The Longest Month of Your Life

Hello faithful reader, who should not be reading this blog because you should be studying for your bar exam(s). No, wait! Don't go yet--I didn't mean to lay a guilt trip on you. You've probably inflicted enough of that on yourself already every time you watch a rerun of the Golden Girls instead of study. It's ok. You're not a machine, and you're completely allowed to take breaks and browse the interwebs once in a while. Just, not too much.

By this point you are about 4-5 weeks into your bar studying, and you are STILL wondering how in the h**l you are going to remember all of this stuff especially on a timed exam. Stop wondering because I'm about to tell you how. There is no trick to it--the key is to study and focus. ("Great. Thanks, Christine. So glad I stopped by for THAT little pearl of wisdom!"). Hang on, there's more.

I hate when people say that law school doesn't do enough to prepare you for the bar exam, although I have muttered that myself from time to time. But, it isn't really true. The law school experience teaches you everything you need to know to prepare for the bar exam. I know law school seems like a 4 year blur to you right now, but if stop and think about it, you'll get where I'm going. By the end of your first semester, you figured out what worked for you. You hated or loved highlighting. You thrived or failed in study groups. You depended on or laughed at flash cards. Mnemonic devises were friend or foe. Whatever technique you can think of, you already know what works. Great. Amplify that by 100 and you have a sure-fire personalized learning device for tackling all that messy law.

I deliberately haven't posted a blog about this yet because the first month you should be focusing on your prep-course study guides and completing their outlines (hint: avoid the temptation to turn those into mad-libs). By now you should have the outlines for the major topics completed, so start using those to study from and advance your special technique. Mnemonics worked for me. So did alphabetizing elements of certain crimes (New York can drive you insane with their degrees).  And now, since you really should be getting back to the books, here are my tips for not-at-all-guaranteed-but-very-likely-success on your bar exam of choice:

1. Go back to the basics and study for the bar in your favorite way (Flash Cards, Highlighting and Summarizing, Mnemonics). Do NOT rely on straight reading the materials--that probably didn't work for you in law school, and it will work less now!
2. Find your happy place and leave your laptop home. Mine was on my back deck on sunny days, and in my local library on rainy days--no distractions, nice and quiet.
3. Read it. Read it again. Read it once more. Now explain it to yourself. If you can't conformtably repeat it or explain it out lout, read it again. 
4. Commiserate, but don't complain. You still have a support network of people who went through this or are going through it now. Rely on them to break the tension, but don't kvetch. No one wants to hear it. You chose to go to law school, so your pain is self-inflicted. 
5. Google what "kvetch" means if you're not from New York. 
6. Remember that it is all important, even if the bar people tell you that it hasn't been tested in X years. Know it anyway. 
7. Make sure you rest, but stick to a routine so that you don't over-rest (lazy).

And most importantly--avoid the people who are telling you that they're finding this process "easy" or "not that bad."  Those people are not putting the work in, and you might be tempted by them to ease up. Those people will also probably not pass the first time. You should be sufficiently stressed, almost to the point of hives. This is extremely important and many people do fail these tests. They are expensive, painful, time-consuming, and expensive, and you want to get it right the first time. You will not do that if you don't give these tests their due. Get them over and done with once, and then get back to your family and enjoy future summers. This one is a wash. 

Be this:

Not this. Ever:

Good luck, hang in, and pay your dues. It will be worth it come November! 

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.

Scheduling Your Life Around the Bar

It's October.  It has taken me three months just to decompress enough to even think about the bar exams. Yes, really.  I wanted to share my experiences and tactics with you so that any of you out there in internetland who may be graduating law school this year can begin to balance work and studying.

First off, everything everyone tells you about them is true.  Except for the people who tell you they aren't that hard.  Those people are lying.  The ones who tell you it is miserable - believe them.

I know, very cute.  Scare the bejeezus out of people to inspire them to study harder.  That's not the intent.  The fact is that they are incredibly hard, and you will go through various stages of anger, frustration, composure, denial, resentment, calm, acceptance, resignation, and fear throughout your study process. That's normal.  But, this post isn't about managing your emotions while you work and study (I'll cover that in a later blog post). It's about time management.

Prepping

Do not even think about not taking a prep course. That's a deliberate double-negative to emphasize that you should absolutely take a prep course! I don't care which one - just check out the ones you're familiar with and use what's right for you.  I had never taken a prep course for an exam before in my life, but in this case I was not going to leave anything to chance.  The exams are too important to go in blind, without the benefit of advice from people who have seen hundreds of exams in the past. They offer a level of comfort that you are in good hands, and honestly if all they are good for is that level of comfort, it is money well spent in my humble opinion.

