Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide
Author:
Berman, Sara J.
Edition:
1st
Copyright Date:
2020
25 chapters
have results for bar exam
Set Your Goal and Commit to Success 76 results (showing 5 best matches)
- There are some tests you can and should take just to see how you do and to learn from the experience: a simulated bar exam, practice tests generally, and perhaps the PSAT. But it is important to do your best in all high stakes exams, such as the SAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE, CPA exam, and the bar exam. Do treat the bar exam as a “practice test.”
- Again, you may have good reasons for never wanting or needing the license and happily decide not to take the exam. If so, fine. What is fine is taking the exam without being fully invested in passing it. If you are on the fence about the bar, commit to either taking the bar passing it, or not taking the exam at all before you begin bar prep.
- : No worries. While I urge you to do as much early work as possible so that bar review is mostly “review” and not new learning, some intensive bar prep will involve learning new information. Even if you took every subject in law school, the bar exam tends to cover a wider breadth of material than did most law classes; you will thus continue to learn and memorize new rules (often even up until the day before the exam). This is fine. No worries. While bar review covers more material than was presented in law school courses, the bar exam tests concepts in less depth than do most law school finals. (One of my colleagues used to say law school is scuba diving; the bar exam is snorkeling.)
- I’m training for success on this July’s bar exam. The experience is giving me an opportunity to review and solidify all the learning I have done for years. I’m becoming a stronger and more skilled reader, thinker, and writer. I will do this. I will pass the July bar exam.
- You have drafted a bar exam business plan. (See .) You have made a commitment to invest in yourself by seeking help from experts and enrolling in a reputable full-service bar review. You have set up a bar fund. If need be, you will take out bar loans or work as a “rep” (someone who helps recruit others to take the course) to finance your own bar review course. Your plan also includes time off from work, child care, household help, and any other assistance you may need.
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Develop a Plan for Success: Your GPS to Bar Passage 130 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Practice tests are like exercise: continuing the habit is easier than starting it. Begin with bar subjects you are taking in school. Let’s say you are in Constitutional Law. Well in advance of the final, locate copies of any released exams your professor has on file. Ask your professor if you cannot find these on your own. (If your professor will not release her or his past exams, talk with your ASP faculty and/or law librarian to locate other reputable sources for old exams.) Next, while the material is fresh (either just before or just after the final exam), take a look at some past bar exam questions in Constitutional Law (essays and MBEs as that subject is tested in both formats).
- This chapter gives you a bar exam timeline (a snapshot of what to do) and then helps you draft your plan. Like a business plan, your success plan should take into account the time, funding, and training required to pass the bar exam. Later chapters refer to study schedules that set out when you will execute the tasks in the study portion of your plan. Both bar exam success plans and study schedules are “living” documents, meant to be revised and updated when you encounter challenges or new ways to maximize your productivity.
- Next, think about time. Both money and time are essential to bar success. If you know your family won’t be supportive of your need to “hibernate” the summer before your bar exam, get them used to this idea by explaining your needs (and taking the time you need to study during law school finals). Lay the groundwork so they will not be shocked when you are not available after graduation.
- Planning ahead will prevent problems, reduce stress, and increase the likelihood of your passing the bar the first time around. It will allow you to focus on your studies and get in shape for peak performance in June and July. You may have pulled all-nighters before finals in college or law school, “learning it all” the week before an exam, but you cannot pass the bar exam that way.
- For some people, deciding where to sit for the bar exam is easy. They know where they want to live, work, and pass the bar. Others either do not yet have employment lined up or decide to take the bar in a UBE jurisdiction so that they can “port” the score to another UBE jurisdiction. If you need help in determining the best place to sit for the exam, talk with faculty in your school’s ASP and career services offices.
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Introduction to Part I 13 results (showing 5 best matches)
- of this book focuses on first-time passage. Many jurisdictions test with the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), which means the exams are virtually the same format, with 30-minute multistate essay exams (MEEs), 90-minute multistate performance tests (MPTs), and a 200 multiple-choice question component, the multistate bar exam (MBE). Other states administer their own bar exams, some with fewer but longer essays (for example, California and Florida) and some with more essays (as of this writing, the Virginia bar includes nine essays). States using the UBE may also include state-specific testing components for bar licensure.
