So, my friend A is going through what I went through when I didn't pass the first time. After talking to her some and lots of emailing about this, it has come to my attention that there are many misconceptions about bar study materials. I, too, fell victim to thinking that I had to have more materials to ensure a pass on the exam.
So, in an effort to allow others to learn from some of my mistakes, here is my list of myths surrounding bar prep-- specific to materials in particular....
Myth #1: I must have the newest materials to be the best prepared for the exam.
Truth: No. You don't. Period. Buy stuff off Craigslist. Buy your friend's old stuff who was a year ahead of you in law school. I had a set of PMBR books from five years ago and a set from ten years ago. I purchased new ones as well. Lo and behold, those ten year old books are EXACTLY THE SAME as the new ones. Same questions, same answers, same effing typos, SAME EVERYTHING. So, don't blow money on the newest stuff. It's just wasting money.
Myth #2: I must focus on the distinctions between California law and federal law (evidence and civ pro.)
Truth: No. You don't. Well, maybe spend 15 to 30 minutes recognizing that there are some distinctions and be aware of what areas have distinctions, but do not spend inordinate amounts of time studying the minutiae of these. There is enough minutiae on the exam without making it worse.
Myth #3: If I just buy this or that (or any) extra book, it'll be the key to passing.
Truth: No. Wrong. Using the daylights out of the materials you have will do it. Spending time buying materials and shopping for materials is a waste of precious study time. You need something that has MBEs in it (PMBR books and/or Strategies and Tactics for the MBE), and something that you can practice essays from. Also, a Conviser Mini Review. That's about it. PT study materials are largely filled with really old, outdated examples of PTs and aren't even all that helpful (the bar website is best for those because they are actually recent). Just. Don't. Buy. Any. More.
Myth #4: I must have a personal tutor to be assured of passing.
Truth: You don't necessarily. And I say this having NOT passed, but I am just not of the persuasion that it is absolutely necessary to spend $5,000 on a personal tutor to keep you on your study schedule and show you the basic traps of writing an essay answer. Join the yahoo repeaters group. Talk to some friends who are also studying. Spend only $75 on baressays.com and spend some quality time with a question and answers to it that earned a 55, 60, 65, 70, and 75 respectively. A tutor will NOT insert the knowledge into you. You have to teach yourself and spending extra money does not make up for not putting in the time to learn the law. You will still have to learn the law and learn how to write the way the examiners want to see it. There are no shortcuts. Period.
Myth #5: I can buy flashcards instead of making my own.
Truth: No. Spend less money and accept that your hand will cramp writing out your own flashcards. Again- THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. The act of going methodically through each subject, digesting each rule, making it into a concise (and I do mean concise) rule statement, lists to remember, and lists of elements is all exhaustive but necessary work. So, save your money and spend only on blank cards and force yourself to make your own tools for memorization later.
Myth #6: I can study right up to the exam.
Truth: I, too, thought this. Wrong. Treat it like a marathon. You train, then you taper off just before the race. Allow two weeks prior to the exam to simply memorize, write out your approaches or cheat sheets or whatever you are doing to plan for essay issues, and do MBEs. Do not plan to write three essays a day during this time. It's too late then. Learning and practicing are different acts than memorizing, and you do have to memorize some for this exam because there's just so much stuff. Anyone who says you don't need rule statements in addition to analysis is lying to you.
Finally...
Myth #7: 'I am not smart enough to pass' (and it's corollary) 'I am smart enough to get by without working as much as others in order to pass'.
Truth: No. Not true. Lots of stupid people, mean people, brilliant people, nice people, and ethical people pass this test every single administration. If you do the work, you have a good chance of passing. If you do the work, you might still not pass. It's arbitrary. You get a grader who is assigning grades subjectively. There is absolutely no way to calibrate the written portion of the test to make some kind of magic formula that ensures complete objectivity in this exam. So, I instead stick with this philosophy.... I am smart, I worked hard and efficiently to prepare, and I just have to hope that I get the exam that shows my knowledge and skill and the bar gods smile on me this time.
'Nough said.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Vacation...
Ah... a few days of blissful relaxation and fun to be had at Disneyland and now I feel like I am actually ready to start facing the next step.
New things in my life:
1. working for myself (yay), not the man
2. working on how I am going to make this my last bar exam
Benefits of numbers 1 and 2:
1. more time
2. less stress
3. knowing that I know what it takes to pass
4. a LOT less exhaustion
Last February I went to the exam knowing that I knew the law and that I knew how to write essays and do reasonably well on the MBEs. The PTs, not so much. I took a two day seminar and it really didn't do much except tell me an order to do things and how to get through the library quickly. I also had not figured out how important not being exhausted was to getting through the afternoons.
