I realized that it's impossible for me to feel completely prepared for an exam. It also seems so unnatural to completely switch gears after an exam and move on to the next subject. Dropping one subject after spending so much time on it and moving to the next is strange. I also found that the day after an exam I was pretty much useless. I joked that unbeknowst to me I was somehow attacked by zombies as I had no energy and could not focus at all. Make note--no focus still means you have to somehow focus, which translates into "not cool."
I now envy the fact that my best friend read romance novels throughout her law school days. I wish I could do the same. I suppose I could read romance novels now that exams are over but it wouldn't be the same. Maybe it was her zombie like moment?
Exams--eh. I hand wrote them this semester and I now realize that I could benefit from typing them next semester. It's not that I can't type, its moreso that I can't organize my thoughts well and type at the same time. I think its something that I'm going to try to work on over the break. Yes, I'm crazy. I'm going to continue to take torts exams over break so that I learn how to think through these crazy questions and exams.
After each exam some friends and I went out to eat and relaxed. We didn't talk about the exams, we didn't talk about the next exam, we just chillaxed. It was exactly what we needed and it's nice to know that when all things are said and done you've got friends to turn. More importantly, you've got friends who will understand you're too exhausted to talk. You have no idea how many waiters I thrilled by having them decide my entire meal, down to what I drank and what I had for dessert!
One thing I can't help but think about is my exam questions. I find myself still issue-spotting or rethinking my application of certain rules. Oh well, there's nothing I can do now. I just wish it wouldn't pop into my head at random points in the day. Our property professor said that the usual A only gets about 60% of the issues, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.
Exams completely drain you. I took the longest shower today and completely scrubbed myself. I haven't felt attractive in weeks. I haven't eaten as healthy as I should. And sleep is slowly coming back to me. I've got five weeks before I start the process over again and I'm going to hone in on being lazy. In other words, no, I don't plan on starting my early assignments any time soon.
I was trying to explain to my dad how draining exams are. He doesn't quite get it. But then again he did learn how to use a laptop today and now has e-mail. ("Why do I need e-mail when I'm surrounded by cows?") He asked me if I thought I did ok, to which I responded "meh." Then he asked me if I had talked about the exam with a classmate he met. I said no because just talking about the exam and how other people approached the questions can drive you insane. He still didn't see what the big deal was and looking back I can say that I didn't think talking about your exams would pose a problem. Oh how I was wrong! I had to politely ask others around me to not talk about the exam, I had to be rude at times, I had to stand my ground and not let others destroy my perfect post-exam bliss. I suppose I shouldn't call it bliss, however there was a zen-like calmness to being done with an exam.
Next semester, I hope to have similar thoughts on exams. I also hope that my civil procedure outline is done before the exam...but I'm not going to think about that now.
I had a criminal law exam yesterday.
It was hell. And I mean that in the wtf kind of hypothetical way. When I recapped the hypo to J he said, "WTF?" And I said, "yeah, tell me about it!"
I chose to hand write my exam for one major reason. There were only ten of us in the tiny room and we all weren't psychopaths. These nine people are good folk! We laughed, we wished each other luck, there was no psyching-me out moments, it was good clean fun. Whether they know it or not these classmates kept me calm and confident, something I desperately needed for my first exam. I heard the typers were vicious. I just laughed.
I went into the exam laughing, full of my cheesy Meg Ryan confidence. I just kept picturing Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail doing her little boxing bit when she was pysching herself up for her fight against Fox Books. That was me yesterday and will be me on Friday, and twice again next week. Our professor said to go in and treat the exam like a three hour art project. Well, I glittered, I bedazzeled, and I puffy painted the crap out of that mess. And I think I did ok. I think I need to spend more time analyzing the facts to the rule, but overall I was ok with the exam. I had plenty to discuss. And most importantly I walked out of that room with the biggest smile. Take that jerks! I'm gonna psych you out with sheer confidence! So go ahead and gawk because my puffy paint, glittered, bedazzelness should make you shake in your boots!
Some of you may have noticed my disappearance from the blogosphere in the last week. Well, there is plenty to say about that, but not enough time to devote to it.
In a nutshell:
My computer died Wednesday November 19th. As I didn't backup my notes as frequently as I should have, and the only copy of my memo was on my laptop I went straight into banshee mode. Nothing was recoverable and I'm grateful that I chose to take notes by hand in the majority of my classes. So, I ran around like a chicken without its head and managed to turn in a crappy second memo and am now working on my outlines for finals. J, the wonderful boyfriend that he is, bought me another laptop since we were skeptical that a new hard drive would arrive soon enough for me to take exams. So the lesson to be learned is to sign up for either Mozy or regularly back up all notes! Go! Do it now!
Ok. So now I'm in finals mode and staying away from law school as much as possible! More to come but for now I've got to transfer my notes, set up Exam Soft, and get back to practice exams and outlines. I'm beat already and finals haven't even begun.
Issue: Is the issue that some of my classmates are driving me into depression and a constant state of irrationality present or my mind's creation?
Rule: When finals are approaching your fellow law student classmates will do whatever it takes to make you feel less of a person and make you question your humanity.
Application: My fellow law students have been very vocal about how much studying they've already done, how concise their outlines are, how their memos are finished and how they've already completed several practice exams. Some just make you feel inadequate in general in that they're quick to respond to any review question, small assignment, hypothetical, etc.
Conclusion: I don't like being around law students right now. It's not good for my health as they are a constant reminder of all the things I: 1) haven't done; 2) want to do; 3) want to find time to do; and 4) the reason why I don't study at the law library.
These people are driving me crazy and we have two weeks until our first final. I'm off to meditate as I don't do well with crazies surrounding me.
My fortune cookie today said: "Counting time is not so important as making time count."
I think it's obvious what this means...I need to seriously buckle down and outline, outline, outline!
What scares me is that I don't think I'm the best at IRAC. So any tips on how to do awesome analysis and issue spotting?
Or for you 1Ls, how are you approaching our first exams?
So I had two midterms last week: property and torts. They were both ungraded and just for us to get a sense of what an exam looks like. I have another one this week in Civil Procedure, but it's more of a review session and not an exam. They went well for the most part. My only concern was that I didn't utilize the tort elements well enough. For example, making sure I discuss intent for each intentional tort. I swear there were at least twenty potential causes of action and we had two hours to play with.
So, in your opinion is it more important to get through as many potential causes of action as possible? Or should I take the time to (somewhat) thoroughly discuss each cause of action I see it and not worry that I may not get to each issue I find?
This is where I realize that reading Getting to Maybe would be of great help!
