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| Study and Revision Tips for Law School |
Are you a law student finding a hard time revising for law school? Do you read tons of cases or principles only to forget them while writing your exams?
One undeniable characteristic of law school is the hefty loads of books, notes, cases, statutes, and other materials you ought to read.
It is frustrating!
Well, the Law course is complex. You have got a lot of cases to memorize, articles, statutes, principles, and notes to read and understand. All the content can be overwhelming to cover if going over the wrong way.
That aside.
What If I tell you, you have been revising for law school the wrong way?
The way you revise as a law student plays a crucial role in helping you grasp all the heavy bulk of law school cases, articles, and notes.
In this article, you will learn the simplest yet efficient tips to implement to make your law school revision process more straightforward.
You will learn how to revise, understand and recall tons of cases, articles, or principles and easily apply them as you write your exam. You do not need to be the brightest student to implement the study tips in this post.
Even if you have a short memory, these strategies will help you boost your memory to retain more information for extended periods.
The revision tips I have shared are the exact tips I have been using since joining law school and have seen tremendous results.
This guide is no way a shortcut to avoiding the long route but a way to show you how to easily fly over the path in order to ace the tests and exams.
Let's get started!
How To Effectively Revise for Law School For Higher Grades
1. Do more Listening than Writing in Lectures/Class Time
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| Do more Listening than Writing during Class Time |
Most law students make the mistake of writing more than attentively listening while attending lectures.
This is wrong!
Taking notes during a lecture is fine, but you should not write everything the lecturer says.
Writing whatever the lecturer mentions shifts your attention from understanding what the lecturer is saying to writing what they say. You can use a highlighter to emphasize the crucial points in your notes that your tutor mentions in the lecture.
Listen carefully and understand.
This is the initial step of your revision cycle.
As you go back to read through your notes, you will have gotten the core concept and revising will be easier. As you read, you will constantly recall what your lecturer or professor said.
That is if you were attentive and not just listening.
2. Do lots of Research
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| Do Lots of Research |
The work given to you by your lecturer is not enough. You should go the extra mile and find out what has not been provided.
Do not be comfortable with what you are given in class.
As a law student, you must equip yourself with quite enough knowledge. Expose yourself to several sources in your reading to diversify your knowledge base.
Doing research requires dedication and time. Consult various sources, textbooks, dissertations, and articles, among others. Make the library your go-to place.
After doing tons of research, the following steps will be a lot easier to implement and help you revise for law school.
You might like: How to Get Your First Internship (Remote and Physical)
3. Create a Revision Timetable
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| Create a Revision Timetable |
As a law student planning ahead of events makes you prepared at all times. Arranging your revision time with a timetable will create a workflow and make you more productive.
Arrange all that you have to read in a timetable. Allocate time to various course units, and topics inclusive of the breaks and rest days. Prioritize the subjects which you think are hard for you.
Recommended reading: How to Create the Perfect Law School Study Schedule
4. Take Notes By Hand
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| Take Notes |
Taking notes by hand will help you easily recall what you write down.
Research suggests that students who take notes by hand recall information better than those who don't.
As you approach test or exam time, you will not be reading the heavy bulk of the textbooks but reading through the brief notes, you took.
I categorize note-taking into two forms;
- The first form of my note-taking process is to jot down notes in summary form for later revision.
This is helpful more so when I'm approaching exams. I read the essential points from the summaries I prepared.
- The second form of note-taking is where I write my own notes after reading a particular topic, paragraph or principle.
The second form of taking notes helps your brain to get creative. It enables your brain to perform an Active recall, which builds your memory to recall more.
Be organised and have a special notebook for every course unit you offer. Take note of the most crucial points, principles, or cases from the heavy bulk of textbooks you read.
Categorize a summary of cases under their specific topic with the corresponding articles and legislation. Use good handwriting and arrange your notes in an easy-to-understand manner. Use different coloured pens, markers, and highlighters to make your work attractive to read.
Psychologically colours influence learning. Colours can stimulate your learning process.
Writing notes will help you greatly in your law school revision process.
5. Active Recall
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| Active Recall |
What is Active Recall?
You can use the active recall method of reading in various ways, such as using flashcards, giving yourself quizzes, and answering questions.
Make sure that when you attempt a question or quiz, you try to remember the solution before rushing directly to the solution.
Exercise your memory to recall.
6. Practice and Attempt as Many Questions as You Can
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| Practice and Attempt as Many Questions as You Can |
Challenge yourself to as many questions as you can. The process of attempting various questions is similar to active recall; you will be getting answers by recalling what you read.
By doing so, you develop your brain muscle to remember what you read through active recall constantly.
