19 chapters
have results for acing the bar exam
Preface and Acknowledgments 10 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Acing the Bar Exam
- The bar exam is not an easy exam, but it is a doable one. As you get caught up in your bar review course, it may help to realize this and to know you are not alone—thousands of students take their state’s bar exams every year and pass. They are not any smarter than you. You must believe that you can pass the bar exam and put in the effort. Then it will happen.
- But attitude will take you only so far. You need to prepare thoroughly and properly. This means understanding the bar review process, using your strengths and weaknesses to define a workable study plan, and learning the black letter law as tested in your jurisdiction. Here is where this book can help: it provides a complete guide to the bar exam—from pre-planning considerations through the bar review course and sitting for the exam. Every aspect of the process is explained in detail and by example. The bar exam is deconstructed, section by section, with suggested approaches for learning the black letter law, setting study schedules, and answering essay and multiple-choice questions. Each task is summarized in checklist format to help you chart and monitor your progress.
- The Multistate Essay Examination (“MEE”) has been “Reprinted by Permission” from the July 1998 MEE. Copyright © 1999 National Conference of Bar Examiners. All rights reserved. The Multistate Bar Examination (“MBE”) questions have been “Reprinted by Permission” from the following NCBE publications: Sample MBE February, 1991 (© 1991 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners), Sample MBE 1996 (© 1996 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners), Sample MBE III July, 1998 (© 1998 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners) and the 2006 Information Booklet (© 2005 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners). The Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”) has been “Reprinted by Permission” from Test 2 of the July 1997, MPT, State v. Devine (© 1997 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners).
- I’ve endeavored to make clear throughout the book that the candidate’s best friends during this time are the bar examiners. Both the National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”) and the state boards make numerous materials available to bar candidates.
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Chapter 2: Bar Exam Basics 208 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Depending on the law school, bar preparation may begin as early as the first year where bar-simulated or even actual, released bar exam questions are integrated into the curriculum. While the primary goal is not actual bar preparation, working with bar-type questions presents an opportunity for both faculty and students to become familiar with the structure, language, and content of the bar exam. It’s just as easy to develop effective analytical skills when working with bar-type questions for exercises, assignments, and exams as it is with other questions—but with the added bonus of learning about the bar exam.
- At the moment, however, our primary concerns are the two major changes in legal education and the bar exam that have taken place since 2008 because they directly affect your entry into the profession: first, the changes in the American Bar Association (“ABA”) standards that allow a law school to offer bar exam preparation courses for academic credit without restriction ; and, second, the arrival of the Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE”) in 2011. The changes in the ABA standards affect your legal education directly since your law school may provide courses to prepare you for the bar exam while the steadily growing number of jurisdictions adopting the UBE means that this might be your bar exam. If so, then it will factor into your bar preparation in different ways and we will be sure to address them as they arise.
- As a bar candidate, you need to be aware of changes to your bar exam. While your bar review course will provide you with the most current law tested on your bar exam to study during the formal bar review period, knowledge of what will be on your exam should inform your course selection during law school.
- It is important to note, however, that there are significant changes to the bar exam in addition to the arrival of the UBE. While some changes are specific to individual jurisdictions, others involve the national components to the bar exam—the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) and the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE). Perhaps the most significant change is to the California Bar Exam which will go from a three-day exam down to two days. Effective with the July 2017 administration of the exam, the number of essays will be reduced from six to five and instead of two three-hour Performance Tests, there will be only one 90-minute Performance Test. The weighting of the components will change as well: the written and MBE portions of the exam will be weighted equally at 50% each.
