Trying again

Well you found out your name was not on the list of applicants that passed the bar exam. This is not the end of the world. Hold off on making any instant decisions. Give it a few days to sink in and wait for the final results to arrive by mail.

If you were close and your state offers the chance to get a copy of your essays take it. Give the essays to a third party to objectively look over and give you pointers. This can be a friend from law school or an attorney you know. The feed back will help make your essay writing stronger.

Do not take their criticism personally, they are only trying to help. Take a good look at the questions you scored the lowest on. Was your score low because you didn't know the material or because you didn't convey your thoughts? Either way it is a starting point for the next 6 months.

Use Past Exams to Study

By using past State released essay exams to study you can get a better feel for what the examiners are looking for in your answers.

The state of PA posts past exam questions, analysis and sample answers on their website. If you look at those past exams and then try to write the answers in essay form, you can then grade your own essays. The analysis section describes what the examiners were looking for and how many points each section is worth.

Ask for help

When studying for the bar exam don't be afraid to ask your friends for help. Rather than waisting hours looking for an answer that you think a friend may know, just ask them.

A quick e-mail in each direction will yield great results all the way around. You get your answer and your friend gets a surprise pop quiz to keep them on there toes.

Keep Briefing Cases

How long has it been since you briefed a case? You may think that briefing a case is like riding a bike and it will come back to you, but why take that chance? Brief at least one small case a week to keep in practice so you will not panic when you get the Performance Test.

Usually there is a minimum of one case maybe 2 cases in each Performance Test package. You will need to brief these cases as well as the rest of the library and be ready to write your essay. You don't want those performance test cases to be the first ones you have seen in months.

Fatigue and Lack of Focus

There will be days when you realize you are suffering from fatigue and lack of focus. If you are just not motivated to study step back for a little while and do something else.

Go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air, exercise, do some laundry or something that will make you feel productive. Once you have re-energized yourself try going back to the books for some more MBEs or take the essay material outside with you and read outside.

It is OK to take some down time for yourself. When you return to studying you will retain more.

MBE - One of the answers is correct

There are 4 possible answers to each MBE question and one of them has to be correct. When you are faced with a question that you do not know the answer, without wasting too much time, mentally step back clear your head and look at the four answers again while telling yourself "one of these is the correct answer".

Sometimes this is enough to help you eliminate the really bad choices so you can make an educated guess or find the correct answer by process of elimination. Granted this process will sometimes take longer than you want to spend on one question during the actual exam.

Practicing this technique now will help speed up the process on exam day.

Read the Explanation for Correct Questions

When doing the MBE questions make sure you read the printed explanation answer even if you got the question correct.

Every once in a while you will see that even though you got the question right it may have been for the wrong reason. Sometimes it was even a lucky guess.

Often there will be tips in the explanation that will help you with other questions of the same design.

Further, by reading an answer to a question you got correct you also drill that point of law further into your memory bank.

Spotting Weak Areas from MBE Questions

After completing nearly 1000 MBEs over the past few weeks I have calculated the percentage of each category I got right and how many I missed.

I am going to go back and target the weakest areas and look for any patterns. For example, in Contacts were a majority of the missed questions on the same topic like UCC or contract formation? In Property is there a pattern where several easement questions or questions on mortgages were wrong?

By looking at the questions you got wrong a few weeks later, it will help you learn the rule. Going back through the flash cards will also help the material sink in.

Practice even the obvious

Keep the essay writing skills you learned in law school sharp by writing practice essays. This may seems obvious to some, but others may think "I just finished 3 or more years of essay writing, I don't need to practice."

In PA the essays and performance test count for 55% of the total score so to concentrate on the MBEs over the essays is a mistake. Even if you were an excellent essay writer in law school you still need to keep up those skills.

Read all the MBE choices

When you are reading the MBE question sometimes you think you immediately know the answer. That maybe true, but you still need to read all 4 possible answers. Every once in a while the examiners will toss in a curve ball and place some kind of exception in one of the answer choices or they will place additional information in one of the answer choices that will change the entire scope of the question.

