Memorization Epiphany:

     I have mentioned learning types many times.  At the basest assessment, I am a kinesthetic learner meaning I learn from partaking in activity.  One of the things I read about was writing a rule out after you miss a question with it.   I have never attempted nor even thought possible for myself to memorize large volumes of material.  I thought I had to have familiarity and that would suffice.  Well, I have rethought this.

    I came across a post at All4jds.com., a website comprised of forums dealing with lawschool, bar exam, and lawyering related topics.  So, when of the posts was about how to increase memory.  A poster replied and posted a link to his company page http://lawprism.com/. Basically, he runs a california company and helps people prepare for the "California bar exam" and the "Baby bar."  He did this lecture, which you can access Here . It's two hours but definitely worth listening to. 
  
    Towards the end he talked about how he studied for the "Baby bar" or "First year law school exam" in California.  [For those who don't know, California allows people to go to California accredited lawschools for a year or 2 and take an examination which will give them a license to practice law in the State of California only.]  So, at the end he said he was down to 72 or so hours, If I remember correctly, and proceeded to type the rules out 15-20 times in order to achieve rote memorization of the necessary rules.  He didn't advocate this approach for the regular bar exam. 

   I was down to about 20 days.  I was panicking and I knew I had to memorize.  I stopped doing practice MBE questions and writing essays.  I picked up outlines and started to read them and repeat them to myself, because, although painstaking and not efficient, I didn't know what else to do.  I was able to memorize some things but the memory traces were not as strong as I knew I needed them to be to achieve success. 

   So, with about 10 days left, I came across that lecture, pro gratis, of course.  I listened to the whole thing.  It was a topic I had been researching for a while and it was of interest to me.  I began to employ that technique of typing everything out.

     I couldn't type everything.  First of all, there wasn't enough time at that point.  I had to make the best and most reasonable use of my time which is what any lawyer or aspiring attorney would be expected to do.  Second of all, it was'nt necessary.  For example, I am pretty certain U.C.C. Article 2 governs contracts for the sale of goods.  I could recite that rule in my sleep I have heard it so many times.  But that is me.  If I did not know it well and/or I needed to be reminded, I would write it out.  I focused on things that tended to trip me up, that had many elements, or that I really had issues recalling.  Also, certain things are not likely to be tested.  For example, a contract can be written or oral.  This is great to know.  It's important. However, without getting into statute of fraud issues or the "can of worms" it leads to, it is unlikely the bar exam will ask you a question calling for that stand alone statement.  It is the best example I can think of, but I hope you get the point.  Bar examiners don't and can't really test everything. 

   Additionally, I didn't write everything full out.  For example, I needed to learn the jurisdiction of the Florida courts.  I drafted it into an outline format like this:

• FL Supreme Ct.
• Mandatory
• Death penalty
• Bonds
• Invalidation of State statutes or constitutional provisions
• Statewide Utility rate decisions
• Discretionary
• Class of Constitutional officers
• Conflicting decisions
• Validation of State statutes or constitutional provisions
• "Great public importance"cases
• Federally Certified questions
• Bypass certification
• Writs
• No Certiorari

Et cetera.  If it was a stand alone rule I needed to remember, sometimes I would write full sentences.  After doing this, I produced some of the best essays I have ever written.  Meanwhile, my multiple choice scores increased exponentially because I had the laws at the tips of my hands.  When I needed to recall something, If a wrote the first line, the rest would be triggered. 

        I used this to spit out some of the most specific, detailed, and concise rule statements I have ever written.  I used to think the rule statements in the Barbri outlines were impossible until I learned this technique.  I am not sure this is the best way.  But, it is far more better for me to do this than it is for me to read an outline and close my eyes hoping the words will magically appear in my mind.

      The obvious Caveat is, this might not work for everyone.  If it doesn't don't bother with it.  If it does, then more power to you.  Like anything else, it takes work and is not magic.  Sometimes it would take me 7-10 times before I could write something without having to refer to the source.  But, like clockwork, I was able to recall and rewrite the rule, statement, or outline I had copied by the 15th to 20th time nearly without fail. 

