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Farewell Legal Skills :-( April 27, 2005

Posted by atharkhan in : Law School , add a comment

Today was the last day of my Legal Skills class. I never thought I would say this, but I will miss the class. It took the most work, was worth the least number of credit hours, and had the most assignments but it was the only class that left us with tangible skills. I am now somewhat experienced in researching cases using both books and online resources such as westlaw.com and lexisnexis.com, writing legal memos and appellate briefs. I also had to stand in front of a real medical malpractice attorney and a District Attorney from Los Angeles and make oral arguments. That was undoubtedly the most fun experience of my legal career. I cant wait to get to real litigation…

Okay, I need to get back to my Criminal Law class so this is it for the blog for now.

T minus 16 Days, 20 Hours, 34 minutes and counting… April 23, 2005

Posted by atharkhan in : Law School , add a comment

Only 16 days and 20 hours before the first final exam. How do I know the time left so precisely? No, I did not do the math. I have a little countdown timer running on my computer.

This is what we (me and my colleagues in school) have been working towards all year. All of us have done a tremendous amount of work yet feel that we could have done more. These last few days, every minute of every day has been accounted for. Even the time I took out to write this post was scheduled. If I get hungry during non-scheduled hours, I almost feel angry and disappointed with my body. For some reason, the body tires before the mind does.

I remember the undergrad days in engineering school. Everyone had their own method of dealing with exam crunch-time. Caffeine pills, honey sticks, vitamin water, fruit-only diets, peanuts and water… pretty much every possible combination of caffeine, sugar and desperation.

There were other “secrets” that someone would share with you “because you are my friend.”Wear comfortable clothes to the exam, if your underwear is too tight, it can cause a headache. Dress in layers so if its too warm, you can take off a couple of layers and vice versa. Dont shave on the day of the exam, your skin will itch. The advice was plentiful and frankly mostly useless.

The things that worked best for me were:

1. Sleep
Sleep was highly under-rated in college. Perhaps it was because sleeping was analogous to being weak. Or, because no one had the time to. It still is the best thing during exam time. If you cant afford the recommended 8 hours, try sleeping in multiples of 3 hours. Yes, it has to do with the REM sleep cycle but even if it didnt, the fact that you are doing something specific and “scientific” will probably boost your ego. So try it.

2. Naps
No. This is different than sleep. Sleep is measured in hours. Naps on the other hand last minutes. Nap for no more than 17 minutes at a time. Again, this is REM sleep related. After 17 minutes, the brain goes into deep sleep. The kind that makes you hit the snooze button. So, stick with 17 minutes. And again, the fact that you are being so precise about it will probably do something for your confidence.

3. Drinking Water.
This one is so obvious that I wont waste your time with it.

4. Mommy!
Yes, the last thing that worked for me was talking to my mom. I know it makes me a mama’s boy and this probably was not the best forum for coming out of that closet but I dont really care. In the last few hours before an exam, if someone told me that rubbing shaving cream all over me and riding a donkey to the exam venue would guarantee me a decent grade, I probably would consider that too. Seriously, I always called my mom and asked her to say a prayer for me. She would say “Dont worry you will do fine” which I dismissed as typical “mommy talk” but secretly, it did help.

So there you have it. You can try the peanuts and the honey, you can get rest, drink lots of water and talk to your mom or whoever else you are close to.

Oh, heres an idea! How about you just go and study a little more like I am about to. I have an unexplained hunch that studying might help too.

Beautiful Day April 10, 2005

Posted by atharkhan in : Personal , add a comment

Its another beautiful day in sunny California.