July 2012 Bar Exam Prep Guide

At the beginning of each bar exam cycle, I like to re-post a revised and updated version of my Quick Start Guide.  This post provides a summary of what I believe are the most important and helpful posts on this blog.

In my opinion, success on the bar examination is as much about your state of mind as it is about how much and how well you have studied black letter law.

It is my belief that you need to understand yourself and figure out how to remain calm during the preparation and test-taking process. You need to understand the process of diligent preparation for the act of taking the test before you can study appropriately to learn the information needed to pass the bar examination.

Recommended Reading

I recommend that you read my posts about general mental preparation before you read the posts about studying for particular segments of the bar exam.

First, read my posts on (1) diligence, (2) anticipation of conditions, and (3) stress reduction. I suggest that you digest the contents of these posts for a week or so before reading anything else.

Second, once you have begun to implement the ideas and suggestions contained in these three posts on mental preparedness, read the posts about studying for the discrete segments of the bar examination: (1) MBE study and test tips, (2) essay writing tips, and (3) performance test tips.

(Also, if you are taking the Oregon bar exam or the California bar exam, you might want to check out my Oregon bar exam outlines or my California bar exam outlines.)

Third, be sure to read my posts about why practice tests matter and lessons learned from analyzing the reasons someone failed the bar exam. 

"Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts; it's about connecting and manipulating them."

If you are feeling overwhelmed just by reading this "quick start" guide or because you have just started studying for the bar exam, you should read my post about how the feeling of being overwhelmed will subside as you work your way through your bar exam preparations.

Next, head on over to my new blog, Bar Exam Mind, and read about creating your bar exam level set and how to use visualization to help you prepare for the exam.

If you are worried about bar exam stress, consider purchasing my strategy guide for how to deal with bar exam stress, anxiety and fear.

Finally, a few weeks before the start date of the bar exam (and before you make your hotel reservations), I suggest you read my post about how to make the actual test-taking experience a successful one.

Thank you for reading and good luck!

PS -- If you would like a list of bar exam prep resources, be sure to download my Ultimate Bar Exam Prep Resource Guide.

Wikipedia for Bar Exam Study?

While I was checking my Twitter account the other day, I saw a tweet stating that the tweeter had been using Wikipedia to help her understand the outlines provided by BarBri.

This person was justifiably upset that she had spent $3,000 but had to resort to using a free resource to understand concepts that should have been explained in the paid materials.

This got me thinking.

Could you study for and pass the bar using just free resources?

Probably.

The first thing to do would be to acquire outlines for your jurisdiction. Use any search engine and try searching Docstoc and Scribed. 

(If you are taking the bar in California or Oregon, you can get my old Oregon bar exam outlines and California bar exam outlines for free.)

Then, you would read through the outlines you get, and use Wikipedia to look up concepts you did not understand in the outlines.

I think this might actually work.  For example, here is the Wikipedia entry for Torts.  It provides a good survey, and even gets into the elements of negligence.

But, it pays short shrift to the intentional torts.  So, look up each one individually.  For instance, here is IIED and battery (with complete explanations of the elements).

What about Constitutional law?  Here is a wiki providing a pretty good explanation of strict scrutiny.  At the end of the wiki, are links to entries about all the other levels of scrutiny (i.e., intermediate scrutiny and rational basis).

Free outlines and Wikipedia, combined with extensive practice of MBE questions, essay questions, and performance tests seems like a possible way to pass the bar exam and save a lot of money.

(Here is where you might need to spend a little money, getting books that have practice MBE questions or signing up for an online service like Adaptibar.  If you live in a jurisdiction that does not provide sample essay and PT questions on line, you'll need to find a way to get copies of those, such as buy a used Barbri book or order copies from your state's bar association.)

Conclusion

I obviously have not looked into every topic tested on the bar exam, but it certainly appears that the major topics tested on the MBE have sufficient coverage in Wikipedia to enable successful self-study.

Where this free-system could break down is the state-specific areas of testing.

For example, the California bar exam tests community property.  The wiki for community property is good, but maybe a bit too generic.  On the other hand, there are entries for Van Camp and Pereira accounting, so if you searched around, you might be able to get all the information you need.

If anyone tries this, leave a comment and let us all know how it goes.

Smarter Review: NY Bar Review Program

For all of you taking the New York bar exam, here is a guest post from Kobelah Bennah of Smarter Review that might be of use to you.

Take it away, Kobelah....

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Hello to all the February 2012 Bar Exam test takers out there!  Below I discuss some interesting statistics gleaned from New York bar passage rates that may ease your mind as you study for the upcoming exam. Although these trends were gathered from New York statistics, I see no reason these statistics wouldn't apply to other exams being given this February.  

First, although that passage rates are just generally lower in February than they are in July (often 30% lower in New York!), don't fret.  These statistics are not as gloomy as they first appear, especially if you are a first-time test taker!  Your chances are much greater if you are a first-time test taker, especially if you are domestically educated.  In New York, the passage rates for first time test takers in February are usually 15% to 20% greater than they are for repeat takers.  If you were educated at an ABA accredited law school in the United States, your chances also jump up almost 50% higher than the guy sitting near you who was educated elsewhere.  Therefore, if you're about to take the February exam and you are nervous because you've never taken the bar exam before, and you've heard the passage rates are atrocious, don't worry.  The fact that you're new to this is a good thing!  

BUT if you were foreign educated or this is not your first time taking the bar exam - there's hope for you, too! Retakers, your chances of passing increase by how close you were to passing the exam your first time around.  If you were just a few points shy of passing in July, you are much more likely to pass this February. Also, if you just took the bar in July 2011, and are re-taking it in February, there is good news!  90% of test-takers who take the exam for the first time in July will pass by February of the next year.  Thus, the second time is likely the charm!  Finally, there is great news for all you over-achievers out there.  Passage rates correlate pretty strongly with law school academic achievement, and the predictability of this factor only increases if you also consider your undergraduate success.  Thus, if you were a rockstar in school, you're likely to rock on the bar exam.  

Of course, you should not leave your bar exam success up to chance or statistics, but I talk about some of these trends because they eased my mind when I took the New York bar exam in February of last year. Hopefully these trends will ease some pre-test jitters for you, too.  If you're like many February test takers, you may be working full-time, looking for a job, or coming from abroad and, in any of the above cases, you aren't coming straight out of law school with bar-ready material fresh in your head.  Therefore, you may not have a whole lot of time or, you may not have a whole lot of money, to devote to studying for the bar exam. The best advice I can give you is to find a fast, efficient, focused, affordable, but complete course that can give you what you need (but not a lot more) to pass the bar.  

 I found my key to pass the bar at www.smarterreview.com.  Smarter Review made it possible for me to pass even when I thought I didn't have enough time to study while working full time at a law firm.  I felt so strongly about my bar exam experience that I started out as a Smarter Review student and now I'm a co-owner of the company.  As a recent test taker, I urge all February test takers to check out Smarter Review.  Even if you're not taking the New York exam, Smarter Review can give you the most boiled down, efficient, simple, yet complete MBE preparation out there.  That's half the battle.  Anyway, check us out, especially if you're overwhelmed or behind using your current study course.  It'll make all the difference.  

And to all February test takers, good luck!

Kobelah Bennah

Managing Member

Smarter Review LLC 

www.smarterreview.com

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