It’s almost here. The Feb 2013 bar exam. The final weekend of studying is an important one, and usually a stressful one. The feeling of all the months of studying coming to an end, and the feeling that it was not enough time. Rest assured that I don’t think very many people feel “fully prepared” before taking the bar exam. There is simply too much law that can be tested to know it all well enough to feel like you are going to ace the exam. Good thing is, the bar exam is a pass/fail situation with a passing score being usually around the 65% mark. This isn’t law school, you can’t get an A, or a B+ on the bar exam. So, you don’t need to have mastered every bit of law in every subject they can possibly test. Hopefully that little tidbit will help ease some nerves this final weekend.
OK, how about some final tips and advice?
For VA takers, don’t forget to do the multiple choice/short answer questions first in the afternoon. They shouldn’t take you 36 minutes to complete so any extra time you have can be spread to the 4 remaining essay exam questions.
For DC/MD/NY takers (and any other bar exam that uses the MPT) I recommend doing at least one practice, 90 minute timed, MPT this weekend. Don’t underestimate the MPT, it’s a difficult part of the exam and very hard to complete on time. If you are taking DC then chances are you are handwriting your exam which makes it even harder to finish on time and keep things neat. So, do at least one this weekend.
Monday day and evening I like to study just the essays, usually just perusing past essay questions to get me in the mood for writing essays. I’ll do 2 or 3 timed essays (36 minutes per essay for the VA bar exam, 30 minutes for DC (any MEE bar exam). Tuesday morning I’ll read another handful of essays just to make sure I’m still in “essay mode”.
Tuesday evening I’ll usually go over some MBE note cards read through the Strategies & Tactics book and do maybe 20 or so practice MBE questions. After a good night’s sleep, and of course, some dreams (nightmares?) about the bar exam, I’ll wake up Wednesday morning and do a handful of MBE questions (maybe 5 or so) just to make sure my mind has fully switched over into MBE mode.
Pretty simple strategy, just enough studying Monday and Tuesday to make sure I’m still in the zone and focused on essays on Tuesday and the MBE on Wednesday. Good luck to everyone this last weekend before the exam!
