The Most Terrible Time of the Year

For a law student, exam time is a horrific thing.

First, there’s the sheer volume of law that you’ve spent all semester learning. You must review it, delving into every nuance, and thoroughly comprehend each and every twist and turn.

Second, there’s the pressure. Your entire grade for the semester rests on your performance on this one exam. Nevermind if you came to every class fully prepared, participated meaningfully in every class discussion, and read all of the optional supplemental materials; that doesn’t matter a whit. All that matters is how you perform on that exam, and if you have a momentary lapse of reason, or your mind goes blank in the exam room, that’s it. You’re screwed.

Third, there’s the inherent unfairness of the grading system. Law professors aren’t free to assign grades based solely on the merits of each exam response. No, instead their grade distribution must align with the school’s grading curve mandate. That is, only so many As may be given, only so many Bs, only so many Cs, and so forth. Which means that the professors frequently end up making arbitrary distinctions between papers on the cusp of two grades (A- and B+ for instance) just to comply with the curve.

All of that, combined with the fact that all this studying amounts to a major time suck, makes for an unpleasant experience for law students in early December and early May.

I’ve lodged these exact same complaints before, though, so I won’t elaborate any further.

But it has begun once again for me, and I can’t help but whine just a little. Classes are over, and crunch time is now.

So it goes that my days are spent in my study, at my desk, diligently studying legal ethics, health care law, business enterprises, and trusts & estates. I refuse to become a study zombie, though, so I allow myself stretching breaks and dog-walking breaks, and I get up early and get to bed at a decent hour instead of working late into the night. (Since my exams are at all at 9am, I don’t want to fall into a night-owl routine during my study period.)

And although it's unpleasant, I will survive. I will pass all of my exams, even if I don’t come out at the top of the class. Best of all, I only have one more exam period to live through before this law school business is a thing of the past. (Although this is a mixed blessing, because after graduation I’ll have bigger exam worries, like passing the bar!)

In the meanwhile, though, I’m going offline. No facebook, no twitter, no blogging, and no internet stumbling. I shall endeavor to focus on my exams to the exclusion of such distractions. Wish me luck.