Bar Exam Study Recap: What worked + What did not, part 2

      Here is a bullet list to summarize my strategy for this past exam:

• I found motivation/hope
• I outlined (not really because I already had them done)
• I read my outlines once (but reread particular sections or subsections which required clarification)
• I did MBE problems; reviewed the answers after each question; and wrote out the rules
• towards the end, I started to do larger quantities in a row to prepare for the exam
• I timed myself in the last month.
• Remember, you have 108 seconds per question.
• the same applied for State specific Multiple choice
• I did 1-3 essays a day
• I read the questions, read the answers, then re-wrote the essays
• In the last 3 weeks I memorized Essay rules and MBE rules.
• I typed my essays during actual exam administration (as opposed to handwriting as I previously did)

• GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT!!!

"He who says he can and he who says he cannot are both usually right." ~Confucius~ I Got motivated and dug deep. I believed in myself. This is vital. I didn't want to fail before I started. Try positive affirmations; read stories of people who did what you want to do; focus; find your "raison d'etre."

• Outline

(I had them done from the previous bar exam attempts).  For those who don't learn from outlining, read your substantive books or make flash cards.

• I read the outlines only once.

I re-read specific sections and/or subsections which I found difficult 1-2 additional times at best.  I referred to them sporadically if I came across an answer explanation, which I did not think was clear.

• MBE Questions(and state questions for that matter)

     At first, I did tons of questions at a time, then reviewed the answers; DO NOT DO THIS!!! Towards the end, I started doing questions one at a time.  Then, I reviewed the answers.  This allowed me to gain faster recognition of problems and to understand why certain problems were tripping me up.  Also, it got me in the habit of answering questions correclty. 

     Don't kid yourself.  There is no honor code here.  Don't try to start cold and test your fictional testtaking "savoir faire" by doing blocks of questions then subsequently reviewing blocks of rules.  Doing questions coupled with immediate review is more efficient. It builds confidence, recognition, and good habits.  You have to know the rules to play the game.

     I have to be truthful here, I didn't really do that many multiple choice question for the state specific questions.  I maybe did about 200-400.  Florida Bar exam multiple choice, are extremely specific.  They require cold, down pat memorization.  Memorize any timing requirements for Civ Pro and Crim Pro.  These subjects are on the exam every time.  Memorize MBE Evidence as well as all State distinctions.  This is on the exam every time as well.  Your materials should tell you whatelse to focus on.

• Essay Prep

    At first, I attempted to do essays cold.  I did this particularly during my the two times I failed to pass the exam.  I have been doing this my entire life.  Can you blame me?  The Florida bar sure did.

    By listening to friends and reading, I came across a far better method.  I read the essay and outlined the essay in 15 minutes;  I then read the rules and copied it at least 3 times.  In the beginning, I was writing the entire essay with the intro, rules, and analysis.  Towards the end, I was only writing rules.  If you don't know how to analyze by now, then you are not reading this blog because you did not graduate lawschool.  Thus, you are not taking the bar exam.  Trust yourself.  You didn't make it this far without knowing how to analyze.  If you don't, copy the analysis until you do.  Alternatively, just copy the rule and make your own analysis.

• Memorize

I have never been one to memorize.  I was always one of those peope who tried to conceptualize and understand.  Well, this is exactly what I did the first two times as I FAILED the bar exam.  I certainly conceptualized and understood the Florida bar exam's FAILURE notice, twice received, after taking the exam the first two times.

That being said, this is one of the factors that helped me to finally pass.  For me, it was a matter of repeatedly writing things out 15-20 times.  Note, I did this by putting lare amounts of information (e.g. jurisdiction of Florida courts) into outline format.  For shorter information, I wrote it out in sentences.  It was a crude form of wrote memorization indeed.  But, it worked well enough nonetheless.

• Exercise regularly. Eat right.

I did this all the way up to the final 3 weeks.  Some people keep going and workout upto and on the days of the exams.

