|
Know yourself • Avoid multitasking • Calculate your speed • Time yourself •
Read for fun • Read actively • Read an overview • Use SQ3R • Close the book
The Problem
Reading casebooks is difficult. The cases are complex, multi-layered, often abstract, and filled with unfamiliar jargon. A casual familiarity with the material is not good enough; your professors will expect you to be familiar with both the broad sweep and the details. Moreover, reading law cases is slow going. Entering law students who are used to speeding through at 50-60 pages an hour suddenly find themselves reading at the glacial pace of 5-6 pages an hour.
Maximize comprehension and speed. Your goal is not to get to the end of the assignment in the shortest time, but to maximize your learning in the time available.
Steps You Can Take
Know yourself.
Place. Read where you study most effectively. Find the optimal physical space for your learning environment.
Time. Read when you are most alert. Do you concentrate best in the morning, during the workday, or in the evening? Before or after meals? Before or after exercise? Resist the temptation to study when you "should" if it is not your optimal time for learning.
Work rhythms. Read in the cadence that works for you. For many students this means 5 minutes off for every hour of study. Others do better by studying three hours at a stretch followed by a longer break. Find the cadence that works for you.
Minimize distractions. What things distract you? Television? Children? Fellow law students? The urge to cook a gourmet dinner? Plan your study time and place to reduce the power of the particular things that distract you most.
Avoid multitasking. Students invariably believe they can multitask when studying. But numerous studies show that doing two (or more) things at once leads to doing both more poorly. Task switching, such as responding to instant messages while reading, also requires your brain to reorient itself and leads to inefficiency. So avoid briefing on the computer with instant messaging open or studying in front of the television where the rapidly-changing visuals are specifically designed to draw your attention.
Calculate your legal reading speed. It's hard to improve without knowing your baseline. How many pages of a casebook can you read per hour? For most law students, this varies according to the subject. Over four days, track the amount of time it takes you to read assignments for each subject, then divide by the total number of pages to calculate your reading speed.
Limit your reading time. We humans tend to allow tasks to take the time allotted to them. Counter this tendency by limiting the time available to read. This is especially important after the first month of classes, when you should start actively outlining the course and working through practice problems. Be strict with yourself: treat the deadline as absolute and end your reading once you have reached it. The fear of being unprepared for class will push you to speed up! Try some of these methods:
Reading against a deadline. Use an external deadline, such as supper at a fixed time or a law school class.
Use a timer. Knowing your reading speed, calculate how long it will take you to do your current assignment. Set a timer for that time and don't allow yourself to go beyond it.
Use the speed-up. Same as above, except set your timer for slightly less time than the assignment should take. If you calculate an assignment should take 3 hours, set your alarm for 2 hours and 50 minutes. Keep reducing the time gradually every day.
Read books for pleasure. If you read only law books, you will train your eye and brain into a slow reading pace. Counter this tendency (and give yourself a needed break) by devoting an hour each week to pure pleasure reading.
Read actively. Unsophisticated readers start an assignment by opening to the first page and reading through to the last page. When they have trouble understanding the material, they read the material over and over again. The end result is reading slowly with little comprehension. Experienced readers maximize their comprehension and speed by previewing the reading, doing the reading, and then reviewing the reading. Students who have not previously used active reading often think the preview-do-review strategy takes more time than reading a case straight through. While active reading takes a little time to master, it usually results in students increasing their reading speed significantly.
Read an overview first. Many students benefit by obtaining an overview of a topic before reading the casebook. To use this method, first identify a study aid which you find helpful, such as Farnsworth's Contracts or Dressler's Understanding Criminal Law. Whenever you start a new topic in your syllabus or casebook, first read the corresponding chapter or section in your study aid rapidly. Then read through the assignment, asking yourself how each case relates to the topic. The reading in the study aid does not substitute for your careful reading of the cases, but rather helps you put cases into context.
Use SQ3R. SQ3R is a useful technique for understanding complex written material. It stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. For a full lesson in SQ3R, click here.
Close the casebook when you brief. Unsophisticated legal readers first read a case, then brief with the book open. Going back and forth between brief and book, they look for and copy down the what seems to be the rule, facts, and rationale. Not only is the process cumbersome, but these readers also tend to parrot the court's words without understanding the case's meaning.
The antidote is to preview the case and then to read it carefully. Then close the casebook and start briefing the case. The first time you try this, you will probably realize that you didn't really understand the case. Practice, and you will find yourself understanding the case on the first reading and writing concise, meaningful briefs.
For more class preparation tips, visit
Return to Skills for Success.
© Nancy Luebbert 2007
Last updated 2007-08-17 |