Sleep

I watched a little bit of 60 Minutes last night (June 15, 2008). One of the stories was on sleep deprivation. The two key points from the story:

• Sleep deprivation impairs mental abilities
• Sleep helps memory retention (if you sleep soon after learning what you want to retain)

I recommend watching the full story because I only paid partial attention to it.

The first point, and its implication, should be obvious to anyone: Late night cramming before an exam does no good. Therefore, you will be best served by getting a lot of good sleep in the nights before an exam. Skip the cramming and get to bed. (Remember: law school exams are not like college exams. Even the laziest law school professor can spot someone trying to BS an issue.)

I do not know what to make of the second point. I haven’t tried studying and then going to sleep. Maybe it will work for you. Let me know.