• Miscellaneous

That's about it.  Here are some final thoughts about the exam: Bring a sweater because it is freezing in the convention center.  On day two, I developed a wicked runny nose.  Honestly, I refused to sacrifice time so i wiped my nose on my sleeve.  It was soaked.  I will never do that again, but under the circumstances I don't regret it.  Get a hotel 10-20 miles away from the convention center and split costs with friends.  You'll live like a king or queen and still have extra "greenbacks" in your pocket.  Considering the costs involved, I don't believe there is a substantial advantage to staying in walking distance to the convention center.  It's not a bad idea to pack your cooler and bring your food to cut costs.  Oh, and don't give up.

Bar Exam Study Recap: What worked + What did not, part 1: Materials

     It is evening in these parts.  I feel sort of relaxed. I never really pictured the day I would get to write this particular post.  I've seen this type of post on similarly themed blogs and websites.  I think it is a good idea.  I'll try to be specific.  But remember, you have to have the testicular fortitude and common sense to find and apply what is useful for you while disregarding what won't work for you.

What worked for me?

• A quick summation:

     First, I read the Bar/bri Conviser outline one subject at a time (two on occasion if they were short enough), and I reread any particularly troublesome section.  Secondly, (and I think most importantly) i did numerous MBE questions (only about 1100 though) and essays, therafter, immediately reviewing the answers; after doing each question, I looked up the answer. If I missed the essay or multiple choice question, I wrote out the explanation (but, were I to do it over I would save time and just write out the rule). 

     Finally, I took about 3 weeks to memorize long, hard complicated, rule statements for the MBE and essays.  I was fortunate enough to recieve outlines from friends specifically structued for memorizing essay rules (but if you don't have this, read and write out the rules in the model answers and do what you must to memorize them verbatim).  Also, I found, what I assume to be the best MBE outlines I've ever read at this link.

• Materials

•      Bar/Bri MBE Outlines & Questions, State Outlines & Questions.

     As far as materials go, I used Bar/bri outlines books for State and MBE portions as well as the questions as my main substantive sources.  The main reason I used them was because I signed up for Bar/bri blindly as an incoming 1L.  Had I known what I know now, I would have bought the books and skipped the classes.  I will explain why later.

    Basically, the Bar/bri materials include 2 primer books for the MBE (which are optional); two, long detailed outlines, one for state subjects and the other for MBE subjects; a condensed outline book called, the conviser outline, for State and MBE subjects; two books with Essay questions/answers, state multiple choice questions/answers; 2 books with Multiple Choice MBE questions/answers; Finally, Bar/bri lectures usually come with a lecture packet (though not always).  Keep in mind, Bar/bri materials differ in format from state to state depending on the exam format.  Also, I didn't use all of these materials.

   Specifically, I was used the conviser outline, all of the State Essay questions and answers books, state subject multiple choice questions and answers, I used the lecture packets (specifically for State specific distinctions), as well as MBE questions and answers.  I did away with the primer books and the long outlines.  The primer books were not necessary and the long outlines are a prime example of information overload.

     However, here is the Caveat:  Bar/bri lectures, in my experience, were a fantastically inefficient use of my time; but the materials are fantastic for pointing out frequently tested State-M.B.E. distinctions.  These are super important.  If you choose to buy the outlines on the internet, see if you can purchase the lecture packets as well.  Alternatively, seek a friend who has taken the course and see if they can e-mail or share the distinctions with you. 

     In the past, I would read the materials and pay particular attention.  I focused hard and read for many hours.  DON'T DO THIS unless, you are Rain man or Kim Peek. In the case you are either one of these people or similarly situated, you should be in Vegas or Atlantic City.

     This time, I read the sections to see if I understood the gist. If I didn't, I reread sections that were difficult once more.  Immediately after, I did problems.  This was the extend of my use of the Conviser.  I would refer to it very briefly only on occasions where I read an answer explanation which did not seem clear.

    In my experience, solely reading outlines was passive learning.  PASSIVE IS A DIRTY WORD!!! It has a minimal value. I learned the rules much better by doing the problems with immediate review.  This helped me to put the rules in context.  This method of doing the problems and writing the rules was more active forcing my mind to wrestle with the rule, its applications, exceptions, nuances, etc. . .

    This was not the first time I did this many problems. I did way more the first time I took this exam.  But, I never absorbed the reasoning behind the answer.  You cannot forget something you never learned.  Although, in my previous attempt I did look at the explanations, it was all too brief.  Thus, I did not have the connaisance necessary to apply what I read.

