THE OFFICE OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS PROGRAMS
WEEKLY STUDY TIPS FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 1ST
Dr. Amy L. Jarmon, Assistant Dean for Academic Success Programs
Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines! Many of you are juggling multiple midterms, papers or
trial briefs, and/or projects right now. Here are some tips to stay on top of everything
while staying calm.
 Do the best that you can do each day. Manage your time throughout the day to
get as much work done as possible. Do not stew over what you should have
done yesterday. Do not focus on how much needs to get done in the next ten
days. Focus only on today.
 Find your internal motivation. During the daily tasks of law school, it is easy to
lose your motivation for being here. Remind yourself why you came to law
school in the first place. If you have discovered additional reasons since you
came (examples: a legal specialty or service opportunity), remind yourself of
those incentives. Keeping your long-range goals in mind, will make the daily
grind easier.
 Prioritize your tasks. Decide what tasks are most important for each course.
Decide what order you need to complete those tasks given the deadlines you are
working on for each course. Do the most important tasks first. Leave
unnecessary tasks until after your deadlines (examples: spring cleaning,
shopping for shoes, washing the car).
 Be efficient with your time. Do not waste time on unproductive tasks. Here are
some examples. Handwriting new information or insights onto your printed
outline is faster than retyping and printing corrected pages. Using headings and
sub-headings, bullet points and numbered lists with complete thoughts in an
outline is faster than complete sentences and elaborate outlining indentations.
Reading one carefully chosen study aid to understand the law is more efficient
than reading multiple study aids that are repetitious.
 Be effective in your study choices. Ask yourself whether you are getting the
results that you need from every task you undertake. Here are some examples.
Making visual graphic organizers is very effective for some learning styles; if the
visuals do not help you organize and retain information, then the method is
ineffective for you. Making flashcards is very effective for some learning styles; if
you do not learn by flashcard drills, then the method is ineffective for you.
 Chinese proverb: You can eat an elephant one bite at a time. If you focus on
“my midterm in property or family law” or “my AWR paper,” you will psych
yourself out. Break every task down into smaller tasks. Focus on learning one
sub-topic at a time or completing one small paper task at a time. Before you
know it, you will know the entire course for the exam or will have completed the
paper without the added stress.
 Boost your study time each day. It is fine to take short breaks to give your brain
time to relax and process what you have been learning. However, turning a 10minute break into an hour-long gab fest in the student lounge is not helping you
get your work done. Use convenience meals or cook large food portions on the
weekend to cut down cooking time. You may need to cut your work-out schedule
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from 2-hours every day to fewer days and/or shorter hours per day. If you are an
upper-division law student who is employed part-time, consider asking your
employer for shorter hours for a week or two. If you save just ½ hour each day
for a week, you have recaptured 3 ½ hours.
Continue preparing for class. The short-term gain of not reading will become a
long-term pain. You will not understand the material as well; you will be less
discerning in class for note-taking; and you will be back-logged on outlines and
review. Use your weekends to advantage for getting ahead a bit in your reading
so that you are still prepared.
Get help if you need it. If you are confused about your course material for a
midterm exam, talk to your professor. If you are worried about your organization
for a writing assignment, talk to your professor. If you are a 1L, the Tutors and
Teaching Fellows are also there to help you. Struggling by yourself to alleviate
the confusion only increases your stress level.
Realize when your stress is due to the fact that you have not been consistently
working throughout the semester. It is much more stressful to delay outlining and
reviewing until a couple of weeks before an exam. After these immediate
deadlines, start to outline and review weekly for every course so that you will not
have the same overwhelming amount to learn and the same high stress before
the final exams.
Use wise stress management. Sleep at least seven hours per night – you will be
more alert, more productive, and better able to retain information. Eat three
nutritious meals a day – your body needs fuel. Get ½ hour of exercise three
times a week – you do not need to do 2-hour workouts for a boost. Avoid mega
caffeine and sugar hits in your diet – the later crash and possible health effects
are not worth it. Practice relaxation exercises (pick up an Office of Academic
Success Programs handout). Read inspirational quotes or scriptures. Avoid
pessimistic and grouchy colleagues. Phone friends and family who love you.
Laugh out loud. Laughter is good medicine. It improves your outlook and
nurtures your soul.