Law School Midterms!

I’m not sure how your law school works, but mine is gracious enough to have midterms. It may seem odd being so grateful for another exam, but they can be great check-in points to make sure you’re understanding the material and applying it correctly!

Don’t Stress

My first tip with law school midterms, especially if yours are anything like mine, is not to stress. Law schools are notorious for putting most (if not all) of their emphasis on the final exam. Midterms are generally between 5-15% of your entire grade, with the remaining percentage coming from your final. So yes, midterms “matter,” but not in the way so many law students seem to think.

I don’t ever pull all nighters, and honestly rarely do any school past 7pm. And while I understand when people stay up all night to study in the week preceding a final exam. I do not understand when they extend this same regime to a midterm. Midterms are a a check point! Do you know the material? Can you apply it to a fact pattern? Whatever side you fall on, your professor is using this as an excuse to give you feedback to be successful on the final. I get it, everyone holds themselves to different expectations and study habits, but because this is my blog where I get to give advice, I will say that I do not recommend pulling your hair out over a law school midterm.

Take Advantage

In fear of contradicting myself, I think it’s also important to note that you should be taking advantage of any midterm your gifted to the fullest. I don’t want to say “treat it like it’s the final,” because I don’t want to give the wrong idea of also studying for it like a final, but I will say that when you’re in the physical act of taking a midterm, you should try to be setting the pace and mindset you hope to have during the final.

The midterm is also a great place to get an understanding of how your professor thinks. Sure, formatting might be different between the midterm and final, but you should be able to gauge what they expect you to pull out of the fact patterns. Which leads me to my next point: Take extra advantage of the feedback you get on your midterm. Analyze what you wrote vs. what your professor expected and try to generalize where you might have fell short of expectations so you don’t make the same mistake on the final.

All in all, if you’re one of the lucky law students who gets midterms, try to shift your mindset from dread to gratitude – you get a sneak peek into the mind of your professor and that’s a good thing! I know it feels like the stress of law school never ends, but I promise, if you take everything one step at a time and use everything as a learning opportunity, you’ll not only feel better, you’ll perform better.

Good luck on midterms!!!