- Prior to 2008, law schools were prohibited by American Bar Association (“ABA”) standards from offering bar exam preparation courses for credit that counted toward a student’s minimum requirements for graduation or from requiring such courses as a condition for graduation. Once the ABA eliminated these restrictions, the number and types of such courses grew rapidly. Currently, there is a wide array of bar assistance courses, ranging from one-on-one tutoring and personal coaching to credit-bearing courses that target each component of the bar exam—the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) and/or the jurisdiction’s specific essay questions, and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT). Some courses are designed to cover the black letter law tested on the bar exam while others are “skills-based” and focus on development of the writing and organizational skills needed to answer the essays and MPTs. Typically, courses that cover the MBE combine both law and skills: these...
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Chapter 1: Preliminary Matters 40 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Similarly, most jurisdictions provide candidates with a list of the topics covered on their bar exam. This allows you to define the scope of your exam and put yourself on the same footing as you did for law school exams. Also, you’ll study from released bar exam questions just as you worked with your professors’ old exams in preparing for finals.
- Much of the talk about the bar exam is understandable: it is taken by almost every law student and is often the final hurdle for admission to law practice. It is also a very public event and, unfortunately, failures are visible. What you must remember, however, is that while the bar exam is a challenging exam, it is also a doable exam. Countless others before you have done it and you’ll do it too.
- The time pressure of the exam itself is a whole other issue, but one that you address through careful preparation. By the time you sit to take the actual bar exam, you will have practiced so many questions—including simulated bar exams under timed conditions—that your timing should be well under control.
- In truth, the bar exam is a tough exam, but not an impossible one. Quite the contrary: it is meant to be passed and the vast majority of candidates do pass their bar exam.
- As a subsequent chapter details in great length, your bar exam will most likely consist of the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ (NCBE) Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) and a written component consisting of essays and a performance test (MPT). The performance test may require you to complete a typical lawyering task such as drafting a client letter or writing a persuasive memo.
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Chapter 8: Practicing Questions for the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) 316 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Similarly, the bar exam is not the time or place to become “practical” and consider what you think would happen in actual practice. Many candidates have defended their incorrect answer choices by explaining “I know it couldn’t happen like that in practice. That’s why I didn’t choose that answer.” This isn’t “real” life. It’s the bar exam! This is not to say, however, that bar exam questions have nothing to do with the practice of law or the “real rules.” It’s just that on the bar exam, as in law school, we are studying and working with the theoretical rule of law and what should be, not necessarily what is. The bar exam is no time to worry about the great divide between theory and practice—simply apply the rule of law as you’ve learned it to answer the questions and you’ll be fine.
- Preparation for the MBE requires that you combine your knowledge of the theoretical with the practical. Your goal is twofold: to acquire a detailed understanding of the substantive law and to master the specific manner in which it is tested. This chapter will show you how to practice questions for the multistate portion of the bar exam, a major component of nearly every jurisdiction’s bar exam. Although the examples and explanations use “retired” MBE questions, the suggested approaches are applicable as well to preparing for multiple choice questions that may be part of the state-portion of your exam.
- It is important to recognize that there is a major difference between taking the MBE on bar day and preparing for that day. On the actual exam, you’ll work at optimum speed and efficiency because you’re in the “exam zone.” This is uniquely true for MBE questions
- As this chapter has shown, there are no tricks to be learned to pass the bar exam, only the law. If there is a strategy, it is to prepare through practice and more practice. Your goal is to become so thoroughly familiar with the structure and content of MBE questions that on bar day, you’ll proceed through the questions efficiently and accurately—just as you’ve done during your practice sessions.
- When in doubt anywhere on the bar exam—the essays, the MPT, or the MBE—remember that the legal issue is your guide. It allows you to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant rules and facts, thus providing the single most effective answer choice eliminator.
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Chapter 4: The Bar Planner 257 results (showing 5 best matches)
- 4. Does your bar review course allow you to attend its lectures twice—where the first time is your graduation from law school (i.e., before your first taking of the bar exam)? For example, if you are planning to graduate in May and sit for the July bar exam, then you would take the bar review course offered the previous December—which is the course typically taken by candidates sitting for the February bar exam.
