Not up to you

I have never really had a proper method of revision. I have read several books on the subject. Most notably How to Pass Exams by Dominic O'Brien, How to Get a Good Degree by Phil Race and The Insiders Guide to Getting a First (or avoiding a third) by Mark Black.   All very good but none of them really revelatory and none of them with a magic chapter that made me want to sit down and revise. My problem has always been the sitting down and revising bit. My inability to think long term meant that in my head the exams were always a civilisation away and even when it became perilously close to there being no revision time left I would usually get by on a night of cramming and a handful of cases burned into my brain. I say usually get by because every now and then this would be a disaster and my punishment would be re-sitting Tort instead of sitting in a field at at a Festival. I would vow that this would never be allowed to happen again and I would become the most able and prepared law student ever...but I never did and the exact same thing would happen next time. The same applied to coursework. This was all done in 2 days. 3 days max and I would tell myself that this is how it should be. Good practice for quick turnaround times at the Bar?

Even with my haphazard methods I graduated with a 2:1. I suspect this is more to do with the fact that I did attend most lectures and tutorials because I reasoned that I was paying for them and it was important to get the gist of a subject. I read class notes and made notes in the margins. I came away with about 4 and half grands worth of degree. I was lucky and a generation before me were even luckier. Now with a degree costing up to £44 million pa and your first born child it is, to me, unthinkable for a student to fail and to not turn up for lectures and tutorials for that price seems barmy.

These days necessity dictates that  I can no longer leave things until the last minute and failing to plan is planning to fail. I had a lot of fun at uni and some of my contemporaries had nothing but fun and paid a heavy price for it.

It is important to have some kind of system. Whatever works for you, but whatever happens the work must be done and you must pass the exams. Law is a monstrously competitive subject and exams must be passed and passed well.