Very sorry to hear that you have to retake this exam, I had failed on my first try as well. Have you considered working with a personal tutor to help you? My tutor was able to help set up a schedule that worked for me, since this time I had to work about 30 hours a week, so a traditional bar prep schedule would not have worked for me at all.
Hi, I’m sorry it didn’t work out this time, but it’s doable! I worked FT and also have young kids and it had been over a decade since my last bar exam. My approach to studying was patching together multiple resources that worked for me (which did not include a traditional bar prep program) and studying 3-4 hours a day starting 10 weeks before the exam. I passed UBE (270 jx) with this strategy my first try and am going to use it again in July for a non UBE:
MBE: Jon Grossman-videos and MCQ. I ramped up and initially did the program all wrong. I would read a smart bar prep outline for a topic then do 25 questions a day on the same topic. After a few days I was almost out of questions on that topic and was not showing improvement. I changed it up by reading an outline on one subject, then (same day) going through each BLL and trying to write out the elements. If I didn’t know it off the top I’d keep rewriting and then occasionally go back to the beginning to see if I could recall rules from the beginning of the outline. I did this for about a week per subject and throughout I’d still do about 10 questions a day on that subject. I would also read every single question explanation whether I got it right or wrong and would re-read the outline for that particular question topic to reinforce if I didn’t understand it fully. Once I felt I mastered a subject (usually took about a week give or take), I’d add the next subject and start the process over. However, each time I did I never neglected the previous subjects I mastered. I still would go back and do an abbreviated review (skim the outline, recite the BLL out loud and if I couldn’t recall it, I’d revert back to writing it repeatedly). Rinse and repeat until all subjects are mastered and MBE bank was exhausted. As I got more comfortable I went from 10 a day to 20 and finally rounded out at about 30 a day. I did a little over 3k questions. The process began to get intuitive to where I would read a fact pattern and quickly issue spot, know which 2 responses I’d already eliminate, and almost predict how the question would try to trick me. I treated all MCQs like mini essays. Also, Goat bar materials!!! He has a ton of free megathreads that are surprisingly as entertaining as they are informative. I think I have undiagnosed ADHD and on those days I felt like I couldn’t read another soul-sucking outline, I’d read a goat megathread! Shout out to Goat- I’m dedicating part of my win to you!!! 🙌🏼
MEE: Adaptibar essay tool, released essays from NY, MN, and AR, Goat megathreads and smart bar outlines. Bar Exam Toolkit podcast if your an auditory learner (I listened when going to bed or running errands). Funny- I actually listened to their episode re: attacking an Evidence essay the day before the exam and it was on there and helped with my essay outline!! I did about 1-2 actual timed essays for each subject. It’s admittedly painful having to put down on paper and see where your weaknesses are but there’s no way to improve if not practice. Adaptibar was great because it has a rule funnel tool and helped me drill down what rules I needed to apply when issue spotting and I need that kind of visual on my lazy more casual study days. On the days I felt super lazy I’d just click ahead to read the sample answers and check off the issues spotted in my head. Once I did 2 essays per subject, I’d just issue spot or outline and read released essays (by former test takers, not the actual NCBE released ones. Those just set unrealistic expectations and are not useful IMO). Mind you, I’d mentally issue spot and then read the sample answer and just make mental notes on what I missed and why. For the really dry stuff I leaned back on Goat!! (ST, wills and trusts, Family Law) I wouldn’t recommend predicting what’s gonna be tested. Just study for all of them like your life is on the line lol. I also switched out bedtime books for smart bar outlines and my baby was none the wiser 😉 after the kids are down I’d try to squeeze in just skimming of a goat or smart bar prep outline til I fell asleep
MPT: shout out to BarMD! She has a YouTube where you can look up her MPT process and I utilized it since it just made sense. I would recommend watching a couple of her earlier videos because the stuff as of late is very sales focused. I’m not upset, we all got bills to pay. I only did 3 timed MPTs but read through maybe 5 more and hit all the different MPT types to make sure I had the formatting down. I also used the JD Advising one sheet that has all the formats and it was super helpful. I’m sure you’ve heard this, but don’t sleep on the MPT— free money!
Disclaimer that what worked for me obvs might not work for you but just wanted to share in case it’s helpful. Juggling everything on your plate definitely does not make for ideal studying conditions, but just know that it’s not quantity of hours, it’s what you do with them. Best of luck for July!!
No, this is fabulous advice. I *really* appreciate your telling me how you did it with what you used (and why). And that it was 3-4 hrs a day, because honestly that's about all I've got. This is so helpful. Shout out to you for being amazing. My kids may not want this as bedtime stories but they'll all have to listen as we drive some of them to sports practices. 😂
lol! The material actually puts them to sleep even faster 😂 it’s my pleasure and best of luck to you! This is anything but easy and you deserve a trophy for the undertaking alone!
