5 Important Reminders for 1Ls Studying for Final Exams

By George Khoury, Esq. on April 20, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

For first year law students approaching their last final exams of their first year, the pressure and stress may be near paralyzing. However, remember if you made it this far, statistically speaking, you'll make it all the way.

You've made it through one round of exams already, and hopefully you learned something from that experience. Just keep calm and study on. And to help you keep that studying going, below you'll find five important reminders to motivate you in the face of the adversity that is law school final exams.

1. Don't Stop Believing

If you're feeling hopeless as a result of bombing every available practice exam, you need to keep positive. Failing practice exams is a good thing. If you don't fail and mess things up when you're practicing, how will you know where to focus your study time.

2. Do Take a Break

When you start to feel burned out, it's okay to take a break. Do something fun, simple, and easy. Have a healthy snack, nap or recharge, maybe clean yourself up a bit, and get back to it. Managing your time can include building in break time.

3. Get Some Sleep

If you're studying hard, you need to make sure your sleeping just as hard. Sleep is essential to the brain chemistry of learning. Don't neglect it. During final exam prep time, it is perfectly okay to neglect friends, video games and other leisure activities. Your law school friends know what's up, and your regular friends will remember the warning you gave them before you started law school about being really busy and disappearing during exam times.

4. Get the Right Food, at the Right Time

One often neglected aspect of exam preparation is mealtime. It is important to know how you will react to certain foods and after eating during certain times of the day. You really don't want to end up falling asleep, or worse, feeling starving, in the middle of a two hour exam.

5. It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Remember how you've been preparing all semester long by making outlines, going to lectures, study groups, review sessions, actually reading your casebooks, and maybe even reading strategies about how to succeed in law school? If so, then you'll likely be fine so long as you continue on in stride.

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