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books on polity, history, etc. should help since you'll deal with these as soon as college begins so think of books like india that is bharat, the india way, the wall, on balance, supreme whispers, line of control, etc etc.
1. You will likely be exposed to a diverse set of people from different parts of the country, and it can be hard to find your tribe in the initial days…you might feel homesick, people might trample over you, talk to you condescendingly and use you to achieve their own selfish ends…and to successfully navigate this, you need a support system of friends, family and other people…so the first priority should be developing a thick skin and having good social skills.
2. Depending on your course, whether it is BBA or BA, you need to have a different approach towards building a base. If you are a science student, having never studied the BBA subjects, it would be wise to learn the basics of Financial Accounting as it can be really tricky and hard in the beginning…I did not learn the basics beforehand, and I found the initial few months to be frustrating…similarly, you can dabble into subjects of the arts if you want (considering you are going for BA LLB) but that is not necessary. Do it only if you are bored or curious to know what lies ahead.
3. You will likely study Legal methods/Legal theory in the first sem, and you might feel overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge you need to cover, given that the professors will make you read stuff written by big philosophers and legal thinkers…so if you want, you can start reading books related to that beforehand, that will surely help. Although, don’t fret even if you can’t
3. You can subscribe to good YouTube channels and start reading good non fiction books, as they can help greatly in enhancing your knowledge and will help in your research projects too…try to dabble into everything, get a sense of everything, and see what you like.
4. Learn to use your phone and laptop well, you might want to take notes during lectures, will need to write a paper and that will involve knowing how to use a lot of applications well…
some recs:
Nani palkhiwala biography
Try Krishnaswamy's democracy and constitutionalism in India but that might be a bit too wordy/lacking in context
Duncan Kennedy's legal education and reproduction of hierarchy is a good work if ur progressive leaning (though maybe leave that for until after u are done settling in :p)
try going through Gautam Bhatia's blog and Abhinandan Sekhri's blog
be active enough in batch group if it exists for u to be a known name, but not too much ki ppl have pre-formed labels on you, insofar as it is possible to avoid them.
And try to enjoy these months, bc Law school is fairly rigorous and the guilt free joblessness in these months wont come by again :)
2. Focus on getting some writing done if you can - an opinion piece on something you feel strongly about or have thought about. Focus especially on the following aspects:
(a) Clarity of expression: Ensure your ideas are expressed in clear, effective language (not overly flowery or anything like that, language which gets the job done). That means unambiguously, in correct English grammar. Many people assume they know all the grammar rules like the back of their hand (they passed CLAT and are done with/almost done with school, after all!), but maybe not always the case.
(b) Conciseness: Learn how to express yourself as briefly as you can, while still maintaining clarity. When writing, remember the rule: if you can express something in a way which uses up six words instead of ten (as long as the six word version gets the point across equally clearly), always go with six words.
(c) Evaluation: Many people go in with a binary mindset. Either one side is correct or not. This is a very disappointing way of thinking. When writing or thinking about an issue, always practice thinking about an argument in its strongest form. Ask yourself: if I were the person making the opposite argument to mine, what would be the strongest points I will use? If you can think like that and rebut those strongest of strong points of the other side, then you are getting good at argumentation. Weigh up points and see how strong each is, basically.
3. Keeping up with current affairs and blocking out the white noise: In the law, things change very fast indeed, sometimes. And sometimes, they just remain unchanging for a long time. You need to have the skills to adapt. Nobody is going to spoon-feed you that the state legislature has passed this new bill or a court has handed decision x on matter a, you need to be able to find that out yourself. The law specifics you will learn how to do in law school, but the more general skill can be developed well before it - keeping up and sorting out. You need to be able to not only keep up-to-date with the hot-button issues that come up, but also sort out the nonsense from the actual substance. Practice this skill by regularly staying in touch with the news.
4. Analysing, not just reading for the sake of reading: This goes back to point 1. Whatever you are reading, don't just read for the sake of reading. Think to yourself about expression, clarity, conciseness etc. Ask yourself why the writer of your reading expressed something in a certain way, used a certain turn of phrase etc. What effect does that have on the writing? How could she have communicated her point more effectively? What techniques does she use to make the arguments she has made? Are they successful, and if so, to what extent? Has the writer (if this is an opinion column in a newspaper, for example) treated the opposition argument with fairness or has she merely dismissed it out of hand?
But all jokes aside, if you read my previous comment carefully, you'll realise that if you know what you're talking about (in the sense that you have the knowledge/experience/arguments ready and organised in your head) and let yourself go, the words will just flow and, in a situation where you have word limits, you'll actually be in the situation of having to frantically cut down on words later, instead of adding them - so don't be afraid about word limits which seem to be asking you to write lots of words! (Unless of course you have no idea what you'll be writing, in which case your problems would be much more substantial.)