Tips for how to not dwell

[mirror]

Are you in law school or are you a 0L who thinks he knows what he's talking about.

you people are freaking retarded.  i doubt ill make law review but thankfully the paranoid little beyotches like this make me well above average

Pssst. Don't feed the trolls, they just keep coming back.  Maybe when the guy actually learns how to capitalize, he can join the discussion.

woW.  I reaLly sHouldnt bE shoCked by how much some law students suck, but i continually am.

[amoebalaw]

If the beer doesn't help, you could try lowering your grade-expectation standards. That could ease some of the stress.

[brewha]

If the beer doesn't help, you could try lowering your grade-expectation standards. That could ease some of the stress.

I couldn't agree with this more.  I would, however, like to add that a more potent liquor may be in order if the stress is really high.  I'm a huge fan of scotch and/or Jack Daniels for this purpose.  It may not rid your stress of the final, but it sure will make the opposite sex look more attractive for the time being. 

[ohwellok]

it is so hard to do, but honestly, the best thing is to just forget about an exam once you've taken it and focus on what you have left to do. one of my 1L professors gave some really great advice - he said an "a" exam answer generally only addresses about 60% of all possible issues. no one is going to get everything! so i really wouldn't beat yourself up too much about stuff that pops into your head after the fact. i'm sure you will hear this a lot, but many of the exams that i felt like i totally bombed actually wound up being my best grades in that semester. seriously though, once you've taken an exam, don't think about it too much. it will just distract you from everything else you have to do, and stress you out.

[lipper]

or you could beat your meat.

[GA-fan]

The nightmares go away in about a week, in my case at least, and I'm left with feeling resigned to my grades, good or bad.

[CarmenK]

I've been dwelling on my Con Law exam for the past two weeks.  I have convinced myself that I have failed and as a result my GPA will fall below 2.00 and I will get booted out of school.  The exam took four hours and  I'm not sure what I was writing the last hour because my head was pounding.

[Dr. Balsenschaft]

I keep having a nightmare that my Crim Law exam is actually my Law Review packet and I never passed it in. Doesn't make any sense. Otherwise, I'm fine. Much better than I was after 1st semester exams. I suppose this is because I thought I had done horribly on my 1st semester exams but ended up with a decent GPA and class rank. I have no idea if I did better or worse but now I know how hard it is to predict grades.

[LawJockey07]

I agree. You need to purge the traumatized brain cells, and beer is the best way to do that.

I third this nomination. . .one thing I have found effective is DON'T talk to your classmates after the final.  Just go home, or go to the bar, if you stand around and commisserate (sp?) you will just leave totally bummed out.  If you have other finals, start focusing on them, if you don't, focus on the next semester.

Hope this helps.

[JohnnyAwesome]

I try not to dwell on the exams but I know I will. I had a mini breakdown while preparing for property about Con Law last week. They're going to happen. Realize that nothing you can do now will in any way change your results. The verdict is in so to speak and now you have 3-5 weeks before you know what's going to happen. This is a skill we will all need to know, if we get worried about something that we're not going to get the results for until later. i.e. court decisions for litigators we'll go insane. It's the summer enjoy yourself you earned it. And take comfort in the fact there's a whole crop of new 1L's coming to your school who are going to go through the same bootcamp you just went through.