- Many students fail the bar exam. Sadly, many to fail. Too many believe that statistics will dictate their fates. You are not a statistic. Demystify the bar exam. Learn to set and achieve goals. And, start working now to replace any trace of self-doubt with what will become a well-worn path of hard work and strategic training.
- All bar exams have common denominators. They are all
- The bar exam is different. You don’t “get by.” There is a good chance if you pass 1L and graduate from law school that you pass this exam, but
- make up for failing the bar exam. So take the time during law school to read this book cover to cover, and plan ahead so you’re not taken by surprise and find you just don’t have enough time to do it all in intensive bar review. Take your current classes seriously so you don’t have to in bar review what you could have mastered during school.
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Rethink “Failure” and Use Your Previous Experience as Preparation for Success 11 results (showing 5 best matches)
- , and create your new bar exam success plan. Start fresh, adding in the points you made just above. Reread all of
- Whatever you did or did not do preparing for or on the last bar exam, now is the time to face up and make the necessary changes. Figure out what you need to do for success next time.
- You can understand the major rules and theories. You got through law school, right? There may be weaker subjects but there is nothing tested on the bar exam that you are incapable of understanding.
- do it this next time. Reach out—make the effective changes that will take you to success next time. From pass rates alone, you know that many applicants did not pass. Probably some of your classmates and friends did not pass. Again and always, keep at the forefront the knowledge that this is not a reflection on your ability to pass the next bar exam.
- The approach you will take to study for a second bar exam must differ from the first.
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Get and Use Quality Expert Help: Reliable Bar Review Courses, Academic Support Faculty, and Trusted Mentors 79 results (showing 5 best matches)
- A good teacher can clarify confusion and simplify complex concepts. You may have been lucky enough to have had professors who were able to do that; hopefully, you will find others in bar review. But even if you understood every aspect of every rule tested on the bar exam (which no one does), the sheer volume of material and marathon nature of the exam make the exam difficult.
- You may or may not attend bar review lectures with others, but much of the work in bar prep is done independently. And, you cannot just bar review lectures and expect to pass the exam. That’s sort of like going to a lecture on tennis and expecting to compete at Wimbledon. You need to study actively and complete practice exams, learn and memorize rules (and test yourself to see what you recall), and look up what you do not understand then retest yourself to make sure the information has sunk in.
- Beware. If anyone promises you a foolproof, quick, or easy system to pass the bar exam, walk away. Quality bar review instructors, like personal trainers, do make it easy. They keep you on track. Reliable experts will tell you there are no shortcuts. Studying for the bar just is hard work.
- Bar review also helps identify what you do and do not need to know. The bar exam tests an enormous amount of material. In an ideal world, we would say to master everything before you go in. But (a) the world is not ideal, and (b) that would be a waste of your time, energy, and brain “disk space.” A reputable bar review will flag what is heavily tested and what areas have historically never or rarely been tested. That doesn’t mean that a never-before-tested area cannot suddenly appear on your exam, but history repeats itself and so do bar examiners. One of the most helpful parts of being enrolled in a reputable bar review is getting sound advice on what should be covered only superficially, and what you should know in depth.
- Many bar applicants pay for bar review and expect the knowledge will magically enter their brains, kind of like sleeping with textbooks under your pillow. When they find the concepts are not simple, they look for another course that promises to make it easier. Some people end up enrolling in several bar reviews and still failing the bar exam. There are no quick fixes. As we said above, joining a gym will not get you fit. Buying a bar review course will not make you pass the exam. You must do the work, the learning, the thinking, and the heavy lifting of practice tests.
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Introduction 57 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Again, I am not a blind supporter of bar exams. I agree with many calls to reform the licensing process. By all means, once you pass the bar, lobby for any changes you believe are needed. I will be right there with you. However, because bar exams are fixtures for the foreseeable future, I find it far more productive for those taking the exam to focus on their benefits and to work to pass the exam the first time around than to complain.
- As a legal educator and author, I have worked and written for decades to improve legal education and the bar exam. If I were taking today’s bar exam, however, I would not waste one minute being angry that I must memorize rules. Why? I can only control what is within my control. You too. You walk into that exam with only your brainpower and a laptop or pen, with no access to outside resources. So, stop thinking about it until after you pass. Then argue for meaningful bar exam reform.
