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Exams start in 10 days and I'm still finishing my outlines. Some of my classmates have already taken upwards of 4-5 practice exams and it's stressing me the hell out. I feel so behind. I don't think an exam will be good practice without having a good outline, but is it better to focus on them anyways at this stage? And is it normal to have not started practice exams yet?

Also thank you for this thread, it is much, much appreciated

FinalDecision1 wrote:Exams start in 10 days and I'm still finishing my outlines. Some of my classmates have already taken upwards of 4-5 practice exams and it's stressing me the hell out. I feel so behind. I don't think an exam will be good practice without having a good outline, but is it better to focus on them anyways at this stage? And is it normal to have not started practice exams yet?

Also thank you for this thread, it is much, much appreciated

What's the benefit of taking practice exams? It's not like you're writing the LSAT where a lot of it depended on speed / stamina.

TSL, when I flunk out of law school, can I crash on your couch?

mootness wrote:

FinalDecision1 wrote:Exams start in 10 days and I'm still finishing my outlines. Some of my classmates have already taken upwards of 4-5 practice exams and it's stressing me the hell out. I feel so behind. I don't think an exam will be good practice without having a good outline, but is it better to focus on them anyways at this stage? And is it normal to have not started practice exams yet?

Also thank you for this thread, it is much, much appreciated

What's the benefit of taking practice exams? It's not like you're writing the LSAT where a lot of it depended on speed / stamina.

...A lot of LS exams ARE dependent on speed/stamina. You want to write as much as you can in the 3-4 hour window you're given.

Also, I find that wrestling with the material by taking a practice exam helps me learn the material better than simply reading my outline over and over.

acr wrote:

mootness wrote:

FinalDecision1 wrote:Exams start in 10 days and I'm still finishing my outlines. Some of my classmates have already taken upwards of 4-5 practice exams and it's stressing me the hell out. I feel so behind. I don't think an exam will be good practice without having a good outline, but is it better to focus on them anyways at this stage? And is it normal to have not started practice exams yet?

Also thank you for this thread, it is much, much appreciated

What's the benefit of taking practice exams? It's not like you're writing the LSAT where a lot of it depended on speed / stamina.

...A lot of LS exams ARE dependent on speed/stamina. You want to write as much as you can in the 3-4 hour window you're given.

Also, I find that wrestling with the material by taking a practice exam helps me learn the material better than simply reading my outline over and over.

Absolutely both of these things. Doing practice exams was the best way for me to find out what I knew/understood and what I didn't, and you don't want the first time you spot an issue and apply a given rule to facts to be on the exam.

Sorry... didn't notice what thread I was in.

Breathe deep and trust in your prep work.

How is a ls exam different from an undergrad or high school exam? Time constraints and need for mental stamina were both necessary for those.

Take your strategy talk elsewhere, you monsters. This is a place of healing, calmness, and tranquility.










Praise be to TheSeaLocust.

lol

I think I might be fucked for Con Law... This practice test just kicked my ass

Yeezus wrote:I think I might be fucked for Con Law... This practice test just kicked my ass

join the club, yeah me too

thisiswater wrote:

Yeezus wrote:I think I might be fucked for Con Law... This practice test just kicked my ass

join the club, yeah me too

Totally normal. You'll probably get screwed by 2-3 practice tests before it clicks. Keep at it!

Trippel wrote:

thisiswater wrote:

Yeezus wrote:I think I might be fucked for Con Law... This practice test just kicked my ass

join the club, yeah me too

Totally normal. You'll probably get screwed by 2-3 practice tests before it clicks. Keep at it!

it's my second year and i still don't get where ppl get all these practice tests. i feel like this might just be something my school doesnt do

thisiswater wrote:it's my second year and i still don't get where ppl get all these practice tests. i feel like this might just be something my school doesnt do

You can always ask the professor if you ever feel the urge to take one.

thisiswater wrote: it's my second year and i still don't get where ppl get all these practice tests. i feel like this might just be something my school doesnt do

The library has some hard copies on reserve. I don't know about for your Con Law though (I had the other prof).

mootness wrote:How is a ls exam different from an undergrad or high school exam? Time constraints and need for mental stamina were both necessary for those.

