Adam Sorenson graduated number one in 2017 from the University of Virginia law school. Here is his secret for getting stellar grades:
“I can tell you what worked for me, but it comes with the caveat that I know plenty of brilliant and successful people who had completely different approaches. I preferred handwriting my class notes because it helped me retain the information. I made my own study materials rather than use other people’s outlines or hornbooks because it was the process of distilling my class notes, not the end product itself, that I found useful. And I tried to write short exams because I am a terribly slow typist and I found that communicating good arguments clearly was more important than packing in every attenuated bit of analysis I could think of.”
The rest is here:
https://content.law.virginia.edu/news/201710/how-he-did-it-2017-grad-highest-gpa-shares-his-secrets