2022 OGA Year 12 Leavers Panel - Anna Kneipp (Class of 2019)
About me
I graduated in 2019 and am in my third year studying a Bachelor of Law (Honours) and a Bachelor of Business (majoring in Finance) at QUT. I work part-time at a law firm called MinterEllison in the Property team. I live at The Women's College with a leadership role this year as a Resident Assistant. As COVID prevented me from going on exchange, Women's gave me the opportunity to meet new people, be involved with their social events and become more independent.
Q. If I am feeling overwhelmed and like my body needs a rest but I have a lot of work and don't really have time to waste, what should I do?
A. It is important to understand that you are not productive and will not produce your best work when you are physically and/or mentally exhausted. I firstly write out a prioritised list of what I need to achieve to reach my assessment deadlines. A prioritised list organises my thoughts and makes my goals appear more achievable. If it is later at night, I would go to bed instead of starting the list. This is because I can acknowledge that when I am exhausted, I would be inefficient if I continued to study, and sleep is crucial for the following day to be productive.
I begin with the first task (with the highest priority) and set myself a time limit of how long I will work on it for (i.e. 2 hours). After that 2 hours, I will do something relaxing for 20 minutes (i.e. have a nap, have a bath, lay in the sun). Depending on the urgency of the first priority task, I will either continue with the first task or move on to the second task. So overall, I find that is important to manage your time based on priority when you have a lot to do. Secondly, I break up my tasks through utilising breaks that will restore my energy.
Q. Is it hard to study law?
A. Although I find law very interesting, it is challenging for two main reasons: the amount of content and imposter syndrome.
Content
Every week for each unit, law students must: Watch the lectures, do the textbook readings, do the case readings (or read the case summaries if you don’t have time), prepare tutorial answers and attend the tutorial
The readings are a lot, but they are crucial in understanding the content. I was lazy and didn’t do the readings in my first semester, which was reflected in my lower results. While this may appear like a lot of content, it is very manageable if you do not underestimate the workload and stay on top of your content each week.
Imposter syndrome
Something that I struggled with more than understanding the content was imposter syndrome (which is so common for law students that they taught this in my first week). Imposter syndrome involves feelings of personal incompetence. In other words, you doubt your abilities or feel extremely outmatched by the high-achieving law students around you. It is important to know your self-worth and try not to compare yourself to others.