demotivating you but you don’t have to focus on that you just have to clear your goal that you have to outshine in your life and stat the process with outshining in Law school. Paulo Coelho in his Novel Alchemist Written if you will wish for something with complete desire and with your heart the whole universe gets into the preparation to assure that you get it.
To get something you need to have desire.
Let’s start learning how to out shine in Law School.
If you want to out shine in law school, you generally have to go through a very lengthy as well
as tough and dilemmatic process.
We have to go through a process which if we go through without planning is really obstructive but if we plan it make your way smooth and saves your time makes you Stress free.
THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT STEP IS YOUR EXAM.
One of the most important is you must outshine at taking law school exams. Excelling at law school exams requires specific study and preparation techniques. To succeed using these techniques, begin to apply them before you enter law school and continue to apply them throughout each law school semester. Never wait to begin your exam preparation. In fact, the first day of class you should begin preparing for your exams. Law school is exam-driven. So the more you prepare every day for exams, the better you’ll perform in law school.
EXAM PREPARATION
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How-To Books. First learn HOW to take a law school exam. Before you begin law school read one or more of the excellent books on exam preparation. The majority of law school exams are in-class exams. Some exams are take-home. Most of these how-to tips focus on in-class exams, which are closed-book and more difficult, but many of the tips apply to both kinds of exams. These books will teach you how to read the exam questions, how to spot the exam issues, and how to provide the proper exam answers. I recommend the following book.
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Exam Archives. Every law school keeps an archive of sample law school exams. These are exams that were completed by students in recent semesters. Professors select examples of excellent exams and place them in the archive so current students can see what an excellent exam looks like. This is an INCREDIBLE way to prep for exams. Find the class and/or professor you’re taking, and print out his sample exams. Study them. Memorize them. See how the questions are written, see how the answers are formatted, see the content of the answers, see how the student related each part of an answer to info in the question, see the specifics of how your professor likes an answer completed. You can also print out sample exams from other professors and/or other law schools. The standards for law school exam excellence are universal and the more samples you read the better. Most law school exams last 3 hours, usually contain 4 Short 6 Long and some objectives questions and usually each question is a hypothetical, i.e., you are given a hypo and must apply the law to those specific facts. Exam answers must be very methodical and comprehensive. Every hypo factual detail is given to you for a reason, i.e., to provide you with an opportunity to apply the law. It’s up to you to seize that opportunity and show the professor that you see every legal issue and option.
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Take Practice Exams. For every law school course, e.g., Contracts, as the semester nears an end and study period begins, give yourself practice exams. When I was at the University of Michigan Law School, at the beginning of each semester I would print out at least 5 sample exams from the exam archive and put aside 1 or 2 of those samples and NOT read those samples. Then, at the end of the semester, I would use those samples for practice exams. In the final week of each semester and during the study days before exams began, I would take practice exams for each class. I would give myself the same amount of time as a real exam, e.g., 3 hours depending on the class, and I’d take the test. Then I compared my answers to the sample. Dry runs are incredibly helpful. You’ll see how you perform under fire. Are you providing the substantive content that’s necessary? Are you spotting the key legal issues and facts? Are you pacing yourself properly, e.g., using 1 hour for question one, 1 hour for question two, etc., saving 30 minutes at the end to review, etc. Also note: As you write each answer, it’s wise to leave space on the last page of the answer or to double-space your answers. That way, you can add material when you review your answer before handing-in the exam. Trust me, you’ll always think of something you forgot. Professors are NOT happy when you insert text with arrows leading everywhere. If you leave some extra space AS YOU WRITE, then you can always make it easy for the professor to read your answer, even if you’ve inserted last-minute content.
Once I began prepping for exams using these 3 methods, I began to get A’s. These tips are the best method I know to excel in law school exams.
OTHER STUDY TIPS
Class Notes and Outline Preparation: Some students spend time during the semester preparing lengthy outlines for each course they’re taking. I rarely found this to be helpful and it takes an enormous amount of time. In-class law school exams are usually closed-book (no books, no notes, just a pen and your brain – and bring extra pens — and learn some hand relaxation exercises for when your hand cramps after 2 or 3 hours of continuous writing), so obviously you’ll need to memorize a lot of info. As I said, some students use outlines for this memorization process. I found that traditional outlines never captured all of the material and so I studied directly from the casebook and my class notes. BUT THIS IS WHAT I DID – in class, I wrote notes on my laptop in outline format. So, for example, my Contracts notes would basically be an outline. But, most importantly, my notes would contain the professor’s perspective and emphasized points (which is what the professor will want to see in your exam answers). After each class I would review my class notes and insert any additional material that seemed relevant for study purposes. For example, the professor might have discussed a specific case and my notes were too rushed for me to include details of the case. So I’d go back and insert the details. Eventually I’d print my class notes in hard copy and use Post-Its to tag pages, labeling each topical (sub) section and key point. Then I’d use these course notes – in conjunction with the casebook and archived exams — to prep for the exam.
