8 steps fdpThe essays on the California Bar Exam make up 39% of your score. You must do well on the essays in order to pass the bar! Here is my method for the 1 hour “hypos,” which you will have to write 6 of (3 on Tuesday morning and 3 on Thursday morning).

Follow these 8 steps for each essay on the bar exam. If you practice them now, you will know exactly what to do so that you can be on “auto-pilot” the days of the exam. Read More →

open bookYou’ve been through it before, and now you are about to go through it again. Somehow it’s almost comforting…the familiarity with the materials, your outlines, the essays, the multiple choice questions. But hold on! Brian of Make This Your Last Time wants to make sure this is your last time writing the bar exam.

When Brian wrote the California Bar Exam for the first time in July 2013 he did not pass. He immediately got to work studying for his second attempt where he improved his scaled score by over 70 points and passed the bar exam in February 2014. Read More →

bar-examIt’s inevitable. At some point you will reach utter boredom while studying for the bar exam. This boredom will become even more apparent if you are a repeater – that is, you are studying for the exam a second (or maybe even third) time because you have not yet successfully passed.

So, how do you stay motivated and persevere during this crucial time of your life?

I’ve put together some tips to make your study time just a tad bit more appealing. However, I give no guarantees that you’re going to fall in love with Remedies any time soon!  Always keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for you, therefore, take any study tips as mere recommendations that you may or may not want to try. Read More →

Now_what jpegHave you ever had that sinking feeling develop in your stomach as you realize you are running out of time on a multiple choice exam? You check the clock to find that there are 15 minutes to go but you still have 30 questions left! You know that you can’t read and intelligently answer each question in that time span, so… like any test-taker would, you skim through them quickly and take your best guess at each one. That’s about your only option if this happens to you on the bar exam, BUT – there is a better way!

The key to making sure you have enough time on the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE) is to pace yourself and watch the clock very closely every half hour. One of the best pieces of information I got from a bar prep blog post was from Dustin Saiidi of I Passed My Bar Exam where he wrote about using these 5 time intervals. Read More →

SRS_logo_f_f1_squareEver wonder how on earth you will possibly remember all the rules of law for the bar exam? During my own bar exam studies, one thing I kept hearing over and over again from various bar prep materials went something like this: “Don’t worry about memorizing; it will come naturally as you work with the material.” While to some degree, this may be true, at a certain point students still have to commit the rules and their elements to memory. I often felt if there was just some machine I could place over my head that would allow all of the black letter law to become instantly memorized, boy, could I write a killer exam! You can tell that memorization is not one of my strong points. But maybe there is a scientifically proven technique that could help with memory retention and of course…there is. It’s called spaced repetition which has been shown to produce some very impressive results. And now, there is an app for bar exam students to utilize this proven technique. Read More →

time for changeIt’s bad enough that California bar exam takers have to wait anywhere from 2 ½ to 3 ½ months to get their results, but for repeaters who have written the exam a second time, the pressure during this waiting period is even more agonizing. A first-timer who fails is likely to turn around and without hesitation, take the exam again. But switch to the second-time bar taker who again fails – does anyone really want to take the bar exam for a third time, or God forbid, a fourth time? Would you feel defeated and give up? Read More →

Top 10 - freedigitalphotos by Stuart Miles

While I was studying for the California Bar Exam, I kept a running list of all the things I wanted to do after the exam was over, many of which were things I felt I was missing out on during my intense study period. This list was my salvation, my go-to guide for times when I was feeling down or just bored with my study routines. As something popped into my head I would add it to my list. It really helped me put everything into perspective knowing that soon this would be all over and worth it.

Here was my list, not in any particular order: Read More →

Christmas

If you’re one of the many who received disappointing bar exam results last month and you plan to retake it in February, your bar prep is probably getting into full swing by now.  Or perhaps, like me, you graduated late in the year and will take the February exam for the first time.  Same thing – you’re probably delving deeper into bar prep by the day.  You may be thinking, “How can I possibly do all this studying through the holiday season??”  Or maybe you’re an optimist – I know I am.  But I’m also a realist and probably a lot of other -ists that aren’t important right now.   What I’m trying to say is, here’s some free advice on studying through the holidays from someone who’s been there, done that, and survived the February exam. Read More →

hard easy fdpAnyone who has ever taken the California bar exam has heard this before – the state of California has the hardest bar exam in the country. But, is it really true? Sure the pass rates are very low in California, but then, California allows students from non-ABA-accredited law schools to sit for the bar. This could tip the scales since results do show that on average, these students perform more poorly on the exam than their ABA-approved counterparts. Well, finally, we have some data to prove once and for all, which state really has the hardest bar exam in the country. Read More →