One of the hardest tricks for law students is to get back into a rhythm of working after a long layoff. That’s one reason students tend to take on a lot of extra activities. If you have a cite checking assignment or job search to work on over a break, you’re less likely to fall completely off the wagon.
But you need a break, and the semester is one of the best times to take on. But going from nothing to balls to the wall overnight is tough.
One theory is to start early and ease yourself back into law school work. That’s fine, but it assumes you had that plan a month ago and did things like pick-up your books, bring them home, and find time to get a little work done amid the holidays.
If you’re heading back to school today and didn’t have that plan, as so many students are, you probably spent Saturday and Sunday back at school trying to get started on the semester’s reading.
The biggest piece of advice I can offer over the next week is to not worry about falling behind. Your body and your mind will need some time to adjust to being back in work mode. If that means you can’t study for four hours straight like you can when you’re in mid-semester form, so be it. Do what you can and keep chugging along as best as possible without killing yourself.
Two caveats though. First, this is not a license to do nothing. You need to let go of the fear of falling a little behind. You do need to be making progress, not just to keep from falling too far behind in your reading, but also to actually start the process of finding your rhythm of studying again.
Second, you will eventually need to catch up. That means at some point, in the not-too-distant future, you will need to be studying more than usual. This is not a semester-long process. By the end of week two or three, you need to be back on track, because that’s typically when a professor is done with the very basics and moves onto the complicated stuff that you need to on top of.
So don’t sweat it if you don’t have your A-game the first day back. It’s natural to be a little rusty. Just do what you can, put some work in every day, and once it comes back to you, catch up and stay on track.
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This is so true. It’s like I forgot how to read after 3 weeks away. Assigned reading, once again, takes me most of the evening. I suppose all that television watching over the break caused my brain to atrophy.
It can get even worse when grades come out right around this time. Now some of those students who are trying to get back on the horse might see good grades and try to get away with less work.