- If this is your first bar, do everything in your power to avoid the enormous burdens of having to retake the exam. (It is critical that after the exam you are able to honestly look at yourself in the mirror and know you did your very best. You never want to say, “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” And, you never want to treat the bar exam as a practice test and wing it.)
- This book sometimes refers to first-time bar exam takers as . If you graduate in December or for another reason are taking a February bar as your first exam, just replace . Yours will be a winter rather than a summer timeline, but what you do during the months prior to your exam will largely be the same. (The bar exam is offered twice annually, and although there are myths about one exam being harder or easier than the other, they are just that: myths.)
- Practicing lawyers taking the bar exam in another jurisdiction:
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Practice Tests: The Heavy Lifting 186 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Bar exams differ from law school essays in that they typically test or can test greater number of issues within a wider range of legal subject areas than law school exams, but bar essays usually test in less depth and often have shorter fact patterns than law school essay exams.
- Each of the tips above derive from actual incidents. You might think it impossible that someone failed the bar exam because of a bubbling mistake, but this and other equally preventable errors happen with every bar exam. And, on every exam, there are applicants who only fail by one point. Every point matters. Do not make careless mistakes.
- Bottom line: Troubleshoot now, during early start or, at the very latest, during intensive bar prep. Do use the actual bar exam to figure out what you need to do better next time. Pass the first time you take the exam. The more practice exams you take, the more opportunities you will have to learn and improve, slowly and surely.
- What do you tell yourself about the link between doing the practice tests and passing the bar exam? Do you say, “Making this mistake now will help me not to make it on the actual exam; making mistakes on practice tests will help me pass the bar exam.” Or do you complete a practice test, look at the results, and say, “How could I be so stupid as to miss
- Bar exam questions will not be labeled by subject, so the very first step to take in approaching a bar exam essay or multiple-choice question is to determine what subject or subjects are being tested so you can recall the relevant rules while you read the facts.
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The Transition from Student to Professional 38 results (showing 5 best matches)
- One of my nontraditional students didn’t think he needed to pass the bar exam. He had a steady, well-paying job for years, was getting his J.D. for promotion within the company, and decided to just take the bar exam because all of his classmates were taking it. Midway through bar review, however, he was unexpectedly laid off. Suddenly, he to pass the bar exam. He has since gone from working in a small practice to being a partner in a large firm and is licensed in multiple jurisdictions.
- This may be hard to believe, but people regularly fail bar exams because they do not upload their answers on time. Some are not even allowed to sit for the exam because they arrive late to the testing site. (You may be required to arrive twenty to thirty minutes before the exam actually starts, and failure to do so may result in your being deemed late.) Other applicants are kicked out during the exam because they bring in forbidden items or wear prohibited clothing. These problems can easily be prevented by simply reading the information and notices from your bar examiners. Be sure to carefully study all relevant rules and guidelines on the NCBE website and your jurisdiction’s bar exam–related website carefully.
- In practice, you will have to follow the rules. Learning these rules now will help you in your law school professional responsibility course, on the MPRE, and on the bar exam. You must have a command of ethical rules to writing a passing answer on a bar exam professional responsibility essay question and to spot any ethical issues on the MPT.
- I will talk about working hard at every phase of preparing and sitting for the exam: creating a bar plan, actively listening to lectures and taking notes, taking many practice tests under timed conditions, studying sample answers, and looking up rules you don’t understand. If you are expecting to find some magic formula, some incantation you can recite to pass the exam, there isn’t one. And if someone is trying to sell you a bar review or study course so foolproof that the exam will write itself, don’t waste your money.
- for a lifetime, you must also act in a professional manner. Start now. Acting in a professional manner will help you in school, on the job, in bar prep, and on the MPT portion of the bar exam itself, which may test ethical or professional issues.
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Why Didn’t I Pass the Bar Exam? 23 results (showing 5 best matches)
- If the bar exam was harder than you expected, you need to train more rigorously this time. This exam is a different ballgame from law school, physically and mentally. Bar exams last for days and are exhausting. In law school, each final exam covered one subject alone; the bar covers a host of subjects, all of which require you to memorize and quickly recall many rules. Bar applicants are more stressed-out than you may have anticipated; you may have been thrown by the psych-out factor. Get on a new study schedule now. Review all of . If you can, take off time from work to study so you can give the months before your next bar your total concentration.
