Gearing up for the bar exam

[LittleRussianPrincess, Esq.]

Question for those of you who took BarBri: would you say knowing the outlines in the Conviser book (I think that's what it's called) cold is all that you need to know to pass, or is it a must to study cover to cover the in-depth outlines in the other books as well?  I ask because someone - who passed the bar the first time - said that all he did was study the Conviser  to get the substantive law down cold, and the rest of the time, he just did practice essays/MBE questions.  I hope what he said is true, for it seems downright impossible to memorize all of the stuff in the 8 BarBri books.  It would also help ease the pressure, for I have to go out of town 5 days before the bar exam, and won't return until the Sunday before the bar exam; I plan on studying by listening the audio lectures I have uploaded to my iPod, and I'm hoping that is enough.

The thicker outlines are just more narrative than Conviser, but it's all the same thing. You should memorize Conviser and only look to the thick outlines if you don't understand something or if you missed a lecture. Otherwise, Conviser plus MBE practice should be enough.

Which Bar are you taking?

[jd06]

Question for those of you who took BarBri: would you say knowing the outlines in the Conviser book (I think that's what it's called) cold is all that you need to know to pass, or is it a must to study cover to cover the in-depth outlines in the other books as well?  I ask because someone - who passed the bar the first time - said that all he did was study the Conviser  to get the substantive law down cold, and the rest of the time, he just did practice essays/MBE questions.  I hope what he said is true, for it seems downright impossible to memorize all of the stuff in the 8 BarBri books.  It would also help ease the pressure, for I have to go out of town 5 days before the bar exam, and won't return until the Sunday before the bar exam; I plan on studying by listening the audio lectures I have uploaded to my iPod, and I'm hoping that is enough.

You may not have had the first Barbri class yet but they'll tell you to memorize the Conviser outline and to use the "big books" to fill in "gaps" in your knowledge.  More importantly than memorizing the outline, of course, is knowing how the topics are tested - just like in law school.  So I'd say the person you asked was right on - practice, practice, practice.  You'll start memorizing the law naturally as you work through MBE's and essays.  And, yeah, torture yourself for a couple months and get it over with.  I graduate w/ people (May '06) who are awaiting results this Friday on their fourth attempt.  I've been a lawyer for a year and a half. Don't be "that guy"....

[slacker]

The bar requires two basic skills.
a) know the law
b) know how to apply the law to operative fact and reach a conclusion

Knowing the law is not sufficient. You can know the law but if you write essays that are conclusory or that don't include rules or that don't apply facts or that don't have a good analysis or whatever, you won't necessarily pass. I notice you say that the friend wrote a lot of essays. I think that's a key. If you can write essays and learn from what you're writing, that's using both skills, the knowledge of the law and the application of the law to the fact pattern.

I don't think there are many people who can memorize all of the rules in the Conviser mini-review, let alone trying to memorize what's in the big outlines. The BarBri lectures will go through the "top" subjects and, for essay subjects, probably give you advise on how to write for that subject. (Each lecturer has his/her own style, but that'd be my guess.) If you can get that stuff down and have a good knowledge of the other info in the mini-review, you should be in pretty good shape.

Just as a general bar tip (and you'll hear this in BarBri), if push comes to shove and you don't remember a rule for a problem, figure out what you think the rule should be, make it up, and apply it. At that point, go for a strong analysis and hope you guessed right on the rule. After three years of law school, you're going to have a clue in a lot of areas of how things should come out. Make sure your rule works with that knowledge and that you give a complete analysis of the issue.

If you are starting to study now, or soon, for the bar, by 5 days prior to the test you should be mostly ready, anyway. If you're still trying to learn major substantive law by that point, you'll be having other issues. So, using that time for a review w/tapes is probably not all that major. Even better if you can bring an essay book and write some essays.

As long as you prepare by having most of your studying done by the time you leave, you should be fine. Make sure you don't psyche yourself out because you're not at home studying at that point. The bar is a mental exercise as much as anything else. From the stats I've heard/read about, most people don't pass or fail by all that many points. Keeping the proper attitude is as important as anything else.

[wiimote]

Cool it with the personal attacks.  I'm tired of getting your non-content trolling posts flagged in my inbox.  Take 24 hours off to adjust your attitude.

post edited by EC

[jd06]

The bar is a mental exercise as much as anything else.

Good point.  Treat is like the psychological warfare that it is.  You gotta go in there lookin' to whip its butt for three (or two) days....

[wiimote]

Deleted.

post edited by EC

[boombasticlady]

Wiimote,
Is there any reason to be that rude? I mean damn so u dont agree with what slacker is saying do u need to be exceptionally rude like that?? geeezzzzzzzzz

[wiimote]

Wiimote,
Is there any reason to be that rude? I mean damn so u dont agree with what slacker is saying do u need to be exceptionally rude like that?? geeezzzzzzzzz

These nontrad gunners just annoy me. They're in every class sharing every mundane detail of their failed lives. No one cares that you're older, or about that legal dilemma you faced when you leased your 1994 Honda Civic.

[smujd2007]

I would emphasize making sure you get enough practice in your weak areas.  And writing practice essays and doing practice questions is critical.  After awhile, you will be able to know how to structure an essay in an organized fashion to get the max possible points.  That in and of itself, will make you feel better on the essay parts of the exam.

[slacker]

In addition to what smujd has to say, the whole exercise of writing (or typing) rules makes the process much more automatic which can save valuable minutes when you're actually taking the test.