Reading time: three minutes

After a long summer holiday, it can be hard to keep up with fast-paced and intense university life. As a law student, you may be struggling with doing all your reading, seminar preparation and career planning on the side. It’s important to remember that this is normal, your peers are in the same situation and you'll adjust to your new setting over time. Here are a few tips that aim to help you ease back into university and help with organisation.

1. A planner

There are an array of planners out there: daily, weekly, academic ones, student life (includes budgeting, meal plan space, etc.) and more. Thus, it's a good idea to have a look around to see what fits with your priorities and layout preferences. The importance of a planner, however, cannot be understated. It's a space for all your jumbled thoughts and things you may forget if not written. I personally prefer having a weekly book as it gives me a schedule but I can also write any deadlines or reminders for the upcoming weeks. Taking a small book everywhere keeps me in check and I don’t have to rely on any electronics. If you're new to using a planner, you may find that you keep relying on your memory and forget to use it (I definitely did). This is fine and planners are not for everyone. However, I'd recommend to keep using it as it’ll become a habit and will give you structure that your future self will thank you for.

2. Sleep schedule

It's no secret that most students don’t have the best sleeping patterns. However, if you're one of those people waking up at midday and regret not making the most out of the morning, then a sleep schedule is key. You don’t need to make a dramatic change nor push yourself to be waking up at 5:30am every morning. Be realistic so that you can keep to it. A set sleep schedule has been scientifically proven to provide many benefits. It'll help with your academic organisation as you can expect how your day will go and make it easier to fit in all your tasks. 

3. Work hard, not smart

Students sometimes make the mistake of thinking that you have to be sitting at your desk for hours on end to get the best grades. However, this isn't necessarily the case and can actually become counterproductive. You should organise your studying by assessing what works for you. Do you like working in the library? Do you prefer staying at home to study? Maybe you like to keep changing scenery and try different cafes to be more productive. Have an idea of what works for you before sitting down to get your university work done. You should then make a priority list for your work. While you module leads are most likely assigning you pages and pages of reading, you won’t be expected to have to do it all. I find that skim-reading and key term searching (CTRL + F) has saved me so much time and made it easier to do my seminar work. This way, I'm not doing unnecessary work and only do further reading once my essential work is done. 

These were a few tips on how to organise your studies at university but you should also make sure there is room for you to do the things you enjoy alongside this. Factoring in leisure activities will give you incentive to stick to your timetable and allow you to rest. I hope you found it helpful and have a great academic year!