reflections on the bar exam

What can I say? I am extremely happy. I feel like I had a very large and angry monkey (kind of like the evil monkey on Family Guy) on my back that was very expensive to feed. That monkey has run off into the jungle and is gone now! I was so excited that my best law school friend passed too. It wouldn’t have been the same if we hadn’t both passed. Despite our success, though, my law school is apparently doing a very poor job of preparing us for the bar. We had the lowest pass rate — overall and first-time takers — of any Ohio law school. I’m sure they aren’t happy with the results of the exam.<br />
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A word on my prep for the bar, since I didn’t do Bar/Bri like most everyone else did. Here’s what I did, in case you’re curious and are thinking of going a different route too. I bought the Ohio Course from the <a href=http://www.barexam.com/>Study Group</a>. I felt the materials were adequate; however, I also didn’t feel that well prepared for the actual Ohio essay topics. The Study Group stuff did not make a big enough deal out of the Ohio law distinctions in each subject — the audio CDs were generic black-letter law, which was good for getting the basic law down, but it didn’t stress the Ohio distinctions and they tested heavily on that. I also felt it should have covered Crim Pro and there should have been CDs for the multi-state areas that stressed Ohio law distinctions seeing that those are essay topics here. <br />
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For the Multi-State, I used a computer program with sample multi-state questions from the Study Group. I did all the questions twice. To learn the multi-state subjects, I bought a pair of used (last year’s) PMBR books (the red and blue books) and I bought a set of audio CD lectures. I read repeatedly through the outline book, did half the blue book questions, and I listened through the audio CD lecture set twice. I must say that I would recommend PMBR because I felt very well-prepared for the MBE.<br />
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That was all I used. I didn’t take any classroom courses. I did nothing at all for the MPT — I didn’t even open the book the Study Group sent me. I felt fine on the MPT and the MBE — what worried me was the Ohio essays. So I’m not sure I would recommend the Study Group, despite my success.<br />
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As far as the time I put in, I basically studied from June 1 to the bar exam. Some days I studied probably only an hour or two, but most days I put in probably three to five hours a day (the time I spent increased the closer I got to the exam). That includes time listening to the lectures and doing questions. <br />
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I never did a simulated MBE; I didn’t write any essays. Smart? Probably not. Did it work? Yes. Why did it work? Don’t know, but I think I’ve basically figured out how I learn. I don’t NEED to sit with a group of people — in fact, that’s distracting. I work best by myself at my own pace. I graduated with honors from law school, so I know how to write an essay exam answer. I learn best by hearing something and then reading it in front of me, so that’s how I studied for the bar. <br />
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I think half the battle with the bar exam is understanding how YOU personally learn best and then working to maximize your strengths and weaknesses. For me, I felt that as long as I knew the law, everything else would fall into place. Like I said, I write pretty well and I never have time problems in finishing tests. So I focused most of my energy on learning the law. But, if you happen to be a poor essay writer or poor at time managment, then it probably would behoove you to do practice MBEs or to write practice essays. I think its important to spend your time on your weak areas (for example, for me Crim Law is a very weak area) and not waste your time and energy on stuff you are already good at.<br />
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Finally, would I recommend a home study course? Maybe. If you don’t need to go to class to motivate you and you can find a good study course, then I’d do it. You’ll save some $$ and you’ll save time (commuting for example). It lets you pace yourself (can be a good or bad thing, of course). You can always rewind the CD to listen to a track again; if you’re sick or life requires something, you can easily take a day off and make it up when it works for you. If you’re taking a bar exam in the near future, good luck. :)

Tags: bar exam, law school, lawyers