- of this book, go read each chapter. Then, look back at your answers to the questions in this chapter and see if you can add to your diagnosis of how to improve and make your next bar exam your last bar exam.
- Were you weak on the law? All subjects or certain subjects? What must you do to learn what you need to between now and the next exam? Were you weak on essay or performance test writing? Do you need a supplemental writing course? Were you weak on MBEs? Do you need an intensive MBE review? These are among the many questions you need to ask yourself, so you can move forward and create a bar exam success plan tailored for you to pass the next exam. Note: In some places, you just get back scores when you fail the exam, while other jurisdictions will allow you to review your actual exam. If you have an opportunity to look at your exam, take it. And if you do not see clearly what is wrong and how to improve, get help from a reliable expert reviewing your answers.
- Your turn: If you are repeating the exam, why are you here and what steps will you take to ensure (not just ) that this is your last exam? Did you get distracted with personal issues or social media? Did you worry too much? Did you find yourself thinking,
- WHY DIDN’T I PASS THE BAR EXAM?
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Enlist Your Troops and Lose the Naysayers: It Takes a Village of Positive People 93 results (showing 5 best matches)
- It is amazing that even lawyers sometimes forget how much time and energy the bar exam really takes. If you are clerking for an attorney, stop for the summer (winter, if you are taking the February bar exam) unless working just a couple of hours in a law office will help keep you motivated. Make sure your colleagues and boss understand your commitment, though. If the lawyer begs you to come in and research something when you know you must be studying for the bar, stick to your studying. (If there is a case you just don’t feel like you can let go for the summer or winter if you are taking the February bar exam, let go anyway. Say “No.”) Trying to prove yourself worthy by doing extra work when you cannot afford the time will backfire if you don’t pass the bar exam. Pass first; then go the extra mile.
- First-generation students may find it difficult to get support from family members who are unfamiliar with the rigors of the bar exam, and who may believe that the bar exam is “just another test.”
- But while you are studying for the bar exam, you must wall off comments that (and to the extent possible, people who) erode your confidence and undermine your effort. You may need to move from your living situation, if you can, or spend as much time as possible at a library or another good study spot. Always be ready to change the subject any time you are hit with negative comments about law or the bar exam.
- Start with the “long haul.” The bar exam is a huge challenge. It represents each graduate’s “Mount Everest climb.” One does not reach the summit without proper gear and training. Your person cannot give the bar exam short shrift. It requires total commitment, 100 percent focus, and a great deal of time.
- There are plenty of people who weren’t “the best student” who passed the bar exam and are now thriving as lawyers. (Think about it, there can only be one person who is first in the class, and most everyone who graduates does go on to eventually pass the bar exam.) Just because people do not make law review or or CALI all their classes (honors typically reserved for the student with the highest grade) does not make them less capable of passing the bar exam. The practicing bar is not made up entirely of those who made law review in law school. Many, including some of the nation’s best lawyers, were C students.
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Write and Post Your Schedule, Then Adapt It to Maximize Productivity 95 results (showing 5 best matches)
- As of the writing of this edition, the bar exam is administered on paper, but many students take all their practice tests online. There are advantages to practicing in the same format in which you will take the bar exam. So, you may want to take practice tests, at least some of them, on paper. This means you may need to print practice questions, even if you are wasting paper or spending money doing so.
- It’s a long haul, the bar exam. If you’re tired or feel yourself slowing down, play some inspiring music. And sing along! Find the artists that move you. Even on the actual exam, should you find yourself in an afternoon lull or a moment of panic, humming an uplifting tune in your head may be just the secret weapon to pull you through.
- When I describe study schedules to students who are still months away from the bar exam, they are usually fine and able to calmly think through things. When I have the same discussion with people about one week into bar review, they panic: “There is too much material to learn. I can’t do it. I will never learn all of this.”
- The most effective way to retain everything you need to know for exam day is to continuously build on your foundation: learn, refine, and practice throughout the summer (winter, if you are taking the February bar exam), and increase your focus on memorization the closer you get to the exam. (If you had all the rules you needed to know memorized in May [December], you would likely forget them by the end of July [February]. And you will be stunned at how little you remember in August [March]!)
