9 Hours Til Contracts…

… and I have lost all ability to even care anymore.

I have not studied enough for this final at all.  I never should have listened to people talk about how arbitrary my professor’s grading is, because now I have in my head, “well, what’s the point anyway?”

I have a basic understanding of the concepts of the course and a loose grasp on the little (but important) rules. I just drew an awesome flow chart for my analysis on any exam essay she hands out.

Now I guess my only option is to head to bed where I can snuggle up with my CrunchTime capsule summary and try to cram enough information into my brain to get a C (or an A.  A girl can dream!)

So Tired…

Okay, not physically because I’ve been getting enough sleep.

But brain-tired.  I can’t think anymore! I need finals to end, now!

 

Final #1 Down!

I had Civ Pro this morning at 9AM.  It was open book, open note.  The only restriction was that we couldn’t use a supplement. I’m pretty sure I used my outline as a crutch, but whatever – I liked having it (All 22 pages of it!)

I didn’t finish though.  I did the multiple choice first and then went to work on the essay.  I made sure to give myself more than the time he had suggested for it, but it didn’t help.  We had to analyze 6 issues and as I wrapped up the first one, I looked at the clock and saw I had only 40 minutes left.  I had spent 20 minutes on the first issue – so by my math, I needed about 120 minutes for the entire essay. No such luck!  I quickly typed in my best effort at an outline for every issue, and used to remaining 30 minutes to type out the paragraphs.

So when he grades my exam, he’ll get 35 decently answered multiple choice Qs. Then a 4 paragraph explanation of personal jurisdiction as it related to my fact pattern, followed by a 2 paragraph explanation of venue, then a 3 sentence talk on insufficiency of service, and so on until we have a bulleted outline of the last issue… It was pitiful

But most people said they had the same problem. So… I’m moving on. Property next!

Where Did This Semester Go?

So, today at about 11:30AM my Civil Procedure professor asked “So, any more questions?” and no one said anything so he released us.  And just like that, I shut-down my computer and walked out of the last regular class of my first semester of law school.

It’s insane to look back at my semester because it just feels like it was SO SHORT.  This has been a good semester – there’s a lot I regret, but also a lot I’m proud of.

– I can count the number of classes I’ve missed on one hand (no more, no less.  I’ve missed 3 Contracts classes, 1 Civ Pro, and 1 Property)

– I can count the number of times I’ve eaten out (and paid for it) on one hand

– I regularly completed assignments before the due date

– The ones I didn’t finish before they were due were still all at least 80% complete before the due date

– I got the equivalent of an A on two of my midterms! (but also the equivalent of a C on two…)

– I am cognizant that I’m making this list to avoid more studying/outlining and am thus going to stop

 

All-in-all, pretty successful semester.

Now I get to go absolutely insane preparing for finals and praying I do well.  Wish me luck!

Procrastination

I’m still the queen of it.

 

And I kind of hate myself for it right now.  I’m currently trying to work on my Research project.  I’m not sure why I think I’m some sort of special snowflake, but when some of my classmates told me it took them forever to answer the first question, I decided in my head that it would take me less time… Yeah, that makes sense when it takes me hours to complete short essays… So I spent from around 10 pm til 3 am today working on my project and got about 3 questions done.

 

In other news, 18 days until my finals are over… Yay!

And, 9 day until my finals start… YIKES!

Thanksgiving “Break”

Any law student knows that Thanksgiving break is no break.  It’s just extra time to study and prep for finals.  After break ends, I have one more week of classes and then it’s finals.  That is terrifying to me, but…

I came home for Thanksgiving.  Last weekend, I hit a wall. I literally sat down and cried because I couldn’t do any more.  So you know what, when I left to come back and visit family, I put one book in my bag, and I don’t plan on actually reading it.

