First year of Law School- Part 4: Study Groups

Another mystery to the beginning first year law student is the study group. Everyone tells you how important they are, but you aren't really told what you are supposed to do with them, or even how to pick one. I did hear somewhere along the way that it was better if you weren't friends with people you study with, as you would get more done that way. I didn't know anyone in my class prior to school starting, so it didn't seem to matter one way or another to start with.

Different groups do different things. Some get together to discuss the cases. Some share briefing responsibilities. Others go over class material or take practice tests together. It's more a matter of figuring out what helps you to learn the material the best and for what activity you find a group helpful.

Somehow, I ended up in a group. It was a totally happenstance thing. The lady who kind of got us all together then dropped out of our group, and 4 of us were left together. There were plusses and minuses with our group. We decided early on to do joint outlines, in other words, we had one outline for each subject, that we all contributed to and then shared. The positive thing was that you got a lot of input on each topic, so if you didn't really understand one area or have much on it in your personal notes, you could benefit from others in the group who did. The problem with this was that all of us had different styles and preferences. At first, when we were still struggling with just trying to understand everything and get the whole law school thing, it wasn't so bad. But after awhile, our individual differences showed more and more. It wasn't so much a matter of people doing things that were "good" or "bad", but just differences of opinion. We got to a point where there was more effort being put out to try to accomodate all the differences than to studying and learning.

It became clear to me that the drama over all of this struggling was going to be detrimental to everyone in the group. It was going to be better for everyone not to try to continue in our group. Once it was decided, I actually felt much better going into finals. I don't have any issues with my former study group members, and think they are all brilliant people. It just seems that some combinations of people and their different styles don't work well together all the time, particularly in times of stress.

I suppose this experience has tainted my view of study groups somewhat. I think for the first year it was important to be in one to help digest all the learning. But, when you're thrown into a group not knowing anything about anyone in the group, it seems obvious that the chances you will work well together in the long run are small. I'm proud of my group that we did so well for so long. We did finish the first semester with all 4 of us ranked in the top 10 of the class. Together, I think we all lifted each other up.

I feel fortunate to have found another study partner that I think is a better complement to how I study and work. We had invited him to join our group after midterms, and I think having him as a part helped me to see things more clearly. In my opinion, studying with someone you consider a friend IS better, because it is more likely that you can be honest, be yourself, and getting along won't be an issue. Of course, you still need to find someone who learns in the same way you do, or at least one that will accomodate how you study. Finding that combination (friend and someone with similar study style) seems to be the ideal. At least that seems to be the opinion of this in-between-first-and-second-year-law-student.