rant, depressed

[1Lchica]

i feel like i get so depressed here because i feel like everyone is smarter than me. and then to further affirm that feeling in my head, it seems like those who appear smart in class are asked by others to be in study groups - and i haven't been asked or anything.

plus, i have no idea if i'm going about studying the right way, if i'm studying enough, etc. i'm trying to keep up with class reading, but also trying to finish my outlines. my first final is dec. 14, and i'm not even halfway done with that outline (or the others) - and it seems to be taking me FOREVER to make them. i'm trying to devote a lot of time to doing the outlines so i can do practice exams, clear up confusion, etc. but i dunno.

like i said, i feel depressed and just feel like everyone is more intelligent. it makes me want to run from law school screaming.

encouragement? thanks for listening.

[Alamo79]

I remember walking out of a civ pro exam review session feeling like an idiot; I then got an A- on the exam the next day.

I don't do study groups; I personally don't find them to be valuable.  Some people probably do.  But they're certainly not essential to success.

There is little if any correlation between how smart somebody sounds in class and how good his/her grades are.  I remember asking somebody who made consistently intelligent comments in class about first semester grades right after they came out.  Response: bottom quarter.  I think it's more a sign that law school grades don't necessarily capture a person's grasp of the subject than anything, but don't despair for feeling unintelligent.  Law school is a roller-coaster; you feel like a genius one day and a dunce the next.

My advice: don't worry at all about what anyone else is doing.  If you have questions, ask your professor, not your classmates.  Keep your relationships with fellow law students purely social; if you must talk about school, talk about how your professor is boring or tough, not about the nuances of the Erie doctrine.  Exception: if you're a law nerd (like myself) and find other respectful law nerds to discuss the law with, go for it; but I have a feeling I'm getting off track here.  Just prepare the best you can, and realize that study groups usually little more than excuses to socialize while pretending to be industrious.  The results may surprise you.

Best of luck.

[brightline]

First, who is "smarter" or appears smarter in class doesn't matter. Most of the kids who sounded smart in class during my 1L year ended up with average grades or below. The number 1 student in my section after 1L year was a frat guy everyone thought was an airhead. How smart you sound in class has zero correlation with 1L grades.

1L study groups are a complete waste of time in my opinion...sort of like the blind leading the blind.

As for the problems your having with studying, my guess is, like most 1Ls you spent way too much time throughout the semester reading & briefing cases instead of learning the concepts you need to know for your exam.

The best advice I can give you at this point is to focus on outlining, the Examples and Explanations book for each of your courses, and practice exams. I would ditch your casebooks altogether at this point. I'm not joking. Outlining, practice exams, and using supplements like the E&E to understand the material are far more important than knowing the exact facts of case X. You can just pull up the Lexis brief if you need to, looked a canned brief like Casenotes or Legalines, or just take notes in class and forget about the cases altogether. Frankly you don't have time to do the reading and everything else, and the reading should be the absolute LAST priority at this point. I have followed this strategy since the beginning and it's worked very well for me. I did well enough first year to transfer from a tier 2 to a T14.

Did you do Leews? Well, you should have.

Note: I have my own exams to worry about so I won't be replying to this topic until after winter break.

Good Luck.

[1LMan]

Your first exam is december 14th and you are half way done with the outline?  You are wayyy ahead of plenty of other people lol.  I ususally did an outline the week before or with 3-4 days of an exam and it has worked out alright for me.

You still have 3 weeks, sheesh lol.  Relax and take a breath.

[meestameesta]

It is not too late to use LEEWS.  I did it a week before exams and feel it was still quite valuable.  I would do it as soon as you can and not wait any longer.  You can do it in two or three days and, in my opinion, will be well worth the time.
Just relax and work hard, you will be fine.

[1LMan]

Work smart, not hard..... You can spend all the time in the world looking over the material but if you don't practice applying it and work with it you are going to be unpleasantly surprised come exams.

[jacy85]

If you don't want to sit and listen to LEEWS now, you can at least go through the primer.

I second most of what other posters have said, but i'll add this:  if you'd like a study group, or even just a person to hash stuff out with, don't sit and wait to be asked!!  Do some asking yourself! 

[jacy85]

It's hard to judge how competitive a school is based what current students say - each class is different from the next w/ a different "personality" - maybe your class just happened to fill up with crazy gunners?

Anyway, best of luck studying!  It's definitely normal to feel like everyone's smarter then you - I'm near the top of my class and I *still* feel like that.  Don't let it get you down, and remember to take some breaks and do some things for yourself!

[thorc954]

Thanks guys!! I need to chill,  but it's so easy to get caught up with the psychos I go to school with. (When I visited, they tried to tell us it isn't a competitive environment. WHATEV.)

even the most chill school is a mess during 1L exams.  it will get less competitive as time goes by.  my school/friends were ridiculously competitive.  however, by the end of the first year, we were all pushing for each other to suceed and do well and make recommendations on places to apply and all that crap.

you will do fine.  people sound smarter then they actually are. 

[Peaches]

I just heard a girl the other day complaining about how crazy competitive everyone in my class is, and I was pretty shocked.  People just assume they know what everyone else is doing...

There are a few people who have moved in to the library.  But the majority of my class is still getting together to watch movies, drink, and hang out.  And nobody got as much done during break as they wanted to.

If it makes you feel better, then go ahead and panic so you can motivate yourself.  But I have a strong feeling that hours spent in the library aren't going to correlate with performance on exams. 

(And some of the smartest people are not invited to join study groups.  If you care about being in a study group, start your own.)