While the mistakes students make as they study law are not on par with the more famous seven sins, common mistakes and bad habits do affect students’ performance throughout the semester and ultimately on the exam. But, as with many things, a little self-awareness goes a long way. Learn the common mistakes law students make in the list below. Then make it your mission not to let them stand in the way of your success.

Reading Passively

Reading for law school is not as simple as holding a highlighter and laying your eyes on a page of words. Instead, read actively. First, identify what legal topic the case or group of cases is addressing. You can look to your syllabus, the table of contents in the casebook, or the headings to find out. Then, ask yourself, why are we reading this case now? Does it expand on a fundamental principle? Or is it a new topic? Does it flush out an exception to a rule? Does it further explain an element or standard? Finally, brief the case, stating the issue and holding in your own words. When you are done, be honest with yourself; did you get what was going on and why the case turned out the way it did? If not, don’t make mistake number two.

Failing to Ask Questions

Many law students are shy or feel they can figure out what they need to know on their own. Thus, they don’t ask questions. Remember, law school may be different than undergrad, but it is a school nonetheless. Everyone here wants students to learn. So when you don’t understand something, ask a question in class, go to office hours, or schedule a meeting with your professor or teaching assistant. Clearing up questions as you move through the semester will help you avoid mistake number three.

Falling Behind

Many courses build on prior material, either taught earlier in the semester or in previous courses. The workload makes it easy to fall behind in your reading or understanding of the material, but you need to sidestep that pitfall. Our academic calendar does not provide enough time to catch up during finals. There aren’t many reading days and every moment you spend during finals focused on learning something that you should have understood earlier in the semester is a moment you are not truly studying for your exam. And if you find yourself falling behind you may make mistake number four.

Relying on Outside Sources and Past Outlines

You are taking your professor’s course, not Emanuel’s, or BarBri’s, or some other hornbook’s. While it’s fine to look something up every now and then, be careful about relying too heavily on outside materials. As discussed in mistake one, you should be actively reading cases not googling them to get a case brief or seeing what the Women’s Law Caucus outline has to say. More importantly, you shouldn’t depend on someone else’s work to get you through finals. You need to digest the material yourself, work with it, and be prepared to use it on your exams. Speaking of putting in the necessary work, be sure to steer clear of mistake number five.

Not Attending Class or Going but Not Paying Attention

Go to class, go prepared, and pay attention. Again, you are taking your professor’s course, so who better to learn from? Your professor is the person who will evaluate you at the end of the semester so sit in the classroom, put your phone away, turn off the wireless connection, and listen to what is going on in class. Attending each class and getting everything you can out of it will save you time outside of class. Done right, you can put yourself in a good position to demonstrate that you know what the professor wanted you to know come exam time. So put your class times in your calendar and go to class. Don’t let mistake number six get in your way.

Poor Time Management

Failing to manage your time serves as a catalyst to making all of the mistakes above. It’s important that you know what you have to do, how much time you have to do it, and when you will do it. Be honest with yourself – if you sat in the library for three hours but only decorated a case with highlighting instead of actively reading, you didn’t use those three hours effectively. If you are in a study group that chats for an hour before getting to work or endlessly debates what font to put the group outline in, ask yourself if that is the best use of your time. Because you need to get your work done but you also need to keep away from mistake seven.

Failing to Find Balance

Law school can be draining, so you need to make time to do the things you enjoy. Whether it’s hanging out with friends or family, going to the gym, watching television, etc., find time for it. Time away from studying law will ultimately help you be a better law student. But too much time away can be catastrophic. Balance is key.

This list is not comprehensive and not everyone has the same habits or makes the same mistakes. So you should make your own list of personal habits that stand in the way of your success. Make a list of good habits too and focus on maintaining those. We are all works in progress.