One of the biggest struggles I have faced while studying for the bar exam during the COVID-19 pandemic has been remembering substantive law. Like many 2020 bar exam takers, I was scrambling to figure out What to Do When Exam Dates Were Pushed Due to Coronavirus. Suddenly my 8-10 week preparation window was pushed to 14-18 weeks. Like many of my classmates, I was already 50% into my commercial bar exam course when the cancellations were announced. Ultimately, a series of unfortunate events in my personal life forced me to take 3 weeks off of studying, so I was grateful to have a little breathing room. But having reviewed all of the federal material prior to the break, I came back to studying with over 500 flashcards I had previously made but no memory of the learning I did while actually making them. No matter how many times I reviewed my flashcards, nothing stuck. And I was getting bored. [Read more…] about Using Anki Flashcards to Study for the Bar
About Prathyusha Chenji
The Online Bar Exam – A Debrief
The October online administration of the bar exam, bringer of heightened anxieties, first of its kind, was painful. That might have been the understatement of the century (see: woman goes into labor during the bar exam for more details). I wanted to do a quick debrief immediately after the exam. Given the state of the pandemic currently, it is possible we will have more online administrations in the future. I was one of the lucky ones: apart from a few pre-exam hiccups, I did not face technical difficulties like some of my fellow examinees. Here’s what it looked like for me.
Keeping a Bar Journal
Everyone told me that bar exam preparation in general would be a drag. Even after I mentally shifted into bar prep after graduation, 2020 has been a rollercoaster physically and psychologically.
Now let’s talk about how this affects my bar preparation. Our July bar exam was initially postponed to September 9 and 10, which meant that my 8-10 week prep has been extended to 14 weeks. As someone taking a commercial bar exam course, I am lucky to have a schedule of to-do items that updates every time I leave an assignment unfinished. But my entire preparation so far has just been a combination of me getting ahead, falling behind, playing catch-up, and eventually burning out. I have been so overwhelmed each week with the never-ending assignment load. After finishing a day’s work, I am generally too exhausted to review material I have already learned. It has been a cycle that I know isn’t working, but I can’t stop because I don’t have time to try a new process. If you’re someone prepping for the bar now, does this sound familiar? [Read more…] about Keeping a Bar Journal