Oh, no. The weekend's here.
That means a whole lot of studying is ahead.
I started studying for my finals bit by bit in November, but this week (well, really, starting the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving) was the first truly hard-core week for me. I've been staying at school later than usual and trying to study more diligently at home. And boy, I am tired now this Friday night. Under non-finals circumstances, I'd be pretty happy about the prospect of a weekend. But as things are, the weekend just means more time to hit the books. Sigh.
I'm not as hard-core as some people I know, who are at school until 10:30, 12:30, 1, 2--that's just waaaay too intense for me. I wouldn't be able to function after the first night if I did that. But even with my wimpy effort--going home around 7 or 8, studying until 10 or 10:30--I'm pretty tired. I can't believe I have to sustain this kind of effort for over two more weeks!
How on earth did I do it last year? I'm not sure. In part, I do think that I'm responsible for a lot more material this semester, which means that I am trying to study harder now, but still feel like I have only the most tenuous of grips on all the information I need to know. (I've felt a weird dissociation from school this year: I go to class, I take the notes, but I still feel pretty unconnected with all the concepts. It's been strange.) The material overload stems from the fact that I'm taking four code- and statute-intensive classes this year, which means memorizing (or, at least, trying to be familiar with) a bunch of statutory text and code section numbers. All the numbers and rules are definitely wearing my brain out a lot more than trying to wrap my head around 1L concepts like consideration and state of mind and the rational basis test. It's not like anyone who's a 1L this year would agree with me, but I think that it's easier to wrestle with broad concepts and write nice issue-spotting essays than it is to memorize a bunch of detailed code and procedures and apply them in more concrete problems.
And, of course, I guess there's the fact that I'm not an eager-beaver 1L anymore. I definitely don't have the same kind of crazy enthusiasm that I did before. Admittedly, I did enjoy my first semester a lot--so much that the second semester was something of a let-down. The current semester is an improvement on the second, but it's not quite as good as the first. I think that unfavorable comparison stems from a combination of 1L-eager-beaverness last year and also the fact that I picked all my code-intensive classes for this semester when I thought I'd be more interested in transactional stuff. Now that I am much more interested in litigation stuff, I just can't muster the energy or enthusiasm to study for Secured Credit.
It's especially hard to concentrate when all I'd really like to do is sit at home, watch some movies, drink hot chocolate, make some cookies, and knit on my secret Christmas presents. I've been pretty good about refraining from such conduct so far, but as a result I'm getting a little concerned about finishing all my hoped-for holiday knitting in time. I suspect that some people will be receiving presents after the holiday.
Stupid finals. They get in the way of everything. Including sleep.
I started studying for my finals bit by bit in November, but this week (well, really, starting the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving) was the first truly hard-core week for me. I've been staying at school later than usual and trying to study more diligently at home. And boy, I am tired now this Friday night. Under non-finals circumstances, I'd be pretty happy about the prospect of a weekend. But as things are, the weekend just means more time to hit the books. Sigh.
I'm not as hard-core as some people I know, who are at school until 10:30, 12:30, 1, 2--that's just waaaay too intense for me. I wouldn't be able to function after the first night if I did that. But even with my wimpy effort--going home around 7 or 8, studying until 10 or 10:30--I'm pretty tired. I can't believe I have to sustain this kind of effort for over two more weeks!
How on earth did I do it last year? I'm not sure. In part, I do think that I'm responsible for a lot more material this semester, which means that I am trying to study harder now, but still feel like I have only the most tenuous of grips on all the information I need to know. (I've felt a weird dissociation from school this year: I go to class, I take the notes, but I still feel pretty unconnected with all the concepts. It's been strange.) The material overload stems from the fact that I'm taking four code- and statute-intensive classes this year, which means memorizing (or, at least, trying to be familiar with) a bunch of statutory text and code section numbers. All the numbers and rules are definitely wearing my brain out a lot more than trying to wrap my head around 1L concepts like consideration and state of mind and the rational basis test. It's not like anyone who's a 1L this year would agree with me, but I think that it's easier to wrestle with broad concepts and write nice issue-spotting essays than it is to memorize a bunch of detailed code and procedures and apply them in more concrete problems.
And, of course, I guess there's the fact that I'm not an eager-beaver 1L anymore. I definitely don't have the same kind of crazy enthusiasm that I did before. Admittedly, I did enjoy my first semester a lot--so much that the second semester was something of a let-down. The current semester is an improvement on the second, but it's not quite as good as the first. I think that unfavorable comparison stems from a combination of 1L-eager-beaverness last year and also the fact that I picked all my code-intensive classes for this semester when I thought I'd be more interested in transactional stuff. Now that I am much more interested in litigation stuff, I just can't muster the energy or enthusiasm to study for Secured Credit.
It's especially hard to concentrate when all I'd really like to do is sit at home, watch some movies, drink hot chocolate, make some cookies, and knit on my secret Christmas presents. I've been pretty good about refraining from such conduct so far, but as a result I'm getting a little concerned about finishing all my hoped-for holiday knitting in time. I suspect that some people will be receiving presents after the holiday.
Stupid finals. They get in the way of everything. Including sleep.
posted by seedless grape at 9:29 PM
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