• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Bar Exam Toolbox®

Get the tools you need for bar exam success

  • I Failed!
  • Tutoring
  • Courses
    • Writing Help: Essays/PT
    • MBE Help
    • Self-Study Program
    • Options – California
    • Options – UBE
  • Bar Exam 101
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Login

Don’t Do This On Your Bar Exam Essays

November 13, 2016 By Deborah Rummelhart 1 Comment

resize-shutterstock_154401110

In order to pass a bar exam, you need to collect as many points as possible on your bar essay exams.  In order to maximize the points you receive, you need to make it as easy as possible for the bar exam grader to give you points.

Bar exam graders want to know if you spotted the issues and if you understand how to analyze that issue given the facts in the essay exam (i.e., can you do a complete IRAC analysis).  Avoiding the four common mistakes listed below will help you maximize your score on bar essay exams. 

Don’t Start Writing Immediately

We have all seen law students and fellow bar candidates who open their essay exams and immediately or almost immediately start writing down their answer.  This approach almost guarantees a failing score on that essay exam for two reasons.  First, you may write an answer to a question that the bar examiners did not ask.  Most bar essay exams list one or more questions that they want you to focus on at the end of the essay exam. If you do not read and think about that list of questions before you start writing, you do not know which issues you should focus on in your essay answer.  Some bar examiners will deliberately include irrelevant facts or even irrelevant issues to see if you can correctly identify what is relevant and what is not.   If you spend time writing on irrelevant issues you will miss points you could have gotten writing on relevant issues.  You need to make sure that you have a good strategy in place for identifying the relevant facts.

Don’t Write a Monologue

A big part of making it easy to grade your bar essay exam answer is making it easy for the bar exam grader to see when you have spotted an issue and confirm that you have done a complete legal analysis.  If your essay exam answer is one long uninterrupted paragraph that goes on for pages and pages, the bar exam grader will assume that your answer is disorganized.  In addition, the bar exam grader is really going to have to hunt around to find the issues you have spotted, and may inadvertently miss an issue or your analysis of an issue.  If a bar exam grader misses an issue or your analysis of an issue, you are going to be missing points and earning a low score on your essay exam.

You essay exam needs to contain the equivalent of numerous big fluorescent neon signs announcing “Here it is!  I spotted this issue!”  “Here is the rule that goes with the issue!”  “Here is the analysis that goes with the issue!”  “Here is my conclusion!”  In a bar essay exam answer, headings, multiple paragraphs and skipping lines are your neon signs.    Each issue you spot should have its own heading.  You can then use paragraphs and/or skipped lines to separate each part of the IRAC analysis you do for that issue.

Another important thing you can do to help the bar grader give you points is to write your rules and analysis succinctly and avoid run on sentences.  Long run on sentences make it difficult for the bar exam grader to keep track of whether you did a complete legal analysis of each element of a rule.  Short sentences, using a simple noun + verb sentence structure, will make it easier for the bar exam grader to follow your analysis and give you more points.

Don’t Write a Treatise

Avoid writing every rule you know in your essay exam answer.  It makes the bar grader think you don’t know what you are talking about. If you write a mini-treatise consisting of tons of rules, the bar grader will think that you do not know which rules apply in the hypothetical situation presented in the essay exam question.  If the bar exam grader thinks you don’t know which rules apply, that easily leads the bar grader to a slippery slope of negative assumptions about you.  If you don’t know which rules apply, that means you are unable to spot issues.  If you are unable to spot issues, that means that you cannot do a complete IRAC legal analysis.  If you cannot do a complete IRAC legal analysis, that means you should not be a practicing attorney and the bar grader is likely to fail you on that particular essay.

Don’t Be Conclusionary

If you have ever gotten the criticism that your essays exams are conclusory, it means that you have skipped some steps in the IRAC process of legal analysis.   It is common for bar candidates to spot an issue and write down only the rule and conclusion part of IRAC on their exam answer.  Some bar candidates craft an issue statement in their heads but fail to write it down in the exam answer.  You will not receive points for an issue statement that you write only in your head.     Similarly, other bar candidates write down the rule, do the analysis in their heads, and then write down a conclusion.  Again, you will not receive points for a legal analysis that you write only in your head.