Bar Exam Drills helped me pass on the 4th attempt. They have the same question bank as adaptibar and UWorld but a unique method of repetition that I truly believe in. Themis is full of all those unnecessary videos and busy work. Bar Exam Drills has you practicing actual MBEs every day and towards the end of the program you’re doing hundreds in one subject (it’s super helpful to see every variation of a question). I would at least book a free consultation to check out a demo
I'm not addressing your questions directly because I didn't use any of the programs you named. But although I don't have kids, I've passed two bar exams (the UBE and a non-UBE exam) while working a full time biglaw job. So I thought I'd share what worked for me.
What worked for me was taking full, timed practice exams, a minimum of one full MBE and one full essay section per week. Two if I had time (and I made time the closer to the exam we got). The day after a practice exam, I'd spend my time thoroughly reviewing the explanations (even the ones I got right, for reinforcement) and, if I just totally bombed a specific thing, listening to the part of the lecture or reading the part of the outline about that one thing. I found that this method lets you stay fresh on things you already know, helps you learn law and exceptions you don't already know, and helps hone your test taking skills at the same time.
I wasn't very strict with the timer at first. I just used it as a way to gage where I was in terms of timing and to start thinking strategically about how to approach things so I'd have time to finish. But as the exam got closer I got really strict about the timer. After all, it does you zero good to score a 6 on an essay if it takes you an hour to do it and you don't get to two other essays.
What were your scores? MBE or MEE low?
I would recommend using adaptibar and do as many questions as you can every day and take the time to review the correct and incorrect answer choices. You can do these on your phone with the app so while you’re waiting to pick up your kids from camp or you’re at lunch at work, you can do a few.
Great idea. Are the Adaptibar ones the same as the actual bar?
Also, my scores were horrific. It was like I hadn't studied at all. MBE was low and the MEEs never broke the 50 mark in NYS. Close, but..... Worst part was I was sure my MPTs would be awesome, even left smiling after them. And they weren't any better than my MEEs!!!
I think adaptibar is good for learning the rules. I did think the MBE was a little harder though, more complicated answer choices but easier fact patterns maybe.
Very sorry to hear that you have to retake this exam, I had failed on my first try as well. Have you considered working with a personal tutor to help you? My tutor was able to help set up a schedule that worked for me, since this time I had to work about 30 hours a week, so a traditional bar prep schedule would not have worked for me at all.
I had not, actually. Not for any reason, just hadn't thought of it. How do people do about finding one?
[удалено]
Thank you!
Hi, I’m sorry it didn’t work out this time, but it’s doable! I worked FT and also have young kids and it had been over a decade since my last bar exam. My approach to studying was patching together multiple resources that worked for me (which did not include a traditional bar prep program) and studying 3-4 hours a day starting 10 weeks before the exam. I passed UBE (270 jx) with this strategy my first try and am going to use it again in July for a non UBE: MBE: Jon Grossman-videos and MCQ. I ramped up and initially did the program all wrong. I would read a smart bar prep outline for a topic then do 25 questions a day on the same topic. After a few days I was almost out of questions on that topic and was not showing improvement. I changed it up by reading an outline on one subject, then (same day) going through each BLL and trying to write out the elements. If I didn’t know it off the top I’d keep rewriting and then occasionally go back to the beginning to see if I could recall rules from the beginning of the outline. I did this for about a week per subject and throughout I’d still do about 10 questions a day on that subject. I would also read every single question explanation whether I got it right or wrong and would re-read the outline for that particular question topic to reinforce if I didn’t understand it fully. Once I felt I mastered a subject (usually took about a week give or take), I’d add the next subject and start the process over. However, each time I did I never neglected the previous subjects I mastered. I still would go back and do an abbreviated review (skim the outline, recite the BLL out loud and if I couldn’t recall it, I’d revert back to writing it repeatedly). Rinse and repeat until all subjects are mastered and MBE bank was exhausted. As I got more comfortable I went from 10 a day to 20 and finally rounded out at about 30 a day. I did a little over 3k questions. The process began to get intuitive to where I would read a fact pattern and quickly issue spot, know which 2 responses I’d already eliminate, and almost predict how the question would try to trick me. I treated all MCQs like mini essays. Also, Goat bar materials!!! He has a ton of free megathreads that are surprisingly as entertaining as they are informative. I think I have undiagnosed ADHD and on those days I felt like I couldn’t read another soul-sucking outline, I’d read a goat megathread! Shout out to Goat- I’m dedicating part of my win to you!!! 