One of the most valuable things I learned in law school from my 1L professor was how to manage time on writing an essay. His advice was never to start writing right away. Anyhow, here is how I approach essay writing and how I suggest you should too for the bar exam.
For 1 hour exam:
1st 15 minutes) read the question + outline
READING: I generally read the questions 3 times. 1st time) Read the question and make a few highlights on key facts. 2nd time) Read again and issue spot, take notes on scratch paper on all relevant issues and make notes by the facts. 3rd time) Reread and see if there are minor issues and if I missed anything.
OUTLINE: I generally make a quick outline of all major and minor and off the wall issues that I see after reading the question for 3 times.
Last 45 minutes) writing the answer
I go thru my outline and start with what I think are the key issues. I analyze all of them and then cross them out on my outline. If I have extra time at the end, I throw in the smaller issues or the off the walls one.
By the way, on a side note, I think the Barbri method of outlining and putting headers on all your issues are very helpful. For those of you not taking Barbri, Barbri has you put a heading for all your issues (i.e. NEGLIGENCE, BATTERY, ASSAULT) before your paragraph answers.
My biggest advice is to spend AT LEAST 10 minutes outlining the question. If you are a fast typer, like I am, spend 15 minutes outlining. It really helps focus your spots and if you read and outline well enough, you won't need to spend a lot of time writing, and you won't be all over the place. You also won't miss key issues or not have enough time to finish.
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In my book Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays: In-Depth Strategies and Essay-Writing Practice that Bar Review Courses Don't Offer (Third Edition, 2006), I advise using one-third of the time for reading and outlining. The legally-protected Under-Here-Therefore(TM) systems for outlining, paragraph-writing, and factual analysis that I teach in the book take care of the rest.
BarBri in New York trains students to write issue statements first. In the BarWrite® classes, I train my students to make headnotes in all caps, and to add the headnote at the top only after they have written the paragraph. That is much easier for most bar candidates, and much more time-effective for everyone.
For additional bar exam tips, let me invite you to visit the BarWrite blog: http://www.BarWriteBlog.com.
MCG
Mary Campbell Gallagher, J.D., Ph.D., President
BarWrite® and BarWrite Press
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