Doing worse second semester

[drbuff123]

I read all these fairy tale stories on here about the person with the 2.0 GPA first semester who made straight A's the rest of law school.  Anyone have an opposite story, did anyone do really well first semester and then do horrible the next semester.  I'm starting to get sick of all the people at my school saying how if you made dean's list this time that you probably won't next semester because it switches around, blah blah.  Are they just making themselves feels better or is there some truth to it?  I can't decide if the people who did poor last semester are going to give up and slack off or really pump it up making it harder for me to stay at the top of the class.  Comments?

[RobWreck]

Objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.
 
While there will be some change in the rankings as people who did poorly the first semester kick it up a gear and do better this time, as well as a few that did well the first semester, slack a bit and drop a few places, generally there probably won't be a SIGNIFICANT change in position for most of the people in your class. To assume that everyone that did poorly are suddenly going to develop A+ study habits and a solid grasp of the material is unreasonable. Some will, but many won't. Ditto the flip side... while there may be a few people that drop in standing because of either their lack of effort or the improved competition from those below them, I wouldn't count on there being a major change. Basically, it's enough to give hope for those who did poorly to put in a massive effort and change their position... but many won't.
Good luck,
Rob

[T. Durden]

i'm a 2L now

1st sem 1L year did very well

workd harder 2nd sem 1L year with the intention of doing even better - the result? grades dropped somewhat (though not significantly)

it's a frustrating process. it's reallly hard to guestimate where you'll end up - the bell curve is constantly in flux [i.e. your fellow students may or may not improve more significantly than you do 2nd sem in terms of the exam-taking process. also, you probably have new professors, which means that you'll be judged my an entirely new standard]

all you can really do is try your best and keep your fingers crossed. i wouldn't attempt to find any great unwritten rule in teh sky about how 1st sem dean's listers are destined for failure 2nd sem or vice-a-versa. it's raelly only dependent upon what your classmates do in relation to your own work and how professor A peeceives your work as opposed to professor B.

[xferlawstudent]

same here.  I'm a 2L, did a little better first semester, dropped second semester only about 0.1 GPA point on 4.0 scale.  However, on a tight curve it probably made the difference between top 10% and top 18% (there was only about 15 people between those two rankings).

I wouldn;t worry about a significant change

[Budlaw]

I have a friend who ended up top 5% after first semester of 1L and was invited onto law review, then he didn't make Dean's list the second semster. So it's possible. That being said, his second semester drop still put him just outside of top 10% after 1L year.

[AtlAggie]

same here.  I'm a 2L, did a little better first semester, dropped second semester only about 0.1 GPA point on 4.0 scale.  However, on a tight curve it probably made the difference between top 10% and top 18% (there was only about 15 people between those two rankings).

I wouldn;t worry about a significant change

I have a similar story (I'm also a 2L). Did excellent my first semester, dropped somewhat my second. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to drop me out of (probably) the top 10 people in the class. Still ended up in the top 15%, but it was enough to keep me from grading on to law review. I agree that REALLY wild grade fluctuations are unlikely (but maybe not unheard of). But some adjustment does inevitably occur.

[verbal]

i think my grades will be much worse. I cant seem to get motivated this semester. We also have legal research and writing as a graded class this semester and it is by far my worst subject. On top of all that u never know if u wil be able to nail down a few A's like i did last semester. The whole process seems so random.

[jd4me2010]

I can't seem to get motivated either. I'm at least the top third after the first semester (B average on C curve). The randomness of it all is driving me crazy. I HATED contracts all last semester and ended up with an A- (didn't study much for the final and didn't really feel like I had a good grasp on the material either). Yet in Criminal Law I put a TON of study time in, felt really good about the exam and ended up with a C!! WTF?? I was totally ready to have to take K over again and it ended up my highest grade.

I don't know what I did wrong and what I did right last time. This semester I've gotten really lazy (I'm book briefing, not outlining yet, have missed a few classes, etc.) I've heard about "hitting the wall" your second semester. I just hope I get over it soon because I'm pissing myself off 

[Marcus2009]

Why don't you go talk to your prof. and take a look at the old exams if you are not sure what got you the high and low grades?

[Runner-up]

I'm still reeling from the C- in one course that went on my transcript. Nothing doing, right now. I've been doing the work faithfully, but not with a fierce drive to get all A's. To some degree, I feel deflated.

Hopefully, within the next week or so, I'll re-energize and tackle things with the same conscientious mentality that was present for most of first semester.