The Activist Guide to Passing the Bar Exam

Right about now, people start focusing on essay predictions. Major bar review companies, supplemental study programs, and everyone who has taken a bar exam within the past few exam administrations start to predict what subjects will appear on the essays.

NONE OF THEM KNOW!

The bar examiners are intentionally unpredictable. Yes, most administrations of the Multistate Essay Exam include 3-4 essays on MBE subjects. Yes, evidence and criminal procedure are often tested together in the same essay. They seem to like civil procedure and secured transactions a lot. But nothing beyond that can be predicted.

The MEE often tests the same subjects two exams in a row. In July 2018 and February 2019, trusts was tested twice in a row. Sometimes, they don’t test the same subjects twice in a row.

No one knows what will be tested, except the NCBE, and they’re not telling us.

So, don’t spend time trying to figure out what is tested. Spend that energy on learning the material. I have seen many people over-rely on the predictions to their detriment.

Yes, you should know the subjects that whatever popular predictor of the year is claiming will be on the exam. They’re safe bets. Some of those subjects will be there. But know something about everything else too, because some of the predictions are always wrong.

With three weeks to go, you may feel like you need to already have everything memorized. You don’t. That would be impossible. You have plenty of time between now and the exam to get the law to stick.

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Remember to stay in learning mode. Right now your days and nights are filled with memorization and practice. While you should be moving into doing practice closed book, that doesn’t mean you are expected to have everything memorized perfectly. It’s important to practice writing down what you know, and reasoning through the rest.

Every time you do an essay, MPT, or set of MBEs, think about 2-3 lessons that you can take away from that experience and carry with you to a similar fact pattern in the future. Write these lessons down. If they are rules, put them in your outline. If they are test-taking tips, keep them in a separate journal or on a separate list.

Everything you do is in service of internalizing and memorizing the rules. True memorization takes time and repetition. It won’t happen overnight. Fortunately, you have just enough nights left to make it work.

First of all, don’t panic! Many people, if not most people, bomb the practice tests. It’s just practice. It’s not the real thing. It can be very valuable, if you stay in learning mode.

The key now is to learn as much as possible from the experience. Pay attention to which sub topics you struggled with. Notice when you answered several questions in a row incorrectly and see whether it was a lapse in focus, or if you let a difficult question break your confidence and infect the next several questions.

Make note of how you felt at different parts during the day. What distracted you? When did you get hungry or tired?

This score is not dispositive. Keep studying and stay focused on learning. Your score will improve significantly from now until exam day as you learn more, memorize more, and practice more. You’re not in exam mode until the day of the exam.

To get the most out of your post-exam review, you may want to review your score and study strategy with the bar support folks at your school.

If this is not the first time you’re studying for the bar, here are some good tips from LawProfBlog.

Here’s a post from the Best Practices in Legal Education on how practice tests reduce bar exam anxiety.

And check out this podcast series!

It’s July! The very idea that the bar exam is in the same month that appears on your calendar is enough to create serious anxiety. Plus, those of you who have (incorrectly) been told by attorneys that June is low key and bar study really ramps up in July, are probably trying to figure out what that ramp up looks like.

The truth is, many of you do not have room to ramp up. If you’ve been putting in 10 hour days watching lectures, making study materials, and doing practice, you’re in excellent shape and you should continue to do what you’ve been doing. Once your bar review lectures end, you’ll have the opportunity to memorize and practice, instead of learning new material. But, you don’t need to radically increase the time you have been studying.

If you haven’t put in the time, however, you really have no time to lose. You need to step up your game immediately. Make sure that you are doing some form of practice every single day – MBEs, MEEs, or MPTs. Ideally, you’ll do more than one type of practice every day because you don’t have as solid of a foundation of practice as you would like to have.

You also want to make sure you have a solid plan for what you will use to memorize. If you haven’t been making study materials, make sure that what you have from your bar review company, or the materials that were passed down from a friend, will actually work for you. You won’t have time to make and effectively use study materials now. You’re going to have to figure out how to make the best use out of what you’ve got.

Make no mistake, July is intense. Whether you’ve been on top of your game or not, it is natural to feel more pressure in July. But remember that you are only human and there is only so much that is humanly possible to do. You still need to take breaks. You still need to eat well, exercise, sleep, and have some fun. Rest needs to be part of your study plan.

You’re almost at the finish line! The light at the end of this tunnel should provide you with the motivation you need to get through the final weeks.

Here are some tips on memorization from my colleague at the Law School Academic Support Blog.

Many of you will have a practice MBE coming up soon (or it may have already been scheduled). You may decide to skip it because you don’t feel ready. Don’t. It’s a good idea to do it.

Take the practice MBE to practice the MBE. Don’t take it to determine how you will do on exam day. You haven’t memorized everything yet. This isn’t the test.

But it is still a valuable experience. It’s important to feel what it’s like to do 100 questions and have to do 100 more. It’s important to take away some lessons about test-taking and stamina. Pay attention to how you feel and how focused you are at various points during the exam. Notice when you are distracted, tired, anxious. Notice your timing as you move through the exam at various parts in the day.

When you review your answers, notice when you answer several incorrectly in a row. Was that because one question was difficult and it blew your concentration for the next several questions? Was it because you were tired or hungry and you need to build in a snack, drink of water, or quick trip to the restroom to reset your focus?

Remember that if you get anxious, you can close your eyes, take 3-5 deep breaths, and reset. It will only take a few seconds and can save you a lot of wasted time and mental energy.

Also pay attention to specific topics and subtopics that you struggle with. That can help you figure out what to prioritize in the last couple of weeks, and what you might need to let go of.

If your bar review company rents out a space for the exam, go to it. It’s important to be around other people and distractions in order to simulate exam day.

Remember, even though it’s a mock exam, you’re still in learning mode. Use this experience to learn as much as you can about taking the MBE.

You applied to law school with a dream. You wanted to be an attorney. Something pulled you towards a law career. Something was important enough for you to spend countless hours studying for the LSAT and writing and re-writing your personal statement. Remember WHY you embarked upon this journey in the first place. Hold on to that.

Bar study can be tedious, monotonous, and demoralizing. There is always more to do than can be done in a day, and every practice session can feel like negative feedback. The world is going on without you. There are concerts and protests, marches and picnics in the park.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the process of bar prep. But when you get down and feel like it’s not worth it, when you feel like you would be making more of a difference if you were out there organizing now, instead of inside studying, remember why you came to law school. Remember why you are doing all of this, sacrificing so much and working so hard. Remember all of the people who would love to be in your position – given the opportunity to be in a safe place studying, on the cusp of obtaining a law license.

This is a short period of time in a long life of service. It is all worth it in the end.  Always keep your end goal in mind. Keep your dream alive.