Be organised
Ask any individual who is studying Law and there’s no denying that being organised will help you manage your stress levels whilst you study.
Studying at university teaches you many things and being organised is one of them. From A-Levels you’re taught to be organised too, so it’s up to you whether you follow the same philosophy. Don’t go to university thinking that it will be easy as nothing in life worth having comes easily! However, making necessary steps to stay as organised as possible will help you in the long run.
When you start university, you should have a plan as to how you’re going to approach your studies and balance your social life. University is the fundamental place where we learn this so get those sticky notes, notepads, coloured pens, highlighters, folders and polly pockets out and start planning!
Structuring your life this way will only make it easier. It will also encourage you to become more disciplined as an individual, which is a successful trait that many legal professionals have.
Plan Ahead
In my first year I wrote down a goal that I wanted to achieve by the end of the year. This was to a achieve a 2:1 in my degree. Then, I wrote down the necessary steps to achieve this.
This involved:
- Being disciplined
- 8 hours of reading a week
- Booking appointments with lecturers or personal tutors to discuss something I didn’t understand
- Making a revision timetable from December onwards
- Getting the necessary textbooks I needed
If you have an idea as to what you want to achieve, you’ll do everything in your power to get to where you want to be. Planning is the fundamental basis of success. Coco Chanel gave such an inspirational quote, which has stuck with me for many years. She states that “success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable”. In other words, success won’t come easily, as failure is bound to happen along the way.
So, what can you do to pursue your goals?
- Put your all into every piece of coursework you get given
- Think of the near future and stay mindful
- Never give up
- Stick to a plan
Want more ways to reduce your stress at law school? Then try this FREE quiz here. >>
Listen and Participate in Lectures
It’s always annoying when you’re sitting at the back with the chatter-boxes and the loud eaters. Not only is this distracting but it defeats the purpose of lectures. As a first year law student, I found that sitting at the back of my lectures didn’t help as I’d get distracted and wouldn’t listen to anything my lecturer was saying.
So, what did I do to change this?
I started sitting at the front of my lectures, so I could concentrate properly and if I had any questions to ask, I could do so during the lecture. This helped massively, as when I would go through the lecture slides again, I could remember what my lecturer had said. This made it a lot easier when it came to revision, as my notes had been condensed so much that I could remember everything!
Form Study Groups
Study groups are great for revision. Studying with like-minded law students like myself will help you to stay strong through the struggles.
During my first year I had a study group of around 10 peers. Being at university teaches you to be a lot more independent, because you don’t get spoon-fed. If you want to achieve something, you have to plan ways as to how you’re going to achieve them. Forming a study group made me overcome procrastination and revision actually started to be fun! It was an incentive to do well and it definitely helped!
Being In the same position as my peers we all had goals that we wanted to achieve and steps as to how we were going to achieve them. So, we came together and helped one another. Sometimes changing your learning style may help in more ways than you’d ever imagined too.
Study groups are a fun way of revising, because you can all teach one another different topics, depending on where your respective strengths lie. This is another step to success, which will help to reduce your stress levels.
Work hard, play hard!
Once you’ve committed to your goals and defied the pressures of procrastination, everything else will fall into place.
Studying for a law degree is not easy, but it is completely manageable if you have:
- A strong work ethic
- Determination
- Discipline
- Laser like focus
For more ideas on how to survive law school:
- 5 Typical Worries About Law School and How to Combat Them
- Stay Up-To-Date With Legal News – Top 10 Tips
- 5 Things You Must Do as a First Year Law Student
Author: Davahna-Jae Allen
