Fear – the Great Motivator

It’s natural to experience a little fear in law school. Particularly in the first year, law school is an elaborate hazing ritual. Many law students don’t know what to expect, either on their exams or from their classmates. A little fear is a healthy motivator, but too much fear is unhealthy. Don’t let yourself panic, either before an exam or during it. If you just know the basic rules of law for any given course, you can pass that course’s final exam. Naturally, if you want to do more than just pass, you’ll have to bring some special skills to bear on the exam. But don’t let yourself suffer from irrational worries that you’ll fail an exam – if you’ve studied even minimally, you’ll pass.

How do you overcome panic? By being thoroughly prepared when you take your exams, and by having confidence in your preparation. When you know the law inside out and have taken numerous practice exams, you’ll have this confidence. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the mind games that your classmates will inevitably play with each other. Just remember that exams are the great equalizer. On exam day, it won’t matter who asked the most questions during class, who owns the most hornbooks, who knows the most trivial details about cases, who spent the longest hours at the library, or who talked to their professors the most during office hours. All that will matter is who writes the best exam.

Have confidence in yourself and your preparatory techniques. Don’t worry about how others prepare, and unless they’re in your study group, don’t worry about what they know. When you take an exam, use your own strategy and stick to it.

Get Ready For a Workout

Final exams are an endurance test. Typically, you’ll have an exam period of a week or two. During that time, you’ll study nearly every waking hour. After you take an exam, you may have to go straight home and start studying for the next one. The people who do the best during this period are those who both push themselves the hardest and have the most to give. Being in good physical shape can give you a big advantage.

To get in this condition, you’ve got to exercise. Exercise reduces stress and helps you fall asleep at night. Try to exercise at least daily, particularly during exam periods. I lived in Venice, California the summer I graduated from law school and studied for one of the hardest bar exams in the country. I studied each morning, took a bike ride on the beach in the afternoon, and went to a bar review course every night. Almost three decades later, all I can really remember from that summer are the bike rides. Those sweet afternoon rides helped keep me sane during a very trying period, and I credit that part of my routine – as much as my other study techniques and exam writing skills – with helping me pass the bar on my first try. I suggest you find a routine like this that works for you when studying for exams.

Research has shown that it’s more important to get a good night’s sleep the two or three nights preceding an exam than the actual night before the exam. Furthermore, if you do have trouble sleeping the night before an exam, the significant adrenaline rush you experience when taking the exam will compensate for your drowsiness. If you can’t sleep the night before an exam, remember these facts and don’t go into your exam predisposed to do badly because of a “lack” of sleep. If you expect to write your exams (instead of typing them), you may experience some cramping or soreness of your hand muscles during an exam. If this will bother you or slow you down, you should be sure your hand muscles are in reasonable condition before exams. If you handwrite your outlines, checklists and practice exams, your muscles will probably be in shape from use and you won’t have a problem. If you do most of your work on a computer, either take your exam on a computer or make an effort to spend several hours a day writing to condition your hands.

Don’t Go Through Motions

Let’s imagine a worst-case scenario for a moment: you have an exam coming up, you’re worried about it, and you haven’t really thought about how to study for it. So you start reading over your class notes in a random fashion. Then, you skim your casebook, trying to remember what you can about the cases you’ve read. Hours pass. Suddenly, you realize you can’t remember something you just read in your class notes a few hours ago. You’ve learned some rules in a haphazard fashion, but you’ve only remembered some of them. You felt momentarily productive while you were studying, and you may have forgotten your panic for a while, but you accomplished practically nothing.

When you’re worried about an exam, focus your nervous energy and prioritize your efforts. Ask yourself what the most productive and time-effective thing you can do is, and do it. Approach your exams in an orderly fashion, with a well-thought out game plan for each one. And if you find yourself doing busy work just for the sake of doing something, stop it and start doing something productive.