Survive in Law School
Edited by Emmanuel M. Lardizabal, Eng, Robbi, JMA and 1 other
Study of Bachelor of Laws is one of the hardest courses offered. This is true no matter which country you attend law school in. Studying law is hard since it is time consuming. Several papers and tasks need to be done for every subject thus you need to obligate yourself to do such works in order to survive. Moreover, it is very expensive. Even if studying law is very expensive, there are always plenty of people enrolling, throughout the year. Some of these students are obligated to enroll on the course because of family pressures and some of the students enrol because they want to have a good profession. Some also want to study law only because they want to have title in their name.
They say that studying law is like a race where plenty numbers of people enrolled on the course and as days passed by, only small numbers of students pursue and finished the degree. Some of the students take different profession while others choose a different career. Those who survived the degree are those who were determined to become a lawyer. There are plenty of sacrifices you need to do in order to attain your goal. After you have attained your goal then it would probably the start of your new and better life. Lastly, after surviving in the School of Law, it is not still final since you are not yet a lawyer. You need to pass the bar examination in order to have the title. A lawyers are those persons who are practicing law. They are commonly known as counsels, attorney, barrister, advocate and the like. Lawyers in the broad sense are person who practice law and is vested with their right to represent their clients and to do all the means in order to win the case of their clients. They help their clients in attaining justice.
How to survive in the School of Law
- 1You need to read the law books required for the specific subject. While reading it is advisable for you to highlight the important matters and write them in your notebook. You need to read books since most of the information needed in studying law are provided therein. Book is also a source of knowledge which provides important ideas. If you don't have the book then you can barrow from the library just to read it. Make a way in order to have one. This is part of your sacrifice in order to survive in the School of Law.As a student of Bachelor of Laws, you need to read the books.
- 2The law student should be ready for the next topics to be able to cope up and understand the professor discussion. The tendency when the student did not read his lesson is that he cannot relate with the professors discussion. You need also to prepare for future quizzes, seatwork or recitations in order to survive in the School of Law. In line with the future quizzes, seatwork or recitations, advanced reading of the topics are needed.Every law student should have an advance reading with the topics.
- 3The student needs to read the cases and know how the law was applied. In cases, there are different jurisprudence and this jurisprudence are helpful in the studies. Jurisprudence shows how the court resolved specific issue or issues over the case using the specific law. There are cases where there is no law applicable to such case so as to resolve the case. The judiciary has the ability to decide on the case by their own over the subject matter. They are presumed to have been resolving the case in accordance with justice.You should read cases assigned.
- 4In attending your class regularly, you will encounter and learn different new ideas and lessons from your professor. Every single day is important when you are studying law since every meeting there is different topic being discussed by the professor. Don't absent yourself in nonsense things since you are just wasting your time. You should only absent yourself when it is necessary or for urgent need.You need to attend your class regularly.
- 5Write the important lessons your professor was discussing since you can make use of them for future purposes. You can also use the notes when reviewing the subject matter. Make use of legends when what you have taken down was very important. You can make use of asterisk or stars when making a legend. The legend will indicate how important that note was. When you are taking down notes, it should be clean so that you can review them easily. If it is steps then you can make use of numbers. You may also make use of diagrams to easily understand what you have written.You have to take down notes.
- 6You also need to be attentive to understand what he is teaching. You need to understand the explanation of the professor since it is very important that you understand the lesson. If you did not understand some, ask for clarification. This will benefit you. Be active in class as to impress your professor.During the discussion, you need to focus in the discussion of your professor.
- 7You must focus in studying and avoid bad influence friends. You should know your priorities in life. Have time to make some fun but not always. You need to study well. Instead of hanging out with friends, it is better to read books and cases. In that case, you are not wasting your time.You should avoid peer pressure.
Things to do during exams
- 1Manage your time. You need to have allotted time for your review so that you will have something to write in your test paper. Review your notes with the books and the cases. You should memorize the law or if you can't memorize the law then at least you should understand the law. You need to read the cases to know the jurisprudence. Mostly, exams given by the professors are taken from the cases since the cases shows how the law was being applied.You should review your lessons.
- 2You need to follow instructions to train yourself for the bar exams. You need to comply with the rules and regulations. Some of the professors fail students who do not know how to follow instructions.During exam, you need to strictly follow instructions.
- 3If you continue to think with other matters or problems, it will affect you from studying. In this case, you can't concentrate in reviewing your lessons. Act professionally, you need to disregard other problems from school in order to survive in the School of Law. If you are also stressed, you cannot think properly because you are affected by something.Do not stress yourself with other matters.
- 4The best time to review is morning when your brain was relaxed. The tendency if you review your lessons when it is late at night and you are tired is that nothing will be absorbed by your mind. You just wasted your time using it for review.Rest your mind for at least 15 minutes when you are tired reviewing.
Do's and Don'ts during exam
- 1If they provided guidelines for the examination, you should strictly comply with it.Use only the specified pen in taking the exams.
Being in law school is not easy
You have to give up some of the things that you regularly enjoy doing like visits to the club or your daily afternoon one hour chat-over-coffee date with a friend. In law school, you need to be sharp. The environment teaches you to cope with challenges and to overcome them. Not many students survive their law school years especially the freshmen days. If you got used to the carefree life in high school and you just seem to be enjoying in the playgrounds, entering in a law school becomes a jungle where only the fittest survive. If you really want to survive and walk your way to the graduation stage, here are some of the tips on how you can make it in law school.
- 1You should constantly remind yourself about this. When you enter the law school, you will literally turn into a beginner. You get to hear words you haven't heard before and not a bit of an idea where they came from. While reading can help you, it still pays that you listen to your professor for more elaborate explanations.You are not that smart at all.
- 2Reading can be the best tool to suffice the things that you learn during lectures. There may be some information that your professor missed discussing, law books would be there to give you a little overview. But don't just rely on your own understanding; as your professor next time and see how the info from the book and his explanation jive.Read, read and read.
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- 4The top students are always on the front sit. Being seated in front spares you from any distractions like talkative seatmate. When you are in front of the class, you do not have any choice but to pay attention to everything your professor says. The more attention you give for the class, the more you learn so you don't get the butterflies on your stomach when cold calling comes.Choose the front sit.
- 5When you have a lot of questions going on in your mind but not much time left during the class, you may want to drop by your professor's office and ask him for some tips or maybe anything that could help you get through law school. But you have to make sure that you pay them a visit during office hours.Pay your professor a visit.
- 6Law school is not just all about book, books and books. You also need some time to play. Make friends and hang out when you have time. It would be good to have a friend in law school so there would be someone you can have a chat with or whine to about the professor who loves to give you cold calls or a student in class who annoys you for being such a blabbermouth. If there is no one interesting in your class, look on study groups. You will find several interesting people there.Chill out.
Follow these theses tips and you'll soon enjoy the jungle!
If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.