Tips for Balancing Health and Study During Exams

I don't believe in studying for the bar exam 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. Yes, it's what your law school recommended. And what you see your friends doing. But I learned the hard way that it doesn't work. It leaves you feeling burned out, miserable, anxious, and overwhelmed. It wasn't until I took care of myself during bar prep that I finally passed. 12-14 hours a day of bar prep means you aren't using your time efficiently. You may be coping with the long hours by... Taking naps Scrolling on social media Obsessively cleaning your space Binge-watching shows on Netflix Texting/calling your family and friends Extra trips to the bathroom and kitchen Research shows humans can only focus 4 to 5 hours daily, not all at once. On a good day, you may even get 6. So instead of "studying" for 12-14 hours a day... ...decide to spend fewer hours in DEEP FOCUS. ✅ This frees up your time to engage in activities that will re-energize you, such as... yoga prayer exercise journaling meditation breathwork When you feel energized, you'll be less likely to procrastinate and more likely to study day after day. So, can you pass the bar exam by burning yourself out in the process? Absolutely. But do you really want to? There's a better way. 🌟

When I was looking for summer 2024 internships in the fall 2023 semester, I kept myself busy for 13+ hours on many if not most days. While it's controversial as to whether or not that's healthy and sustainable over a long period of time, I've adopted some techniques over time that enable me to study over prolonged periods of time and that YOU can hopefully use too! ✅ Good rest and good night sleep. I can't stress this enough. Make sure you're hitting the 7-8 hour mark. When we're not well rested, it's hard to keep our concentration levels up and remain focused throughout the day on our work. This will negatively affect our productivity. ✅ Take breaks in between. DON'T forget meals such as lunch and dinner, and after every 45-60 minute intervals, take a 15 minute break. Whether it's going out for a walk or grabbing a snack, breaks replenish your energy and charge your battery to enable you to return to your work in a more energized manner. ✅ Eliminate distractions. Is your phone buzzing after every text notification? Do you find yourself scrolling through TikTok a little too much at times? Turn notifications off, put it on Don't Disturb Mode, and try to limit your time on social media during your busy hours. Nowadays, you can manage your time spent on such apps by enabling settings to remind you when your screen time has elapsed. Moreover, if you can, put your mobile device in an area out of your sight, perhaps in a different room. ✅ Find a quiet place. Whether it's your own room. library, or cafe, make sure that you're in an appropriate spot to study. Try to avoid areas packed with people, like a food court. I find that many people use headphones or earbuds to block out background noise. Perhaps this technique could work for you! ✅ Try not to get caught up in conversations in between. Now and then, does a friend or coworker come by to say hi and you guys end up chatting for a bit? In such situations, it may not hurt to say something like "I'm sorry, but I'm a little busy right now. Could we talk later." This shows the other party that although you would love to keep catching, you need to focus on studying or working. ✅ Draft your to-do list the night before. Without a clear routine or goal in mind, we may find it hard sometimes to keep ourselves motivated for prolonged periods of time. Thus, the day before, ostensibly before going to bed, draft out your to-do list for the next day and block out respective times for meetings, classes, events, etc. ~Kevin

How to maybe handle, time management in law school. I say maybe, because I learned first hand that sometimes what you have planned for your day or even week does not always come into fruition. I am a somewhat non-traditional student that is also a mother to a 3 year old boy on the autism spectrum. Some of what I say may not apply to you as much as it did me. Some of this is also probably fairly universal. Here are a few things I learned along the way: 1. Not having a plan doesn't work, I may have tried this at first. 2. Being so committed to your plan that you cannot shift focus when something changes also doesn't work. This was also learned from experience. 3. A combination of having a plan and being able to have a small amount of wiggle room to accommodate unexpected challenges works. 4. The first thing I did, when I realized not having a plan wasn't working, was utilize my Google calendar by adding all of my classes, their times and their locations. There are many other time management applications, I just prefer Google. 5. I then structured reading around and in my breaks. I tried to not read ahead more than a day or two for classes. Retaining anything beyond that did not work for me in class. 6. Depending on your own body clock either utilize your mornings or evenings. Trying to work in both the mornings and evenings did not work for me. I needed one or the other to relax my brain for a bit. 7. I suggest figuring out what works best as far as developing a study schedule. Many students outline, I realized creating mind maps works better for me. Once you know what works best with your learning style, decide the best times to focus on it. Some students find it helpful to complete a part of their outline once a major topic in the class has been covered. I found it more useful to pick one day a weekend to focus on synthesizing information. 8. Schedule time to get some sort of physical activity and stick with it more than anything else in your schedule. I know this seems silly, but trust me it is easy to feel like you don't have time for this. It will actually help you study. 9. Set aside a couple hours a week to practice essay questions. Ask your professor if they would be willing to provide feedback on a couple of them. Not all of them will, but the ones who do give you an amazing insight into what they are looking for on your exam. 10. Plan your meals, I cannot stress this enough. If you have the ability to prep on the weekend for the whole week and then freeze leftovers to reheat, I would do that. It is so easy to become dependent on fast food in law school. I am speaking from experience. 11. Be prepared for something to come along and completely wreck your plans. If/when this does happen just pick up right where you left off. Let me know if I am missing anything in the comments. Or if there is anything else you are wondering how to manage. #1Ls #LawStudents #LawSchool