Bar Exam Prep, Evening Student Style

Happy New Year, faithful reader! My apologies for not posting in December, but this was the first holiday season in about 9 years that I didn't have schoolwork on my mind in some way, so I took advantage of the full opportunity, and actually enjoyed my holidays for once! If you're coming up on graduating law school (or any school for that matter), you will soon appreciate how big of a deal that is.  So this post is dedicated to sharing my bar study experiences so that you will be able to have a stress-free holiday very soon!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, studying for bar exams while working is not easy, and I don't recommend it. But, the reality is that many will have to work at least part of the way through the weeks leading up to the bar -- so prepare to be flexible. The prep courses are designed for people who can give a full day to their program (generally speaking--there are a few that claim to work around your schedule). Even if you take a course that has a more flexible program, there is a lot of material to cover, so your focus and self-discipline are really going to be challenged.

The Material
Bar exams differ in each state, so this will focus primarily on NY and NJ as examples. I'm not sure what percentage of law school graduates take more than one bar exam at a time, but I'm guessing the rate is pretty high in the northeast, where the states are smaller and very close to one another. The key to taking more than one exam at a time is to study aggressively for the more difficult exam and hope that the majority of subjects overlap. This is pretty easy for NY/NJ, since the NY exam tests on 23 possible subjects, whereas NJ always tests on the same 7 topics (6 of which can appear in NY).

MBE Subjects
Constitutional Law, Contracts/Sales, Criminal Law/Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, Torts

New York Subjects
Agency, Commercial Paper, Conflict of Laws, Corporations, Domestic Relations, Equity, Federal Jurisdiction, Future Interests, Insurance (No-Fault), Mortgages, New York Practice, New York Professional Responsibility, Partnership, Personal Property, Secured Transactions, Trusts, Wills, Workers' Compensation, plus New York distinctions for all MBE subjects.

I have a theory that the rate at which you forget the law is directly proportional to its importance on the bar exam. If contracts figures prominently on your exam, by the time you graduate you will have forgotten how to spell contracts (doesn't help that the abbreviation for it is K). This is why I don't recommend that people go to crazy over taking "bar-specific" courses. Take what interests you and might be of use to you in your career. Law school isn't supposed to teach you hot to take a test, it's supposed to teach you the law and the legal thought-process. Bar prep is supposed to teach you how to take the bar, and they do a good job of that.

That being said, you will receive a LOT of materials from your prep courses. Don't be overwhelmed by it all. You won't likely read through all of it anyway (nor should you). I received 10 books for the NY bar exam. They consisted of essay prompts, multiple choice questions for the MBE (multistate bar exam), multiple choice questions for the NY multiple choice portion, and topic outlines both full and encapsulated. It's a lot to manage. I spent a few days just trying to work out the symbols on the books so I knew what homework to do! You are not expected to read through all of the materials, and it is not recommended!  Not all of it is important, and not all of it will make sense, so don't try to confuse yourself with too much knowledge. Remember that the bar exams are not comprehensive; they are going to hit on a few things in each topic in (primarily) multiple choice format. The depth of your knowledge is less important than the breadth, so stick to the mini-outlines and reviews, and you should be fine.

The Schedule
I hinted at this in my previous post, but I was not able to stick to the prepared schedule that the bar prep folks created. There was simply no way--they basically expected 8-10 hours of studying per day, which isn't possible when 10 hours of the day are being spent working and commuting.  There was full online support available, and you could log in and get your lessons, view videos, and get extra practice questions. You could also monitor your progress by checking off tasks in the schedule. There was even this little progress bar at the top of the page to let you know how far you were progressing in relation to where you should have been. As the first week went by, I stayed on track (for the most part). I figured I could boost my numbers by doubling down on my homework on the weekend. No dice. There was a full menu of activities for Saturday, and a weekly recap on Sundays, so no time to catch up. I sank fast. By week 3, my little progress bar was so far behind I had to keep a paper bag on hand to breath into. I thought for sure I was going to fail the bar exam. Every time I thought that, I reached for the paper bag. This period of my life is one that I refer to as "no fun."

