VARK

VARK is a questionnaire that provides students with a profile of their learning style and preferences. These preferences are about the ways a person wants to take-in and give-out information. A learning style influences how you understand and process information best. Here at ASP we recomend determing your learning style and tailoring your study habits to your learning preferces.

To determine your learning style fill out the questionnaire here:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Based on your learning preferance, here are some law school tips from ASP!

Visual Learners:

Visual learners could also be described as Graphic learners. They prefer diagrams, charts, graphs, flowcharts, etc. Visual does not include videos or powerpoint.

• Create flowcharts
• Use highlighting, circling,
  boxing, and underlying as visual cues for briefs, notes and exams
• Place emphasis on determining what visual aid best works for you, i.e. thought bubbles, charts, graphs, etc and implement throughout study process

Auditory Learners:

Auditory Learners prefer information that is heard or spoken. They learn best from lectures, tutorials, and tapes, discussing the material and talking things through.

• Place emphasis on listening in class vs. writing down everything said during class
• Talk with classmates after class about what you learned
• Purchase/use review cds and tapes
• Participate in class discussion

Read/Write Learners:

Read/Write learners have a preference for information displayed as words. They prefer text-based input and output, reading and writing in all forms.

• Place emphasis on writing notes prior to class and during class
• Create checklists for subjects
• Learns well from powerpoints
• Focus on words and their meaning

Kinesthetic Learners:

The perceptual preference related to the use of experience and practice (real or simulated).

• Create and engage in hypotheticals
• Find the connection to reality
• Include lots of examples in notes and outlines
• Put yourself in the shoes of the student who the Professor is speaking to.
• Participate in class discussion, request more examples or practical application in-class

Information for this blog posting adapted in part from the VARK website.

Welcome Guest Blogger Kristi McCart

Law school is a process.  Many people struggle through the first year and that's normal.  That's what's expected--it's kind of the entire point of 1L year.  The best analogy I can think of is it's like you are learning to swim and your swim instructor throws you in the deep end and just tells you to swim.  You're expected to figure out how to do it yourself--with an occasional guiding hand provided by your professors and ASP.  2L Kristi McCart describes the moment when she figured out how she needed to approach law school to be successful:

 Law School Doesn't Click for Everyone.

A few fortunate students understand law school and how to take tests the first day of classes. A couple more students understand after their first or second round of exams. After a full-year of classes, some students still cannot grasp the concept of law school and how to succeed.  I found myself in this group.  While I got mediocre exam scores, I felt unprepared for most exams.

I did not get my "Ah-ha!" moment until two weeks into my second year of law school.  It was not until Professor Homer and the ASP Grad Fellows gave my Legal Methods class a learning test called VARK. VARK provides students with detailed learning approaches based on their specifc learning type.  For the longest time, I thought I learned best visually; if it was written on the board or put in front on me, I would retain it.  Based on VARK, I found I am a kinesthetic learner, meaning I learn best by doing: working through hypos and applying rule statements and issues to real-life problems.  This discovery of my learning type made a world of difference. 

This second year, I better allocated my time from memorizing outlines to doing practice exams for each professor.  Instead of waiting to do outlines one week before exams, I had outlines completed in advanced so I could focus on answering multiple hypos and re-writing practice exams.  Because these approaches were better suited for my learning style, I was able to study more effectively and efficiently.

Once a student knows how to study, they can start focusing on how to produce an "A" exam.   During the first year, the Legal Writing professors constantly tell students, "When conducting your analysis, always state the legally significant facts plus why."  Well, this sounds simple enough.  In reality, it is simple once you master the skill, but it is difficult to master the skill when the only time it is practiced is on exams.  Legal Methods provided a judgement-free, grade-free environment to perfect these skills.  I found it was a lot easier to make mistakes during the learning process when my entire semester grade was not at stake.

All in all, do not feel ashamed if your first year grades are not above-average.  There is still time to do a self-assessment and find which approaches lead to your most effective and efficient studying. Contact the staff ASP and take advantage of the resources available now.  You'll thank them in the end.  Good luck in your law school endeavors. 

 Thank you Kristi!  The improvements you've made and your ability to self-assess is amazing!

Guest Blogger!

