“...Remember, never take no cut-offs and hurry along as
fast as you can.” – Virginia Reed, age 12, Donner Party survivor
There is no “right” way to study for the bar except for
this: Decide how YOU study and learn best, and then study THAT way as hard as
you can.
Because the bar exam was so scary for me, I want to try to
ease some of your fears. This is what I learned and what worked for me.
Please remember that this is my advice based on my
experience only.
1) Know yourself
How do you learn? What worked for you when you were studying
for law school exams, and what didn’t? Think hard, and do THAT when you’re
studying for the bar exam.
I knew that I didn’t benefit much from static lectures and
videos, and I didn’t benefit at ALL from studying in a group. I had to absorb
the information and then work with it all by myself. A combination of briefing
the cases, attending the classes (and listening but not talking very much), and
then researching and writing my own outlines worked best for me. Same with the
bar exam: I listened to the bar exam subject lectures, took notes, outlined,
and then practiced on my own. It worked for me.
If your law school experience has taught you that you
benefit from the format that one of the bar study courses offers, then do that.
I studied on my own, using a variety of tools.
2) Do not listen to the naysayers:
Most “friendly advice” is not very friendly—or very true.
If you’re a law student now (or you’ve ever been one), you
can probably rattle off a list of the dire warnings that classmates,
professors, and lawyers leveled at you during your 1L year: “If you don’t join
this club, you won’t make contacts, and you won’t get a job when you graduate.”
“If you don’t form a study group, you’ll flunk out.” “If you hand-write your
exams, you’ll be at a speed disadvantage because….”
I wasted a lot of mental energy worrying about this stuff
until I discovered this: The only “right” clubs to join, networking events to
attend, externships to work are the ones that fit your goals and interests.
Everything else is just noise.
It’s that way with the bar exam, too: The doom-and-gloom
types will try to tell you that you won’t pass if you don’t take BarBri, or
that PMBR is the only way to go, or—even more chilling: “The best predictor of
success on the bar exam is (pick one: first semester grades, your score on the
MPRE, your score on the LSAT).”
Try not to listen to these people. Your “success rate” has
little to do with your past, and it’s almost entirely under YOUR control.
3) Surround yourself with positive people and support.
I had several friends from the upper classes who had taken
the bar before I did. I would call these friends—sometimes very late at
night—and they would talk me down. Lean on these people. (Email me if you need
to lean on me.)
You can do it.
4) Don’t waste time and money on gimmicks
It’s tempting to listen to those who claim to have tips and
tricks to “beat” the bar exam. These are silly. Again, hard work and careful
study are the only keys. There are no shortcuts.
5) BUT some tools are very helpful and are worth the money.
My state (Tennessee) offered for a modest price the essay
questions from some recent past bar exams. I bought these and used them to
practice, and they were very helpful.
They were also helpful in another important way: You begin
to notice a pattern. DON’T PUT ALL YOUR FAITH IN THIS PATTERN, but take note of
it.
For example, I noticed that five out of six of the recent
past bar exams featured a Wills and Trusts question. In every one of these fact
patterns, someone had died leaving an older will and a more recent will. The
will’s validity was in question by putative heirs, for one of the expected
reasons: The newer will was handwritten, or maybe the heirs suspected undue
influence and/or the testator’s incapacity. You’ll notice these
frequently-tested scenarios, and you’d be a fool not to prepare for them.
6) Don’t skimp on your MBE (multiple choice portion) study
This study was far more tedious and time-consuming than my
essay study, but I devoted most of my time to it, and it paid off.
Here’s how I did it:
Get your hands on as many sample bar exam multiple choice
questions as you can. I borrowed a huge book of them from a friend, and I
bought second-hand a book with many hundreds more. In addition to these
individual questions, the books had full sample tests.
I recommend this method:
1) For eight or more hours a day for many days on end, I
worked one question at a time. I covered up the answer choices, read the fact
pattern and question prompt, and quickly tried to answer before I looked at the
choices. I then looked at the choices, picked one, and then read the answer and
explanation, noting why I got it right (or wrong). Then, I did it again. And
again, and again, for several hundred questions, day in and day out.
