An easier Easter

Easter is upon us, bringing with it a much needed respite for stressed and exhausted students. For many of you though, this won't be the kind of break to banish the bags under your eyes or mend the fraying frontiers of your psyche, but it will at least be a chance to get your notes in order and commence the essential process of revision. However, catching up on work and revising should not be your only priorities this holiday.

I won't patronise you with missives on the benefits of flash cards and mind maps - you all know how to revise and, frankly, probably got as bored reading the words 'flash cards' and 'mind maps' as I did writing them. However, I will point out that despite this being such a busy period, it is also crucial that you find some time to research the firms/chambers that you want to apply to for training contract/pupillage, and maybe even apply for the work placement schemes/mini-pupillages that may prove crucial to your chances of success.

In the likely event that you're pressed for time during this frantic period and feel you could use a tool to help you keep abreast of everything law based in your life, I would point you towards our 'MyLC.N' function. Your very own 'MyLC.N' page allows you to track all of your applications, shortlist firms you're interested in, save external articles and information, and be notified whenever an important date is approaching - handy if you've fired off a batch of applications only to forget certain details as you slowly moulder in the clammy embrace of sunlight-deprived revision.

What's more, within MyLC.N is MySelf, which allows you to systematically analyse and record the activities and achievements you'll present to employers in application forms and on your CV. You need to take each individual experience - be it academic, extracurricular or work experience - and think in depth about what you did, what skills or competencies you had to demonstrate and what you learnt, and then record which of these will be of interest to employers.

You should also definitely make use of our work placement deadlines page, which does what it says on the tin in providing all the firms' placement scheme deadlines in one place for your ease and benefit. It's understandable that applying for these schemes may be the last thing you want to have to think about now, as you graft through a Herculean workload to obtain essential qualifications. But the aspiring lawyer's calendar is an unforgiving one, and there's nothing to be done but to get on with it (feel free to ruin the atmosphere around you by glaring at the slightest sign of mirth or happiness though - it's cathartic and I swear by it).

At least if you can make effective use of the tools discussed above, and stay motivated, then a little more of your time may be freed up for other things (like exposure to sunlight) during this unenviable slog. Or, depending on how you look at it, your increased efficiency could leave you with more time to focus on quality applications and building an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law. I know which option my student self would've chosen, but then I'm not a successful lawyer.