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Law Study: Factors affecting the study time of the Full Time Working and
Married Law Students in the Central Philippine University
What is the real situation?
Iloilo City has three (3) law schools to date. To name: University of Iloilo,
University of San Agustin and Central Philippine University. Every year, tens of students
inquire and eventually enrol in either of the schools mentioned. And, for every ten
students, almost half of them are either working or married.
Law School requires a lot of dedication and perseverance. It requires an
individual to fully devote its time to studying the law. More often than not, those who are
either working or married come to school unprepared. And this circumstance would often
lead to negative results, insofar as grades are concerned. There are a lot of factors
affecting the study habits of working and married law students.
Some working students would opt to not enrol all the recommended subjects, thus
making their law study a five (5) to six (6) years endeavour. However, majority who opt
to extend their duration in Law School would often lose their momentum and are prone
to being lax, insofar as studying is concerned.
What is the ideal situation?
The ideal situation is for all the law students, notwithstanding its status, to have a
firm and fix study plan and time. Regardless of their personal obligations, they must all
spare at least five (5) hours in a day to study. Some has more than five (5) hours to spare,
while others barely have three (3) hours to read the books and cases. For working and
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married students, having a three (3) hour study every day is almost quite impossible to
do. Regular office hours ends at five (5) in the afternoon and classes begin and end at
5:30 in the afternoon and 9:00 in the evening, respectively. More often than not, they
would go home already weary and tired and would barely have a time to open their books
and read them.
What has been done to address the problem?
Insofar as scheduling is concerned, almost all of the professors are not strict with
being late in class. The schedule of the major exams are always consented upon by the
students, taking into consideration the available time of those who are working full time
and those who are not working.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to know how much time does the working/or
married law students devote every day. What are their study plan and how do they cope
when they are torn between prioritizing their respective careers and their law studies.
Further, this study would determine the concerns of those who are working and those
who are married.

Submitted by:
Annelei F. Prado-Singian JD III
Central Philippine University College of Law


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