Author: Brian

Posted on - 4 Comments on Be a Producer, Not a Consumer

Be a Producer, Not a Consumer

Reading outlines. Reading sample answers. Memorizing.

All good things to do. But that’s simply being a consumer. It feels like progress.

Being merely familiar with something or being able to recognize it—even being able to recite a rule statement—doesn’t mean you can USE it.

Just because you love reading books or watching videos doesn’t mean you’re going to make a good creative. You have to keep putting work out there under the eyes of scrutiny.

  • Can you recall the issues and rules?
  • Can you pick out the correct answer (for the right reason)?
  • Can you identify all the relevant issues by looking at a fact pattern?
  • Can you organize an answer for an essay or a performance test?
  • Can you write out an answer in time?

That’s being a producer. That’s what you’ll do on the bar exam. That’s what the bar exam will ask you to do: to know HOW TO USE your knowledge to solve problems.

Consuming only prepares you to do the work that matters. It’s not the main thing to focus on.

It’s harder to test yourself with a question, take way longer than it should, and realize you don’t know how to answer it.

That’s what preparation is for… so that doesn’t happen while you’re on the hot seat.

Be a producer. Don’t just stand there. Give it a try now.

Posted on - 2 Comments on My 5 Rules for Passing the MBE

My 5 Rules for Passing the MBE

The MBE is probably the lever that will move your bar exam result the most.

Yet we see that training when it comes to the MBE is sometimes shoddy and not really there.  We LOOK like we’re trained, and you very may well be, but the actual exam experience is different from the simulations.

When you’re actually on the hotseat, you’re automatically less good at the things you’re normally good at on a day-to-day basis.

"I did 4000 questions on AdaptiBar and was 72% overall, so I'm confused on what I need to do better for my MBE."

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.”

I don’t want you to find out that you actually weren’t training well as you fall to its level on the real thing. Instead, I want you to pass the MBE (and the bar exam) with flying colors.

To that end, here are my five rules for passing the MBE:

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Posted on - 2 Comments on What do REAL bar takers think of the remote/online bar exam? And their advice on how to study for an online bar exam

What do REAL bar takers think of the remote/online bar exam? And their advice on how to study for an online bar exam

The bar exam world changed in 2020.

It became possible to take the bar exam remotely—from anywhere on the planet—thanks to the miracle of high-speed Internet. It’s the bandwidth revolution! The Great Reset!

But with new ideas come poo-poo-ers.

People were complaining about how it won’t work, they’re going to spy on us through the camera, there aren’t any bathroom breaks in the middle of a session, there will be tech issues, there are hackers, people will cheat, it’s too complicated, etc.

Some of it DID happen.

Some of it was preventable by bar takers (like remembering to go to the restroom beforehand).

People are calling for remote bar exams to be abandoned, proposing alternative formats, cutting multiple choice questions and making essays open book, and suggesting diploma and license privilege.

They are all valid concerns.

But just because something is uncertain or new doesn’t mean it’s always bad. (Remember when people complained when Facebook kept changing its interface and got used to it within a day?)

I don’t do doom and gloom here. Examples:

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Posted on - 13 Comments on UWorld MBE Review: Study with Visual Learning (vs. AdaptiBar)

UWorld MBE Review: Study with Visual Learning (vs. AdaptiBar)

There are a lot of resources and supplements for the MBE portion of the bar exam these days.

AdaptiBar vs UWorld AdaptiBar vs BarMax, Emanuel, PMBR, Real MBE, Barbri, Themis, JD Advising, Critical Pass, Kaplan

You’re bombarded with referral links and ads from all angles on the Internet these days thanks to everyone trying to get a piece of you (and your sneaky iPhone listening to everything you think).

You’re taking the most important exam of your life. The multiple-choice part counts for 50% of your bar exam score based on a series of 200 letters (or 100 if there’s a pandemic).

All you want is just some solid and cost-effective help that makes you actually learn and progress.

What are you supposed to choose?

UWorld MBE QBank is a new contender to the MBE game.

In this comprehensive review of UWorld, I’ll explain what their MBE QBank does and why I immediately reached out when I first heard about it from my readers.

Here are some key takeaways and a table of contents for more details:

  • Key distinction 1 – visual, intuitive explanations: Robust, in-depth answer explanations with illustrations, charts, and other visual aids that help you retain and recall the rules. A picture is worth a thousand words or at least a lot of words, and we have enough words to read as it is.
  • Key distinction 2 – updated question formats: Focus on relevant, newer questions so that your practice is not compromised by outdated question formats. The product team at UWorld also regularly develops new questions that align with current style of testing.
  • Key distinction 3 – experience with exam prep: They’ve been around the block. They’re known for helping students pass difficult exams in other professional fields like medicine, finance, etc.
  • In the works: More features that are based on methodologies to help you remember the material. I’ll update this review when these new features come out…can’t be spilling them beans yet.

Table of contents (click to jump):

  1. UWorld helps you to learn concepts tested on the MBE using clear, visual answer explanations
  2. UWorld has updated the format of their questions to make them look as close as possible to the actual MBE questions
  3. UWorld has been around the block of high-stakes exams (now the MBE)
  4. Recap & future work for UWorld
    • Key features
    • Some ancillary features
    • Some things UWorld could improve on
  5. Verdict for this new contender in the MBE supplements space
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Posted on - 5 Comments on The Bar Exam Is Difficult, but the Approach Is Simple

The Bar Exam Is Difficult, but the Approach Is Simple

“How can I pass this bar exam? omg”

There are a million approaches for the bar exam. Indeed, you should find a way that works for YOU. As I always say, you’re the dean of your own studies.

All you have to do is understand the material and know how to use it, right?

If it were only that easy.

The bar exam covers a ton of concepts, including exceptions, jurisdictional differences, over a dozen subjects. There’s a LOT to know at once. Questions are difficult to answer unless you understand the key concepts.

The bar exam is not EASY.

But preparing for it is SIMPLE. Bar prep doesn’t have to be complicated.

There are really only three things you need for successful bar preparation:

  1. Source materials (outlines, questions to practice with, sample answers)
  2. How-to knowledge (which I cover)
  3. Action from YOU to do the things that matter (practice and feedback)

Let’s go through each one.

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