The trade-off:

Tomorrow, when my family drives up to my aunt’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, I’m driving separately.  I’m leaving from her house and driving back Thanksgiving night… I don’t know if I can do it. It’s going to be horrible… But I’ve had over a day now to pretend I’m a normal person.  I slept in, went Thanksgiving food shopping, watched a ton of TV, and didn’t even touch a book.  So I should be prepared to work come tomorrow night/Friday

Free Stuff

Since I’ve started law school, I’ve gone out to eat approximately 4-5 times (which I’m super proud of – saving money!)

I’ve gotten free dessert during 2 of those times.

Today, I took my dog to the vet and got a free nail clipping for her. Score!

 

I’m not sure if there is a correlation between me being in law school and my sudden good luck, but it’s fantastic!  I’m absolutely loving it.  I hope it doesn’t stop.

 

Updates on my life otherwise:

– Turned in my 14-page memo.  I’m not entirely proud of it, but I’m glad to be done with it.  One more short E-memo (10 sentences or less; research already done) and I’m done with Writing for the semester

– Just got my Final Project for Research. Before today, I had figured I’d set aside about 3-5 hours for it;  now that I’ve seen it, I’ll be spending a couple of days on it easily.

– I can’t wait until Thanksgiving break.  I’m going home and NOT taking any homework with me.  But that’s coming at a price – I’m coming back here after Thanksgiving dinner… So I’ll only be home for about a day or two.

– My Civ Pro midterm still isn’t graded.  I really want that grade, but I’m not surprise.  It was due later than I had my other midterms AND mine was about 12 pages (which was about an average length from what I’ve heard).

Just Got My Third Midterm Back

It’s another hit to my confidence.

Torts clearly set me up to believe that I was going to do well in law school.  Writing somewhat affirmed this belief.  Contract punched me in the gut, but I recovered.  Now Property has come through and punched me in the gut again

Here’s the low down:

Highest score: 50

Average: around a 25

Anything below a 10 was in the “danger zone”

I got a 22

 

That’s not a bad score… Not really.  I’m just having trouble dealing with average.  I don’t like it at all.  I understand what happened and why I got my score; I guess that’s something…

 

 

Dear God, It’s November Already?!

I knew November was coming.  I promise I did.

What I didn’t realize was how close some of my deadlines were!

Finals are starting to feel closer too….

 

So I’m introducing my “finals” tag and getting off here to do homework…

You Win Contracts… You Win

Well, I got my Contracts midterm back.

The highest score was a 35.  The average score was a 19.

 

I got a 16.

 

I had to drive back to campus to get my score after my grandparents left.  When I arrived, I ran into one of my classmates.  We did the casual heys and she asked what I was heading back in for.  I told her I was going to get my Contracts score and she immediately told me that she thought she had done well, until she saw her score.  This made me nervous, but still, I thought I would get at least average…

So I rode the elevator up to the fifth floor, pacing the entire way (It’s a surprisingly long elevator ride, especially when it’s practically a death march).  When I got to the fifth floor, I walked into the office suite and approached the receptionist. “Do I get my Contracts score from you?” — “Yes, I just need your exam number.”  — “#”  As she pulled mine out of the pile, she grabbed a highlighter to circle my score and record it in her chart.  I saw it as she lowered the highlighter point and let out an involuntary “oh.”  I could have cried right then and there, but instead I decided to sit down on the couch and see what comments were written. On the cover sheet, she had written: “Basic understanding. Need to develop analysis. Let’s Discuss.”  Inside, she had used highlighter to draw big question marks over whole paragraphs.  I looked at it for about one minute and stood up and handed my papers back to the receptionist, thanking her before hurrying out the door.  I didn’t cry, and still haven’t, but I did go sit in a bathroom stall staring dejectedly at the door waiting to cry.  I’m just glad it’s only midterms.  I still have a chance to pick up my grades.  And you can bet money that I’ll be visiting her and finding out exactly what I did wrong.

 

On a lighter note, I also got back my memo for writing.  I got an 88, which I’m not thrilled about, but it was the highest score of the 7 of us who gathered to discuss outside the office where we picked those up.