26 December 2008

Grades

Posted by Shake sense into me

Grades have not come out yet for me, but a few have for some in other sections that I know. I am fully expecting to get average grades, which sounds to those I tell that are not in law school like I am just being down on myself - but I know I am not.

From their perspective, they knew I was in the library constantly, especially at the end their. My roommate knows that I practically lived at the library and my cat probably forgot who I was for awhile there. I know that I read a lot of supplements, and I read every case assigned as well. I know that I outlined my ass off, made flashcards, bought flashcards, and studied with a few others when I felt it was necessary. What I also know is how many others were doing the same things to prepare as I was. And I also know that I left out, in all but one final, a key element or many key elements that were most likely necessary for an above average grade.

What I am not expecting is to receive a below average grade, because of all the preparation I did. However, it is difficult to say who in my section will fall below me on the curve - I might be able to name one name, but I am not even sure about that. At first, me and gossip girl tried to come up with names of people that we knew we would out perform, but when push came to shove and we really began cramming, we realized that was not the right thing to do - after all, any name we came up with, they were right there in the library with us, apparently studying their asses off too. There is no way to predict who will do better than who, the right attitude is to just focus on doing your own best.

In actuality, I think the lower grades are going to come down to those who missed an issue here an there, of course, and also those that didn't finish, those who only answered 2 of 4 questions, those who may have had catastrophic bad luck in computer failures or forgotten outlines on test day. And that, to me, is really sad. It seems to come down to luck over hard work, and if anyone does talk about their grades openly it will likely be annoying because soon everyone will discover that the ones they thought were not a threat, really were the whole time, and those that appeared and sounded ultra prepared in class and out of class, really were lost the whole time. But I don't think that is really the case, I really think what will separate the C-'s from the C's and the C's from the Bs, is luck. The exams is really where being OCD comes in handy, because even if you didn't do your reading as strictly as others for every class - if you have made sure your computer runs properly, and you remembered to bring more than one pencil, and you remember that the professor specifically asked you to organize your answer in a certain way, those things will help you. Those that forget...as smart as they are, aren't smart enough to remember.

I'm not saying it is all about those little things, you need to know your stuff and know it well, but the professor's aren't trying to trick you, at least it appears to me.

And I know I remembered a lot of the small stuff, but I just think it's those that forgot the small stuff, or had bad luck on test day, that will perform below average. I just hope I'm not one of them.

I guess I can predict my grades ... and I'm already at peace with what I think they will be (4 C's and B) so if they are better, fantastic, but if they are worse - oh, shit. I wouldn't advise anyone else to try and predict their grades like I have, but it's hard not to.

Good luck to all that have grades coming out soon. All I keep remembering is that they can't (I don't think) kick me out after only one semester...

16 December 2008

How...

Posted by Shake sense into me

How do you end something for good that's been practically ending for over two years, and no one is willing to admit it, or if they are, the other will not let it happen?

Never thought this situation would arise.

12 December 2008

Remember this?

Posted by Shake sense into me

This little gem.

Here it is, revisited, a semester under my belt:


Then Hair color: light brown
Now Hair Color: light brown. I guess a semester can't change my hair color!

Then Weight:
140 (I don't have a scale, but Jay does and I this was my weight last I checked over there)
Now Weight: Just weighed myself - 131. Stress induced for sure.

Then Relationship Status:
still in it to win it with Jay
Now Relationship Status: It is no more.

Then Fingernail length: pretty short since i bite them by habit
Now Fingenail length: I bet they are shorter now then they were.

Then Law school friend count: 2* [roommate + gossip girl; i am not counting neighbor because i dislike him]
Now Law school friend count: It's hard to count, to be honest. I feel like I have made at least 2 friends I will keep for a long time, one of those being gossip girl. I am friendly with just about everybody, so I guess I have about 15 "new" friends.


Then Favorite law school class: torts [it comes easiest]
Now Favorite law school class: Right now I hate them all! But Torts - the least hated.

Then Least favorite law school class: civil procedure [i don't get it yet, and i used to be a legal secretary]
Now Least favorite law school class: I am sticking with civ pro.

Then Time spent studying each day: about 7.5 hours [2pm until 11PM M-Th with about an hour and a half of goofing off time; this seems excessive as I know I don't get that much done in so much time. Sat/Sun are different since I am currently taking one of those days off and the other I will study more hours but I'll do more in between.]
Now Time spent studying each day: Well, since I'm done - none. During finals, pretty much 14 hours a day. But I will say I cut my studying down to about 4 hours a day from the 7.5. That was draining. On weekends I did about 8 hours a day, and sometimes took a day off.

Then Supplemental materials purchased: 11 - one E&E for each class (besides legal writing), one hornbook for each, and then I have a canned brief book for civ pro, and a random outline book for contracts. I also have Getting to Maybe, and I've read about half of it. I should probably continue reading it....which brings me to my next question:
Now Supplemental materials purchased: the only thing I have to add are those Law in a Flash cards. Those are great! Oh and Barbri first year prep book.

Then Read Getting to Maybe?: See above.
Now Read Getting to Maybe: Well, never finished.

Then Bar Reviews attended: 0 [there has not been one yet]
Now Bar Reviews attended: I went to all but one. I think there were only 3 though. Hah!

Then Drinks had with classmates: 1 [i don't even know if this counts as it was before orientation week even started..]
Now Drinks had with classmates: too many to count, almost consistently every weekend with a couple exceptions.

Then Therapeutic shopping trips: 1 [i only count clothing shopping in this since that is what i generally do when i'm upset]
Now Therapeutic shopping trips: Oh. So. Many. Again, too many to count. But I haven't been in over a month because I'm too poor.

Then How many times I've cried after class: 1
Now How many times I've cried after class: This question was meant to say how many times class made me cry - other things have made me cry, a lot. But class...still just that one time. You get used to being embarrassed after awhile, and people tend to let it go.


Well, I'm done with my finals. Now onto a month full of family fun and trying to find myself again. I definitely feel like I am a different person now, and it sucks, because I was happy with who I was. Hopefully happiness can be had again.

06 December 2008

How do you hang in there?

Posted by Shake sense into me

It is terrifying to think that over 40% of my classmates will get Cs or worse.

And it is even more frightening to think that I could be one of them.

Yikes.

03 December 2008

Memo to classmates

Posted by Shake sense into me

PLEASE STOP TELLING ME YOU THOUGHT THAT FINAL WAS EASY.

xoxo,

somebody

02 December 2008

Um, regressing back to high school...

Posted by Shake sense into me

So, after college, I used to be very hip to cool music. Stuff that my friends liked, jazz, some classical, and even super hip indie rock.

Well, guess what folks, the most exciting part of my day today was realizing that I pre-ordered Britney Spears new CD and it was coming in via i-Tunes.

Wow.

Law School Side Effects: You may experience frequent headaches, nausea, hang-overs, poor decisions on bed buddies, and you may start to like boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and girl pop like Britney Spears. Please seek therapy if you experience multiple side effects at once, it may be the sign of a greater condition, such as bi-polar disorder.

I think the blank could be filled in for any class...how am I supposed to prepare for the rest of finals with that shitty experience behind me? I feel so defeated.

I feel really shitty after that one. Yuck. I ran out of time, didn't get to spell check, I don't feel like I wrote enough...and it was on something I didn't expect.

I am just hoping that somebody did worse than I did. There are a few over confident people that thought they nailed it, and then mostly people like me feel completely terrible about it.

Yikes. This is awful.

Good news...I'm mending my personal life back together. And that's the best thing ever.