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Carolyn Negrin

About Carolyn Negrin

Carolyn Negrin is a law school and bar exam tutor for Law School and Bar Exam Toolbox.

After graduating with honors from UCLA, she passed the CPA exam (top 3%) and worked in Audit for PricewaterhouseCoopers. She later transferred to a Litigation Support Services group and went on to pursue a law degree.

Carolyn earned her JD at Loyola Law School, where she continued her academic success by earning an academic scholarship and graduating Cum Laude as a Sayre MacNeil Scholar, Order of the Coif, and a member of the St. Thomas Moore Honor Society. She was also an Articles Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review.

After practicing family law for Kolodny & Anteau, and later representing a state agency, Carolyn decided to share her exam taking skills and turned her attention to helping students pass the bar exam.

Mentally Preparing To Study For The Bar Exam After A Failure (Or Two)

May 22, 2017 By Carolyn Negrin 2 Comments

Mentally preparing to study for the bar exam after failingYou sign onto your computer at 6:00 pm sharp. Your heart is racing. The internet traffic won’t let you log in. You try again. You type in your name. You wait. Your palms are sweaty, and your heart is racing faster. You finally get your results, but they are not at all what you expected. Your name is not on the pass list. You check again. Your name is really not on that list.

Let’s face it. We all have failed (at least once or twice) since we were born. Most of us miserably. We repeatedly got up to stand and fell down before learning to walk. We got on a bike and could not balance at first. And the list continues. You also may know that some of the most successful people have failed repeatedly before succeeding. Henry Ford’s businesses failed 5 times before he successfully founded Ford Motor company, Stephen King’s first book received 30 rejections before he finally resubmitted it and succeeded in getting his story published. Finally, Michael Jordan, a man often referred to as one of the greatest basketball players of all time was cut from his high school basketball team, but Jordan didn’t let this stop him from playing and was quoted later as saying: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” [Read more…] about Mentally Preparing To Study For The Bar Exam After A Failure (Or Two)

Comparing Tools For Bar Exam Essay Success

May 17, 2017 By Carolyn Negrin 2 Comments

Comparing Tools For Bar Exam Success: BarIssues and BarEssaysWhen I studied for the bar exam in 2003 it was pretty much Barbri or bust for the essay portion of the bar exam. The Barbri reps were on campus within the first couple of months of law school asking everyone to lock in a price for their bar exam preparation course. The sooner you signed up, the less expensive the course. I remember wondering why I needed to think about the bar exam when I barely knew how to outline. When I eventually took Barbri, I was provided with books including outlines and sample essays on each topic with answers. Technology has changed since then and many competitors have come out of the woodwork. Several internet tools have been created to help law students prepare for the essay portion of the bar exam.

Practice and receiving good feedback on essays is essential to any effective bar study strategy. I am often asked by students whether it is worth it to purchase certain internet tools. While the cost may be relatively nominal, any added cost increases your total overhead going into the bar exam. And since some of you have yet to earn a paycheck, this cost might make a difference. Too many tools can be overwhelming, and take away from an effective study plan, but the right combination of tools can make the difference between passing and failing. Each student has a different learning style and/or needs so no one tool works best for every student. [Read more…] about Comparing Tools For Bar Exam Essay Success

The Power of a Positive Mindset

May 8, 2017 By Carolyn Negrin Leave a Comment

The Power of Positive ThinkingHave you ever had one of those days where you can’t find your keys in the morning, and then you finally locate your keys just to realize that you do not know where your cell phone is (and you really need your phone because it is synced with your schedule on your computer or holds all your contacts)? As a result, you are late to class or an appointment because you have to look up where you are going. To top off your morning, there is extra traffic on the road or you get stuck behind the slowest driver or a large truck which makes you even later.

Part of the reason for this is that nobody thinks clearly under stress. Your mind literally gets fuzzy. When you realized you were going to be late, your body triggered a stress response. So, if you have been studying for the last four or five weeks, and your glass is still half empty, this might be a good time to examine and change the way you are thinking because your thoughts control your behavior which in turn may impact your successes or failures. [Read more…] about The Power of a Positive Mindset

How to Add Some More Grit to Your Life

April 17, 2017 By Carolyn Negrin Leave a Comment

Add some more grit to your lifeI still remember my rigid bar exam study schedule. Wake up, go to Barbri lecture, come home and outline, eat lunch for no longer than 45 minutes, practice essays, go for allotted 45 minute run, do MBE practice, eat dinner, review practice, go to bed, repeat. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines grit as: “firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.” Others have described grit as a “stick-to-it-ness” or a combination of optimism, discipline, and self-motivation. I would label it perseverance. Either way, grit describes the qualities that will help you be successful on the bar exam. To take out those outlines and practice exams day after day, week after week, after 3 years of long and hard studying requires grit. Being a lawyer requires grit too – especially if you are trying to find that specific case a partner has told you he needs you to look for at 6:00 when he walked into your office just as you were thinking of leaving (and he is sure there is a case that says what he wants). So if that case doesn’t exist, you’d better improvise. [Read more…] about How to Add Some More Grit to Your Life

How to Become Great at Taking the Bar Exam with Deliberate Practice

February 2, 2017 By Carolyn Negrin Leave a Comment

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There is not much debate about practice when it comes to learning a new skill or getting better at something. I’m guessing that some of you have heard of Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and the idea of the 10,000 hour rule to achieve mastery in a field. Since none of us have 10,000 hours to study for the bar exam you may be interested in the concept of Deliberate Practice which was introduced by K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist from the University of Florida. Ericsson has been studying the science of expertise for decades. [Read more…] about How to Become Great at Taking the Bar Exam with Deliberate Practice

Can Pilates Help You Study for the Bar Exam?

December 22, 2016 By Carolyn Negrin 1 Comment

pilates

Joseph Pilates once said “Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.” This statement applies easily to the intense couple of months you will spend preparing for the bar exam. Assuming you don’t have any children yet, studying for the bar exam in the upcoming months may test your patience and persistence like nothing has before. And it is perseverance that will ultimately help you be successful on the bar exam, whether it is on your first try, or after taking the exam multiple times. You will need to find ways to stay centered and focused. [Read more…] about Can Pilates Help You Study for the Bar Exam?

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Want to pass the bar exam? Of course you do! We’re here to help. You’ll find lots of helpful free content at Bar Exam 101, in the Bar Exam Resource Hub, and on the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast. For more hands-on help, take a look at our courses and workshops and bar exam tutoring options. Please get in touch with any questions!

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