Finals Study Plan

Examination — “An exercise designed to examine progress or knowledge.”

-Merriam Webster’s Dictionary

 

With finals quickly approaching, (my first one is Friday!) I thought I’d share with you about how I prepare for my own finals.  This might be a shorter post since I’m knee deep in outlines, textbooks, and supplements to study for my finals. 

1.  Memorize Outlines.  So this step really depends on whether you have an open or closed book exam.  If you have a closed book exam, then memorizing/internalizing all of the information is a must.  Depending on the professor, you may also have to memorize case names to back up the information you write on the exam.  Typically to help with this, I use a white board to write down important lists and make sure I can recall them at a moment’s notice.  If you have an open book exam, don’t be fooled by the fact you can have your outline with you.  You should still know a lot of the information by heart so that you don’t have to flip through your outline during the exam and eat up a lot of your precious time during an exam. 

2.  Create an Attack Outline.  This is something I like to do the night before I take an exam.  I condense all of the important information into a shorter outline, and by condense, I really mean condense.  My typically outline is about 30-40 pages and my attack outline is about 4 to 6 pages.  It has the major points of the course on it, along with the tests for certain concepts, so I can really memorize the important information.

3.  Skim a Supplement.  I like looking at supplements during my finals supplement to give me a big picture and to solidify my understanding of the more macro concepts.  The one problem with a lot of supplements, like E&E’s, is that they condense the information and really just provide an overview of topics.  Additionally, they might skip some material or have some material that your professor didn’t cover in your class.  But they’re a great way to review the most important information in a course. 

4.  Watch supplemental videos.  This step kinda goes along with no. 3 because these videos provide more of an overview of a topic.  They’re great because maybe someone else can explain the concept to you better than your professor could.  Additionally, if your brain is on the edge of exploding, watching these videos can be a way for you to turn off your brain a little and still go over information for your finals!  Personally, I suggest the Barbri 1L Mastery videos, but I may be biased since I’m a rep, but they actually are very helpful. 

5.  Do Practice Exams.  This is probably the most important step out of my entire study plan.  You might think you know all of the material in a class, but trying to apply it in the way your professor wants you to is extremely different.  I really try to use old exams from my own professors because they are more tailored to the information you actually learn in the class and your professors’ method of testing.  Exams from other sources can be helpful to go over concepts, but your best bet is to use your professor’s old exams.  Some professors even post an answer key or model answers, which definitely help to see what professors like in answers.  If you skip any of the steps that I do, this is one you should definitely not skip! 

Good luck on finals everyone, and congrats on completing another year of school!  I can’t believe my first year of law school is two weeks from being done!