     Also, I don't really want to go into detail about it in this post, and probably not on this blog for that matter.  But, a tip to strengthen the memory trace in addition to writing, is to speak what is being written, and to read what you just wrote as well.  To put it simply, when we store something into memory we create a pathway in the brain to do it.  If a person writes, this creates one pathway.  These pathways can break if they are not strong and this is what causes difficulty retrieving memories when they are absolutely needed. This could be the result of increased stress (such as when taking exams) or other emotional scenarios.  However, if a person writes, reads aloud, and visualizes the same information, the memory trace is much stronger.  This means, the memory will be easier to retrieve.

      I will post some more about this later on.

MBE Strategy Dilemma?

     Everything is moving along.  I am a far cry from the whining cry baby who felt so sorry for himself just a few weeks ago.  Reality has galvanized me.  Every day I turn on my computer, I see the days on the countdown timer winding down.   Watching those days disappear is a gutcheck every single time.

     I can't emphasize this enough, but "I am a fighter."  It is one thing if I get beat, but it is another thing if I get beat and don't put up a fight.  Life is a series of beatings, and we are judged by our ability to recover from them.  This includes the beatdown I have twice taken called the bar exam.  It is a necessary adversary and I will do my best to overcome it.

     My confidence is growing as far as my test preparation is concerned.  My adopted strategy of writing out the answers has really helped me to improve my practice percentages and overall recognition, and memorization of the law.  However, the answer writeups are taking much longer than I would like.  As I posted previously, I have adopted a strategy of taking chunks of MBE questions under heightened time constraints (90 seconds instead of 108 seconds per question), reviewing my answers to see where I went wrong or where I got lucky, and writing out the rules to those answers by hand or by typing. 

     I have recently been doing them by hand.  This is great, because I am forced to pay attention to what i am writing thus reading and engraving said rules in my brain. Typing, has a similar effect but it is easier to type something without paying as much attention to it.  But even with typing, familiarity still increases. But for people who type faster then they write, this may save 1/3 or more of your time when doing write ups.   So my dilemma is this: Do I type to cover more questions thus giving me more overall familiarity with questions and question types; or should I sacrifice a little speed for more in depth familiarity with the law and certain question types?

     I read in a successful repeater's blog, it may take 2 to three times as much time to do a writeup review of your answers as it does to take a set number of MBE practice problems.  I have found this to be true.  Couple this with the fact I am now doing MBE questions at a clip of 100 questions.  I gave myself 2 1/2 hours to do the test under a heightened time constraint.  However, it still took about 3 to completely finish.

     The weaker your familiarity is with the subject, the longer your writeup will be.  Although, this is said to get much easier as you grow in familiarity with previous mistakes and start to score more efficiently.  For instance, I did very well in torts in law school and I understand it well.  I did horrible in Contracts.  I was able to finish my torts write up for 100 questions and about 34 misses in about 5-7 hours.  My write up for 100 contracts questions and 33 misses took me nearly 9 hours.  I handwrote both of these.

     This is a matter of bar exam strategy.  As of now, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners allows bar exam takers to pass either the state or MBE portion of the exam and fail the other portion.  If this happens, an applicant can still pass with enough aggregated points from the combined state and MBE scores.  If the applicant does not have enough aggregated points, he or she may retake the exam portion they failed and carry over the score from the portion they passed on the previous examination.

    As for my MBE I was 2-5 questions away from passing on both exams.  I believe this write up strategy will get me over the top and allow me to score the extra points I need to pass.  So, based on my previous MBE scores and my increased knowledge and familiarity, I should pass whether I type or handwrite my MBE practice writeups.  However, I still need to get as many points as I can to try to help me on the state portion.

     I have been much weaker on my state portions in the past most especially on my essay scores.  Most of this has to do with a lack of strategy, lack of practice, and poor practice performance. My newly adopted essay strategy will increase my score.  In fact, it should increase it enough to help me pass.  But, I don't want to take any chances.  I will have to weigh the merits of my MBE strategies and modify accordingly.  I'll have to think this out today and make a move.