So, after some reflection, I have arrived at this: The bar prep I did for the essays was excellent. I took a course similar to Essay Advantage that showed me all the ways I was messing up my essays and how to fix that. I also got back fifteen graded essays from them, which started off as 55's and 60's and after three or four turned into 70's and 75's. And lo and behold, my scores on the essay portion: nothing less and than a 65. Basically, I got the ten points per esssay increase I was looking for.
MBE's: it's funny, but I did a LOT less MBE's than the previous exam. I think I did about 2200 for the previous July. I did MBE's until I was so angst ridden about MBEs that I continually talked myself out of the right answer because I could remember having done that question but did not remember which answer I answered or whether the one I wanted to choose was the right one or not. For last February, I did maybe 600 MBE's, and followed the advice of my bar prep person instead. She said knowing the law was the key to the essays AND the MBE's. So, instead of doing lots of those, I focused on making my own flashcards for every single subject and then memorizing them, as well as my approaches/cheat sheets/whatever you want to call them precisely. Man, that was a lot of work, time consuming, and exhausting, but it was what I needed to do. My MBE score jumped some 25 raw points.
PT's: I had a sinking sensation during the Tuesday PT in February. That thing was hard. I was mentally tired from staying up until something a.m. almost every night for the last six weeks. I had gone full blast on the essays in the morning.... I was just tired and was having a hard time getting the nice clear focus that legal writing requires (at least for me). Then Thursday was just as bad, not because it was hard, but because I was that much more tired by Thursday afternoon. And it was con law stuff. Something about con law makes my eyes glaze over. It started with the professor I had in law school, whom I despised. And it continued with the extracurriculars I was doing while in that class to make for a sense of dread and horror when the different scrutinies must be remembered.
So, I walked out of February knowing that I did fine on the essays, fine on the MBEs, and that I probably got a 55 and a 60 or a 65 on the PTS.
And I was right.
So now, I still remember a lot of the rules verbatim. I still remember a lot of the MBEs. In a couple of hours I could get back my memorization on all my cheat sheets. The only area of struggle remains the PT.
However, I know how to write after having drafted hundreds of letters, many many carrier reports, ex parte applications, motions, summary judgment motions, appellate briefs, etc. I am just not worried about my writing skills. I am worried about being too tired to clearly focus. By 3:00, my brain starts turning in circles and I am far less able to focus and write something coherent.
I am down to thinking that simply sitting down, in a non-exigent, panicked way, and looking at some old PTs and some old answers is all I really need to do. That worked really, really well for me in law school. I used to do my outline, study it, get the law all memorized and shrunk down to manageable compartments in my head, and then look at old exams. I could review 5-6 of them and have a good handle on what that professor preferred for style, content, etc.
So, for anonymous who thinks I am not really wanting to pass the exam, I say, nope. You're absolutely wrong. First, I think people who don't pass and then say they didn't really want to be an attorney are saying that to make themselves feel better on at least some level. Sure, there may some validity to working in a law office and realizing that you are not cut out for the job, but the bottom line is this: nobody goes through three years of law school and multiple attempts at the bar exam to be deemed NOT good enough to practice as an attorney.
As for me personally, I was not sure that I wanted to actually be an attorney until after law school when I worked for good and bad attorneys and realized that I really, really, like the job itself. I get to go to work and think, my efforts have an effect on people in the real world (unlike academia, where you get to go and think but it is removed from practical application in many fields), you have flexibility of lifestyle and those with whom you work.... I like research, writing, order and organization, and I like the gamesmanship of figuring out the ways to use a rule/statute to accomplish a goal. In short, the only thing I despise about the law is summarizing medical records. And that just tells me I don't much want to do med mal or P.I. unless it is necessary.
Also to those who say that if you don't pass it's not because you wanted it bad enough, I would say that I guess I agree and disagree at the same time. Do I want to pass- sure. Do I want to pass enough to put my children and my husband on complete hold for an indeterminate length of time? nope. And sure, I did not pass on the first try. I did not pass on the second try (but I came damn close). But I will pass this test eventually, and I know that for sure. I am taking the exam until I pass it, but I am not spending 12 hours per day studying myself into a tizzy anymore to do it. I also don't need to do that anymore. After two study periods, there is not enough to do that I need to spend 12 hours a day. We're not reinventing the wheel, here. Starting from scratch is 12 hours per day. Tweaking and getting back up to speed is not 12 hours per day. It's about 4-6.
So, that's where I am at... now I gotta go get some work done so I can afford food and clothing and shelter and all that good stuff.
New things in my life:
1. working for myself (yay), not the man
2. working on how I am going to make this my last bar exam
Benefits of numbers 1 and 2:
1. more time
2. less stress
3. knowing that I know what it takes to pass
4. a LOT less exhaustion
Last February I went to the exam knowing that I knew the law and that I knew how to write essays and do reasonably well on the MBEs. The PTs, not so much. I took a two day seminar and it really didn't do much except tell me an order to do things and how to get through the library quickly. I also had not figured out how important not being exhausted was to getting through the afternoons.
