How I Memorize

Like I mentioned previously, I memorize pretty well and pretty quickly. Refer to my last 3 weeks memorization schedule in my previous posts.

Pretty much, I laid out all my outlines. I reviewed and went over and repeated in my brain 3 times each rule and went over individual sections (around 1-2 pages) at a time. Then, I would try to repeat them outloud and then review if I got the rule right or not. I guess you can do it in your head, but I just liked talking over it out loud. I kept on doing this.

By the last week or so, I would just read the rule over once or not at all, and then recite the rules for the sections. That's how I was about to go thru like 3 to 5 subjects in the day. I would then highlight things on my outline that I missed.

So, that's my approach.

Question: Practicing Essays

"How did you decide which essays to practice on any given day?"

I think I just went thru the Barbri book and did the essays that weren't assigned. I think I did it so I went thru the different subjects. I did practice essays for the subject I was memorizing for that day.

If you are really struggling on a certain subject, I would recommend doing that subject or at least outlining more of those.

A Day in the Life of the Bar

Here is what my scheduled looked like during the bar and other advice I can think of:

MONDAY:
I studied until 12 noon and then relaxed the rest of the day. I went to Vons to buy some lunch items. At around 8:00ish, I packed my cooler for the big day. I took a sleeping pill at 8:30 p.m. and then tried to go to bed.

Whatever you do, DO NOT stay up late on Monday trying to study. Whatever you don't know by 12 noon, you will not learn in time for the bar. Just relax so that you are prepared for 3 tough days. It's WAY better to just take half day off even if you don't feel ready than to try to cram something in because nothing will stick at that point.

TUESDAY-THURSDAY:
I woke up at 6:15 a.m. and ate breakfast. I put ice in my cooler for lunch, and I left my house at around 7:00 a.m. I arrived at approximately 7:35 a.m. I found a nice parking spot under a tree, and then reviewed a few outlines and checklists. I listened to some music after that to relax before the bar.

When I started taking the bar, it wasn't that bad. I just followed my plan: 15 minutes outlining, and 45 minutes writing out the answer. I did the questions in order and did not read all the questions before starting.

Afterward, I drove home where my mom made dinner, ate dinner, and then watched some t.v. and did it all over.

DON'T QUIT:
I've always heard this and believed in this. No matter what happens, don't quit. DO NOT decide for yourself that you will fail. If you walk out and don't go back, you will fail. Let the Bar people decide. I had many friends who thought they failed (they were all ready to take the FEB bar), and they ended up passing. Keep at it. The MBEs were really hard last year, but we all did okay. So, stick with it!

During the Bar

SLEEPING PILLS:
Starting Monday night, I took Tylenol Simply Sleep around 8:00 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. every night. I wanted to get a good night's sleep, and I knew I wasn't going to do it otherwise. Since I was driving to the exam site from my parent's house (see past post), I had to wake up at around 6:15 a.m. or so each morning. I tested out the sleeping pill a week before, and it worked out well for me. I went to bed by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., the latest each night, and I got a decent night's sleep for the bar. I wasn't too drowsy either.

PACKING LUNCH:
Each night prior to the bar and in the morning before I left, I packed my lunch. I had a Snapple, ready made salad pack from Vons, and a fruit of some sort. I packed some ice in a little cooler and put it in my car. When they let us out for lunch, I went to my car and had my lunch and listened to music. Actually, many other people did the same thing. I highly discourage you from trying to buy lunch, especially on the first day. You don't want to be stressed out worrying about whether or not you have time for lunch or not.

POST-BAR TRIP:
Since I didn't take my post-bar trip until late August, I booked a massage for the day after the bar. It was wonderful! My neck was so tight from all the tension and from hunching over and typing on my computer. It was the best thing I did for myself and after two months of studying, it was worth it!

I really don't have that much specific advice for anyone. Hopefully, you have kept at it, and you will reap the rewards.

If you have any last minute questions or need advice on anything, just post a comment, and I will try to answer it as quick as possible!

Last Minute Shopping

When I had the chance, I went to Target to pick up my bar stuff. Here is what my shopping list comprised of:

1) Ziploc bag (gallon size) to put all the pencils, pens and everything in.
2) Tylenol Simply Sleep: I took these one day about a week before the exam to see what kind of effect it had on me. It didn't make me drowsy, so I was okay.

The night before the bar, I went to Vons and bought their salad as bar lunch.

The Final Few Weeks

I already posted my schedule below. I probably did 1 or maybe 2 Performance Exams during the last few weeks, but I spent the majority of my time memorizing. At this time, I was scoring around 75 to 85% on the practice MBEs, although I did not do any of the Advanced Barbri ones because they were a little bit ridiculous. If you can hit the 70% mark on MBEs, you should be fine. Just keep at it...the end is near.

