First-Year Law Students Must Budget Time Wisely

While the first year of high school is a serious time of adaption, leading to that exciting first year of college, upon entering the first year of law school, law students are taking their education—and the challenge level—to an exponentially higher degree. You will be reading voluminous amounts of material related to legal cases and coursework, and you will be expected to retain more information than ever before. Along with that, you must also devote even more time to your studies than ever before; in fact, if you’ve ever had a rigorous job where you worked overtime too, expect that to be similar to the amount of time you will need to put into law school, whether conventional or online at an online law school like California Desert Trial Academy College of Law.

The great thing about attending an online law school like CDTA is that you will still be expected to do a challenging amount of work, but you can also cut out a lot of unnecessary time spent on tasks that are not directly related to law school studying and coursework. You will not have to commute to a campus, or spend gas daily or worry about putting wear and tear on your vehicle, except Saturday Enrichment classes (meant to strengthen your writing skills further) or other resources you may want to attend.

 
With all the benefits above, much of your time will be freed up, but because there will be so little extra hours in each day—put those additional moments into creating and enjoying good study habits. Set your foundation by creating an attractive, comfortable place to study. You will be spending a lot of time in this space, so it is recommended that you splurge a little extra on a comfortable chair, nice desk setup, and extra shelves or drawers to stay organized.

Understand what is expected of you when it comes to reading assignments. Get in the groove of outlining your courses, taking copious but effective notes, and briefing your cases. There will not be much time for distraction, so although it may not be easy, you may need to sit down with your family—especially if you will be learning from home—and let them know that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, and there is great reward for going to law school, but as the first semester commences, you will need substantial amounts of quiet time. You may not be able to attend as many social events as you did previously, although it is still very important to try to strike a school, life balance.

Make schedules, set reminders, and keep a to-do list constantly running for your day. Make it a challenge to see if you can do everything, and enjoying meeting those goals, but keep in mind that you should not put undue pressure on yourself with an unrealistic structure. You may also need help with doing things like housework, grocery shopping, and more, whenever possible. The year may run much smoother too with consuming appointments, and issues like car maintenance or children’s yearly physicals handled the summer before.

Are you interested in becoming a skilled lawyer and negotiator? Our mission at CDTA College of Law is to educate, train, and develop extraordinary legal advocates. Your legal education will be comprised of bar-tested academic subjects, skills training, and values reinforcement. Upon completion of your 4-year course of study, you will be fully qualified to take and pass the California Bar examination. Call us today at (760) 342-0900 or find out more online here.