Consult the question bank, and look at the exams the law students in the previous years before you sat. Expose yourself to these questions and don’t stop reading through them but find answers to them.
They might be challenging at times, but go ahead and give them a try. Mark yourself afterwards by looking up the correct answers in the notes or having your work assessed by your lecturer.
When you fail, do not get discouraged, do not get demotivated. Keep trying.
Do not get reluctant to learn something new. When you find new concepts, research them and find the solutions. This is what will make you an outstanding law student. The profession you want to pursue is dominated by research.
Make sure that when you fail a specific question, find the correct answers to it, the right approach, and do not forget it if you ever face it again.
Recommended resource: Makerere Law Pre-entry Past Papers
7. Take Significant Breaks Between Your Revision Sessions
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| Take Significant Breaks between Your Revision Sessions |
Have you been reading for long hours of about 3-5 hours and still feel you are not grasping what you have read?
Well, the method of reading for long hours will get you burnt out and exhausted quickly.
Read for about 25 minutes and take a 5-10 minutes short break. This method of breaking your revision process into 25-minute sessions and breaks is referred to as the Pomodoro method.
Set a timer for 25 minutes and start reading. When the 25 minutes expire, take a break.
During that break, you can stretch, take some coffee or water, chat with a friend or take a nap.
You will find yourself reading for long hours without getting exhausted.
After a break, by the time you start reading, you will be refreshed and ready to continue from where you stopped.
This method is more effective and efficient compared to reading for straight 3-5 hours with no skips. Taking breaks in your revision will increase your concentration and productivity.
8. Engage in Group Discussions
Interactions with colleagues in the form of discussions are beneficial.
Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.
Within-group discussions, one with more significant strengths in a particular course unit can help take you through that topic you failed to understand on your own.
Similarly, you may be having extensive knowledge about a particular topic with all its nitty-gritty.
Discussing a topic for your fellows in your group discussion will help you further grasp the issue you are talking about. Don’t hesitate to share with your fellows.
You will hardly forget what you discussed with others, and this, in turn, will help other group attendants to understand it more.
Group discussions are a two-way street. You get to understand more of the content while it is being discussed, and as a discussant, you further grasp the content you are talking about.
Another vital aspect of group discussions is they help you know whether you are on the right track.
Do you know that you can revise a specific topic and come out with a wrong interpretation, thinking it is right?
Well, it is possible!
However, in group discussions, you can get corrected and be saved from drowning in the ocean waters.
In group discussions, members with different weaknesses and strengths help each other. As a law student, group discussions help you hear other students' opinions.
Altogether group discussion helps you revise effectively for your law tests and exams
Prepare or join group discussions as part of your revision routine for law school. You will be surprised by the yields you will reap out of them.
9. Relate what you Revise to your Day-to-day Life
This is a bonus revision tip!
One I most definitely love when it comes to training my memory to retain a lot of information.
Relating what you read to your everyday life will help you fight forgetfulness. It will help you appreciate the principles in law further.
Relate what you read in your everyday conversations, and use those hard-to-recall Latin maxims in your conversation with colleagues. Relate situations around you to the theoretical legal principles you study in class.
Are you reading a story in the newspaper about a killing?
Relate the situations in the story to what you read about murder in Criminal law. What are the ingredients of Murder? If the accused is convicted, what defences will be available for them?
Such a way of relating what you read to your day-to-day life will make your revision as a law student even more exciting and engaging.
Frequently Asked Questions on How to Revise for Law School Exams
What is the most effective revision technique?
How to revise legal cases?
Summing Up
There is no such thing as bright students or anything of a sort. Every student is blessed differently. You have got different strengths and weaknesses, and so are the rest.
One reason why the “bright students” are better is that they leverage their strengths and maximize them to the fullest.
They dedicate their efforts where their potential lies while not forgetting their weaknesses. Bright law students identify their weaknesses early enough and do whatever they can to overcome them.
Is it a particular course unit that is hard for you? A topic? Or a principle you failed to understand?
Double your efforts or revise for it. Approach those who are better at it and get help. Make research and further practice, and it won’t be a problem anymore.
You are bright and clever, and I believe that after implementing these study tips, you will be set for your journey to skyrocket your grades.
Kudos if you have been following from the start-up to the very end.
This article has covered the top effective ways to revise as a law student for higher grades. You do not need to be the wisest or brightest to use these study/revision tips.
These revision tips will help you grow your brain muscle and start crashing your law school tests and exams even if you have a forgetful memory.
Have you found this article helpful? Which method have you been using that has proved to be effective?
Share your thoughts in the comment section. I will be glad to hear your feedback. Do not forget to share this post to spread awareness!