- a. What are the specific topics tested on your bar exam? You need to know exactly what will be covered on your jurisdiction’s bar exam. Refer to Chapter 2 and complete the . This will lead you through the steps to identify the specific subjects tested on your bar exam.
- “Making the time” you need to study for the bar exam is the first step in your study plan. You must plan ahead to give yourself enough study time. To a considerable extent, success on the bar exam is a function of the actual time spent in concentrated study. And concentrated study requires a mind free from distraction and worry.
- Admittedly, the bar exam is challenging and candidates do fail. This is not a secret: jurisdictions publish their pass rates so these numbers are readily available. What is not so readily available, however, are the reasons candidates fail the bar exam. While the explanations tend to be as varied as the candidates themselves, some factors are identifiable and thus useful for our purposes.
- Are you acclimating yourself to the “time zone” in which you’ll be taking the bar exam by getting up in the morning and beginning your studies at the same time in which you’ll be taking the bar exam?
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Chapter 6. Learning the Black Letter Law 110 results (showing 5 best matches)
- A solid knowledge of the law is required to answer bar exam essays and objective short answer questions. Preparing for the bar exam simply by attending lectures and reading through bar review outlines, even if read several times, does not allow for the type of internalization of the material necessary to respond to these questions.
- Work with the “real thing”: just as you studied from your professor’s old exams to prepare for law school finals, you’ll review released exams from the National Bar Examiners and your state’s bar examiners. While your bar review course includes a good number of simulated practice tests and essay writing exercises, there is no substitute for the real thing. It is essential that you become familiar with the structure, style, and content of the test questions you can expect to see on bar day. Since the ultimate authority on the bar exam are the bar examiners, their questions should be the primary source for your practice questions.
- You need to know exactly what will be covered on your jurisdiction’s bar exam. Refer to Chapter 2 and complete the This will lead you through the steps to identify the specific subjects tested on your bar exam.
- There is a method to learning from practice exams and you may be surprised to discover that it’s not just about sitting down and answering the questions. That’s what you’ll do on bar exam day but not when you’re studying. The difference is between answering the questions and using the questions to learn the law.
- Since the MBE does not treat all topics equally in terms of their significance on the exam, neither should you. Why spend precious study days on a topic that is particularly difficult for you when it might be at most one or two questions on the bar exam?
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Chapter 7: Practicing Essay Questions for the Bar Exam 561 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Many of you have been very successful in law school and a large part of that success can be attributed to your ability to communicate effectively in writing. For you, doing well on the essay portion of the bar exam will be mostly a matter of gaining familiarity with the types of essays on your state’s bar exam and their structure. However, even if writing was not one of your primary strengths, you can still write effective bar exam essays with adequate guidance, preparation, and practice. And you can begin by taking advice from the bar examiners.
- The bar exam presents good reason for jitters—even for those who cope pretty well with exam anxiety. The surroundings alone prove problematic for some. If you begin to feel panicky during any of your practice sessions, or you know that you have this tendency, then you’ll want to consider the following measures so you’ll know what to do if necessary on bar day.
- As we discussed in an earlier chapter, your jurisdiction provides general information about bar admission requirements, exam dates, and the application process. However, it also provides vital information about the bar exam itself, specifically, its composition and subject coverage.
- Just as you studied from your professor’s past exams to prepare for law school finals, you’ll review released essays from your state’s bar examiners. Released exams should be your primary source for practice essays. While your bar review course includes a good number of simulated practice tests and essay writing exercises, there is no substitute for the real thing.
- You can identify the boundaries of your bar exam by checking with your local bar examiner. Your jurisdiction typically provides a list to bar candidates of the state-specific subjects to be tested. Some provide detailed outlines of the covered subject matter which should be used as a checklist to guide your studies.
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Chapter 3: Procedural Matters 70 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Security policies have tightened significantly over the years and often change between one administration of the bar exam and the next. Strict adherence to the rules is required. There are no exceptions and a violation can result in your dismissal from the exam site and referral to the bar licensing entity for disqualification.