2) After I had practiced in this manner on a fair sample of
the questions for each of the subjects (torts, contracts, etc.), I took a full
sample bar exam multiple choice section. I then graded myself with the answer
key, became crestfallen at how low my percentage of correct answers was, and tearfully
went back to Step 1. I then took another full test. I did this maybe once or
twice more. My score got higher and higher, so don’t be alarmed at how poorly you
may do at first. That’s normal.
(Also, you’ll wish you had used this method all during law
school to learn your subjects, because you’ll be astonished at how good you get
at spotting the fine distinctions in the law. As tedious as this is, it’s quite
encouraging to see how quickly you begin to really KNOW the law. This is why I
said “don’t skimp” on this part. This will help your essay question
performance, too! It is time well-spent, so give it the time it deserves.)
7) Work hard
This seems obvious, but even if you do choose a bar study
course, I think it’s a mistake to be lulled into just working the daily
sessions. For me, it took more than eight hours a day of diligent self-study—every
single day.
You’ll notice that you will not feel prepared ever. This is
alarming, but it’s normal. I don’t know about you, but I did much better on the
law school exams where I didn’t feel that I knew everything. When I felt
confident that I had the subject down cold, that was actually a bad sign. You
know that you don’t know what you don’t know. If you know, you don’t know,
because you can never really know everything. You know?
8) Make peace with IRAC
Bar exam graders have even more exams to grade than do law
school professors. The graders are looking for certain things. If you cover
what they’re looking for, your answer passes. If not, it fails. This is
actually a good thing, because you’re already so good at IRAC, issue spotting,
and raising and dismissing counterarguments.
I found that the essay questions did not have as many issues
to spot as did a standard law school exam, so you’ll want to signal to the exam
grader that you’ve hit the target. To do this, I made very sure to lay on the
IRAC a little more thickly than I did on a law school exam, and I think it was
wise.
For example:
“This question deals primarily with personal property.
The question asks whether Mr. Jones can get the ring that he
left on the grocery store shelf back from Mr. Smith, who found it. In order to
determine this, it’s important to determine whether Mr. Jones lost the ring,
mislaid or abandoned the ring.
In Tennessee, personal property is ‘lost’ when…”
See? Pretty broad, but it works.
9) I never wrote a sample essay answer
You may choose to, but I didn’t. I just read the question,
outlined the answer, and checked it against the sample answer to see whether I
had raised the proper issues and had dealt with them correctly.
10) Don’t waste time on RAP
If you don’t already understand the Rule Against
Perpetuities or some similarly obscure-yet-complicated law, don’t waste time
learning it now. If judges don’t understand it and all jurisdictions have
written statutes so that it is never, ever triggered, it’s probably not going
to figure heavily on the bar exam (if at all).
Tread carefully, of course. You don’t want to say something
like: “I never could remember all of the hearsay exceptions from Evidence
class. I’m skipping them!” But if you don’t see something tested in the
hundreds of sample questions that you do (or you only see it once or twice),
don’t waste valuable time.
SUMMARY:
Here’s how I studied for the bar:
1) I knew what worked for me, and I crafted a rough plan
based on that.
2) Before I finished 3L, I gathered my study materials. I
borrowed a friend’s PMBR Multi-state lecture CDs and practice question book,
and I bought used Tennessee BarBri outlines and MBE and essay sample question
books from eBay, which I later resold for the same price. From my state bar
association, I bought the sample exams (including an online version).
ETHICS NOTE: Companies
such as PMBR and BarBri ask you not to do this. I did it anyway. Was it wrong?
I don’t think so, but I accept that reasonable minds can differ.
3) I read the bar outlines from the books and listened to
the bar lecture CDs. I took notes on my laptop and then crafted the notes into
outlines, trying to forget that I had spent many hours just 2 ½ years prior
doing the same thing.
4) I then began multiple choice practice, using the method
in Point #6 above.
5) I practiced my essays, using the method in Points #5, 8
and 9, above.
6) I took sample exams.
Please do it your own way, but work hard.
I know you can do it. I’m proud of you.
Call or email if I can help.
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