It’s Bar Prep Season
Everyone knows that Bar Prep is incredibly stressful. You have to learn and retain an extraordinary amount of information, and a surprising amount of it was not part of your law school curriculum. But many people take and pass the Bar every year, and there’s no reason why you can’t be one of them. In this blog post, I share what I learned and what worked for me during Bar Prep.
Tip #1: Do what works for you.
When you start your Bar Prep course (Barbri, Themis, etc.) you’ll see there there are different ways of studying, such as reading the outlines, creating your own outlines, watching instructional videos, taking practice questions, and writing practice essays. It is important to understand what methods of study work best for you.
For instance, a few weeks into prep I realized that the instructional videos were not very helpful for me (except for a few—shoutout to Prof. Doug Moll for helping me understand the UCC). I remember things that I read and write, so I focused more on creating my own outlines. I’m also a very visual learner (and a color-coding madwoman), so I found it helpful to make different types of charts to help me remember information. But if you’re an auditory learner, you may watch the videos more and never crack open your outline book. That’s ok — play to your strengths, particularly those that increase your information retention.
Tip #2: Don’t feel like you need to study each subject equally.
If your course offers diagnostic tests at the beginning, do not skip them; monitor your performance on each subject and modify accordingly. For example, I figured out early on that my best subject was evidence, so I focused more on the subjects I found more difficult (like property) and only came back to evidence every once in a while to make sure I was still performing well.
Tip #3: Focus on yourself.
It’s really easy to talk to your law school friends and share how far you’ve gotten in the course. You may feel discouraged when you hear that your friends are further along than you are. But just because they’ve completed more assignments than you does not mean they are performing better. Bar prep is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s important to work at a pace that is most effective for you.
Tip #4: Listen to your body.
You’ve probably been told that you need to study 8-10 hours a day in order to pass. While you are going to have to put in a lot of hours, the exact number of hours differs for everyone. There will be times when you are just staring at your screen, completely unable to focus. You may guilt yourself into staying at your desk in order to fulfill your daily hours — don’t. It is better to take a break, reset yourself, and take care of your body and mind than it is to stay at your desk and retain absolutely nothing. Your body is going to have to turn into an information learning machine, but machines will start to malfunction if not maintained properly. I would be a hypocrite by telling you to drink water and eat healthy considering I lived off coffee and gummy bears, but when I found myself starting to slip, I would take a nice long walk or put on Netflix for an episode or two. Whatever helps you reset.
Tip #5: Combine resources.
Barbri and Themis are not the only tools you can use to study.
For multiple choice, I highly recommend Adaptibar if you can afford it. I found the explanations to be very helpful and saw my performance improve.
For essays, go to the FL Board of Bar Examiners’ website and review as many past essays as possible. This was a game-changer for me. The FBBE has uploaded the every Bar Exam essay for the last 20 years along with the best answers. That’s 120 practice essays. You don’t even have to write out full essays each time—I found simply outlining what my answer would be was helpful in itself, and every once in a while I would write a full essay. What you’ll find out is:
The essay issues repeat themselves every few years. By the time I got to the actual exam, it felt like I had seen the issues a million times.
The “best answers” aren’t as great as you’d think they’d be. There were numerous times where I found legal inaccuracies in the best answers, but the test taker did a great job at passing off incorrect law as correct simply by explaining their thought process well. Plus, reviewing the best answers may help you pick up on issues you may have missed.
Tip #6: Don’t give up.
It is completely common, especially at the beginning, to have a mental breakdown when you see your scores. Even halfway or 75% of the way through bar prep, you will likely not be performing how you think you should. Most people I know agreed that during the exam, they had absolutely no idea whether they passed or failed. What you are feeling is normal. Just remember, all you have to do is pass.
Tip #7: Don’t Join the Panic Party.
The days leading up to the Bar Exam will have you questioning whether you should just go be a sheep-herder in Iceland instead of a lawyer. Everyone around you will be panicking. While some level of stress is good for focus, other people’s stress does nothing for you. People who are less prepared may distract you with incorrect statements of the law. By the time you get to test day, you are either going to pass or not, so you might as well stay as calm as possible so that you can have a clear mind during the exam. Easier said than done, I know.
