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5 Bar Exam Tips to Help Get You To Test Day
By Tiffany Southerland • July 01, 2012 •Bar Exam
Ed. Note: This summer, back by popular demand, Ms. JD is pleased to feature a series of posts on bar exam prep. The series will include some of our most highly-read articles from past years, as well as new content for all those taking on the bar exam challenge. Good luck!This time [two years ago], just like you, I was weeks away from sitting for the bar. On any given day, you could find me sitting in some café surrounded by books, outlines, snacks, and flashcards. I consistently asked myself questions like “Have I been outlining the right way? Do I need…
Raising the Bar: Final Strategies and Preparations for the February exam
By Julia Spitznagel • February 14, 2012 •Bar Exam
Happy Valentine's day to a group of people whose main thought is probably "Aaaahhh f*ck, the Bar exam is exactly 2 weeks away!" Hopefully by this time you've gotten a chance to practice enough essays, multiple choice questions and MPT's to feel like you have a hold on them. I would highly recommend building up your stamina for the duration of the exam by taking full-length multiple choice practice exams and devoting a day to MPT's and essays. I'd also recommend adjusting your sleep and studying schedule so that you're used to being awake and using your brain when the exam…
Raising the Bar: When you have to retake
By Julia Spitznagel • January 18, 2012 •Bar Exam
October 6th, 2011 was the day that they released the pass list for those of us that took the July Bar in Colorado. I'll never forget scanning the list, excitement and anticipation building, then scanning it again, wondering where my name was. However, the next ten minutes are blurry- I vaguely remember that I was calling my mom, clutching the cat, sobbing, and trying to eat a cupcake all at the same time. For those of us that are facing another Bar exam, it's easy to get discouraged. Or pissed off that we'll have to unwrap all of our food and…
Two Confessions, Two Things I Didn’t Know, and Two Bar Exam Tips
By Janet Wallace • July 06, 2011 •Features, Bar Exam
A confession: on the first essay on the first day of the California Bar Exam, I spent 20 minutes writing on the completely wrong area of law. As in: the question was, quite clearly, about torts, and I was writing a criminal law essay. A confession: on the last performance test on the last day of the California Bar Exam, I had no idea what one of the five questions was even asking of me. As in: when I got to the question, I was baffled. What was the question even getting at? My Bar experience was bookended by two terrible moments.…
A Year Later: Reflections on Studying for the Bar Exam
By Janet Wallace • June 13, 2011 •Features, Bar Exam
Ed. Note: This summer, back by popular demand, Ms. JD is pleased to feature a series of posts on bar exam prep. The series will include some of our most highly-read articles from past years, as well as new content for all those taking on the bar exam challenge. Good luck! Just one year ago [now three years ago--wow!], my law school class and I were studying for the California Bar Exam--sitting through BARBRI lectures, cursing timed essays, and spending hours in coffee shops drinking espresso and making flashcards (and complaining). For those of you currently studying, I've collected a few bits of advice, one…
Studying for the Bar Exam: Three Outlines
By Janet Wallace • December 02, 2010 •Features, Bar Exam
Editor's Note: This summer, back by popular demand, Ms. JD is pleased to feature a series of posts on bar exam prep. The series will include some of our most highly-read articles from past years, as well as new content for all those taking on the bar exam challenge. Good luck! Last spring, I met with a newly minted attorney who shared with me this tip for passing the California Bar Exam: Start with a long outline and reduce, reduce, reduce. She suggested that I make an outline for each subject and reduce each outline to no more than ten…
Somewhere there’s a ballroom filled with the sound of furious typing ....
By jessie kornberg • July 27, 2010 •Bar Exam
Just a quick word of good luck to all this week's bar exam takers. Plenty of advice here about surviving the ordeal. But at this point the train has left the station and the best wisdom I can share is don't panic, keep your head down, it'll all be over soon enough.I wrote this shortly after sitting for the bar back in 2007:I took the California exam and my computer failed in the middle of the second essay day. My screen just turned bright blue. I raised my hand and the proctor handed me a piece of paper that instructed…
Hate the Bar Exam? Read on
By jessie kornberg • July 13, 2010 •Bar Exam
The legal blogosphere is abuzz over Elizabeth Wurtzel's latest musings on the problems of the legal profession. Her target: the bar exam. If you're going to complain about the bar exam, this is the time to do it, with thousands of nervous studiers buckling down for one last push before the big day(s).Wurtzel, a July 2008 NY Bar failer, points out that plenty of famous lawyers have failed the bar exam, including Kathleen Sullivan, Hillary Clinton, and Jerry Brown. Wurtzel posits that she and other folks from her YLS who failed have this determinative quality in common:The common denominator among…
Recent MBE Changes and the Importance of Using Updated Questions
By Dina Allam • May 26, 2010 •Bar Exam
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is notoriously one of the most feared aspects of the bar exam. It certainly was for me. It was the only time in my life 6 hours didn’t seem like enough time to finish an exam. Every second counts on the MBE, and two minutes can make the difference between passing and failing. I drank a Red Bull during lunch break to help me stay focused. It had its payoffs (I believe drinking Red Bull helped me pass the bar) and its consequences – I had to rush to the restroom after lunch because I…