The Procrastination Effect
By: Law School Humor
The entire semester has come down to this. The tests that will determine grade point averages, class rank, summer associate positions, job offers, life goals, etc. Finals season is upon law students.
The “I’ll read that section later” mentality that had been so successful for the past couple of months is finally backfiring. Having successfully avoided reading assignments and outlining for an entire semester, law students know that the bill has finally arrived. The mentally unstable will break down in tears when faced with the voluminous task of studying that lies in front of them. Students will cut themselves off from social media, discontinuing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr accounts. But after a dramatic phone call to their mothers, law students will begin to accept the task at hand and buckle down. (Also see, Law School Humor: Finals Blackout.)
Social activities and sleeping patterns must be forgotten. Legal precedent and judicial tests will take their place. Law students must now race the clock to make up for lost studying time. Caffeine will aid them and likely be their meal of choice for the upcoming few weeks.
But where to begin?
At some point in the studying process, law students will likely sit through an “optional” review class. This is really just unrelated questions haphazardly thrown at the professor in a short time span. While they are optional, law students can’t help but attend just in case the professor accidentally gives insights into the final. Students are often not far enough along in their studying to make any sense of the questions discussed. Students often leave feeling even more unprepared than when they walked in.
In law school, the end goal is an outline that will either enter into the exam room with the student and will scroll through his or her mind like a slideshow. Outlines are like gold in law school. Frantic students will do anything to get their hands on a completed one. Students will sheepishly ask each other for pre-made outlines or even go so far as to buy commercial outlines (gasp). But even a great outline from a former class will have to be compared to students’ unintelligible doodles that they call class notes. This is both time-consuming and painstaking no matter what strategy a student employs.
Regardless of the preparation, very few students walk into the exam room feeling totally ready for the hellish issue spotting that is about to ensue. But fear not, law students, because the curve will set you free. Stay calm, and study on.