Bottom line is even if you think you know the answer instantly still read all the choices.

Under the weather

Odds are that sooner or later while studying for the bar exam, you are going to feel under the weather. It may be a cold, an earache or severe allergies. Don't write those days off just lighten up your study schedule a little.

Do not try to read outlines and comprehend questions when you are not feeling good. You will probably not retain what you just read. There is also a good chance you will end up reading the same lines repeatedly. When this happens just put the books down and when you are ready to try again go with lighter subject matter.

Take care of yourself first, drink plenty of fluids and relax on the couch or in bed. From time to time throughout the day do some light reading. Use this time to learn some MBE and PT strategies that are listed in the front of most study materials.

Performance Test

When studying for the PA Bar exam don't brush off the Performance Test (PT). A common mistake is thinking the PT is just a 90 minute open book test so you don't need to prepare for it.

You will need to find a strategy that works for you and stick with it. Experiment with reading the memo which assigns the task, outlining your answer and organizing the library material. With the amount of material assigned in the library and the writing assignment in the memo, 90 minutes is not that much time.

PA puts more weight on the PT than a standard essay so you don't want to take for granted that you will be able to blindly complete it on the day of the exam. The PT in PA is worth 1.5 times the amount of points on a standard essay.

Take a break

When you are studying for the bar exam full time it is important to take some time off and walk away from the books. You will gain a fresh perspective when you return to studying.

Enjoy a hobby, spend some time with your family or just get some fresh air, you have earned it.

Learning from wrong answers

I went through and calculated the number of MBEs I have completed to date which is 500 and then I calculated my accuracy. I am averaging 71% over all 6 subjects which is right on target for being approximately 2 months from the bar exam.

The point is not to be discouraged on the number of questions you are missing but rather focus on learning from those questions you got wrong.

Generally there are a few reasons for missing a question:

Did you read the question wrong? If so was it because you were going too fast? The remedy for this is probably the easiest, slow down and focus.

Another common reason for getting a question wrong - you simply did not know the answer or the rule. Take time to read the entire answer and make a flash card. Writing the rule or law will help reinforce it in your memory.

Then there are the really frustrating questions that were just poorly written. There will be some of those and you just need to try to take what you can from it and move on. An example would be the question where all 4 answers are wrong but you have to pick the most likely or the best.

The more MBEs you do the better you will get so keep up the pace.

The Bar Exam - Physical Test

When conditioning yourself for a bar exam, you need to be aware of physical training as well as the mental exercises. I suggest you start training yourself to sit for a minimum of three (3) hour sessions twice a day. Try studying in a minimum of three hour blocks and limit your bathroom breaks.

You may need to build up to three hour sessions, but the earlier you can do this in your study process the better. This will help you simulate the actual bar exam.

MBEs - read explanations

MBE questions are going well. I am making sure I understand why I got a particular question wrong. Did I read it wrong, was I going to fast, or did I just not know the law? If it is a matter of not knowing the law or the rule I then make a flash card to reinforce what I read.

I am trying to get a solid foundation with the big 6 topics through MBEs before I start with the state specific essay material.

Studying for the Bar Exam

It is Monday, May 11, 2009 and I am beginning my blog documenting my independent study approach to pass the Pennsylvania Bar Exam. I am approaching the studying as my full time job for the next two and half months. Each day will mimic the timing of the actual bar exam. 9 AM to Noon will be the first session. Noon to 1 PM will be a lunch break and 1 PM to 4 PM will be the second session.

To get the black letter law down I am starting with MBE questions from a commercial bar prep course. There are 6 MBE subjects so my goal for today is to complete 10 questions in each of the 6 subjects. I will correct the 10 questions in each subject before moving on to the next subject. Any questions I get wrong I will be making a hand written flash card to reinforce or learn the rule or law.