I never once had a 3-hour high school exam. Also, I never once had a high school exam where I didn't have enough time to get all the work done. My undergrad exams(Computer Engineering) were on par with, if not harder than, law school exams, so I can't really comment on that. If you've never taken a time-pressure exam where you know you won't get finished, you should really take some practice tests.

To the 1Ls ITT, take some time to focus on yourselves and your mental health. This thread (and everything it stands for) is a good thing. You'll do better if you're relaxed and confident going into an exam. You'll do worse if you're stressed and sleep-deprived.

I'll tell a story about my fall 1L finals. We had an ice storm come through Dallas during the middle of finals that year. I had just taken my second of three finals (i'm a part-time student), and I was prepping for Contracts when the storm started to blow in. My wife and I had just bought a house in November, and we hadn't yet moved from our apartment to the house because we were doing some remodel work before we put furniture in there. We were trying to figure out the best plan for hunkering down, because we were expecting 1" or more of ice, and that means that Dallas was going to grind to a halt, and we were likely to not have power for days at a time. We decided to pack up some essentials and our pets and go to the house, since it had a wood burning fireplace that we could use to stay warm in case of a power outage. I think this was on Wednesday, and I had a Contracts final on Friday.

Anyway, the storm blew through and was as bad as forecasted; we woke up on Thursday morning to over an inch of ice, some snow, and downed tree limbs that were up to 8 inches in diameter. I hazarded the ice-slicked roads (as a midwesterner, the Texan drivers were a bigger hazard to me than the ice) to go to the local hardware store and get a chainsaw, the last in stock. Anyway, the roads were so bad that I knew I wasn't going to be able to drive back to the hardware store, let alone down to campus for the Contracts final on Friday. Thankfully, the final got pushed off to the next week, but I spent the entire weekend and some of the next week chopping the tree limbs into firewood with my new shiny chainsaw.

I ended up studying maybe 8 hours for my Contracts exam, and it was my best grade that semester. Some of that was luck, some was the fact that I paid more attention in Contracts class, but much of it was because I didn't spend 5 days stressing about a Contracts final. I was out getting some exercise and letting out some pent up frustration on the downed tree limbs in my front yard. The moral of the story is that you should do your studying, work hard to know your stuff, and certainly work on practice exams, but also take some time to refresh yourself, especially for your later exams. Sometimes a fresh mind is better than spending those couple hours studying even more.

BVest wrote:

thisiswater wrote: it's my second year and i still don't get where ppl get all these practice tests. i feel like this might just be something my school doesnt do

The library has some hard copies on reserve. I don't know about for your Con Law though (I had the other prof).

yeah, i know. I think one of my professors so far across all classes has had one on file so when people talk about doing 3 or 4 practice exams that just isn't reality at this school. i'm feeling calmer about con at this point though, the short-sheeting process is making me feel like i understand some of this

BTW how was the other prof? he's an option for con law II for me, and right now I chose something else but still considering

I feel completely empty inside, like my ability to feel anything is broken.
Time to work on my torts outline for my final in 5 days.

First exam down... Both worse and better than I thought it would be, kinda hard to explain. Absolutely no clue how I did.

Went to 95% of my classes, did 99% of the reading, did a 50 page + outline for all my classes, and I feel like there is not anything I do not truly understand. First Torts final in this Saturday and however I feel like I'm going to absolutely blow it. Between the time limit, word limit, and having to hit that right balance of # of issues vs. how in depth I talk about each issue, ...I feel like I'm destined for below the median.

Calbears123 wrote:Went to 95% of my classes, did 99% of the reading, did a 50 page + outline for all my classes, and I feel like there is not anything I do not truly understand. First Torts final in this Saturday and however I feel like I'm going to absolutely blow it. Between the time limit, word limit, and having to hit that right balance of # of issues vs. how in depth I talk about each issue, ...I feel like I'm destined for below the median.

strive for excellence, not perfection. professors understand the time constraints of exams and take that into consideration. just relax and write a solid analysis

Wahrheit wrote:I've felt like I understood CivPro in class all quarter, but reviewing for the final, it just feels like so much information and I don't know what I need to cover / whether I understand anything enough. The crippling self-doubt is setting in.

civ pro is the easiest 1L class. you're probably boned if youre this lost this close to the exam. just go get an upper classman's outline and hope that you get a lucky bounce