How to Create a Law School Final Exam Study Schedule

The holidays are around the corner, and the semester is wrapping up—but the pressure of final exams is likely building.

What you need is a straightforward, stress-free study schedule. Let’s simplify this together.

Start with a list of tasks you need to finish:

1. Wrap up reading, briefing, and outlining every class topic for each class.
2. Finish creating your topic approaches for every class (some call these "pre-writes"—think of them as guides for how you'll write each class topic on the final. It doesnt matter if you create a graph, flowchart, or write it on a napkin.  What matters is that when you memorize it, you there is no question about how you'll write the topic on the final, complete with headings, sub-headings, umbrella rules, etc.). 
3. Write practice hypos/essays for every topic in each class.
4. Complete practice MBE sets for every topic in each class.

Now that you’ve got your task list, let’s set up your finals schedule:

1. Mark your exam dates on the calendar.
2. Mark your last class of the semester and set a deadline for the completion of your outlining, reading and briefing of each topic in every class (be specific--decide if you need one, two or three days per class to finish the work).  
3. Decide when your topic approaches will be complete for each class.  
4. Count the days from when you finish your topic approaches to your first exam. 

Now, get tactical:

Let's say you have 12 days from the date you complete your topic approaches to your first final.  

• Allocate 3 days (of the 12) to memorize topic approaches per class.
  

  • If you have 9 topic approaches in a class, try memorizing three topics each day over three days—nice and balanced.

  • For a class with 5 topic approaches, you could memorize two each on the first and second days, saving the hardest one for the final day.

• On each day after you memorize the topics you allocated, review or write 1-3 practice hypos and MBE sets to cement what you've learned.
• Start with your hardest class, then the easiest, then the next hardest—give your brain some variety!

If you have breaks between finals, use that time to refresh your memorization for each class just before its final.  And, by all means, if you feel like you can’t spend an entire day focusing on just one class, feel free to split it up!  With a clear plan for each day, you can exhale.

The only thing left is execution. You can do anything for four weeks!

Here's a sample study schedule for four classes:

When motivation dips, ask yourself: “In four weeks, will I regret not giving this my all?”

I think you know the answer to that one, smile.  Get after it, law students!