Law School Grades Are Finally In

Law school grades finally came in after being back in school for a week. I personally cannot complain about my grades. I finished off doing well in criminal law and it brought my average up. Hopefully, the grade brought my average up enough to place me in the top 30%. I had hoped to do better but after hearing the horror stories and watching law students drop like flys. I am content with my grades.

The start of your second semester of the 1L year is different again then any other beginning in school. I have my grades back now and the logical next thought is, “what can I do different to improve my grades?” The problem is the answer to that question is not simple. Just like every other answer in law school; there really isn’t a correct answer to that question.

So here is my theory...(Please join me in crossing your fingers over the semester)

I spent a whole lot of time highlighting, reading, and taking class notes last semester. Then during the last 2 weeks and during pre-exam preparations, I studied outlines from fellow classmates and hand-me down outlines from upper classmen. What I came away with after taking the exams is that memorizing those rules is the most important thing a 1L can do. Making sure you know your outline(s) like it is your bible.

So this semester, I am going to change it up and spend more time during the semester memorizing black letter law and rules (aka my outline). This way when that month before exams comes, I will have a base of memorization through repetition.

Of course, I feel like I have to work on my writing and most of all time management. Those tests are made so that you do not have enough time to thoroughly go through every issue on the page. This posed a problem for me because issue spotting really has not been an issue for me (haha no pun intended).

But there is my theory that I think will work for me and might work for you or might not.