What’s Your Law School Personality?
Are you The Gunner, The ‘Common Law’ Student or The Slacker? Take our Law School Personality Quiz to find out how you’ll match up against your 1L competition.
Who Is The Common Law Student?
The Common Law Student possesses all of the characteristics needed to earn a spot on Law Review: intellectual curiosity, mental acuity, and a strong work ethic.
These attributes separated them from their undergraduate classmates, helped them devote the countless hours needed to master the LSAT, and earned them an acceptance into a competitive law school.
Unafraid of hard work, and having already enjoyed academic success throughout most of their lives, Common Law Students are optimistic and walk into law school fully expecting to receive straight A’s, academic honors, and multiple offers from BigLaw summer associate programs.
In terms of effort, Common Law Students are fully prepared to put in the hours it takes.
Having Gunner-ish tendencies they probably spend just as much (if not more!) time as top law students reading and briefing their cases and creating their course outlines.
However, when grades are released these students are disappointed to learn that they are, in fact, just Common. Average.
The Common Law Student’s Strengths
Common Law Students walk into law school having done all their research about the experience. They understand the importance of 1L grades and are determined to make the most of the experience.
The Common Law Student’s biggest strength is their work ethic and a genuine desire to excel – you can almost hear their collective mantra buzzing throughout the library: “I refuse to be outworked.”
The Common Law Student’s Weaknesses
Despite all their research, Common Law Students likely neglected to plan for one thing – they failed to walk into 1L with a solid game plan for success.
While understanding the importance of strong academic performance during the first year, they incorrectly assumed that the study and testing skills they used in undergrad would also apply in law school. They don’t.
When their misstep becomes obvious — usually sometime around mid-October — Common Law Students begin flailing about and trying different methods for learning and absorbing the dense material.
Some rely on methods recommended by upperclassmen, some from professors, and others on suggestions from family and friends.
Given the importance of 1L grades, this trial-and-error approach to law school is a seriously flawed strategy. Mathematically, it’s a law students’ first semester grades that will likely determine their overall first-year class ranking.
It bears repeating: the Common Law Students’ desire to find the “right” approach – or to work their butts off once they do – is not in question. In the beginning, Common Law Students are serious about law school and never expect to end up in the bottom 90% of the class.
Once they receive disappointing fall semester grades, many Common Law Students adopt a false narrative of their law school experience: that despite all their hard work, they simply aren’t among the few who are genetically predisposed to being on Law Review.
This narrative incorrectly assumes that “working hard” is the same thing as “working smart.” It is not.
Had they simply begun law school with a firm understanding of the law school pedagogy and, most importantly, with skills and strategies needed master 1L, Common Law Students would likely have a different perspective come the 1L Spring semester.
Law Preview (A.K.A, The Common Law Student’s Best Friend)
At Law Preview, we have one goal: to teach incoming 1L students the skills they need to get to the top before their first day of law school. That means starting your 1L year with a game plan for success that includes a working knowledge of the legal theories that repeat in each course, as well as the study and exam-taking skills needed to truly excel.
Here’s what you’ll learn by taking Law Preview:
- An overview of core 1L material (torts, contracts, criminal law, property, and more)
- Case briefing and case law analysis
- Proven exam-writing strategies
- How to take winning notes in law school and create outstanding outlines
- Academic success skills like time management, research techniques and more
- Legal writing, research, and oral argument
So, what are you waiting for? Don’t be a Common Law Student! Save $100 on Law Preview Courses with code: PQUIZ100.
