With the bar exam just
around the corner, you will need to adjust your schedule to imitate the bar
exam hours. We all know that the bar exam is not only mentally exhausting, but
also physically challenging, especially if you are not used to getting up early
in the morning and performing at your best, starting at 9 am. The best way to
get used to that grueling schedule is to move to “bar exam hours.”
If you are like some of
my students who study all night, stop it today. From this day forward, until
after the bar exam, get up at 6 am or 7 am, shake the early morning cobwebs
loose, and eat a little breakfast. Even if you hate breakfast, you know you’ll need
to eat something the morning of the bar exam. You cannot wait until the lunch
break to take nutrition on the day of the bar exam. In this run up to the bar
exam, eat a little something every morning. If you are not a breakfast person,
let your stomach adjust to early morning food. Eat simple and bland – bread, a
banana, anything to put something in your stomach for energy.
Then, start studying at 9
am until 12 pm, with no breaks, take an hour to eat and relax, then study from
1 pm to 4 pm, with no breaks, You want to mimic the bar exam hours so you are
at your peak at 9 am every day. Don’t leave anything to chance, plan out your
day, even to the most minute details. That is what lawyers do.
The MBE Testing Institute knows that taking the bar
exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience. The MBE Testing
Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident through interaction
with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
An important piece of
information that you need is knowing what kind of essay writer you are. The
next time you write an essay, look at your writing critically. What kind of
essay writer are you?
I have seen many types of
essays, put I put them mostly in a few categories:
All facts and no law:
These writers just regurgitate the facts without legal analysis. All law and no
facts: These writers just tell us the law, without blending the facts. No
knowledge of the rule definitions: These writers do not know the black letter
law. No knowledge of factual analysis: These writers do not blend the law with
the factual analysis.
Where do you stand on my
list? Make sure you know the answer, because your job, right now and up to the
bar exam is to correct your essay writing and turn your weakness into a
strength.
Most states want you to
write an IRAC type of essay. You want to identify the issue, set out the
complete rule definition, analyze your facts with the law, and then you want to
conclude. You can’t go wrong with that simple formula.
The MBE Testing Institute knows that taking the bar
exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience. The MBE Testing
Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident through interaction
with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
After completing your
reading of the Library and File, you’re ready to begin the task of writing.
Your job is to discuss
the issues and the controlling rule of law. Only answer the question that was
asked of you.
Make sure you outline
your issues and facts first. Look at the Task memo again and make sure your
outline has incorporated each issue; noted the relevant facts; and cited
appropriate legal authority. Look at the Memo to verify your task and what tone
you must take.
Write subject headings,
if it is a memo or brief. You want to combine the law with the relevant facts
to write logical thesis sentences.
Give adequate treatment
to the cases in the Library. You want to avoid copying passages from cases or
statutes, but you do want to tell the bar examiner what the cases say in relation
to your facts. Remember to blend the law with the facts. Make relevant
arguments on how the law and the facts support your theory. If there are
contrary authorities, cite and distinguish those cases.
Cite all cases in your
brief or memo.
Your review and outline
of the task should take you approximately half of the time allotted.
You then
can write for the remaining time.
The MBE Testing Institute knows that taking the bar
exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience. The MBE Testing
Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident through interaction
with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
Three weeks to the bar exam is a good time to
evaluate how you are doing. You have enough time to now pinpoint your weak
areas and enough time to change your schedule if you feel you’re spinning your
wheels. Consider this day your line in the sand.
By now you should have done several hundred
multistate questions, at least 15 state essays and at least 4 performance
tests.
If you haven’t done it, get busy. Change your
schedule if you need to, work on your weak areas and keep testing.
If you have, you are ready for the bar exam. You
just need to keep working, stay cool and continue to test yourself.
Make sure you are peaking on exam day. If you are
like some of my students who study all night, stop it today. Get up at 6 am or
7 am and start studying at 9 am until 12 pm, with no breaks, then study from 1
pm to 4 pm, with no breaks, You want to mimic the bar exam hours so you are at
your peak at 9 am every day.
Don’t pretend you’re not nervous. Accept that it’s
okay to be nervous. Channel that nervous energy properly by attacking your
study schedule and transform your nerves into confidence. But, remember, you do
not want to be overly tired for the bar exam. Try to sleep through the night
or, at least, take some cat naps during the day to catch up on missed sleep.
One of the most important things to do during this 3
week period is not to doubt your abilities. You can pass this bar and you know
it. You just need to be in the top 2/3rds of your state. Don’t stress too much
about what you don’t know – you are not expected to get a 100% on this test –
it’s more like 60%. The examiners expect that you will have weak areas. Go into
the bar exam with the knowledge you will pass the bar exam.
