Make This Your Last Time

March 23, 2022August 5, 2024 - 1 Comment

Feeling Worried or Anxious Waiting for Bar Results?

First two weeks after the bar exam: Excited over congratulatory meals even though you haven’t passed yet

In between: Alternating between boredom and nightmares that remind you that you already took the bar exam and it can’t hurt you anymore

Last two weeks before bar results: HELP ME

In your desperation, you seek advice regardless of who it is…

You: “How do I handle the post-exam stress and anxiety of waiting for bar results?”

Your drunk uncle: “Don’t dwell on it… Trust in yourself… Don’t think about your answers…”

You nod politely and close the door behind you.

One problem: Our brains don’t always listen to reason! It’s hard not to think about the most important exam of your career.

In your most private moments, when all is still, you get flashbacks to the exam, relive the things you did wrong, and blow it up to the worst proportions.

The smallest error, realizing that you answered a few MBE questions wrong or made one misstatement in an entire essay, can seem like the difference between passing and failing. (“It WAS spousal testimonial privilege, not marital communications privilege! FUCK”)

You can’t just tell your brain to “stop thinking about it”… It’s inevitable that you’ll think about it. But you can change HOW you think about it and ease the agony a bit.

After screaming into your pillow, try these three ways to reframe your situation to reduce waiting anxiety (more details follow):

The worst case: What’s the absolute worst that could happen?
Reducing anticipation: Mentally push back D-Day
Don’t be miserable in advance

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022 - No Comments

Should you forget about essays and just focus on the MBE (“auto-pass” with the MBE)?

No, this approach has a few potential inaccuracies and dangers.

Below are four of the dangers and a better approach to take instead if you want to prioritize a few areas.

February 26, 2022January 1, 2025 - 34 Comments

AdaptiBar Review: Is It Worth It (to Prep for the MBE in 2025)?

AdaptiBar. You keep hearing this name. What is it, some kind of protein snack?

👇🏻 Click to skip the MBE intro and go to the table of contents 👇🏻

AdaptiBar is an online study supplement for the MBE (Multistate Bar Examination, AKA the multiple ~~guess~~ choice section of the bar exam).

The MBE has gotten a ton of criticism. For one, the president of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) thinks newer MBE takers are “less able.” And with the virus that shall not be named, each question is that much more critical because there are only 100 questions yet the MBE is weighted the same.

To top it all off, more and more students are reporting how hard these questions are getting. What are you to do when your future depends on a series of letters?

Let’s see why it’s more important than ever to prepare for the MBE and how AdaptiBar will help you do just that (and how you can get 10% off your entire cart, including Jon Grossman’s popular lectures).

(Hint: Progress is a process of adaptation by practicing just beyond your limits. It’s the reason why we become better at any skill.)

February 10, 2022February 10, 2022 - No Comments

What to Do in the Last Two Weeks of Bar Prep

You might be panicking or experiencing setbacks as you prepare for the bar exam. Whatever calmness you may have had 1-2 months ago is now fair game for anxiety to go after.

But the last two weeks are when things often click.

The final couple weeks are typically best spent consolidating your knowledge and intuition by using what you know — attempting to solve past exam questions and self-critiquing against model answers.

This impending pressure is an opportunity to do what you need to do: ditching the easy work of passively consuming, and doing the not-so-easy work of putting fingers to paper/screen, agonizing over identifying the issues, bearing the stress of grading your MBE question set, and enduring the embarrassment and promising to yourself not to make the same mistake again.

Keep pushing and you’ll break through that plateau.

February 5, 2022December 12, 2024 - 3 Comments

“I’m so unmotivated to study for the bar exam”

Feeling unmotivated to study for the bar exam?

There’s a lot of talk about motivation around this time of bar season.

Let’s first distinguish being unmotivated from being mentally exhausted.

If you’re TIRED, don’t accumulate exhaustion and enter a downward spiral. Stop at a reasonable point. Take an early day off. Reset your mind. Go the f🌕k to sleep.

Passive activities like watching (or rewatching) lectures, transcribing notes, or “reading” for hours also can be DRAINING if that’s all you do. Thinking about doing it is more exhausting than actually doing it. Don’t autopilot on default to avoid doing what helps you learn. Be more methodical and deliberate.

This is pretty boring stuff! It’s normal if you just can’t or don’t want to study right now. But this feeling will pass if you break eye contact with bar prep for a while. Your energy is at least as important as time, as we’ll talk about in the next email.

If you have the energy but still aren’t feeling motivated, that’s a separate issue. Being able to self-motivate is key. Otherwise, you might wait for a long time for things that make you say “I needed this today!” and do nothing about it.

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