I didn’t study, when I was home I enjoyed my free time. My “studying” came from paying attention during lectures and maybe a homework assignment. I learned enough to pass the tests and quizzes without necessarily studying.
im not saying only do the bare minimum but don’t make your life in the academy harder. Enjoy your time at home and with your family.
We had to recopy our notes from blue ink to black in with no errors or misspelling. Took 2-3 hours or so per night. Other than that and shining my shoes I could help with my newborn and relax!
For relevant case law, penal law and procedural law, try your best to gain a thorough understanding of this material as it’ll make you more competent on the road. You don’t need to remember the literal statute number, but have an understanding of the elements of the main crimes you’ll deal with. Same with case law and procedural law. If you’re gonna spend excess time at home studying, study this and you’ll thank yourself later.
For testable material that is mandated by your state, but not super important for you to remember, make flash cards of the objectives during class. I would then show up 30 mins early every day and go over those flash cards in the parking lot before morning PT.
On the penal law portions of your test, if they provide you with a penal law book, when you think you know the answer.. read one degree higher and one degree lower. Often you’ll find that there’s some niche subsection that fits the scenario they’ve given you.
Aside from the occasional caselaw study I’d do on my own time, I just stuck to the 30 min flash card sessions before the day started.
I only studied for penal code, the academy final, and the state exam. The rest wasn’t that hard and just paying attention and taking good notes was fine.
Me and my roommate would study a little bit every night. The night before a test, we would study for 2 or 3 hours.
We had an academic exam every two weeks and the instructors would tell us to highlight certain things but it was so much information that it was impossible to remember unless you actually sat down and went over it.
In my academy we have a lot of down time when we do scenarios so I study then. I do study at home, like at most an hour but usually like 30 mins a day at home be I find a lot of time to study while I’m there.
About 5 minutes a week. I’d read over a stiff guide that someone else made right before going in for the test. After about week 2 I barely took notes too
Most of my learning came from paying attention in class. Before an actual exam, I’d give the section in the LD we were being tested on another read. And that worked well for me.
My academy (back in 1985) required us to type our handwritten notes from
classes at least weekly. We then turned in a completed, typed binder at the end of the academy.
Seemed like “make work” at the time but, it turned out to be a great way to study / memorize test material. Added bonus, got much better at typing which is a skill you’ll need.
At least 2-3 hrs per day. 4 if you utilize your breaks in between classes. I did 4 tbh. After every exam , I immediately started the study guide for the next exam after. People didn’t know how to properly study.
I took about 20 pages worth of typed notes over the course of my academy and can honestly say that I didn’t study them at all. Paying attention and typing them during lectures was enough for me to retain information and stay close to the top of the class.
Depends on the material that week, but for the most part, I didn’t study. The majority of it is pretty simple stuff. When it came to more skill-based stuff, field sobriety, for example, I studied/practiced (i consider them one and the same) an hour or so a night. I reviewed my notes from the week over lunch the day of the exam every week just to refresh on the material, because there’s a ton of material. They’re trying to dump 3-5 years of experience down you in ~15 weeks (Kansas academy length) so it’s like trying to drink from a water hose.
Comments
What state are you taking the exam?
I didn’t study, when I was home I enjoyed my free time. My “studying” came from paying attention during lectures and maybe a homework assignment. I learned enough to pass the tests and quizzes without necessarily studying.
im not saying only do the bare minimum but don’t make your life in the academy harder. Enjoy your time at home and with your family.
Probably an hour or so a night. More if we had an exam or skills test coming up.
We were also a paramilitary live-in academy, though, so besides studying and working out there wasn’t much to do.
If you pay attention and participate in class you won’t need to study.
Zero. Academy isn’t hard. Pay attention and take notes. I didn’t study for the state exam and got a 92%
LAPD was a tough Academy, Physically, Mentally and Academically.
I graduated as Honor Cadet because I considered my free time to be polish your skills and review what you are learning time.
Allow sufficient time to sleep and recharge your brain and body.