So, after some reflection, I have arrived at this: The bar prep I did for the essays was excellent. I took a course similar to Essay Advantage that showed me all the ways I was messing up my essays and how to fix that. I also got back fifteen graded essays from them, which started off as 55's and 60's and after three or four turned into 70's and 75's. And lo and behold, my scores on the essay portion: nothing less and than a 65. Basically, I got the ten points per esssay increase I was looking for.
MBE's: it's funny, but I did a LOT less MBE's than the previous exam. I think I did about 2200 for the previous July. I did MBE's until I was so angst ridden about MBEs that I continually talked myself out of the right answer because I could remember having done that question but did not remember which answer I answered or whether the one I wanted to choose was the right one or not. For last February, I did maybe 600 MBE's, and followed the advice of my bar prep person instead. She said knowing the law was the key to the essays AND the MBE's. So, instead of doing lots of those, I focused on making my own flashcards for every single subject and then memorizing them, as well as my approaches/cheat sheets/whatever you want to call them precisely. Man, that was a lot of work, time consuming, and exhausting, but it was what I needed to do. My MBE score jumped some 25 raw points.
PT's: I had a sinking sensation during the Tuesday PT in February. That thing was hard. I was mentally tired from staying up until something a.m. almost every night for the last six weeks. I had gone full blast on the essays in the morning.... I was just tired and was having a hard time getting the nice clear focus that legal writing requires (at least for me). Then Thursday was just as bad, not because it was hard, but because I was that much more tired by Thursday afternoon. And it was con law stuff. Something about con law makes my eyes glaze over. It started with the professor I had in law school, whom I despised. And it continued with the extracurriculars I was doing while in that class to make for a sense of dread and horror when the different scrutinies must be remembered.
So, I walked out of February knowing that I did fine on the essays, fine on the MBEs, and that I probably got a 55 and a 60 or a 65 on the PTS.
And I was right.
So now, I still remember a lot of the rules verbatim. I still remember a lot of the MBEs. In a couple of hours I could get back my memorization on all my cheat sheets. The only area of struggle remains the PT.
However, I know how to write after having drafted hundreds of letters, many many carrier reports, ex parte applications, motions, summary judgment motions, appellate briefs, etc. I am just not worried about my writing skills. I am worried about being too tired to clearly focus. By 3:00, my brain starts turning in circles and I am far less able to focus and write something coherent.
I am down to thinking that simply sitting down, in a non-exigent, panicked way, and looking at some old PTs and some old answers is all I really need to do. That worked really, really well for me in law school. I used to do my outline, study it, get the law all memorized and shrunk down to manageable compartments in my head, and then look at old exams. I could review 5-6 of them and have a good handle on what that professor preferred for style, content, etc.
So, for anonymous who thinks I am not really wanting to pass the exam, I say, nope. You're absolutely wrong. First, I think people who don't pass and then say they didn't really want to be an attorney are saying that to make themselves feel better on at least some level. Sure, there may some validity to working in a law office and realizing that you are not cut out for the job, but the bottom line is this: nobody goes through three years of law school and multiple attempts at the bar exam to be deemed NOT good enough to practice as an attorney.
As for me personally, I was not sure that I wanted to actually be an attorney until after law school when I worked for good and bad attorneys and realized that I really, really, like the job itself. I get to go to work and think, my efforts have an effect on people in the real world (unlike academia, where you get to go and think but it is removed from practical application in many fields), you have flexibility of lifestyle and those with whom you work.... I like research, writing, order and organization, and I like the gamesmanship of figuring out the ways to use a rule/statute to accomplish a goal. In short, the only thing I despise about the law is summarizing medical records. And that just tells me I don't much want to do med mal or P.I. unless it is necessary.
Also to those who say that if you don't pass it's not because you wanted it bad enough, I would say that I guess I agree and disagree at the same time. Do I want to pass- sure. Do I want to pass enough to put my children and my husband on complete hold for an indeterminate length of time? nope. And sure, I did not pass on the first try. I did not pass on the second try (but I came damn close). But I will pass this test eventually, and I know that for sure. I am taking the exam until I pass it, but I am not spending 12 hours per day studying myself into a tizzy anymore to do it. I also don't need to do that anymore. After two study periods, there is not enough to do that I need to spend 12 hours a day. We're not reinventing the wheel, here. Starting from scratch is 12 hours per day. Tweaking and getting back up to speed is not 12 hours per day. It's about 4-6.
So, that's where I am at... now I gotta go get some work done so I can afford food and clothing and shelter and all that good stuff.
Invite...
Um, so I want an invite to read a couple of people's blogs... To both calbarblonde and lastcallatthecaliforniabar, email me at jen@guiltyminds.com and let me read! Come on, I'm staring the third time in the face... I need fellow commiseraters, here! (And I do not write insensitive, obnoxious comments, so there's no danger there.)
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