This is my favorite time of the semester: game time.

I get bogged down in the monotony of the semester, the unrelenting reading assignments, the busy work of the legal writing class and look forward to the time when everything counts.

I liken my experience this year to that of the Los Angeles Lakers of the last several years (maybe not this year's Lakers, but there's still time for them). A regular season for the Lakers is often filled with infighting, self-doubt and misgiving from the critics and fans. The team seems disinterested much of the time and treats the regular season more as a test of endurance than a time to shine. Then comes the playoffs and they are world-beaters. We'll see when grades come out in January whether I am a world-beater; that's probably where the analogy stops. The similarity is just that playoff time brings an incredible improvement to their game and mine.

Whether sports as a kid or breaking news on a tight deadline as a reporter, I've always thrived on the adrenaline rush and the call to raise the level of play.

With just one final exam to go, I think I've done pretty well so far. At least I've left each of the three exams so far feeling the same way as the bulk of my classmates. One test seemed way too easy, another far too long for three hours and the other was hard but fair.

Don't Believe the Hype

While law school is not easy and at times fills many of us with doubt, when the end comes it all makes sense and is not so bad. From the beginning I tried to keep the bigger picture in focus and not believe the hype about how horrible the first year is. I tried to remember that no one fails out and the school let me in for a reason.

Instead of buying into the hype, I tried to rely on the words of wisdom from my friends who'd gone to law school before me. I listened to some of the advice; I should have listened to more of it.

They told me that everything would come together and make sense at the end. I didn't believe this in October when I was buried under reading assignments and the big picture of the class seemed like it would never make sense.

It all makes sense now with a little help from the commercial outlines. I have a friend who e-mailed to me a list of helpful tips at the beginning of the semester. No. 1 on the list, in bold type: "Commercial outlines, commercial outlines, commercial outlines."

~ I looked at the pile of reading we had and then the thick commercial outlines and decided that the last thing I needed was to add to my reading load. I actually mocked the people carrying around three commercial outlines for each class.

Unfortunately, I waited until Thanksgiving to start reading the commercial outlines and then it all started to fall into place. If only I had listened earlier, I would have saved myself from the doubts and had a much shorter outline to use on my finals. What you really need to know for the final in most classes can fit on about five pages.

After the test, shut up about it

The one bit of advice that I think all law students should adhere to, and to which I adhered as well, is not to discuss the details of the test after it is over. I'll discuss my general opinion of the test, but I try to avoid the details. After our criminal law final, I got a little too detailed and realized that I had forgotten to write about one particular issue (misdemeanor-manslaughter) and had rehashed my omission over and over in my head, wondering if it will cost me much. The worst part is that most people didn't even seem to spot it, and while I spotted it, I got sidetracked and forgot to go back and write about it. (You see, there I go again! I can't stop rehashing it.)

Torts is the last exam left. There are so many issues to spot in a Torts exam that I dont want to hear about any issues someone else spotted; there is just no way to get them all. In our practice Torts exam (it doesn't count toward our grade), there was a total of 65 points and the top score was 40. So no one will get them all, and hearing about the ones I missed will just spoil the winter break.

In less than 24 hours I will be done with my first semester. A few hours after that, I will be on a plane back home to California, where the temperature is forecast for the 60s. The good news is I won't have to think about law school for two weeks, but I certainly wont be sitting around on my duff. I have a few job interviews lined up all across California and Las Vegas. I'll probably spend more time in planes, trains and automobiles than I will actually relaxing. Hopefully, I can land a decent job of some sort.

Finals would have been a lot easier to handle had some genius not come up with the idea of prohibiting us from job hunting until Dec. 1. They say this is so we can be free to concentrate on school rather than job hunting. What it actually does is get in the way of studying for finals. Printing and mailing resumes and making all of the requisite follow up calls takes a lot of time away from studying at a time when we need to be studying the most. And the worst part is that, for 99 percent of our efforts, we get form rejection letters telling us they are not hiring One Ls. I hold nothing against a firm that doesn't want to hire One Ls; that's each firm's prerogative. But many of them list themselves as firms that will consider One Ls and then they send the not-hiring-One Ls letter.

So, have I learned anything this semester other than that it's better to buy a railroad and not a tugboat? Just to keep things in perspective, keep calm and trust that all will work out. Now if I can just transfer that lesson to the job hunt.

Trevor Hayes is a first-year law student at Northwestern University School of Law, a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a former newspaper reporter. He wants the ball in his hands as the clock winds down and hopes he doesn't throw up an airball.