You can rest when it’s over and you have earned your Badge and the privilege to Protect and Serve your Community.
Zero because it really wasn’t demanding at all academically. But if yours is I’d recommend that you study as much as you need to.
We had to recopy our notes from blue ink to black in with no errors or misspelling. Took 2-3 hours or so per night. Other than that and shining my shoes I could help with my newborn and relax!
3 thoughts.
For relevant case law, penal law and procedural law, try your best to gain a thorough understanding of this material as it’ll make you more competent on the road. You don’t need to remember the literal statute number, but have an understanding of the elements of the main crimes you’ll deal with. Same with case law and procedural law. If you’re gonna spend excess time at home studying, study this and you’ll thank yourself later.
For testable material that is mandated by your state, but not super important for you to remember, make flash cards of the objectives during class. I would then show up 30 mins early every day and go over those flash cards in the parking lot before morning PT.
On the penal law portions of your test, if they provide you with a penal law book, when you think you know the answer.. read one degree higher and one degree lower. Often you’ll find that there’s some niche subsection that fits the scenario they’ve given you.
Aside from the occasional caselaw study I’d do on my own time, I just stuck to the 30 min flash card sessions before the day started.
Study as much as you need. After the first test, you’ll be able to gauge how much you need to
Study.
Just remember, this is going to be your job, and studying will help you be prepared for FTO and the rest of your career. Build a good foundation.
Quizlet and paying attention during
The police academy is like, first year of community college level difficult academically. It was the easiest academics I had since high school.
Of course, your mileage may vary. Some of our most recent recruits, who barely graduate HS after COVID aren’t doing as well as previous years.
I only studied for penal code, the academy final, and the state exam. The rest wasn’t that hard and just paying attention and taking good notes was fine.
Accident reconstruction and juvenile justice had some studying. Otherwise, I didn’t.
None. Academy is incredibly easy if you just pay attention during instruction.
Me and my roommate would study a little bit every night. The night before a test, we would study for 2 or 3 hours.
We had an academic exam every two weeks and the instructors would tell us to highlight certain things but it was so much information that it was impossible to remember unless you actually sat down and went over it.
In my academy we have a lot of down time when we do scenarios so I study then. I do study at home, like at most an hour but usually like 30 mins a day at home be I find a lot of time to study while I’m there.
About 5 minutes a week. I’d read over a stiff guide that someone else made right before going in for the test. After about week 2 I barely took notes too
Most of my learning came from paying attention in class. Before an actual exam, I’d give the section in the LD we were being tested on another read. And that worked well for me.
My academy (back in 1985) required us to type our handwritten notes from
classes at least weekly. We then turned in a completed, typed binder at the end of the academy.
Seemed like “make work” at the time but, it turned out to be a great way to study / memorize test material. Added bonus, got much better at typing which is a skill you’ll need.
Other than memorizing 10 codes while ironing my uniform?
None. It’s not very hard academically if you pay attention in class and don’t have the memory of a goldfish.
None. I’m famously bad at studying.
But I never struggled with the academic parts, I was always worried about PT.
I didn’t study because I was either working, at the academy, or asleep. I had no free time to do anything else.
At least 2-3 hrs per day. 4 if you utilize your breaks in between classes. I did 4 tbh. After every exam , I immediately started the study guide for the next exam after. People didn’t know how to properly study.
2-4 a day
One. Maybe one and a half.
I took about 20 pages worth of typed notes over the course of my academy and can honestly say that I didn’t study them at all. Paying attention and typing them during lectures was enough for me to retain information and stay close to the top of the class.
Depends on the material that week, but for the most part, I didn’t study. The majority of it is pretty simple stuff. When it came to more skill-based stuff, field sobriety, for example, I studied/practiced (i consider them one and the same) an hour or so a night. I reviewed my notes from the week over lunch the day of the exam every week just to refresh on the material, because there’s a ton of material. They’re trying to dump 3-5 years of experience down you in ~15 weeks (Kansas academy length) so it’s like trying to drink from a water hose.