With school right around the corner, law students must feel a range of emotions — excitement, anxiety, curiosity, and probably genuine happiness to be a step closer to achieving their dreams.
A few weeks ago, our senior paralegal asked me if I knew some of his professors from law school and what their teaching style is. It’s been a while since I graduated, and I am no longer familiar with the new roster of faculty, so I wasn’t of any help. But, that made me think of something – to list down 10 useful tips to help students survive law school.
Start with the codal.
Codals refer to small, Bible-like books that you’ve probably seen in law offices. It is the codification of (almost all) laws relative to a specific subject. For example, you’ll have one codal for civil laws, one codal for political laws, one codal for labor laws, and several codals for commercial laws.
It’s the basic text you’ll be studying in law school — these little books contain the laws, after all. If you want to read in advance, familiarizing yourself with the codal is the first step. And if you need to understand what a provision is trying to say, that’s the time to start reading the annotated books.
Make sure to read the full text of your assigned cases, if you can.
Admittedly, codals can be hard to understand, especially if you’re a freshman. And that’s when cases come in.
Assigned cases, also referred to as jurisprudence, are the interpretation of the laws made by the Supreme Court. These lengthy texts can help you understand how the law is applied based on a certain set of facts. So if your professor gives you a long list of cases to read, don’t be tempted to head directly to the digest. You’ll understand how the law was applied to the facts better if you read the full text, especially if the cases are not long.
As a rule, you should only give in to the temptation of reading case digests if you’re short on time. BUT, make sure that you’re reading a digest related to the topic assigned to it — since some cases can touch multiple discussions on multiple subjects.
Use technology to your advantage.
If you’re anything like me, then you know that staring at books or e-books for longer than an hour can easily strain your eyes. But I survived law school because I discovered a hack that was very useful until my review days.
I took advantage of the text-to-speech technology that’s available on most smartphones and tablets. I discovered it by accident on my iPad where I was reading my full-text cases. I almost dropped it and my panicked fingers activated the disability feature. The next thing I knew was that my iPad was already reading the case to me. Since then, I used it for studying assigned cases, especially when my eyes were already hurting. The catch is that it pronounces some Tagalog words with an American accent, but I got used to it eventually.
Also, I only tried it with jurisprudence I saved in PDF format. I still read traditional textbooks because I loved highlighting and taking down notes (more on this later). But I think the text-to-speech feature also works for e-books you can buy from Rex.
Create a study schedule that works for you.
Creating a schedule will help train your brain so that it will be most active at absorbing information within that certain timeframe. For me, that was between 11 in the evening and 4 in the morning.
When I was a law student, here was what my daily schedule was like:
12NN – Wake up, get ready, eat brunch
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Work
3:00-5:00 PM – Review what I studied the previous day (while snacking)
5:00-5:30 PM – Commute to School
5:50-8:30 PM – School
8:30-9:30 – Dinner/Babe Time 😛
9:30-11:00 PM or 12:00MN- Work
11:00PM or 12MN-4:00AM – Study
4:00 AM to 12NN – Sleep
Now, I want to be clear: you don’t have to follow the exact routine I have because what worked for me may not work for you. I was enrolled as a full-time student, but I was also a freelance online content writer which gave me more work flexibility. It’s still up to you and your circumstances to create the ideal study schedule that best fits your lifestyle.
Create the study system that works for you and stick with it.
Just like the study schedule, it’s also best to develop a study system that works best for you. For me, it was to read the codal first, then the assigned cases related to each topic. If the professor didn’t assign any case, then I would refer to the cases in the annotated books. While studying, I would look for relevant points in the case and write them down on the codal (or on a sticky note and stick it to the codal) so I can review them easily, like this:
From the photo above, you can also see that I color-coded text on my codal. Orange for the main subject, yellow for keywords, green for enumerations, pink for exceptions, and so on. You can create your own color-coded system.
Build a strong support group.
I can’t stress this enough: my law school family is the best. Outside law school, I have the best parents who supported me throughout all the challenges, but they can’t really relate to the struggles of law school.
Fortunately, our class is quite tight-knit. We help each other out, whether it’s discussing cases we failed to read before class, asking each other questions for clarifications, etc. My then-boyfriend (now husband) was also a law student, so he also helped clarify some things to me whenever I had questions, and I would relay them to my classmates. Walang madamot sa information.
I hope that you have a law school family like mine, because it truly is essential to surviving law school.
Don’t forget to have fun.
Of course, don’t forget to have fun. It’s so easy to feel burned out in law school. That’s why you should always allow yourself to have some fun.
Some of my classmates and I would catch a movie when the class was dismissed early or if the professor won’t be around. Some would drink a few bottles of beer to unwind. Some would catch up on their K-Drama marathons. Go on dates. It really depends on how you want to unwind.
Get enough sleep.
I have always been an advocate of getting enough sleep. When I’m well-rested, I absorb concepts and principles better. As opposed to when I’m tired and sleepy, I’ll stare at a page for hours and not understand a single thing — which is such a waste of time. So when I feel like I’m behind on my readings but I need to sleep, I’ll take a 30-minute power nap. This is usually the case during the midterm and final exam periods.
Go to school prepared.
If you’ve seen Bar Boys, you know that law school is not for the faint of heart. It’s scary, but in a challenging sort of way. You don’t have to memorize everything, but it’s essential that you understand what you’re reading. I don’t always finish the assigned cases before class, but I at least make sure I read the codal provisions assigned. This is where I try to get my answers from.
Get off your high horse.
This is key to making sure you survive law school.
I graduated with Latin honors, so I was quite full of myself during my first semester in law school (LOL). Then, our midterm test scores came and I had 29/100 in Criminal Law I, 34/100 in Persons and Family Relations, and 74% in Statutory Construction. I failed half of my subjects, and my ego was crushed. During recitations, especially in CrimLaw I, I would be asked to remain standing because my answer was not satisfactory.
Because I thought too highly of myself, my brain kept rejecting new information. But once I accepted that I knew nothing of the laws, that’s when I became eager to study. And fortunately, I was able to turn my grades around during the finals — and so I survived law school (and the Bar).
(Note: I have disabled the comments section since I’ve been dealing with spam lately, but if you want to reach out to me about your law school woes, you can send me an email here.)