One Month In…

Now that you’ve made it through the first month of law school, it’s a great time to get a good routine going or make sure that your current routine is working for you.

I heard a lot of conflicting advice my first few weeks of school, because everyone studies differently. Always remember, do what is best for you. Here are a few options for how to stay on top of your work this semester:

(1) The Weekend Warrior

Try to do your readings on the weekend. Spend the week going to classes and organizing your notes. Use Friday or a day you have less class to put the notes into “summary documents” and spend your weekend doing readings.

Some weeks this will be harder to do than others, but getting the bulk out of the way allows for more time during the week to study, refresh and even do some extracurricular activities. With this technique, try to spend a few minutes before class re-reading your notes to refresh.

(2): Learn As You Go

Another option is to do the readings as you go through the week, so the material is fresh for each class. This is harder if you have really early class but even the day before would have the same impact! This is great if you are really organized and stick well to deadlines.

(3): Read in 30-minute Increments

I tried this method myself a few times and found with my steadily decreasing ability to maintain focus on anything (thanks TikTok), if I put everything away for 30 minutes and focus, I got more done than pretending I was working for the 2 hours I had scheduled.

There are many websites and timers that can help you with this study method.

Now is the perfect time, no matter what year you are in, to re-evaluate your study techniques and see what works best for you. Most important is to schedule your time accordingly and balance your class schedule, readings, family and friends and anything else you like to do

Don’t forget to get a good night’s sleep, change up your environment if needed, do some light exercise, and eat well! Setting yourself up for success in advance will help make the rest of the semester better.

HOT TIP: if you made it this far, the best advice I can pass on is that there will always be more readings and work to do. When you finish one task, taking a break can make you more productive for the next.