[Please see my original post here.]
My subjective sense of what law school feels like, on the morning of the fourth day:
I'm being shoved from the rear and I can't pause for the stampede behind me. All that's left for me to do is raise my elbows and muscle my way to the edge of the crowd. The work--reading, case briefing, studying, thinking, preparing for cold-calls in class--is pressuring me from the back and if I stop for even a moment it threatens to overtake and pass me. In law school, I know, one cannot afford to fall behind.
So: my schedule from Wednesday, the third day of class, is below. Know that my contracts prof. is my scariest professor and the one for whom I most want to be prepared.
That's right; I worked straight through from 3:20 am to 10:40 pm and I still didn't get enough done. Also I don't feel prepared for Contracts and plan to do more prep work before class on Friday. I'm beginning to thrash and lose my bearings. Please remember that I'm writing this on the morning of my fourth day of school.
I prefer not to be trampled.
*sweat sheet: I take notes in class on the front side of the paper. After class the back side of each page is empty. This is where I create my sweat sheet. I go over the notes from class and pull out the salient points along with any terms I need to look up later. From the book "1000 Days to the Bar--But the Practice of Law Begins Now," by Dennis J. Tonsing: "These are the pages over which students toil and sweat. accordingly, the learning experts at Landmark College (Putney, Vermont) have aptly nicknamed these 'sweat pages.'"
My subjective sense of what law school feels like, on the morning of the fourth day:
I'm being shoved from the rear and I can't pause for the stampede behind me. All that's left for me to do is raise my elbows and muscle my way to the edge of the crowd. The work--reading, case briefing, studying, thinking, preparing for cold-calls in class--is pressuring me from the back and if I stop for even a moment it threatens to overtake and pass me. In law school, I know, one cannot afford to fall behind.
So: my schedule from Wednesday, the third day of class, is below. Know that my contracts prof. is my scariest professor and the one for whom I most want to be prepared.
- 3:18 am: Wide awake and nearly panicking about all the work I have to do before class
- 3:20-6 am: Contracts prep
- Shower
- 6:20-8:20: Contracts prep
- 8:21: sew hem in pants
- 8:30: print contracts brief
- 8:35: leave for school
- 9:15: review Crim. Law readings and brief
- 10:00-10:50: Criminal Law
- 10:50-11:00 Go over Criminal Law notes and create a sweat sheet*
- 12:00-12:50: Contracts
- 12:51-1:00: Begin Contracts sweat sheet
- 1:-1:50: Torts
- 1:50-2:20: finish Contracts sweat sheet
- 2:20-3:45: Crim. Law reading and case brief
- 3:45-5:20: Property reading and 3 case briefs
- 5:20: print out case briefs
- 5:40: head for home
- 5:40-6:20: (on train) read ch. 30, Civil Procedure
- 6:20-6:45: eat dinner while continuing to read Civ. Pro. assignment
- 6:45-7:20: continue with Civ. Pro. reading
- 7:20-9:45: Contracts case brief
- 9:45-10:15: go over Contracts sweat sheet and define any terms that are confusing (Black's Legal Dictionary)
- 10:15-10:40: read ch. 5 for Legal Practice Skills
- 10:40 fall asleep with lights on and book open to chapter 5, page 3.
That's right; I worked straight through from 3:20 am to 10:40 pm and I still didn't get enough done. Also I don't feel prepared for Contracts and plan to do more prep work before class on Friday. I'm beginning to thrash and lose my bearings. Please remember that I'm writing this on the morning of my fourth day of school.
I prefer not to be trampled.
*sweat sheet: I take notes in class on the front side of the paper. After class the back side of each page is empty. This is where I create my sweat sheet. I go over the notes from class and pull out the salient points along with any terms I need to look up later. From the book "1000 Days to the Bar--But the Practice of Law Begins Now," by Dennis J. Tonsing: "These are the pages over which students toil and sweat. accordingly, the learning experts at Landmark College (Putney, Vermont) have aptly nicknamed these 'sweat pages.'"
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