- Change locations once or twice a week. As a reward for studying well in your regular study spot, take a stack of practice exams outdoors or somewhere with a great view. Bring work to a favorite coffee shop or bookstore and sit in a comfy chair. Make sure it’s a place where you can focus, though do occasionally force yourself to focus in a place with many distractions to mimic what it will feel like to take the actual bar exam in a room full of the noises, and stress, of other bar takers.
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The Home Stretch: Eliminate Distractions and Embrace Success 91 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Some people do well eating with friends who are also taking the bar, especially if you all agree ahead of time not to discuss the exam. Some people avoid other bar applicants completely until the exam is over. Will your classmates make you more nervous? If so, stay away from them. Stay away from anyone who does not make you feel great during exam days. (Remember , lose the naysayers—something even more important during actual bar days than it was during study days.)
- Years ago, I met some former students to celebrate on the evening of the last day of their bar exam. They told great bar exam stories, among those describing a group who lunched next to them at a nearby table, wearing sweatshirts from a top tier law school and, seemingly, drinking beer. Despite the sweatshirts, they could have been from any school, and they might have been pretending to drink alcohol at lunch, but they were joking and laughing, saying how “easy” the morning had been so loudly that my students were certain they were trying to intimidate other bar takers in the restaurant. Unfortunately, that is not the only story I have heard of bar takers staging bravado to try to intimidate other exam takers. People often tell of leaving a morning session only to have another applicant ask something like, “Did you see the business organizations crossover issues on that contracts question?” knowing full well that it was a straight contracts question without any business... ...the bar...
- Make a simulated exam part of your plan (either with your bar review, with your law school ASP program, or independently). Taking a simulated bar exam can give you a much-needed reality check. If you identify weak areas, study those. You can see what times of day you have the most energy and when you are dragging. The real exam will seem less daunting after making it through a trial run. You gain the confidence to believe that you can intelligently reason through anything they throw at you.
- When you started preparing for the bar exam, you worked to . Until it’s over, give this exam your single-minded, total focus. Total immersion.
- Do not get discouraged. Simulated exams help you when they provide an opportunity to make necessary adjustments before the real thing. For many reasons, however, simulated exams are necessarily a referendum on how you will actually perform on the bar. They are an opportunity to get lots of useful information. Use that data wisely. Use the time left to improve! Consider the following:
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Introduction to Part II 6 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Note: All readers are urged to read the entire book. The strategies and tools in the first part will help you achieve success on your next bar exam. First timers: Force yourself to think in concrete terms about what failing the bar exam really entails. You will be more motivated to take the first time as seriously as possible and do everything in your power to pass.
- This part of the book is called “Repeating the Bar Exam,” “Failing the Bar Exam.” Be careful about the words be failure. This is a temporary setback. Commit to a permanent victory. Plan to pass the next exam for which you sit. Decide that now and work toward that goal.
- Analyze your scores. And when you get your exam answers back (in jurisdictions that return them), determine why you did not pass and what to correct for success next time. If you need help doing this analysis, ask an academic support faculty member at your law school or hire a reliable bar review expert to help you make that assessment.
- Accept, but do not absorb, the shock. Do not let this be a referendum on what you believe about yourself or your ability to pass next time. Take the break you need to be angry, frustrated, scared, or whatever you feel. Then, as the expression goes, get back on the horse and ride on to success on the next exam.
- Were there areas of law you didn’t get and hoped would not be on the exam?
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Endnotes 26 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The following, one of many phrasings of the consumer protection argument for bar exams, comes from D. Riebe’s article,
- Bar Exam Insiders Debunk Myths about Test
- The following are excerpts from informative suggestions for successful essay answers from the Maryland State Board of Law Examiners, applicable to most all bar exam essays. “Description and Tips on the Written Test for the General Bar Exam” on the website for the Maryland State Board of Law Examiners at
- Raising the Bar
- Marooned: An Empirical Investigation of Law School Graduates who Fail the Bar Exam
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Get Ready for Success: Reduce Distractions, Increase Your Focus, and Manage Your Time 67 results (showing 5 best matches)
- By the time you sit for the exam, your internal body clock should be on “Bar Standard Time” (BST). In other words, your peak concentration periods should be from approximately 9:00 a.m. to noon and 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. There are two ways to get into that routine: either make the bar schedule your schedule from the outset, or study when you are most alert (even if that’s 2:00 a.m.) before July (or February, if taking the February bar exam), and then gradually switch to BST in July (or February).