- Bar passage is only one of a number of jurisdictionally-set criteria you must meet before gaining admittance to the practice of law. While you are probably aware that each state determines the composition and scoring of its own bar exam, you might not realize that there are other requirements for admission besides exam passage. These include age, education, and moral character requirements. We’ll discuss the specifications of the bar exam in the next chapter and we’ll consider these other requirements here.
- Many, if not most of you, have been typing your exams throughout law school so this will be nothing new. If you have been typing your exams and find that it works for you, then you should do the same on the bar exam. There is much to be gained from being able to type your answers—if you are a strong typist. Typing is so much faster than writing and easier for the graders to read.
- If you have never typed an exam, however, then now is not the right time to start experimenting. You do not want to add any stress to an already stressful event by trying something new. On the other hand, if you are reading this book well in advance of your bar review date and have time to practice with typing exams in law school, then you should try it.
- ypically, the matter of where you will “sit” for the bar exam is determined by where you received a job offer or where you want to live. Often you know the answer to this question—or have a pretty good idea—before you graduate and so selecting the state in which to apply for bar admission is not a major consideration.
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Chapter 9. Practicing Questions for the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) 206 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Still, the MPT remains the most “doable” portion of the bar exam. It’s not difficult “legally.” The challenge is to get through a vast amount of information and address only that which is required as set forth in the Task Memo. In this chapter, we’ll develop the strategy you’ll use when taking this portion of your bar exam.
- On August 14, 2015, the California Committee of Bar Examiners announced changes to the format of California Bar Exam effective with the July 2017 administration of the exam. The exam will be administered over two days with the following components: one morning session with three one-hour essay questions; one afternoon session with two on-hour essay questions and one 90-minute Performance Test; and, morning and afternoon sessions consisting of three hours each, for administration of the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). The weighting of the components will also change: the written and MBE portions of the exam will be weighted equally at 50% each. The minimum scaled score of 1440 will remain the same.
- he MPT can be the easiest part of your bar exam. Unlike other parts of the exam where you’re called upon to work solely from your memory, here you’re given the rules and the test is to apply them. You’re given the law because the MPT is designed to test your proficiency in the basic skills you’ve developed in the course of your legal education and not just your ability to memorize. According to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the goal of the MPT is to test “an applicant’s ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in a realistic situation.” It seeks to evaluate your ability to complete a task which a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish.
- Study aids for the MPT are available from the National Conference of Bar Examiners. NCBE publishes study aids that include the MPTs used in the February and July bar exams and include the corresponding Point Sheets. Point Sheets “describe the factual and legal points encompassed within the lawyering tasks to be completed in each test and outline the possible issues and points that might be addressed by an examinee.”
- There is an instruction sheet on the back of every MPT. Read it during your preparation so as not to waste precious time on the exam. On bar day, you’ll scan the instruction sheet just to make sure it’s the same as the one you’ve read during practice—you don’t want any surprises.
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- Nonetheless, much remains the same: bar candidates still need help to get them through the challenge of the bar exam. This book offers much in the way of practical information, such as bar planner checklists, suggestions on how to get a “head start” on bar prep during law school, and advice on how to stay on schedule when taking an online bar review course.
- ecent changes in legal education and the arrival of the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) are the reasons for this new edition. Increasingly, law schools are adding bar prep courses to the curriculum to prepare their students for the bar exam while the steadily growing number of jurisdictions adopting the UBE means that more and more candidates are sitting for this exam. These changes factor into bar preparation in different ways and this edition addresses them where applicable.
- The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE®) questions, the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE®) questions, and excerpts from the Multistate Performance Tests (MPT®) have been reprinted by permission from the NCBE®. Copyright© by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. All rights reserved.
