Advice for a 0L hell bent on being near the top of his class?

[kilroy55]

Every school I know makes them available to students.  A few professors of my school don't post old exams until the end of the semester, and one doesn't post one at all. (the questions he asks you all semester should be enough for you to know, so you go in blind)

[YeShallBeGods]

I'm just afraid you're going to freak the poor guy out.  I'm in the top 10% (maybe the top 5%), and so are members of my study group.  We did not do 100 exams.  We *did* do every exam we could get our hands on, but it couldn't have been any more than 20 over the course of both semesters.  Obviously, what LilOneL did worked, but don't think that you *need* to do it. 

But while we're on the subject of practice exams, I want to again stress how important I think it is that you not only do the exams, but that you *study* any sample answers or going over the exam with your professors.  Why?  This gives you insight into what answer your profs want.  And you'll be amazed how many of your classmates won't do that extra step (which I consider to be the most important step).

Hence the reason I did my best to emphasize that these steps were my personal ticket to the top 10%... obviously no system of much substance is going to work for everyone. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I know one guy in my class who walked away with extremely good grades his first semester and, if his words are true, essentially did no practice exams. It's all knowing yourself and what will work for you.

... and a little luck

Oh and I totally agree about looking at sample answers--one of my professors posted several, and I'm certain that mirroring their style paved the way to an A.

[MiamiLaw]

How much does LEEWS cost? I couldn't actually find a price on their site. I am talking about the program or whatever you guys are talking about.

[Chibundu]

tag

[RootBrewskies]

i dont think there is much you can do to prepare to be in the top 10%.  granted i'm not in the top 10% so maybe if i had done something different i would be, but the truth is that reading outlines taking exam prep classes, etc. wont help you at all before you step into class in my opinion.  most professors teach differently and test differently, you'll spend have the semester on a subject and not get tested on it, spend 3 days on something else and be heavily tested on it, its random and makes you stay on your toes, but the fact of hte matter is that areas of the law that you study in the first year are so large that you could spend all summer trying to guess what your teacher will cover and be totally wrong. 

the biggest thing i can suggest to do to prepare for law school is to relax and enjoy yourself but also mentally prepare yourself to work when classes start.  dont burn yourself out right before the semester or anything cause assignments come at you full blast when classes begin.  other than that just watch boston legal and law and order are become delisional about what the law actually is. 

[brightline]

How much does LEEWS cost? I couldn't actually find a price on their site. I am talking about the program or whatever you guys are talking about.

The cds are $150, the live program is $120

go to leews.com

click on regis/order/cost

[tacojohn]

I think it's hard to prepare to be in the top 10%.  If you work hard, that alone will get you to the top half of the class.  If you add some natural ability, you can get yourself to the top 25 or 30%.  To get to the top 10%, you have to be lucky.  To be in the top 10%, you either have to do very well in the majority of your class, i.e. get As, or you need to beat the median in virtually every class.  So you either need to have a lot of stellar test days, or you need to have all good test days.

A law school exam is based on confidence, so you need to know what will rattle your confidence.  More than one law student was convinced they were going to work themselves to the top of the class, only to pick up a practice exam too early in the semester, wasn't able to answer basically anything on it, and then freaked themselves out for the rest of the semester.

Understand that you'll have good and bad days when studying and try to work with that rhythm, not fight against it.  You want to treat law school like a job in the sense that you prepare yourself to work 8-9 hours every day, but that doesn't mean you can't check out early, or stay late.  I worked until midnight some nights and other days I didn't work at all, unless I had to get something read for class the next day.  You have to have the right attitude though, you can't get discouraged when it's a bad day and you're just doing the minimum.

Try to frontload the work.  It's easier to pull back a little bit than to catch up.  If you get behind early, fall break (if you have one) is really the only time to catch up.

Just try to arrive at each test relaxed, confident, and prepared.  Law school isn't a crapshoot in the sense that if you work hard, you'll succeed, but to get the type of grades you want, you have to be incredibly lucky.

[MiamiLaw]

I picked up "Planet Law School II" as my very first thing to prep with, was this book a good choice? This is the first formal packet of information I will have read so far, not counting talking to my lawyer/law student friends abotu what to expect.

[jacy85]

While PLS may have some nuggets of useful info, for the most part, the book is inflammatory and the author has some serious issues.  Law school, at least in my experience, is nothing like Atticus Falcon says it is.

I am also of the opinion that spending your entire summer before law school prepping with supplements and things is, for the most part, a waste of time.  It's one thing to flip through some E&Es or outlines to get an idea of the general course of a class.  It's another to work through the supplements, going over material that your professor may not even cover.  With the exception of LEEWS, your summer is likely well spent sitting by the pool.

[brightline]

I did the PLS2 plan / method. If you want, contact me via personal message.