If there’s one thing I’d like you to not compromise in preparing for the bar exam, it’s practice and feedback.
“Yeah I know, DAD. That’s so obvious. DUH!” You whip your hair smugly. “It’s simple. Tell me something new.”
Yes, smartass, it is “simple.”
Yet why do some people end up cramming 2 weeks before the exam?
Is it because Barbri gave them lectures for 7 weeks (with a few exercise questions sprinkled in) to beat them into mind-numbing torpor… And then all of a sudden, it’s time to push them into the deep end of the pool?
“That’s all folks! Do some self-studying! PTs are easy! Good luck!!!!”
They did everything they were “supposed to.” What happened?
Illusion of safety in the morass of “more”
I get it. It’s an overwhelming amount of information. So it’s really easy to get caught up in the safe illusion of getting into a cycle of stockpiling knowledge.
- “Let me review just one more rule”
- “I need to memorize first”
- “Gotta fill in these notes and make flashcards”
You figure “you’ve got this” now and should be able to use that knowledge later when you need to.
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.”—Archilochus
But we know that this traps you into a perpetually anxious state. You can’t seem to answer questions, so you go back into the quicksand of more rules, more lectures, more flashcards, more audiobooks, more reading, more memorizing, more courses, more, more, more!
Fight for simplicity.
Doing “more” to avoid important work is procrastination and counterproductive. Like your groceries, knowledge expires. Use it or lose it.
If you’re trapped in passive learning mode
As a reader of MTYLT, this might all be obvious in hindsight to you already. But what if you get trapped anyway?
A common trap is to “review the law” (which you should) but NOT review how the law applies to the facts based on model answers, sample answers, and answer explanations.
When you feel trapped, don’t try to think your way out. Prying the bear trap open out of your ankle is going to hurt like hell, but you can’t sit there waiting and thinking about it too long. You have to do something about it.
There are problems with staying stuck on mental activities like reading, watching, memorizing, creating flashcards, etc.
- They’re actually exhausting, overwhelming, and draining over time—leaving you no time or energy to do what matters.
- They FEEL productive, but you actually stay stale and stagnant without moving forward.
- They give you a necessary baseline—but are minimally effective for answering questions correctly if you ONLY do those things.
What’s a rule of thumb for how to balance knowledge accrual and knowledge application? Generally, I suggest:
- 2/3 review (outlines etc.) and 1/3 practice in the beginning, and sliding the scale to
- 1/3 review and 2/3 practice as the bar exam gets closer.
If you want to get the most mileage out of your time, just keep in mind that busy work and easy work (and even practice alone) don’t help you improve that much.
Practice is not enough. You also need feedback
By “feedback,” I don’t mean you should get a tutor (unless you want to).
Rather, critique your own work using reference answers so you can use that valuable information on your next attempt. I want YOU to become a bar expert!
This is where the learning happens—the part where you review your work to figure out what went right and wrong, not when you’re doing the work itself.
Almost by definition, progress requires you to do something between measurements. Solving practice questions is like getting on the scale. What kind of work are you going to do between weigh-ins?
The meaning of bar preparation
The point of all this isn’t to just “do work.”
Remember that you’re here to prepare up front, not just study. It has a specific purpose—to learn useful things and gain the know-how that will ultimately help you answer enough questions correctly to pass the bar.
In other words, it’s not simply “bar review”; it’s “bar preparation.” You’re not here to impress anyone right now, so feel free to fail spectacularly now so you don’t on the real thing.
The CEO of Dropbox is a great example of upfront preparation. He’s found it valuable to ask himself, “One year from now, two years from now, five years from now, what will I wish I had been learning today?”
Similarly, one week from now, one month from now, once bar week rolls around, what will you wish you had been learning today?
(Possibly, you could use study tools designed to simplify your training, help you escape the morass of “more,” and focus on what moves the needle.)