Using Your Casebooks: For each course the assigned readings are likely to be from a thick heavy casebook consisting of thousands of pages. For each course your professor will expect you to read hundreds of casebook pages per night. A casebook contains case law, i.e., judicial opinions. The casebook will also contain commentary about the cases, and supporting materials, for example, excerpts from cited statutes. In class, the professor will ask students to state details about the reading, focusing on the details of each specific case assigned. How do you remember all of that info for the next day’s class and for the exam? First, separate the wheat from the chaff. Learn to separate the info that you need to know from the extraneous info. One way to identify the “need to know” info is to color-code your reading. Each night, as you read the material for tomorrow’s classes, identify certain info about each assigned case as “need to know”: (1) the court, e.g., the United States Supreme Court, (2) the procedural posture of the case, e.g., an appeal of a motion to dismiss, (3) the holding, e.g., dismissal affirmed, (4) the legal issue(s), e.g., does the First Amendment protect flag burning, (5) the facts, e.g., John Doe went to rally and set fire to a flag, (6) the legal reasoning, e.g., flag burning is protected under the First Amendment.
Read Suggested book
Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams, 1999. KF283.F57 1999 Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win, 2007. KF283.C35 2007
Law School Success in a Nutshell: A Guide to Studying Law and Taking Law School Exams, 2008. KF283.B87 2008
THE SECOND STEP IS PARTICIPATION IN EXTRA CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES
Now with exam a law student also need to participate in the extra curriculum activities now again the same point emerges which is planning. Again with preparation of your exams you need to plan for the extra curriculum activities at the beginning of the semester and if possible planning should be done for the five year at the time of entering the Law school. With Extra Curriculum activities the guide does not mean that you have to plan for the events and activities in your school though it may include the events of your law school but the events which a law student should plan are Moot Court Competitions , Internships, Seminars, Conferences, Workshops, research papers additional courses, Legal Aid events etc. As soon as you start with your school or the moment you decide to do, start planning events exam alongside events. But keep in mind that you need not to overburden yourself with lot of events and exam pressure on your head YOU NEED TO DO QUALITATIVE NOT QUANTITATIVE.
THE THIRD STEP IS TO JOIN COMMITTEE IN YOUR LAW SCHOOL
Every law school usually has 10 to 12 committees for the advancement of the law student and for the growth of the law School especially Moot Court Committee .You need not to join multiple committees as you have not joined the law school to work, you just need to make it a medium to enhance your CV and outshine despite of which plan to participate in the events and also enjoy. Do not forget to enjoy in the law schools because the fun you will miss and the time never returns.
THE FOURTH STEP IS TO MAKE YOUR OWN WEBSITE AND BLOG AND USE OF SNS FOR THE PURPOSE TO OUTSHINE AS A LAW STUDENT.
You as a law student need to have a lot of contact and to present yourself very influential for which you need to be active on social networking sites and also have to build your own website using Weebly, WordPress or GoDaddy. And also start writing blogs through your site and also of you want even separately.
THE FIFTH STEP IS THAT YOU NEED TO BE UPDATED WITH THE CURRENT ACTIVITIES IN THE SOCIETY AND ALSO THE KNOWLEDGE OF EPICS AND BASIC LAWS.
A law student need to be updated with the current activities which are going on in the society as anytime you can be questioned by the folks in the law school. Folks can comprise of professors, students etc. You should also be well aware of the religious epics.
TAKE AN INNOVATIVE INITIATIVE
One of the best way to outshine in the Law School is to do something different form the other law student in the school as it is common that all students do moot courts, some son and some loose but they do, everybody do internships, seminars, Conferences everyone write research papers, articles and attend workshops etc but rarely people try to do anything different from other because they do not plan and due to being busy in lot of stuff they work like herd of sheep but who do are the out shiners.
You can do various things such as doing a startup, write columns in the Newspapers, magazines and journals etc.
Do something on the academic front differently. As Shiv Khera wrote in his book that “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently”. You can even take the help of your power RTI.
Win Moot Court Competitions
The moot court winners are the rock stars of the law schools. Moot court is an activity which is the most important activity as it gives us the experience not completely but at least it gives an indirect experience of courts.
This helps the law student to learn to attend the court hearing before completing the law school. This makes the student famous among all.