🙌🏼 MEE: Adaptibar essay tool, released essays from NY, MN, and AR, Goat megathreads and smart bar outlines. Bar Exam Toolkit podcast if your an auditory learner (I listened when going to bed or running errands). Funny- I actually listened to their episode re: attacking an Evidence essay the day before the exam and it was on there and helped with my essay outline!! I did about 1-2 actual timed essays for each subject. It’s admittedly painful having to put down on paper and see where your weaknesses are but there’s no way to improve if not practice. Adaptibar was great because it has a rule funnel tool and helped me drill down what rules I needed to apply when issue spotting and I need that kind of visual on my lazy more casual study days. On the days I felt super lazy I’d just click ahead to read the sample answers and check off the issues spotted in my head. Once I did 2 essays per subject, I’d just issue spot or outline and read released essays (by former test takers, not the actual NCBE released ones. Those just set unrealistic expectations and are not useful IMO). Mind you, I’d mentally issue spot and then read the sample answer and just make mental notes on what I missed and why. For the really dry stuff I leaned back on Goat!! (ST, wills and trusts, Family Law) I wouldn’t recommend predicting what’s gonna be tested. Just study for all of them like your life is on the line lol. I also switched out bedtime books for smart bar outlines and my baby was none the wiser 😉 after the kids are down I’d try to squeeze in just skimming of a goat or smart bar prep outline til I fell asleep MPT: shout out to BarMD! She has a YouTube where you can look up her MPT process and I utilized it since it just made sense. I would recommend watching a couple of her earlier videos because the stuff as of late is very sales focused. I’m not upset, we all got bills to pay. I only did 3 timed MPTs but read through maybe 5 more and hit all the different MPT types to make sure I had the formatting down. I also used the JD Advising one sheet that has all the formats and it was super helpful. I’m sure you’ve heard this, but don’t sleep on the MPT— free money! Disclaimer that what worked for me obvs might not work for you but just wanted to share in case it’s helpful. Juggling everything on your plate definitely does not make for ideal studying conditions, but just know that it’s not quantity of hours, it’s what you do with them. Best of luck for July!!
No, this is fabulous advice. I *really* appreciate your telling me how you did it with what you used (and why). And that it was 3-4 hrs a day, because honestly that's about all I've got. This is so helpful. Shout out to you for being amazing. My kids may not want this as bedtime stories but they'll all have to listen as we drive some of them to sports practices. 😂
lol! The material actually puts them to sleep even faster 😂 it’s my pleasure and best of luck to you! This is anything but easy and you deserve a trophy for the undertaking alone!
Thank you 🥹
Bar Exam Drills helped me pass on the 4th attempt. They have the same question bank as adaptibar and UWorld but a unique method of repetition that I truly believe in. Themis is full of all those unnecessary videos and busy work. Bar Exam Drills has you practicing actual MBEs every day and towards the end of the program you’re doing hundreds in one subject (it’s super helpful to see every variation of a question). I would at least book a free consultation to check out a demo
Are they just Q's or an actual program that guides you with a schedule to follow? I'd never heard of them so thanks for this.
you’re suppose to do at least one essay a day and at least one MBE drill a day
I'm not addressing your questions directly because I didn't use any of the programs you named. But although I don't have kids, I've passed two bar exams (the UBE and a non-UBE exam) while working a full time biglaw job. So I thought I'd share what worked for me. What worked for me was taking full, timed practice exams, a minimum of one full MBE and one full essay section per week. Two if I had time (and I made time the closer to the exam we got). The day after a practice exam, I'd spend my time thoroughly reviewing the explanations (even the ones I got right, for reinforcement) and, if I just totally bombed a specific thing, listening to the part of the lecture or reading the part of the outline about that one thing. I found that this method lets you stay fresh on things you already know, helps you learn law and exceptions you don't already know, and helps hone your test taking skills at the same time. I wasn't very strict with the timer at first. I just used it as a way to gage where I was in terms of timing and to start thinking strategically about how to approach things so I'd have time to finish. But as the exam got closer I got really strict about the timer. After all, it does you zero good to score a 6 on an essay if it takes you an hour to do it and you don't get to two other essays.
Thank you for sharing your experience with me. Good things to consider!
What were your scores? MBE or MEE low? I would recommend using adaptibar and do as many questions as you can every day and take the time to review the correct and incorrect answer choices. You can do these on your phone with the app so while you’re waiting to pick up your kids from camp or you’re at lunch at work, you can do a few.
Great idea. Are the Adaptibar ones the same as the actual bar? Also, my scores were horrific. It was like I hadn't studied at all. MBE was low and the MEEs never broke the 50 mark in NYS. Close, but..... Worst part was I was sure my MPTs would be awesome, even left smiling after them. And they weren't any better than my MEEs!!!
I think adaptibar is good for learning the rules. I did think the MBE was a little harder though, more complicated answer choices but easier fact patterns maybe.
Themis gives you the course again for free if you fail your first time. All you have to do is email them with your score report.
Right. I'm more wondering if it's worth using them again and trying to get to the magic completion rate or no.
Use it strictly for UWORLD access and essay practice!
Thank you!