 ASP is happy to welcome a few guest bloggers for the next few posts!  These guest bloggers will be current students which should give you greater incite to the ASP experience. 

Many first and second year students are reluctant to ask for help--and that's okay.  You probably went to law school because you have a strong Type-A personality; and your strong sense of self led you to believe that your personal study methods were and will always be fine and dandy.  Many students, even after a semester or two of dissatisfaction with grades, are STILL reluctant to ask for help.  This is why first years are encouraged to come to ASP from the get-go.  This is also why students are encouraged (or sometimes required) to take Legal Methods I, a course designed to improve the law school skills we know you have.  If you did not have those skills, you would not have been admitted.  ASP is here to help you develop those skills.  Here is Guest Blogger Erin Langdorf-McKinley's take on her experience with ASP and Legal Methods I:

I have to say that at first, I was not thrilled to be in Legal Methods I. I figured I would just go and listen to what they have to say, but not try. I thought I did everything first year fine and they couldn’t help me. I was wrong. The extra practice of writing essays and taking multiple choice tests did help. The feedback on each essay told me something new and showed me where I needed to work harder. I learned that I needed to take it slower on MC and read the call of the question first and read every answer choice before I picked one.

I also changed the way I studied. First year, I did the majority of outlining during the couple days leading up to finals. I also studied in a study group of four the whole time; I studied from 9am to 10pm for three weeks straight. This method, I found out, was not helpful. I liked the study group aspect, but by the end of finals, I was wiped.

During this last set of finals, I had finished all of my outlines a week before finals started. Instead of cramming long days for the whole time, I worked until about 5pm and then headed home, watched some of my television shows, went out a little, went to the gym. I didn’t stop my life for finals. Instead of a group of people, I studied with one person and did more practice exams. I felt a lot less stressed and more relaxed going in.

Before Legal Methods I was happy with a 2.7 or 2.8 in a class. After Legal Methods I, my GPA for Fall 2011 went up significantly and my CGPA went up as well. I know that at first, some people (including myself) might be hurt or upset to be in Legal Methods I, but don’t fight it. It helps and the professors know what they are talking about.

A special thank you to Erin for her candid account of her experience and her amazing ability to improve her GPA and legal skills overall!

ASP Spring 2012 Office Hours

Prof. Homer
jhomer@law.whittier.edu
MONDAY: 9:00am-11:00am & 2:00pm-5:00p
TUESDAY: 9:00am-12:00pm
THURSDAY: 9:00am-11:00am & 2:00pm-5:00pm

Prof. Dombrow
kdombrow@law.whittier.edu
MONDAY: 10:00am-11:00am & 2:00pm-6:00pm (in the library)
TUESDAY: 9:00am-12:00pm
THURSDAY: 9:00am-11:00pm & 2:00pm-5:00pm

Prof. Gutterud
hgutterud@law.whittier.edu
MONDAY: 8:00am-11:00am & 2:00pm-4:00pm
TUESDAY: 9:00am-12:00pm
THURSDAY: 10:00am-11:00am & 2:00pm-6:00pm (in library)

Ohhhhhhhh Back To School

Ohhhhhhhhh

Back to school

Back to school

To prove to dad that I'm not a fool,

I've got my lunch packed up,

My boots tied tight

I hope I don't get in a fight,

Ohhhhh

Back to school

Back to school

Back to school...

-The immortal wisdom of Adam Sandler's "Billy Madison"

Hopefully you don't judge ASP's taste in movies, however this song is particularly apt for the second semester "Back to School" time.  You've likely done more relaxing and sleeping in than you ever have during a vacation for sheer need to catch up on the rest you lost during first semester.  The hope was that you'd be reinvigorated and ready to take on second semester.  The reality, honestly, is you're probably not even close to reinvigorated.  You're anxious because not all of your grades are in, you're tired because you procrastinated on doing your winter reading and had to stay up late to catch up, and you're frustrated because no one (except your classmates) seems to understand the stress you're under.  THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL!  So how do you deal with this?  Just like we discussed in Workshop #3 last semester, now is the time to assess your study plan from last semester and make a new schedule for yourself:

• Go buy a 2012 calendar to create your study schedule
• Add your classes
• Add in "me" time
• when you work-out, sleep-in, hang out with friends, etc.
• When you get your syllabi add-in when major assignments are due, and continue adding reading assignments
• Add goals for when you want to start outlining