- Stop reading blogs or posts that spread rampant misinformation about the bar exam. You don’t need “advice” from fools. Get your advice from a small number of trusted resources (e.g., your bar review provider, your ASP faculty).
- Plan a fun after-bar trip or activity and let your kids (if age appropriate) decide what that will be. (I worked for years with students who took the bar in southern California and brought their families to Disneyland for a few days after the exam.)
- Most people try to do so much at once that they don’t give themselves an opportunity to ever be truly focused. To build the physical and mental endurance required for long, uninterrupted, focused blocks of time on the bar exam, you must train. The good news? Given the hectic lives of many law students, it may feel like a break to focus on the bar exam. It can be a relief to say “No” to everything else for a few months, to put aside all the stuff you don’t want to do or deal with and give your total concentration to something you really desire.
- When you cannot study as many hours in the day as other students can, you must start earlier. Eight weeks might be sufficient for full-time students who average sixty hours per week of studying. But if you are working a demanding job or have extensive family commitments, you should plan to start early and begin your bar studies during your final year of law school. Some bar reviews have early-start programs, or you can create your own pre-bar-review schedule. You will want to slowly and steadily review all the subjects tested on the exam and begin incorporating regular practice exams into your week.
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I Feel Like I Was Kicked in the Teeth 22 results (showing 5 best matches)
- the bar exam without a huge investment and many steps of proving yourself worthy. If you were a person who at the first stumble simply left the path and looked for a smoother trail, you would not have finished law school, let alone applied for and sat for an entire bar examination. The fact that you got far enough to even take the bar exam is itself evidence of your potential. Your job is to get up, get going, and realize that potential.
- The more you put in last time, the easier it will be for you to learn what you need and pass this next time. You may think you forgot everything you knew six months ago but you didn’t. Depending on how far and where you fell short, you may be close, and with daily practice exams, you may get there fairly easily. (Many people fail but just a few points.) Or you may have to really work hard in one area, even though you are pretty strong in the others. The key is to learn where you are and where you need to be. Don’t allow the frustration to take over. The bar exam is doable. Again, it may not even be as much work as it was the first time around. Do not decide that the bar exam is insurmountable. It is easier than law school. You can do this.
- who is communicating to you directly or indirectly a lack of faith in your ability to pass the bar exam, get away from that person, minimize contact with that person, or put him or her off until March. It is a must to believe in yourself, to believe that you can and will pass the bar exam, and to surround yourself with like-minded people who will lift you higher. Avoid those who drag you down.
- The first question many people ask is, should I take this very next bar or wait out an administration? Most often the answer is to take it again as soon as possible. If your scores were close and you can devote serious time to studying for the next exam, the answer is definitely yes. Momentum will help. Your memory will be fresher in relearning and reviewing the material now than it will be six to eight months from now if you delay until the next exam. If your scores were very far from passing, indicating a serious deficiency in all or a number of areas of law, or if you know that this upcoming bar you are otherwise occupied with commitments that cannot be postponed, then you may be better off delaying and putting yourself on an extended study plan. This decision—whether to retake the very next exam—is one you must make quickly, though, to avoid missing filing deadlines or paying late fees.
- No. You are taking the whole exam again, so your focus is on a comprehensive study approach that covers everything that is tested on your bar exam. You may give more attention to certain subjects than others, but you are studying everything carefully.
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About the Author 1 result
- has served as a professor of law and director of academic and bar success programs in law schools in California and Florida, and lectured in bar reviews for more than two decades, helping thousands of students pass bar exams nationwide. Berman gained expertise in distance learning in legal education through 15 years on the faculty at a fully online law school. She has published two books and numerous articles on the bar exam and learning for law students, and coauthored primers on the civil and criminal justice systems, written initially for self-represented litigants and extensively used by law students preparing to become tomorrow’s lawyers. Visit the author’s SSRN author page at
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Praise For Bar Exam Success 14 results (showing 5 best matches)
- “From helpful study tips to suggestions for minimizing distractions, this book is an excellent resource to guide students through the challenges of bar study. Professor Berman is a seasoned professional, who condenses years of experience into easy to read and follow advice, perfect for anyone serious about passing the bar exam.”
