Bar Study Tip: You Should Spend Time Studying Sample Answers

One thing about taking the bar exam is definitely very different from taking a law school exam: You cannot ask what is important (the analytical approach to a question) or what is going to be on the exam!

EEK! So, how do you figure out how the bar examiners want you to answer essay questions?  By working backward from the sample answers (and listening carefully during the bar prep courses).

Many states release sample student answers with their bar questions (including California). The National Conference of Bar Examiners releases official model answers for the MEE as well.  If you are a student, is it important to spend time with those sample answers? Yes! Why? Because the bar examiners are telling you what they think is a quality exam answer.  It is the same thing as meeting with your professors and asking them what they think is important for the test.

Not sure what I am talking about? Let’s take an example.

Evidence:  Almost everyone hates it, some people love it, but it is heavily tested (because it is difficult).

So, you take your first practice exam on evidence. Let’s say the call of the question is

Should the court have admitted (1) Detective Otto’s testimony, (2) defendant David’s testimony, or (3) Victor’s statement?

You complete your answer to the question. You think you did pretty well. Let’s say you talked about the following issues for (1) Detective Otto’s testimony.

1. Logical Relevance
2. Hearsay
   1. Present Sense Impression
   2. Existing Mental State

Now, you compare your answer with the sample answer provided by the bar.  What are you looking for? You are looking for issues that you didn’t cover.  Let’s say the outline of the sample answer is as follows.

1. Logical Relevance
2. Legal Relevance
3. Witness’s Personal Knowledge
4. Hearsay
   1. Present Sense Impression
   2. Excited Utterance
   3. Then Existing Mental State

Bummer, you missed some issues.

Now, you must ask yourself this question: Did you miss issues because you didn’t identify their importance through the facts and/or are these issues a requirement for this type of analysis?

• Didn’t identify their importance by the facts. Issue spotting is done by looking at the facts and determining what law is triggered by those facts.  For example, if the facts state that a bystander was screaming, “He ran a red light,” that may lead you to know you need to discuss excited utterance. So in our fictional example above, you didn’t identify the issue of excited utterance from the facts. It is important to go back and determine what facts triggered that issue.  Then, if you see a similar fact on a future exam, you won’t miss it.

• Issues required for complete analysis.  Each jurisdiction is different. However, for a complete analysis you need to be cognizant of when a jurisdiction has a set required approach. This may mean you need to discuss issues even when the facts aren’t calling out to you to discuss them.

In our example here, this would be personal knowledge.  It may seem silly to you, the test taker, to think about needing to talk about personal knowledge when it is clear that the detective had personal knowledge—he was talking to the declarant.  Do the bar examiners care? Nope. They want you to talk about it anyway. It is a required part of the analysis (at least in California).

Well now you know, right? You know because you were critically studying the sample answers (and reading this blog). Don’t overlook the amount of information that can come from a sample answer.  Actively and critically read the sample answers and look for clues to what is required by the test takers.  Picking up on issues required for a complete analysis can be the difference between a passing and a failing grade.

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Where can you find sample answers to review? Check out my review of BarEssays.com and the book What NOT to Write.

Check out these other posts you might find helpful:

• You Must Become an Expert at Reading the Facts
• Organize with a Bar Binder 
• The Bar Exam Is One Big Interview

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