In sum, if you take time at the beginning of the exam to read the whole exam and fully think through and organize your exam answer, you will be able to get a good score on your essay exams.

___ _ ___

Did you find this post helpful? Check out some other great articles:

  • Steps to Making Your Own Bar Exam Schedule
  • Why Really Wanting to Pass the Bar Exam Isn’t Enough
  • What You Can Do Now to Prepare for the Bar Exam
  • Train Like an Athlete for the Bar Exam 

Photo credit:  Shutterstock


Ready to pass the bar exam? Get the support and accountability you need with personalized one-on-one bar exam tutoring or one of our economical courses and workshops. We're here to help!


 

About Deborah Rummelhart

Deborah Rummelhart is a graduate of Harvard Law School and specializes in teaching legal research, writing and analysis. While serving as Director of the Legal Writing Program at Whittier Law School, Ms. Rummelhart developed a specialized legal exam writing program that enabled students who were on academic probation or barely passing to improve their exam taking skills so much that these students moved from the bottom to the top of the class, and in one case, made law review. Ms. Rummelhart also taught legal exam taking techniques for BarBri and enabled repeater bar candidates to pass the California Bar Exam. Her comprehensive grasp of legal writing and analysis derives from more than ten years of teaching experience, as well as several years of experience as a corporate and estate planning lawyer. She is the co-author of the law review article: Ecumenical, Municipal and legal Challenges to Unites States Refugee Policy, 21 Harv. C.R.-C.L.L Law Rev. 493; and she was a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elizabeth Greiner

    07.30.20

    According to the NCBE, Texas will be administering the UBE starting in February 2021 (http://www.ncbex.org/jurisdiction-information/jurisdiction/tx). We offer courses (https://barexamtoolbox.com/ube-bar-exam-courses-tools/) and tutoring (https://barexamtoolbox.com/uniform-bar-exam-ube-mee-and-mpt-tutoring/) for the UBE if you’re interested. Check out this podcast episode (https://barexamtoolbox.com/podcast-episode-53-what-to-do-if-your-jurisdiction-is-adopting-the-ube/) and this blog post (https://barexamtoolbox.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ube/) for more information about the UBE.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let us know you are not a spammer! * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Primary Sidebar

  • Podcast
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Us

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!

COVID-19 Updates

Please visit the COVID-19 updates page for the latest news on bar exam postponements.

Recent Posts

Podcast Episode 123: Listen and Learn — First Amendment (Content-Neutral Restrictions)

Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! Today, in an episode from our "Listen and Learn" series, we're discussing the First Amendment - in … [Read More...] about Podcast Episode 123: Listen and Learn — First Amendment (Content-Neutral Restrictions)

What I Learned From The Bar Exam (Besides The Law)

What I Learned From The Bar Exam (Besides The Law)

I think it’s probably safe to say that the bar exam in 2020 was a bit of a disaster. So many news stories, headlines, and examples of the bar exam … [Read More...] about What I Learned From The Bar Exam (Besides The Law)

Podcast Episode 122: Listen and Learn — Easements (Real Property)

Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! Today, in an episode of our "Listen and Learn" series, we're discussing easements, which is one of the … [Read More...] about Podcast Episode 122: Listen and Learn — Easements (Real Property)

What To Do The Week Before The Bar Exam

What To Do The Week Before The Bar Exam

For years I’ve run half marathons including the Philadelphia Half Marathon, Disneyworld Half Marathon, and Colonial Williamsburg Half Marathon. Each … [Read More...] about What To Do The Week Before The Bar Exam

Podcast Episode 121: Listen and Learn — Character Evidence

Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! Today, we're talking about the Federal Rules of Evidence, and how to apply the rules of character … [Read More...] about Podcast Episode 121: Listen and Learn — Character Evidence

Need to Pass the Bar Exam?

Sign up for our free weekly email with useful tips!

Footer

  • Podcast
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • I Failed!
  • Tutoring
  • Courses
  • Bar Exam 101
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Login
  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Refunds
  • Contact

Copyright 2021 Bar Exam Toolbox®™