- “Wanting to shape your destiny, this book is a must-read coaching manual with action plans to boot. Professor Berman takes the mystery out of bar prep, providing hosts of inspirational tips, courageous learning strategies, and concrete wisdom for overcoming the oft-expressed intimidation that so easily immobilizes many from achieving bar exam success—success that is well within the grasp of all law school graduates aspiring to serve as professional attorneys—none be barred. This book is not meant to be read but lived. Navigate your path through this book and you will be well on your way to passing your bar exam.”
- “If I could give only one resource to someone who wants to increase the likelihood of passing the bar exam, it would be this book. Author Sara Berman tells the truth about the challenge of bar preparation while showing the taker how—through preparation, planning, and practice—success is achievable. Rather than scaring them, the book encourages bar takers. That, itself, is why I will refer all my students to it.”
- BAR EXAM SUCCESS
- “This is a must-read book for law students and law professors. It provides practical suggestions so that students can be successful in law school, law practice, and the bar exam. It is fun to read and can be used by students on their own or in a class. The self-assessment tools are particularly valuable. As a law professor, I look forward to using this valuable resource with my students.”
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Celebrate Your Achievement and Acknowledge and Thank Those Who Helped You (Then Set Your Next Goal!) 22 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Is it hyperbole or offensive to equate bar results with news of a life-threatening illness? It isn’t meant offensively, so if it’s taken that way, I apologize. What it’s meant to acknowledge is how important this news is. Unless you have taken the bar exam, it’s hard to convey just how big it feels. You work and dream of law school for a long time, then you work for three or four of the hardest years ever, then you study intensively, giving everything you have for another several months before taking a grueling, multiday exam. After that, you wait even longer for results.
- My student was right. This “simple” task of writing a letter of recommendation was a lot like a performance test! Do not think for one minute that developing the skills you are working so hard to master to pass the bar exam is in any way, shape, or form a waste of your time. You will use these skills. They are important. And succeeding on the exam will make you stronger, more articulate, more efficient, and more powerful!
- You Did It. You Completed Your Bar Exam! (Now, You Wait, and Wait, for Results)
- You Did It. You Passed the Bar Exam! Congratulations! (Now, Set Your Next Goal!)
- Bar Exam Success Takeaways: What Have You Learned That Will Help You in the Future?
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Bibliography 9 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Below readers will find a list of selected titles that will be useful for student readers and anyone interested in law school and bar exam success. Resources particularly helpful to faculty, administrators and other educators can be found on file with the author.
- Bar Exam MPT Preparation & Experiential Learning For Law Students: Interactive Performance Test Training
- Law School Survival Manual: From LSAT to Bar Exam
- Law School Success in a Nutshell: A Guide to Studying Law and Taking Law School Exams
- Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win
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Contents Part 2 5 results
- PART II: REPEATING THE BAR EXAM: THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME
- CHAPTER 11Why Didn’t I Pass the Bar Exam?
- PART I: FIRST-TIME BAR PASSAGE: ONE AND DONE
- CHAPTER 2Develop a Plan for Success: Your GPS to Bar Passage
- CHAPTER 5Get and Use Quality Expert Help: Reliable Bar Review Courses, Academic Support Faculty, and Trusted Mentors
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Index 104 results (showing 5 best matches)
Acknowledgments 3 results
- Many people helped shape my theories about academic and bar exam success, first and foremost my students. So, thank you, to my former students and to law students everywhere. It is all about you. You are the guardians of our future—to you we entrust the sacred obligation and noble task of ensuring that we remain a society based on the rule of law.
- Thank you to my many colleagues and lifelong friends from UCLA, UWLA, Concord Law School, Whittier Law School, NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law, BarPassers, and Kaplan Bar Review. You are far too numerous to name. I am thankful to all of you.
- Thank you to my friend, Professor Arthur R. Miller, whose voice was the first and remains the clearest of all bar review lecturers. Arthur, your simultaneous commitments to both the highest levels of legal scholarship and the most fundamental levels of legal understanding for lay people, serve as an example to us all.
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Copyright 4 results
- This edition is an updated version of “Pass the Bar Exam” published by the American Bar Association in 2013. The views and opinions expressed in this book are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or express any policies or positions of the author’s current employer, the nonprofit AccessLex Institute, where the author serves as a director in the Center for Legal Education Excellence.
- Discounts are available for books ordered in bulk. Special consideration is given to state bars, CLE programs, and other bar related organizations. Inquire at Book Publishing, ABA Publishing, American Bar Association, 321 N. Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60654-7598.
