When applying to law school you may be wondering how to improve your GPA because it is an integral part of your application. There are many ways to achieve success and having some tips and tricks can make a big impact. These simple tips to improve your GPA will help reduce stress, cramming, and frustration.
1. Organization
Create a space that is conducive to studying. Eliminate distractions and clutter. This will help you focus your mind on your task rather than being bombarded with visual stimuli. Keep only the essentials on your desk. This will lead to higher productivity.
Create a schedule. I find it really helpful to organize my computer with the stickies function where I write down each course on an individual stickie and all of the dates that I have assignments or exams due. This allows me to see what I have to accomplish as soon as I open my computer and manage my time accordingly.
Another great way to keep organized is by utilizing your calendar and creating a different calendar group for each course. You can save each deadline in your computer and colour code the different courses. This also allows you to input your extracurriculars and see when everything is, in a clear manner. This can aid in reducing your stress and to help not feel so overwhelmed.
2. Time Management
Using your organization skills and the calendar that you have prepared will make it easier to manage your time accordingly. As well as having stickies that outline when your deadlines for each class are, it may also be helpful to have a ‘To Do’ stickie. You can put all of your most pressing deadlines in chronological order.
Having a schedule can aid in your time management. Create realistic timelines and schedule breaks within your study time. It is better to study full force and then take breaks when you need to. Then you will be giving your full attention to your studying.
Prioritize your most important and highly weighted tasks. Although the goal is to do well on everything, you need to prioritize success on assignments and exams that are the most heavily weighted because they will impact your grades the most.
Avoid multitasking. Multitasking may seem attractive because you are getting your tasks done ‘faster’ but multitasking decreases productivity and focus. This makes it that much harder to achieve success because your brain is not focused on a task and is having to work harder to manage everything at once.
3. Attend Lectures
Attending lectures is essential to success. Even if you have the option of doing online courses or you feel that you can learn the material yourself, it is always more beneficial to attend the lecture in person. When you are attending class in person, it is easier to concentrate and to see the lecture slides along with what the professor is highlighting. It is also easier to get distracted listening to a recording of the lecture than it is to simply attend the lecture.
4. Participation
Participate in your courses. Participation fosters active engagement with the material in class so that you have a better understanding. This can result in having to spend less time studying because you were able to grasp the material faster through active engagement. Participation also shows your professors that you are doing your work, understanding the course material and are engaged in their course. This is not only beneficial to your grade in the course but also when you are trying to obtain reference letters for your application.
5. Take Notes
The best tip for taking notes is to write everything down. When you are in class, it may not seem that everything your professor is saying is relevant to the topic that you are currently studying but some of the little elements that they may touch on can be really helpful for other elements of the course. To be able to write everything down, you can make abbreviations or symbols for longer words that you use often. This can help you save on time.
If you have everything written down, you can always go back and make condensed notes to study from when it is closer to your exams. It is more challenging not having all of the information readily available and to have to fill in the gaps yourself. It may seem like too much repetitive information but the simple act of writing it down so many times also helps the information to be absorbed into your brain.
6. Office Hours
Going to office hours is extremely useful and you should take advantage of getting clarification and having one-on-one time with your professors. It is useful to get your assignments done early so that you can ask your professor questions. This will help you to improve your grades because instead of scrambling to simply complete the assignment you are able to clarify the elements you are struggling with and improve them.
If you do poorly on an assignment or exam, it is beneficial to review it with your professor. Although you may be disappointed in your grade, it is helpful to know what you need to improve on and where you can avoid mistakes going forward. Try not to be too discouraged and use the situation as a chance to grow and learn how to be more successful in the future.
7. Studying
You may be worried about your first-year marks. If you have a bad first year, there are still many ways to recover. This can be remedied by focusing on key concepts, writing your notes to fit your learning style, and looking for commonalities between your courses.
A) Focus on Key Concepts
If a professor spends a large portion of class time discussing a certain topic or concept, then there is a high likelihood that it will be important on the exam. Try and keep note of the topics the professors highlight and if they mention something is important, then highlight it in your notes. This will help you because when it comes time to study for the exam, you have given yourself a reminder to focus on that element.
B) Write Your Notes to fit Your Learning Style
If you are a visual learner perhaps colour coding your notes could be beneficial. I found that when I was writing exams, I could remember how the page looked which would be beneficial when I was trying to recall information.
C) Commonalities Between Courses
Look for commonalities between your courses. When doing my course selection, I would try to take courses that would have overlapping material so that I would have less topics to cover and the elements that I was learning were already familiar to me. That would reduce the amount of time I would have to allocate to studying certain topics so that I could focus on new elements that I was less experienced with.
D) Pomodoro Method
One way to decrease burnout is by using the Pomodoro method. This method encourages working in 25-minute intervals followed by five-minute breaks. This technique can aid in studying for a longer period of time without feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. This technique will aid in managing distractions, controlling your time management, increasing accountability, and maintaining motivation.
8. Exams and Assignments
Be detailed on your exams and assignments. Try to utilize the maximum amount of information that you learned to show your knowledge. You should try to tie in multiple concepts if possible so that you can showcase that you understand the course material. Focusing on one part of the course will only show your knowledge in one area. Although being detailed in each aspect is ideal, showing a wider range of knowledge can demonstrate an understanding of the whole course. This is not to say do not be detailed in each aspect, you should be detailed but do not go on a tangent about one aspect. Be concise and clear in your responses.
9. Take Care of Yourself
Remember to take care of yourself. Eat healthy foods, sleep well, exercise, and take breaks. Getting enough sleep and taking breaks is crucial to achieving a high GPA. You will be unable to achieve success if you are burnt out. Sleep deprivation leads to poor performance in school. Your health is a large aspect of performing well in school and should be one of your priorities.
Author
Maya Kawale
Writer at Legally Bright Inc.
JD Candidate (2025)
Queen’s University, Faculty of Law
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