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.

Letting go is key to getting over frustration

     I woke up this morning thinking, as I usually do.  The focus of those thoughts was "letting go." I tried to make my study schedule last night.  All I could think about was my disgust for this situation, my disdain for my seeming ineptitude to achieve this goal, and the frustration and pain I have forced myself into by having have failed this exam twice now.

     At one point, I used to believe everything would work out in my favor.  I believed if I was in line with the will of G-d, things would eventually work out in my favor.  I honestly don't know of such things any longer nor do I possess the certainty I once had.  Long gone from my memories are the days, if any, where I recall things working out for me in a good way.
   
    I used to be able to [look at the cup as being half full]. I acknowledge the fickleness of man and how easily man forgets.  In  the past, I would look to others who suffered and understand how fortunate I was.  Even such a tactic now only has a minimal effect.  I don't seek pity, nor do I seek consolation.  I seek release from this burden.  This predicament has me filled with so much regret about life and this "career path."  I am afraid that it could get worse.  My life has been stagnant and devoid of growth.  Something will have to give.  It cannot be like this forever.

    Despite all of this, I recognize LIFE IS FAIR.  The same rules do not necessarily apply for all.  What works for some might not work for others and vice versa, yet life is fair.  There is always a point or some points we can look back to which will make our difficult predicaments understandable.   I often say "[l]ife is a combination of personal choices."  Actually seeing it written out makes it seem lacking.  Maybe its a combination of personal choices and "curveballs."

     Anyhow, last night I googled "how to let go of frustration."  I came across an article on the subject and this was the first couple of sentences:

"Anger and frustration are caused by an insistence that the world or other people conform to your wishes. The art of going beyond anger and frustration lies in learning to let go and flow with the natural unfolding of life and in developing a spiritual perspective which reveals that life is precisely as it needs to be at every moment."

     I full heartedly agree. I acknowledge my self centeredness and my former inability to see "outside of the box."  I wrote "Flow" on the palm of my hand today as a reminder.  I don't know why I am going through this; I can't figure out how to look at this as a positive; nor do I understand the purpose of all the lost time.  But I can't avoid the situation.  I have invested too much to quit for this go around.

    Everything has its place in the universe.  Presently, this is mine.  This will evolve, this pain from this situation.  It will either become cancerous and cantankerous promoting bitterness, frustration, rancor, and anxiety, inter alia; or it can become something I learn from, which I can move on from and possibly help others.  I personally choose the latter. 
  
     I am not the only one to have faced this situation.  I don't want this to become my defining moment in life. How much more can I be stretched?  How much more will I have to shoulder dissapointment, failure, and the resulting heartache? I do not want this to be the one straw that broke the camel's back.  But note, "[w]hile the one straw broke the camel's back here's the secret; there's a million other straws underneath it.  It's all mathematics." -Mos Def-

What kind of learner am I?

     I'm not really sure.  I have been giving this a trememdous amount of thought lately as I gear up to prepare for another run at the bar exam.  Conventional (and antiquated) wisdom produced three traditional categories of learners: Kinesthetic (learning by going through the motions), Auditory (learning from listenting), and Visual (learning from seeing), or some hybrid of the above styles.
   
     Au Contrare mon frere.  Further research suggests there are far more complex and various styles of learning than the traditional three.  This article is a good introduction to many of those categories.  They include people who are Musical, Verbal-linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, etc. . . . Read the article and pass it along.  It is very informative.


     I never quite figured it out in Law School.  There were times I used memory recall and I could successfully hear the voices and phrases of my teachers from specific lectures.  Unfortunately, there would be times where the information was in my mind but unbearably irretrievable.  I would sometimes study by repeating things to myself so many times I could not forget.  As much as I tried, I was never able to visualize pages and words I had read. 
     