The Schedule

The course that I took met 5 days per week, for about 3-4 hours per day.  A group of people sat in a room and watched a video of a lecture that had happened live earlier that day. If that sounds crazy to you, that means you're paying attention.  It was crazy.  The worst part of the experience was having 10 minute breaks at the top of every hour. Let's recap.  I have just commuted an hour and a half to get to work, hustled like heck to get to this class at 6 PM, and there are only 2 or 3 ten minute breaks. That's not enough time to get coffee, let alone a full meal. One twenty or thirty minute break would have made more sense, but that was the way it was structured. Cest la vie.

After a week of that nonsense, I got hip to the fact that the lectures were available online.  So, I went home to watch them at my leisure, while I was able to have a decent meal, and still take my notes.  This is what I would recommend for any person who is still working while studying.  Running around like that 5 days per week without proper fuel isn't just unhealthy, it's counter-productive. You lose your attention span, and nothing in the videos makes sense any longer. I was much more focused and calm when I went home. Now, your mileage may vary, and you may find that going to the lecture hall is the only thing that keeps you going, but for me it wasn't worth suffering for. The trick is to stay disciplined, and watch every video on the day that it is assigned.

Homework
The course that I took had daily (nightly) homework assignments, which ranged from multiple choice tests to full-blown essays. The course actually began in late May.  By the middle of June, I was so far behind in my homework, I realized that I had to give it up.  It simply was not feasible to cover the videos for 4 hours, then do 2 or 3 hours of homework each night and get to work the next day. I even tried cramming all of my homework in on the weekends.  That lasted about a week. There is a full day's worth of homework on Saturdays, plus cumulative review.  In short, do what you can to not have to work while you study for the bar.

I was able to take three solid weeks off just leading up to the bar.  I wish I had been able to take more, but it wasn't in the cards for me, so I did as much as I could for those three weeks.  It was literally day and night studying, although there was the occasional zombie afternoon where I had to stumble away from my books and try to remember how to spell my own name. I realized that I had to come up with a modified study plan that worked for me, because the one offered by the prep course really isn't designed for people who are working.  Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing - they designed the program the way they felt necessary to maximize your chances of passing. Fair enough.  But I really wish that had been in the brochure. Bottom line for you, faithful reader:  if you can't take the full 8 weeks of prep off to study, then you will have to modify your schedule.  I didn't do this right away and got more and more demoralized with each day that I fell behind.  But, I worked it out quickly enough and did what I had to do (well, we will see how that worked out in November!). 

Those are the basics of the prep schedule that I can offer for now.  I'll detail what my days and nights looked like, and how the intensity and schedule ramped up as the exams drew nearer in another post. For now, just start to think about how you can block enough time off of work so that you can study!

Bar Review: Where Will we Find the Time?

I have recently blogged about clinics, law review, and write-on: the Holy Trinity of evening student concerns.  However, the topic that's weighing most heavily on my mind these days is the bar exam. Much of that has to do with the fact that everyone I meet, when they find out that I'm graduating in May, immediately says "Oh, then you'll have to take the Bar!"  EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON.  They say it as if I didn't already know. It's like telling a pregnant woman how much labor will hurt. I know what's coming, and I know how hard it is.  Stating the obvious to me doesn't help, it actually just sucks the joy right out of the fact that my hard-earned graduation's coming.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm just taking my own frustrations out on certain people. (Seriously though, it's everyone.). The fact remains that the bar exam (exams, in my case), is looming and I don't know how I'm going to find the time to study while working full-time.

As you may have heard, things have not gone according to plan for law school grads for the past few years. High post-graduation unemployment, and fewer "big law" jobs have changed the game for a lot of people. In the past, the idea was that you would get a summer job at a firm in your second (or third, for evening students) year.  As long as you didn't burn the place down, that firm would typically make you an offer for permanent employment after graduation. Many would even let you draw a salary while you took off time to study for the bar.  Reality no longer works this way, so many people are finding themselves having to take extra loans to cover their expenses while they study from May to July.

It's different for evening students.  Many, such as myself, still don't have anything firm lined up after graduation.  Which means that we will have to continue working at our present jobs after we graduate. A few of us evening students got together recently for dinner and lots of questions came up:  What if we can't take enough time off to study for the bar? What if we have just started a new job and haven't accrued enough vacation?  How will it affect our relationship with our employers, since they know we will be looking to bail as soon as something "legal" comes along?  Yeah, good times.

These aren't easy questions, and the answers are highly specific to each person's situation. One thing that many of us will be doing is taking an "early start" course this spring.  Basically, that just means that bar review begins in February rather than in June.  I don't know if it will help, but I'm happy to know that this is an option.  The sooner I can get a jump on studying for the bar, the better I'll feel.  It also means sacrificing 5 Sundays this spring to study.  Big deal - like I was doing anything interesting to begin with? 

So, faithful reader, just know that if you, too, are worried about having enough time to study for the bar over 8 weeks in the summer, fear not.  You will be able to kill your entire spring as well. I'll keep you posted throughout to let you know if I find them helpful.