THE OFFICE OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS PROGRAMS
WEEKLY STUDY TIPS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 15TH
Dr. Amy L. Jarmon, Assistant Dean for Academic Success Programs
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do? Do you
sometimes feel as though you have no life outside of law school. The tips below will
hopefully help you to cope:
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Use your weekends to advantage. Because weekends have the most flexible
stretches of time, you want to be productive. You can have some down time, but
only rare students who are superb time managers the rest of the week can avoid
studying on the weekends. See last week’s tip about the two-day-ahead reading
schedule to see how your weekends can help you feel less overwhelmed during
the week.
Break down large assignments into smaller tasks. If you think of the enormity of
the task, you will become overwhelmed (and possibly depressed). Break a 30page reading assignment into cases or 5-page increments. Break down outlining
multiple weeks into ten sub-topic increments. And, if you make a list of the
smaller tasks, you can have the thrill of crossing off each increment as you finish.
Begin a longer assignment as soon as it is given to you. By working on the
assignment in smaller steps from the beginning, you do not procrastinate until
you have more stress or too little time to do it well. Whether you have a Legal
Practice memo due in two weeks or an AWR paper due in two months, get
started and work on it consistently every week. Your end product will be of better
quality, and your stress level will be diminished.
Do not fritter away time. Talking with friends in the lounge, checking your e-mail,
surfing the web, watching TV, playing computer games are fine in moderation.
However, many students allow a few minutes to stretch into hours. If you
recapture 1 hour of wasted time a day, you have a total of 7 study hours in a
week.
Capture and use “windfall time” each day. Windfall time is when a study partner
shows up ½ hour late or you wait in the doctor’s office for ¾ hour or you arrive ¼
hour early for class because traffic was light. A number of tasks can be done in
short time periods: review of notes from a class to fill in gaps; drilling with
flashcards; working some multiple-choice practice questions; writing down
questions that you need to ask your professor; making a “to do” list.
Begin your reading time with your hardest (or least liked) course first. Then
move on to the next hardest and so forth until you end with the easiest one. By
working through difficult tasks first, you do not have them hanging over you all
day. And, you will usually be the most alert and productive earlier in a study
stretch.
Use breaks to benefit your brain cells. Within a reading block of 3 or 4 hours,
you will be more productive if you take short 5-minute breaks at least every 90
minutes. While you go to the water fountain or stretch, your brain will keep filing
away information even if you are not consciously thinking about the topic. After 3
or 4 hours, you should take a break of 30 minutes or more to give your brain
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some rest. If you tend to zone out earlier and cannot regain focus through active
reading, you may need short breaks more frequently.
Consult with your professors. Are you uncertain how to pull a topic together no
matter how hard you have worked? Are you still confused after reading and
considering your class notes? Do you just not know how to study for a particular
course that seems different from the others? Texas Tech professors have an
“open door” policy which means that they are more than willing to answer
questions to help you understand the material. The sooner you go for help, the
sooner you will no longer feel overwhelmed or clueless.
Consult with Tutors and Teaching Fellows. If you are a 1L student, you have
these upper-division students who hold office hours and are hired to assist you.
The group sessions that they offer can also be beneficial. Take advantage of
their skills to get help in your courses.
Consult with Dr. Tarenko. If grammar and punctuation baffle you, Professor
Tarenko can help unravel your problems. Go to her with questions that you have
when you are writing papers for any of your courses.
Make an appointment with Dean Jarmon. In addition to the group workshops
that are held each week on various study topics, Dean Jarmon also meets with
students individually. All you need to do is e-mail her with days and times when
you are available, and she will confirm an appointment time.