What the students say...

Starting law school can be a daunting prospect, so what could be better than some first-hand advice from students who have already been there and survived their first years? Read on for their top tips for law freshers.

What should new students do in their first week at university?

Don't be shy - it's easy to feel like it's the first day of school and the thought of walking over to someone and saying 'hi' seems very scary, but it's the best way to get to know your course mates and everyone's in the same position and so are very friendly back! It's a good way to meet lots of different types of people.
Shannon, University of Manchester

Get your bearing of campus and meet the people you are living with in your halls!
Lily, University of Exeter

Try and get a map of your campus and have a walk around the area, learning where all the important places are such as the students union, where you hand in your assignments, where lecturers (and personal tutors) rooms are located.
Dawn, University of Wolverhampton

The best thing I ever did was meet up with law students before university began, at a talk on oil and gas law. We had no idea what was going on but we bonded because of that fact. I had friends to go to class with and people to discuss my worries about the subject. If you are going to study law put a comment on the law society's Facebook page asking to meet up with other fresher's.
Meggan, University of Dundee

What do you wish you'd known or done before you started your course?

The focus is very much on independent learning and at times you do feel a bit on your own, so I found study groups, emailing my seminar taker and bugging lecturers helpful - don't leave things you don't understand!
Shannon, University of Manchester

Reading up on the topics that are being taught. Start your readings and tutorials as soon as the lectures are over!!
Yu Xuan, University of Nottingham

Got to know the campus better, I arrived one day 10 minutes early, tried to locate the building I needed and after asking for help realised it was a good 20 minute walk!
Shannon, University of Manchester

If you were starting your first year again, what would you do differently?

Probably done more practice questions, I did the work but it didn't pay off that well as I hadn't nailed exam technique - it's a big step up from A-Level. I'd also buy a lot more highlighters.
Shannon, University of Manchester

Get a small wheeley bag so that you can safely carry all of your heavy books and notes. This will save your back by not having to carry a very heavy rucksack and it will also make transporting all of your academic work much easier. Especially if you like to spend a lot of time in the library and always transporting library books about.
Dawn, University of Wolverhampton

I would not have procrastinated so much.
Yu Xuan, University of Nottingham

Buy a dictaphone and record all my lectures. Since doing this, I can honestly say that it has been the best investment I have made (in addition to law textbooks!).
Waqar, University of Salford

Get your books and have a quick skim through them or have a look online about the subject. If you get in the habit early on of reading the books before and having a basic knowledge before lectures this will help you in understanding the context later. This is one thing I do regret not doing right from the start as I would not have been so confused in my human right lectures!
Meggan, University of Dundee

What advice would you give new law students?

Participate in law society events as this will help you meet faculty and students from all years [...] join the mooting society, law society and law clinic if your university has them, again this will allow students to meet with other year groups and gain a wider knowledge of the subject and profession. While these things were terrifying to do they have helped me and my friends in the long run as we now feel more confident about our subject they are also great excuses for pub crawls, quizzes and parties!
Meggan, University of Dundee

Find which study methods and patterns work best for you and stick to them, it's easy to feel the pressure when a classmate announces they've done a million all-nighters but I think that would just make me ill!
Shannon, Manchester

Buy a dictaphone
Dawn, University of Wolverhampton

The most important piece of advice that I would give to new law students is to remain organised. If this can be mastered from the start then a quarter of the work is done already.
Dom, University of the West of England