- The materials contained herein represent the opinions of the authors and/or the editors, and should not be construed to be the views or opinions of the law firms or companies with whom such persons are in partnership with, associated with, or employed by, nor of the American Bar Association unless adopted pursuant to the bylaws of the Association.
- © 2019 American Bar Association. All rights reserved.
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Conclusion 2 results
- Hopefully, you now see the bar exam as something challenging but doable, and you are ready to realize your potential and achieve your goals. When you pass and are equipped with a law license, a powerful and permanent stamp of credibility (so long as you guard it well), you be better able to find a job, some job. You may join the many bar members who, despite tough economic times, are still earning a good (or at least decent) living. Or you may look outside of the law altogether, but you will do so with proof of your capability to read and think critically and perform under intense pressure.
- Think of the exam as a very heavy door. It takes all the strength you can muster to open it, but once opened you never have to open it again; you can simply keep climbing the steps on your pathway to ever-greater success, to those extraordinary places that lie on the other side of challenge.
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- Publication Date: November 18th, 2019
- ISBN: 9781641054621
- Subject: Bar Exam Success
- Series: Career Guides
- Type: Academic/Prof. Development
-
Description:
The bar exam is not just another test, and this book is not just another set of instructions. This book is your personal success guide. Whether taking a UBE or a state-specific bar, students need to not only master the material but to train and prepare for one of the toughest high-stakes exam experiences around. This book will more than prepare you to pass the bar exam; the author’s words will motivate you to do what it takes to succeed in law school, on the bar exam, and in the legal profession. Particular chapters will help you to:
- Reduce Distractions, Increase Focus, and Manage and Protect Your Time
- Employ Powerfully Effective Learning Strategies
- Develop and Stick to Your Schedule
- Practice and Hone Skills for Success on MBEs, Essays, and MPTs
- Cope with Stress and Pressure, and Help Your Friends and Family to Help You Succeed
- Enhance your Positive Growth Mindset, Personal Wellness, and Sense of Belonging
- Transition with Confidence from Law Student to Professional
This book is written from the perspective of a bar mentor, your “trainer at the academic gym,” with concrete advice on how to handle the many challenges facing today’s law students. There are dozens of self-assessments, tools to help you face very real challenges on every level, and to organize and prepare to pass the bar exam. The book includes trustworthy advice and powerful personal examples from the author’s decades of helping students pass bar exams nationwide. The book is uplifting and positive, while harnessing cutting-edge, scientific learning theories.
The time spent studying for the bar exam that so many people dread and think of as a hazing ritual can be an empowering stage, if you approach it with the right attitude, get yourself equipped for success, and then work really hard. The author calls legal education “a power tool for social change.” Passing the bar and becoming licensed will allow you to wield that tool and find opportunities throughout your professional life to do well and to do good.
Whether you are first in your law school class or last, this book will help you achieve your goals and set you on a lifelong cycle of success.
“Professor Berman has written an illuminating and helpful book, drawing on cutting-edge social science, that teaches students how to master the bar exam and flourish in law school. Her insights are shaped by years of experience and advances in psychological and learning sciences. If law students read this excellent book, perhaps as early as when arriving to law school, they will develop skills they can exercise and master to achieve success.”
‒Victor D. Quintanilla, Indiana University Bicentennial Professor; Professor, Indiana University Maurer School of Law; Adjunct Professor, Indiana University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
“From helpful study tips to suggestions for minimizing distractions, this book is an excellent resource to guide students through the challenges of bar study. Professor Berman is a seasoned professional, who condenses years of experience into easy to read and follow advice, perfect for anyone serious about passing the bar exam.”
‒Paula Manning, Professor Western State College of Law
“Wanting to shape your destiny, this book is a must-read coaching manual with action plans to boot. Professor Berman takes the mystery out of bar prep, providing hosts of inspirational tips, courageous learning strategies, and concrete wisdom for overcoming the oft-expressed intimidation that so easily immobilizes many from achieving bar exam success––success that is well within the grasp of all law school graduates aspiring to serve as professional attorneys––none be barred. This book is not meant to be read but lived. Navigate your path through this book and you will be well on your way to passing your bar exam.”
‒Scott Johns, Professor of the Pra