      I've read somewhere that developing a strong memory has to do with developing strong synapses in the brain.  The more people commit something to memory, the stronger that connection is in the mind, thereby allowing the pathway to retrieve that information to be very strong and accessible.  Thus, when the mind needs to recall it, it will be easy to do because of connection that has been built to retrieve said piece of information.

     In, Law School, the fading moments of "glory" I had were during Appellate Advocacy, Moot Court, and Mock Trial.  When I tried for both the Moot Court and Mock Trial organizations, I researched, wrote my speeches, and physically went through the process of making my oral argument, opening statement, and direct examinations dozens of times over.  I got to the point where I could do an appellate argument for up to an hour if I went uninterrupted (which is rarely ever the case).  During my opening statement I had actually forgotten a peice of my presentation, but because I had gone over it so many times I was able to ad lib with something else that was relevant to get myself "over the hump."  The same went for competitions of the same nature.

     I learn new songs on my guitar sporadically.  I learn them best by playing them.  I don't exactly read music, and i only figure things out by ear on rare occasions.  I am definitely bodily-kinesthetic I think. I may also be Asbract-reflexive, inter alia.  This is a subject I certainly would like to bmore informed about.

Positive Affirmation/Positive Thinking for the Bar Exam

     I came across this article about using Positive affirmations to pass tests.  I do believe people can get themselves to achieve a higher levels with proper focus. Before knowing what they were, I successfully used positive affirmations in the past. For instance, when I participated in both Mock trial and Moot court drills and competitions in law schoo, I constantly repeated to myself “I am the greatest litigator this school has ever produced.”
    
     I must have repeated this to myself dozens to hundreds of times. I would walk around saying it to myself.  I looked atmyself in the mirror and said it.  I would eat and repeat the phrase to myself.  Sometimes people would look at me like I was a bit nutty.  Duh!  Why do you think I went to lawschool in the first place?

     I knew it wasn’t true. Nonetheless, I kept hearing that phrase in my mind and I carried myself and litigated accordingly (although fictitiously).  The phrase was so embedded in my mind I subconsciously strove to be the best I could be.  In fact, I took an Appellate Advocacy course for which I had to do a graded oral argument.  I had prepared vigorously, but was still uber nervous.  I constantly repeated that phrase, and I performed well.  One judge told me I was the best he had seen that year.  The other judges complimented me on my performance as well.  I did well in that course and almost got an A.

     If one creates enough expectancy, belief will always follow. This works both for good and for bad. That is why you see athletes achieve greatness; while there may be others who are as talented, top athletes possess extreme mental acuity. I once knew an athlete from the Bahamas who competed in one of the Olympic games. He explained how he was able to “visualize” the race from start to finish and that all athletes do the same.

     It is also why some battered spouses and prostitutes never leave the abusers they are with. They have gone their entire lives being told they are “worthless,” thus, they come to believe it and they start acting accordingly. I knew this law student I went to school with. He constantly complained about how his wife was going to leave, how his marriage was in shambles, and that his marriage would end at any time. He spoke of it all the time. So what did he do, he constantly flirted with woman, he hooked up with different girls WHO WERE NOT HIS WIFE, he got caught cheating, and his wife divorced him. He spoke about it so much that he believed it, and he conducted himself accordingly. 

     Don’t get me wrong. Positive thinking, in and of itself, will not get you all the way. But if properly used, it can help anyone achieve thier goals.

     These are some affirmations I am mulling over. These may be a bit unrealistic, but they will still serve the same purpose of helping me to be better.

 Positive Affirmations for the February Bar Exam:

• “I will score 400 scaled points on the Bar exam.”
• “I am a master of MBE Multiple choice questions.”
• “I am the greatest exam taker to ever live.”
• “I will record the highest Essay Scores for this Bar Exam.”
• “I will pass the February Bar exam.”
• “I am Smart.”
• “I have so much sex appeal the Florida Board of Bar Examiners will have to let me pass.”

I am laughing inside at the last one. What can I say? I am self amused at times.  Suggestions are welcomed.