Question: 3 Weeks Left--What to do?

"There's about 3 weeks left, any advice on outlining, memorizing, or practicing?"

First, you might want to refer to my post on my schedule last year for memorization. http://cabaradvice.blogspot.com/2007/06/memorization-schedule-last-3-weeks.html

You really should finish outlining as soon as possible. If you really are not going to finish, I would advise you to just memorize off of Conviser. Figure out the rules and what you need to know and go from there. Skim or skip the rest.

After Barbri, you should divide your days up into memorizing the practicing. You really shouldn't be outlining anymore. I tended to spend more time on memorization, maybe like 2-3 hours on practicing and 6-7 hours on memorization a day. But, you can adjust.

For practicing, you should do at least 1 hour of MBE questions. I did 34 questions each day and timed myself to make sure I hit the 1 hour time mark and then went over questions. I also tried to write out a full essay a day in a one hour time period. If I didn't write out a full essay, I would outline and issue spot 3-4 essays (15 minutes each essay).

Just keep up the hard work...the end is near!

Failing Barbri Essays

Here's the question: "I failed 2 barbri essays. I am really stressed now. Can you give me some advice? Do you know anyone who failed barbri essays and still passed the bar exam? Thank you."

First of all, almost everyone I know failed at least one, if not more, of their Barbri essays. I know I failed the PT and a few others.

You should take a look at the essays and see why you are failing.
1) If you fail the rules section, that's not a big deal because you probably haven't memorized anything at this point.
2) If you fail the issue spotting, I highly recommend you outline many essays. Take a past essay, spend 10-15 minutes doing an outline, and see which issues you missed. Note that Barbri is much more strict than the actual bar. If you look, Barbri requires you to spot way more issues than the actual bar, but you must spot the major ones to pass.
3) If you fail the analysis portion, you might want to see what comments you are getting, and you may need to develop your analysis more.
4) I think the last one is organization, so if you use a ton of headers, you should be fine on this.

Barbri is not perfect, and I have heard of someone just copying the model answer and turning it it. They got a fail. I think you are required to fail most people in the beginning so they will work harder.

However, if someone isn't seeing something on your essays or analysis, maybe you need to be more clear in your writing. Yes, the grader probably spends less than 5 minutes on your essay, but so will the bar exam reader. So, make everything as clear as possible and use tons of headers for every issue. Don't hide a subissue in your analysis. It's helpful to have someone from Barbri read your essays because you may think you fully analyzed an issue, but if someone can't see it, then maybe you need to add a header or make it more clear.

So, don't worry about failing, but you should be improving. So, if you got all Fs in the first essay and are getting Ps on the later essays, that's a good sign. Just keep at it!

Bar Exam Gear: Earplugs + Clock or watch

EARPLUGS:

I really think it is a good idea to have earplugs (the kind you wear for swimming) and use them during the bar exam. I used them during all my law school exams, so I didn't need to get used to them for the bar. However, for those of you who don't use them, practice wearing them and getting used to them when you do practice essays. You definitely want to use them because there may be a lot of strange noises or your neighbor may have a habit of tapping their pencil or something like that, which can get on your nerves.

CLOCK OR WATCH:

I think you should invest on a clock or watch that you will use for the bar. You need to read the bar exam instructions, which tell you the exact dimensions that are allowed. Also, I think it has to be one with no alarm function or else you get "written up" (Yup, I witnessed this first hand). But, use the clock to keep track of your own time.

I will do a future post on other things to bring and my bar exam experience as time gets closer...

Barbri + Other Study Courses: Necessary?

This post is mostly for people in law school who aren't taking the bar yet. I recently read a post by a reader who claimed that Barbri and PMBR are a waste of time, and that people can pass the bar without taking a study course. I'd have to agree, but I'm strongly against it.

It is true that we do most of the studying ourselves, and that the Barbri lectures are not that helpful. But, I think Barbri or another study course is necessary to keep us on track. Also, it helps reduces our stress because someone hand-feeds a lot of stuff to us.

Honestly, I'm pretty self-disciplined, to the point where I was able to follow the paced program the entire time with the deviation in the last 3 weeks, and I was able to be ahead of the schedule most of the time (so I could have my Sundays off). Still, even I don't think I would have stayed on schedule if I hadn't taken Barbri, and my guess is 95% of the people taking the bar won't be able to do it (maybe 99%). Yes, most of the people won't be able to stay with Barbri's program, which means these people most certainly won't be able to follow a self-study program. It's too easy to decide to wake up at 10:00 a.m. or to skip studying for a day when you don't have lectures or homework you know you need to go to or complete. It's kind of a guilt-trip thing.

So, in conclusion, if you are in the 1% of the super-self-disciplined bunch, don't take any course. However, I have to say that the majority need some kind of course to keep him on track.