Thread by @ojsalinas

Studying for the #barexam is not fun. This will be a challenging couple of months. But it is a doable challenge, and you can get it done! Here are some of my #barprep tips that I share with my students.

Acknowledge that this won’t be a great experience. But also acknowledge that the majority of folks who take the bar pass on their first try. You don't need an "A." You just need to accumulate enough points in your bucket to pass. Studying smart can help you get those points.

There's only so much time during the day, and there's so much material that you have to review for the bar exam. Focus the majority of your attention on the subtopics that you know for sure will be heavily tested within each of the seven areas of law for the MBE.

You can find such subtopics in the NCBE subject matter outline: ncbex.org/pdfviewer/?fil….

Do lots of practice MBE questions (not just the vendor assessment/definitional questions). The MBE is worth 50% of your bar score for UBE states. And 2 or 3 out of the 6 UBE essays will likely focus on MBE law. So it’s absolutely worth it to spend time studying MBE subjects.

It's okay to have high goals. But be realistic. Don't get discouraged when you don't meet those high goals. There's *a lot* of material to review and getting around 60-65% correct on MBEs is often enough to pass.

Many of you have typically seen 85%-95% correct on your tests. The bar is different than the rest of those tests. There is no mandatory curve on the bar. And you are likely not going to know or feel good about everything you study.

Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable with the material you study. You won’t know or understand it all, and that is okay. But you will know and understand enough.

Start answering practice questions even before you feel comfortable with the substantive law. The more MBE questions you see, the more likely you will get comfortable recognizing the typical fact patterns that relate to the most heavily tested subtopics.

The more MBE questions you complete, the more likely you will be able to recall and apply the important black letter law. The more MBE questions you complete, the more confident you will become at answering an MBE question within two minutes.

Remember that you can learn the law by working backwards when you complete MBEs (or essays). If you don't know the answer to a question (and many of you won't at the start of the bar prep season), read the question & try to quickly identify the issue or potentially relevant fact.

Then, read the answer and explanation. It is totally okay if you get MBEs (or essays) wrong right now. All that matters is that you get as many questions correct as possible in late July...so that you can accumulate those points to get the pass.

Each practice MBE answer has an explanation of the relevant black letter law, & each answer explains why the correct answer was correct and why the other answers were incorrect. Actively reading the answer/explanation will help you better learn the law.

As you do practice questions and while you study, keep a bar diary or notebook that includes annotations to yourself--questions or hypos that you missed; rules that you want to revisit later; notes on "light bulb" or "aha!" moments.

In the “bar diary” or notebook try to jot down your thoughts for how you attacked your practice MBE questions (especially those questions that you found to be particularly challenging).

Write down some important fact that may have helped you get the question correct in your diary. Summarize the relevant black letter rule for the question.

Highlight your “incorrect” thinking so that you don’t incorrectly think that way the next time you get a similar question (because you will see a similar fact pattern again!). The “bar diary” or notebook is a resource that you can review the last week or few days before the exam.

Continually assess your understanding of the law. Repeat (out loud) a paraphrased version of the law to yourself. Create concept maps or flashcards of the law. Be an active learner and keep working with the law! Working with the law creates better understanding and recall!

I know this tip differs from the advice that your vendors may tell you, but consider reading the call of the question and the answer choices first. Doing so can tell you what area of law you are in for that MBE question (and, likely, the subtopic for that area of law).

If you are unable to identify what area of law you are in by just looking at the call of the question and the answer choices, then skim the last few sentences of the fact pattern.

Often times, you may be able to identify misstatements of the black letter law in the answer choices, which then allows you to eliminate incorrect answer choices before you have even read the fact pattern.

Reading the call of the question and answer choices first (and, perhaps, the last few sentences of the fact pattern) should help you more critically read the fact pattern.

You can read with a purpose as you read the facts of the hypo. If you know what issue the question is testing, you can then begin to apply law to facts as you are reading the fact pattern. This may help many of you save precious time on the MBE, which may increase your MBE score.

Lastly, don’t feel guilty taking breaks. Breaks help your studying (& your overall physical & mental health). Make sure to take care of yourself throughout the bar prep season. This will be a challenging couple of months. But it is a doable challenge. You can get it done!

Okay. So, the last tip was not really the "last" tip. Here are some tips for the MEE and MPT.

The MEE is not a doctrinal final essay exam. The MEE is not an information/law dump. A few sentences of rules are often enough to get you to your application (i.e., your legal analysis).

You don’t get points for dumping irrelevant law into your essay answer. But you might lose precious time if you try to show the bar grader everything you know about a certain area of law (even though what you are writing about is not relevant to the question).

Focus on answering the question(s) that are asked. Make sure to answer all subparts. You may not feel great about one subpart to a question, but you can still get good points by answering the other subparts.

Make it easy for the grader to follow your answer. Use paragraphs! Don’t just have one giant paragraph answer for each essay! Short paragraphs are fine. Don’t be afraid to use headings and subheadings. Use short sentences. Clear and concise writing is better.

Use transition phrases, especially before you start your application. Using “Here,” or “In the present case,” helps tell the bar grader when you are moving from rules to analysis.

Don’t worry too much on whether you are reaching the correct conclusion in your essay. Rather, worry about supporting your conclusion with application of the law to the facts of the hypo.

MPT advice: Be honest about your legal writing and analysis skills. If your skills are not as strong as you would have liked, then make sure to complete several practice MPTs under normal time constraints (usually 90 minutes).

You don’t want the first time that you complete an MPT under 90 minutes to be the day of the bar exam.

Normally, at least one of the two MPT tasks will be a genre that you are likely comfortable writing (like an objective memo or a persuasive argument). Take a look at some of the other genres that have been tested on the MPT—just to get some familiarity with what may be tested.

The MPT usually includes a memo from a supervisory attorney that provides you with the format and general instructions for whatever genre you are asked to write. Pay close attention to these instructions and the format (including any guidance related to headings or subheadings)!

The memo from the supervisory attorney may also include a brief summary of the major points of law and facts. Use these summaries to help guide your outline for your task.

This also may differ from the advice you receive from vendors...but, the order that I like to complete an MPT task is: (1) read the supervisory attorney’s memo; (2) read the authority (and make quick notes of major rules); (3) read the evidence; and (4) write/complete the task.

90 minutes can run down pretty quickly. Having a great outline on a scratch sheet of paper that the bar grader can't see will not get you any points. Make sure to start writing your task on the platform that you'll turn in. Try to complete as much of the task as possible.