By the end of week 3, I faced facts and made a scary decision - I went off the program. It wasn't an easy decision. The bar exam lecturers do a great job of convincing you that you can't pass without their guidance. Going off their program was risky, and I didn't have any information on how to craft my own study plan and still pass. But it was a risk I had to take because a) time was wasting and b) my paper bag had ripped.Here is what I did*.

Videos
From 6-9 or 10 PM each night after work, I watched the assigned video and took notes in the fillable outline. (I called them "mad libs").  The rationale behind filling in the outline was to keep you engaged and paying attention. It mostly worked.

Outlines
I did not create my own outline. Instead, I studied off of the prepared outlines from roughly 9 AM-2 PM on the weekends. In the afternoons I would do multiple choice practice tests and the occasional MPT. 

Multistate Performance Test
"Closed universe" practical problem using instructions, factual data, cases, statutes and other reference material supplied by the bar examiners.

Essays

Harold taking Torts questions

I will admit only to you, faithful reader. I did very few essays. However, I did do one important essay that was submitted to the bar prep people for grading. I'm very glad I did that one early in the process because it was a big wake-up call.  Out of a possible 10, I got a 2. That was a huge smack in the face, and made me realize that I only thought that I knew how to IRAC. Turns out that I didn't.  I didn't use key phrases like "The rule is" and "In conclusion." They are very pedantic about these things on the bar exam, and it's important to structure your essays as if a chimp will be reading them. I visualized which chimp would be reading my essays, which helped me make the process more personal and less scary. His name was Harold, and he had a fondness for striped ties and earl grey tea. I suggest you visualize your own chimp.


Location, Location, Location
It is SO important that you minimize distractions while studying for the bar. For me, that meant picking up my books--sans computer--and going to the local library,  Where there is internet, there is facebook (and twitter, and CNN, and icanhazcheezburger), and a million other distractions that seem innocuous enough, but wind up costing you hours. It's especially tempting to allow yourself to get distracted when there is no hard and fast deadline. Yes, the bar exam dates are set, but it's easy to justify surfing the web when there is a "whole 8 weeks" to study. That 8 weeks flies by faster than Howard can gulp down a banana. Set your own deadlines and STICK to them!

For example, I would set up a weekend for reading through two topics, and doing one essay and X multiple choice questions. It looked something like this:
Saturday:
9AM - 2 PM     Read Contracts Outline
3 - 4:30 PM       Do a Practice MPT
5:30 - 9:30 PM  MBE questions
10 - 11 PM       Recap


Sunday:
9AM - 2 PM     Read Con Law Outline
3 - 5:30 PM       Do essays
6 - 9:30 PM      Finish any Contracts and Con Law Outline Reading


This format usually worked for me. Of course, I had to ramp up the reading as the exam got closer, but I was able to take off about 2 and a half weeks from work prior to the exam.  So, from Monday - Friday, I would spend the mornings reading up on the "smaller" topics (Agency and Commercial Paper for example).  The goal was to be finished reading through all of the outlines by about 2 weeks out, so that all that was left was review and practice questions.

There were times, of course, when I went completely off the reservation and just watched Maury, but you have to allow for that in your schedule.You're not a robot, and you have to remember that people pass these exams all the time. Even if you don't pass the first time out, you can retake them. But, if you're fairly well disciplined and really commit to doing the practice questions and essays (simulating test conditions), you will probably be just fine.If you are reading this blog, that means you are probably already thinking ahead to the exams and starting to worry a little--that's a good thing. Don't worry Faithful Reader. I believe in you.  And so does Harold.

*Your mileage may vary - I'm only sharing my strategy. I make no guarantees as to your success. If this works for you, great. If not, find a bigger paper bag.