Did everyone really stop doing the readings in their 3L?

[goonersfc]

A popular rumour I have heard since my 1L was law school gets "chill" and "breezy" during 3L. Someone told me that they flew past their 3L barely doing any of the readings and relying on CanLii summaries. And now that I am at that stage myself, am I wrong to think that it was all bullsh*t? I find myself drowned with readings for advanced courses and barely get time to do anything else. I am the only one or is that normal?

[QMT20]

10 hours ago, goonersfc said:

A popular rumour I have heard since my 1L was law school gets "chill" and "breezy" during 3L. Someone told me that they flew past their 3L barely doing any of the readings and relying on CanLii summaries. And now that I am at that stage myself, am I wrong to think that it was all bullsh*t? I find myself drowned with readings for advanced courses and barely get time to do anything else. I am the only one or is that normal?

It depends what your goals are at this point.

If you have articling and you don't want anything else out of law school, you don't need to do every reading or go to every class. You can probably just do whatever you think is enough to maintain a B-B+ average. 

If you still don't have articling or if you're thinking of applying for an appellate clerkship then 3L won't be chill. A lot of people who strike out during articling recruit may not find something until like April-June so you'll want to maintain your grades to be a competitive candidate for jobs. For people who apply for appellate clerkships, law school often becomes more work each year (1L-3L) because by 3L you'll be trying to maintain a Dean's List GPA + doing RA for 1-2 profs + doing a moot or clinic or trying to publish a paper. 

[Ramesses]

I am in 3L and have articling lined up. I never did readings in 1 and 2L and always sat at the back. This semester I am caught up on the readings of 4/5 classes and I sit almost exclusively at the front. I feel like classes got harder this semester but that might be just me. 

[Rashabon]

Depended on the class for me. I picked and chose the classes where I would do the readings all throughout law school. By 3L I knew the classes where I had to (substantive, cared about the course), and classes where I could drop it if I didn't want to (paper classes). There were also some classes where the readings were lengthy but I was only really there for the lectures (sports law) so I only did a small portion of the readings.

[Apple]

I read most things during first semester of 3L but in second semester I didn't pick up a single text book. Did well both semesters, but admittedly I had a bunch of easy course in second semester of 3L. Haven't you learned by 3L to not pay much attention to all the myths in law school? Hoping this term goes well for you! 

[TheCryptozoologist]

My year was pandemic year and yeah. People just lost interest and there was a lot of fatigue and apathy. 

Alot of it had to do with simply loss of motivating habits e.g. some people go to the gym or library and get good routines which was simply lost staying inside an apartment all day. When things opened up this summer, people seemed to have improved but pandemic year did a number on folks. 

Personally I did all my readings the week before exams in 3L since all of my lecture courses were just too tiring. I enjoyed in person lectures and it motivated me to stay on top, but couldn't bother when its some instructor staring at a screen and everyone else is half asleep. My grades certainly dipped, to a B average, since I lost big marks handing things a few hours late but at the time I was just too numb to care.

Moral of the story. Get a good routine that keeps you motivated if it stays online. Some people go to coffeeshops to stay productive, some go to the gym, etc.