The MBE Testing Institute knows that taking the bar
exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience. The MBE Testing
Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident through interaction
with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
This two day intensive seminar is for first time bar
takers, repeat bar takers, foreign educated lawyers and any person looking to
improve on his/her Florida essays for the Florida Bar Examination. This seminar
will address writing and substantive subjects on the exam. “Special” emphasis
will be placed on the newly added substantive essay subjects. The Seminar will
be conducted by multiple law professors who have taught in several Florida law
schools on the Florida bar exam. All of the professors are experienced trial
litigators. The Seminar will cover and include:
Structure and Organization of Answers
Issue Recognition and Development
Factual Incorporation and Rule Application
Fact Analysis
The Importance of the “Florida” Black Letter Law
Outlining your Answer
Writing For the Bar Examiner
Key Trigger Words
Understanding the Call of the Question
The Florida Essay Format
Acknowledging the “Status” of the Parties
Concentrated Outlines
Line-by-Line Analysis
Reading Parties in Isolation
Questions and Answers Discussion During Each Break
with Professors who will Discuss Legal Concepts
Improving Reading Comprehension
Addressing Test Anxiety and Time Management
Small Classes for Individual Attention
For more information on the specific times and
dates, please go to the Contact page and fill it out. In the comment box, state
the seminar and month. Early registration is encouraged because spaces are very
limited.
The MBE Testing Institute
knows that taking the bar exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating
experience. The MBE Testing Institute helps the student keep motivated and
confident through interaction with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
Those that really love you want to see you pass the
bar. Know that with certainty. Those who are pulling and picking at you, saying
you don’t have to study that long or want you to go to the clubs and party are
not your true friends and do not want you to be successful. Hopefully, you have
ejected them from your life for this last month of studying.
Sometimes those loved
ones see you study and see your struggle and wish they could help you, but
don’t know how. Bar applicants who have children find it hard to be both a
parent and have a full time study plan. Don’t ignore them. Try to incorporate
them into your “experience”.
I’ve known students who bring their mom to the test
site. What mom does is to make sure their kid has food during the breaks, go
over study material or just give their kid a shoulder to rely on during this
trying event.
During this 4th of July weekend, look at those that
are supporting you in ways you may not even realize. Maybe your mom makes you
breakfast every morning before you leave for your bar course. Maybe your spouse
is doing the heavy lifting as you study. Let them know you appreciate their
support, even if they are just getting out of your way during this stressful
period.
If you have family that would like to attend a
cookout this 4th of July, go and take a few hours off to relax your mind and
have quality time with those that love you. At this point in your studies, you
deserve an afternoon off. Go see the fireworks. Take the time off with no guilt
attached.
For those who still want to study and for other
times beyond this weekend, have your family help you. They will be glad to help
and they will be proud of the little part they played in your success.
Give
your family members or your children one of your study books and have them test
you. This is particularly good for the elements of a cause of action. By now
you should be close to having them mostly memorized, but especially with those
subjects that are difficult for you, have your family help you recite those
causes of action. See if you can make a game out of it, with your children or
family members each calling out an element of a cause of action.
You may be surprised on game day when you are
calling up the exceptions to the hearsay rule and you remember the face of your
loved ones yelling it out to you.
Have a wonderful 4th of July. If you worked hard,
you deserve it.
The MBE Testing Institute
knows that taking the bar exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience.
The MBE Testing Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident
through interaction with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
I always tell my students that studying for the bar
is more like a marathon than a sprint. I want you to compare it to your
favorite sport that you play. Do you remember how hard it was to pick it up in
the beginning? You had to keep at it and practice every day before you started
to improve and get better at your game. You worked at that game until you
became a true proficient at it.
That game you mastered long ago is similar to how
you must master and pass the bar exam. Every day you chip away at the large
amount of material, taking manageable bites until you have mastered that bite
and go onto the next one. As someone has once said, how do you eat an elephant
– with one bite at a time. In other words, take smaller sections of the vast
material, learn it and then take another section of the bar exam and learn that
section, until, before you know it, you have learned the law, practiced your
questions and are ready to sit for the bar exam.
Always stay in the moment of that day, because if
you look too far ahead, you will waste precious time worrying about the large
amount of material you must learn or how fast the time is ticking before the
bar exam.
I tell my students that taking the bar exam is not a
sprint. You cannot do everything in one day. Do not drive yourself to
exhaustion thinking that you must skip meals, skip the gym, skip sleeping in
order to prepare yourself for the bar exam. You cannot run down your body or
your mind. Take regular breaks so that you can come back refreshed and ready to
learn.
Remember, it was the tortoise that won the race, and
not the hare. And to quote the tortoise, “slowly does it every time”.
The bar exam is a marathon, not a sprint.
The MBE Testing Institute
knows that taking the bar exam as a repeat taker can be an isolating experience.
The MBE Testing Institute helps the student keep motivated and confident
through interaction with an MBE Testing Institute’s bar tutor.
If you need help passing
the MBE, contact the MBE Testing Institute at pass@mbetestinginstitute.com for
more information.