- Preface and Acknowledgments to the Second Edition
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Chapter 12: Advice for the Re-Taker 32 results (showing 5 best matches)
- There are any number of reasons candidates don’t pass the bar exam: the reasons are almost as varied as the test takers themselves. There are always a small minority of candidates who walk into the exam unprepared, knowing that they’re unprepared. But this isn’t typical. The vast majority work hard in preparing for the exam but working hard is not the same as working smart.
- f all bar-takers, it might be said that you face the most daunting task of all: overcoming your fear of failure. My heart is with you. But I know that you can pass the bar exam because I’ve worked with so many re-takers to know that it’s possible. It’s possible because you’re going to follow the plan this time.
- 2. Did you get so distracted by concerns about the technicalities and procedures of the bar exam (timing considerations, scoring, format, length, and pass rates) that you lost sight of the law?
- 5. Did you work with released bar exam essays from your jurisdiction?
- 3. How does your performance on the written portion of the exam (essays and MPT) compare with your performance on the MBE? Is there a significant difference?
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Chapter 5: The Bar Review Course 54 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In general, it’s best to take the bar exam closest to your graduation date. Even if a later exam seems preferable, this does not outweigh the benefit of coming to the exam straight from the rigors of your law school education. Unless you have some extraordinary reasons for doing so, don’t postpone the bar exam. Even a few months away from your studies can have a significant impact. It’s much harder to get back into the routine when you’ve been away from it for a while. And if you think that you’ll devote all the extra time you have to studying, trust me—you won’t. You won’t start studying in May when you know you’re not taking the exam until February.
- Here’s where a bar review course plays an integral role: it puts together a master template of all the law tested in your particular jurisdiction. It structures and sequences the material, providing a comprehensive and organized approach to study. But it’s no substitute for what you learned in law school and you’ll need both to succeed on the bar exam.
- Depending on your own strengths and weaknesses, you might want to consider one of the add-ons to supplement your basic bar review course. Typically, these are specialty courses designed to provide additional assistance in particular areas of the bar exam, most notably in essay writing and MBE preparation. Once again, the options are numerous and you can choose from in-class or home study versions.
- Depending on your own strengths and weaknesses, you might want to consider one of the add-ons to supplement your basic bar review course. Typically, these are specialty courses designed to provide additional assistance in particular areas of the bar exam, most notably in essay writing and MBE preparation. Once again, the options are numerous and you can choose from in-class or home study versions.
- It is usually best to take the bar exam as close as possible to law school graduation while the habits of study and the retention of substantive knowledge are at their peak. However, if you found it difficult to concentrate for spring semester exams because you had “spring fever,” then you will find it incredibly challenging to study for almost three months in the summer. In this case, you might consider sitting for the February exam.
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Chapter 10: Taking the Bar Exam 66 results (showing 5 best matches)
- o matter how hard you’ve studied and how many practice exams you’ve taken, once you get to the bar exam, you must let go and “be in the moment.” This means that you respond to what the bar examiners ask of you and not want you what to tell the bar examiners you know. Trust me—there’s no better way to ensure a poor grade than to ignore what is asked of you. By answering the question, you’ll be showing what you know.
- Since you know the composition of the exam from your preparation, there’s no need to scan any part of the bar exam except for the essays. Here you may want to get a sense of the general topics before you begin. More than that is not necessary.
- Recall past experiences of success. You’ve taken tests all your life and you’ve done well or you wouldn’t be here now sitting for the bar exam. Just think of all the college exams you’ve taken, the LSAT, and the law school exams you’ve taken. These were tough exams and you managed quite nicely. There’s something to be said about the value of past experience—if you’ve done it before, you can do it again.
- Some believe that the first twenty questions and the last twenty questions are “easier” and therefore, they should answer those first and then go back to the others. This is nothing but a bar exam “myth.” Since MBE questions appear in completely random order, both in terms of subject matter and complexity, there is no benefit from jumping around but quite possibly there is a detriment: you can lose your place on the answer sheet and enter your selections incorrectly.
