ANALYSIS: Five Tips for 1Ls to Make Finals More Bearable

Law school finals can be incredibly intimidating, and as the fall 2022 semester winds down, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the thought of the next few weeks—especially if this is your first year as a law student.

Being intimidated is understandable. I remember hearing rumors as a 1L about my property final being 70-plus multiple choice questions, with answer options from A to Z for some questions, and asking myself, “How am I going to do this?” (If you’re wondering, the final was definitely over 70 questions, but the professor was gracious and only made it to Q a few times.)

After two and a half years of taking law school finals—and two more years to process that experience—I’ve gathered five tips to help get through exam season and emerge (relatively) unscathed.

1. Work With Your Peers

Given the overly competitive nature of law school, it can be tempting to try and tackle finals on your own, but having support teams with your fellow students is crucial for making finals and law school in general more manageable.

Support teams can help you study or just decompress after a long day in the library, if studying alone is more your speed. I found it beneficial to have a larger group to unwind with and to have just one “study buddy”.

Having different support systems allows you to build and foster relationships that you’ll be able to utilize throughout law school and after; my study partner and I stuck together through law school, the bar exam, and to this day still call each other to talk through complex issues. No matter what type of support system you have, it’s important to lean on your fellow peers—after all, they know better than anyone what you’re currently going through.

2. Develop a System, But Be Flexible

If there’s one thing I underestimated going into my first finals season as a 1L, it was the amount of thought I would need to put into how to study. It may sound silly to have to actively think about how to study at this advanced stage of education, but law school finals are a beast of their own. And while law schools may often provide helpful tips and suggestions, you have to figure out what system works best for you—which can involve trial and error.

And that’s why flexibility is the most important part of developing a study system that works for you. If something’s not working, change it. If a method works for one class but not another, that’s okay. As long as you find a way to retain the information and are able to apply it to an exam question, how you do it doesn’t matter. Practice questions can be a great way to gauge how your study efforts are going and whether you need to make changes.

3. Attend Review Sessions or Office Hours

Office hours and review sessions hosted by professors can be a great resource when studying—what better person to get information from than the one writing your exam? To make the most of these opportunities, be sure to attend the meeting prepared and armed with specific questions.

Even if you haven’t fully jumped into the material, attending review sessions and listening to questions from other students and insights from your professor is invaluable. Such a session can show you, for example, what areas you may need to focus on when you dive into studying.

4. Take Time for Yourself

It’s understandable to think that all you should do for the next few weeks is study, especially if an exam is 100% of your grade. However, setting aside time for yourself during finals is probably my most important tip.

Practicing self-care during finals can be as simple as eating a balanced meal, going for a walk or to the gym, or doing anything that allows you to disconnect from your materials for a little while and recharge. It’s tempting to fuel your body with too much caffeine and to skip sleep to study, especially the night before an exam, but I promise you will retain much more information and perform better after a good night’s sleep.

Setting boundaries for yourself now will be helpful later in your career, as the legal profession has one of the highest rates of burnout and substance abuse.

5. Remember, It’s Just a Test

Although finals have some importance—such as to your GPA and potentially your summer experience—it’s important to keep in mind that, at the end of the day, it’s just a test. This is likely your first time taking an exam of this caliber, so give it your best effort and take pride in that accomplishment.

And no matter how you feel after you take an exam, do yourself and everyone else a favor and don’t talk about it. Easier said than done, I know, but it’s best to just put it behind you—or you could end up like me and realize you missed an entire page of short-answer essay questions on your Torts final. Thankfully, I still passed, but save yourself from the stress and enjoy your winter break instead!

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