• PMBR: Red book and Green book of MBE Questions and explanations

     I used these the same way I used the Bar/Bri questions.  In fact, since PMBR has a reputation for making better questions, I made sure to do most of the questions from there materials.  I'd say about 900-100 of my 1100 + questions came from PMBR sources.

• MBE Outlines: (Please refer to the link I pasted above)

    These outlines might just be the Bar exam student's equivalent to Manna from the Heavens.  I owe the author a drink if he ever comes to Florida.  Anyhow, I would use these outlines to review after doing questions especially where I was weak in a subject.  Also, towards the end, I used these to memrize for the MBE.  They are fairly short, clearly worded, and make for a great supplement or even an MBE foundation.  In my opinion, this guy had exactly what was necessary, discarded what was not, and tailored the outlines for MBE topics in order of importance.

• Miscellaneous

     Here is some other stuff I used though sparingly: "Black's Law dictionary"; PMBR Lectures; hand made flash cards (but the value for me in these was in writing them); and flashcardexchange.com.

     I discovered it later (way too late in fact).  But, I found pre-made state specific flashcards, MBE flashcards, Bar Exam Mnemonic flashcards; if you have an account you can save others' flashcards, you can edit flashcards, or you can make your own.  You can access these flashcards at any time if you have internet access.  I also created a Google document (on Google documents) to write my rule statements.  I waivered back and forth between it and writing pads ultimately typing when I was running out of time.

     That is it.  I'll break this up and comment about what worked and what didn't work in my next post.

Essay study help. I seem to be more kinisthetic than I thought.

     I just wanted to share a quick essay tip I have recently taken to.  Basically, the crux of the tip is writing out the rules in an model essay answer out by hand.  This is a tip my a few friends of mine, one who passed the Florida bar (and New York I think), and another who passed Tennessee.  I have read about similar though modified strategies elsewhere.  My compatriots  read essay questions, read the answers, and wrote the answers by hand.  One of them said they would read the answers and try to issue spot while the other said she did not.

    So, I have incorporated this into my studying.  I will read a question in a timeframe of 15 minutes and I will try to issue spot for 5 minutes and outline if I can within that same 5 minutes.  By writing the essays out a mere two times, I have been able to memorize so much more of the information.  By reading what I write, I have been forced to synthesize the information into my mind.  This tip may just be what I need to put me over the top this time.  This revelation is a much needed boost to my confidence.  Additionally, I will reread the fact pattern with the same time constraints and attempt to formulate the essay outline to be close to the model answer I previously read.

    I tried this techinqe starting out with Business entities.  The reason I began with this topic is because it is first alphabetically in my Bar/bri materials.  For anyone who has taken or studied for Florida, this is not a topic they have tested in the last 12-20 years as an essay topic.  But, you can never be too careful.  This techniqe has helped familiarize myself with possible issues as a pattern begins to emerge if you do enough of them.  Also, the constant reading and subsequent writing of the rules has helped me to remember them much more than anything else I have done concerning my bar studies or law school for that matter.

     In the past when practicing essays,  I would read the information and hold my self to some fictitious honor code where I could not use an outline and where I had to remember what I just read without reference.  Sure, it works, but not as well or as quickly as this new strategy seems to be working (at least in my case).  I think it has a lot to do with my learning style.  Good thing I finally seemed to have figured this out, although it has been 29 years in coming.

    In fact, I might even incorporate this into my MBE studies.  As of the moment, my MBE strategy is to do the problems under heightened time constratints, and to review the answers and explanations by typing them out on a google document.  However, writing takes me longer but it may be more beneficial.  It is something to consider, although it would cost me more time in reviewing if I do this way thus preventing me from being able to do more problems.
 
     Wow, I am really excited.  Maybe you can tell from the rambling I just did in this post.  But, remember this.  When it comes to studying, everyone seems to have a suggestion and they are almost all different.  What works for one person may not work others.  This tip is probably useless for some and great for others.  So, I hope this will help someone as well as myself.  Do what is best and most suited for you. Do whatever it takes to find out what that is.