- Conjure a “negative” role-model. This worked nicely for me. I knew several people from high school and college who were living full and productive lives as lawyers. I had not considered them particularly exceptional. I thought to myself “if so-and-so could pass the bar exam, then so could I.” I’m sure you know someone who can serve as your own negative role model. Just never tell them.
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Chapter 13: A Bar Exam Make-Over 170 results (showing 5 best matches)
- If it has been more than 12–18 months since you’ve graduated from law school or taken your last bar exam, then I strongly recommend a review course. A bar review course is also essential if you will be taking the UBE for the first time. The preparation will be different and you will need the new materials and guidance. You may not think it necessary but a bar review course is essential:
- In preparing to re-take the bar exam, you’ll be writing out lots of exam answers and practicing many multiple choice questions. To be meaningful, you’ll need feedback on your work. The good news is that you can learn to assess it yourself. By applying what I’ve termed “forensic IRAC” to your essays and multiple choice answers, you’ll be able to identify the errors and correct them.
- Bar review courses continuously update their materials so candidates have access to the current law in preparing for the exam. While your notes from one bar administration to the next will still be timely, you should not take chances with study materials older than that.
- In this effort, we are going to use the results from your past bar exam to figure out what went wrong and where. What we’re going to do next won’t be easy but it’s essential if you’re going to pass the bar exam. It’s what you do when you realize that you’ve been traveling down the wrong road: you go back to where you made the wrong turn and proceed again. It’s the going back and finding out where the wrong turn was taken that’s our job.
- Your score on the bar exam, with its individual breakdown on the essays, represents your “baseline” performance. These numbers are a guide to your strengths and weaknesses in the essay subjects. While you might wish you didn’t have the experience it took to acquire a baseline, you’re going to make the best of the situation by using it to your advantage.
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Chapter 11: When It’s Over 14 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The weeks and months following the bar exam will be different for everyone, but chances are that you’ll all experience some of the same things. Truthfully, no one really relaxes until the bar results come out and you know for sure whether this “thing” is really behind you. Until then, no matter how you look at it, you’re still living in limbo. Do the best you can to stay positive, remain confident, and go about the rest of your life. It’s important to remember that being a lawyer is only one small part of who you are—don’t let it become everything.
- ou thought this day would never come—the bar exam is over. It’s almost anti-climactic. All that you’ve been working for since your acceptance to law school is now behind you. Suddenly, after years of studying, and the last few weeks of intense, almost around the clock studying, you’re left with nothing to do. It’s possible—even likely—that you’re feeling strangely out of sorts.
- AFTER THE BAR EXAM
- This is a result of the hundreds of hours you have just spent in preparation for the exam. Because of the intensity of the effort, it will take time to feel normal again!
- This is entirely normal but a fruitless activity. You have to try your very best to put the exam out of your mind. Find something else to occupy your thoughts. Consider the suggestions that follow in the next question.
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Table of Contents 80 results (showing 5 best matches)
Title Page 5 results
Copyright Page 3 results
- Acing Series
- The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and this publication is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal or other expert advice, you should seek the services of a competent attorney or other professional.
- Printed in the United States of America
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- Publication Date: June 3rd, 2016
- ISBN: 9781634608060
- Subject: Bar Exam Success
- Series: Acing Series
- Type: Exam Prep
- Description: Acing the Bar Exam provides candidates with a complete guide to the bar exam — from pre-planning considerations through bar review and sitting for the exam. It features comprehensive coverage of the Uniform Bar Exam, including an explanation of each component and how to prepare for it. Every aspect of the process is explained in detail and by example. The bar exam is de-constructed, section by section, where candidates are led through the steps they need to follow to succeed. Approaches for learning the black letter law, setting study schedules, and answering essay and multiple-choice questions are combined to maximize the likelihood of success. Each of these tasks is then configured into checklist format to help candidates navigate each step. This approach puts the candidate in control of the bar exam and not the other way around.