Preparing a schedule for yourself sounds like a tedious task, especially when you consider the above list of things to add to it.  However, keep perspective: YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THIS ONCE!  You have an entire semester under your belt already so this is old hat.  Now is the time to realize you've made it this far so you know you can do it! Were you a little tired sometimes?--Of course.  Were you stressed out a lot?--Yeah.  But at the end of the semester you sat for your exams and you came out of them alive and well in the end.  So now is the time to think about what you can do to make things a little more manageable, make life a little more enjoyable during second semester: did you take the semester off from working out and during break realize you really missed it? Did you not allow yourself to EVER sleep in and crash toward the end of the semester?  Did you miss occasionally hanging out with family or friends?  If so, it's time to include that in your "me" time because you're in law school for YOU.  That means you should understand that yes, law school is difficult, but not so difficult that all happiness and enjoyment in life should be sacrificed.

Make this semester an enjoyable one for you outside of school and you might enjoy law school that much more too.

Dun Dun Dun! Checking for Grades

I know it seems premature to think about but before you know it grades will be posted.  Inevitably, one of your classmates on Facebook, via text, or via email will announce when a new grade has been posted.  If you don’t want to know your grades until they ALL have been posted be sure to steer clear of social media until January.  If you MUST know your grades immediately then you will get the announcement and check your grade straightaway. 

So, how do you check for grades?

1)      Log on to my.whittier

2)      Click on the “my info” tab

3)      Click on the link for “Academic Transcript”

4)      Hit Submit

Somewhere between Step 3 and Step 4 you will feel a slight hesitation or a nervous pang in the bottom of your stomach: This is it.  This is the moment you find out just how much your hard work has paid off.

This process is very similar to what you will go through when you get your bar results.  Bar results come out the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving at 6:00pm.  You are given a card during the bar exam with a number, a password, and a website where you can check whether or not you passed.  From 5:55pm until 5:59pm you will pace around, nervous with anticipation and raring to get it over with.  However, once 5:59 and thirty seconds rolls around you will sit down in front of your computer, hands shaking, refreshing the page to see if it’s time.  Once it’s time, you will plug in your numbers and just like Step 4 above, hit submit.  Then it feels like the entire world falls out from below you as you wait for your results to pop-up.  Then, the moment you realize you passed (which you will, I mean you’re tracking this blog so obviously you’re staying on top of you law school experience!) you will expect trumpets and bells and whistles and confetti to start falling—but it doesn’t.  Instead you’ll be so excited you won’t know what to do with yourself, call all of the people you know, and (if you’re anything like me) be so emotionally exhausted you fall asleep at 8:00pm.

Getting law school grades back is very similar but on a smaller scale.  So if you do well and get excited, imagine how passing the bar will be exponentially more exciting!  If you do not do as well as you had hoped DON’T PANIC.  There are several things to do:

·         Keep in mind these are soft grades, there is a lot of room for improvement

·         Ask your professors if you can go over your exam together to get a better idea of what he or she was looking for

·         Come to ASP—we are more than happy to work with you to figure out where and why you struggled

·         Reassess your study plan—what worked? What didn’t work?

·         Realize you have an entire semester to improve your GPA and with a little hard work significant improvement is possible

What should you be doing over Winter Break?

Congratulations! You have completed your first semester of law school. It is an accomplishment you should be proud of. Now take some time to relax and recharge before next semester. (sleep, clean your living space, catch up on your DVR programs, start some holiday shopping, etc.) Spend time reconnecting with family and friends and remembering there is a life outside of law school.

Do not feel the need to start pre-reading right away for next semester. However, take some time to reflect on your performance during your first semester. What worked well for you? What did not work as well? Was you study group effective for your learning? Were your study guides an aid or a crutch? Make new goals for yourself for the next semester; such as when to start outlining, when to start taking practice exams, when to see T.A.s, Prof. ASP etc.

If your professor gives you the option to review your final exam, take that opportunity even if you scored well in the class! Learning what your professor, and ultimately the bar, is looking for and how each grade an exam will help you self-assess and identify areas for you to improve.

Last but not least, have fun but get ready to gear up for next semester!