Struggling with a particular section of the bar exam? Not to worry! Read on for some of our favorite strategies for conquering each part of the bar.
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Studying for the Bar Exam Essays
- Bar Exam Essays - You Must Become an Expert at Reading the Facts One of your main jobs while preparing for the bar exam is to become an expert fact pattern reader. Now you may think that at this point in your legal career you should be an expert already, but if you're struggling with the essay portion of the bar exam, you may need to work on this skill.
- Why You Should Spend Time Studying Sample Answers One thing about taking the bar exam that is very different from taking a law school exam is that you can't ask what's going to be on the exam! But by working backward from the sample answers, you can get a good idea of what you need to study. We show you how!
- Three Things to Do to Raise Your Writing Scores Are you one of the many students who are struggling with the writing portion of the bar exam? Then you should try our three-step process to improve those writing scores!
- Top 5 Ways to Prepare for the Florida Bar Exam Essays The Florida essays are on Day 1 of the exam, and you have to be prepared to competently write on at least three primary subjects and up to six secondary subjects. If this sounds tough, it is! Here are the top five ways to prepare for the Florida essay portion of the exam.
- Common Bar Essay Problems and How to Avoid Them Writing the perfect essay answer on the bar exam is an impossible task. But what makes a bar essay bad? Or, more importantly, what can you do to make yours good? Learn about the most common problem areas we see year to year, and how you can improve them.
- How to Write Succinctly Part One: Rule Statements Unless your bar exam doesn’t have a word limit or you’re a competitive typist, one of the most important aspects of your bar essay preparation is likely to be learning how to write succinctly and when to put the pen (or keyboard) down. In the first of a two post series, we give you tips on how to cut down on the verbiage and manage your time!
- How to Write Succinctly, Part Two: Analysis You don't have time to write that much on the bar exam! In the second post of our series on writing succinctly, we give tips on how you can cut down when writing rule statements.
- What Are Bar Exam Graders Really Looking For? In reviewing and critiquing hundreds of bar exam essay and performance test answers over the years, it's pretty clear what the graders are really looking for. If you’re wondering what the California bar exam graders in particular want to see in your essays and PTs, keep the attributes described in this post in mind!
- Don't Do This on Your Bar Exam Essays 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. We offer some advice for what not to do.
- Essay Feedback: Why It's Important, Where To Get It, and How to Use it to Improve When you’re preparing for the bar exam, whether you’re a first-time taker or a repeater, you want to use every tool available to you to improve your chances of success. One of the most valuable tools that you can employ in preparing for the written portions of the exam is feedback from someone who is experienced at evaluating bar exam essays and MPTs.
- Organize Your Essays for Maximum Points It is absolutely essential that you make it as easy as possible for your bar grader to spot where you are earning points. We offer tips on how to get the maximum points on your bar essays.
- What Bar Graders See When They Read Your Essays You can’t turn in a bar essay of gibberish with nice headers and expect to pass. The graders do actually read your work, even if they do so quickly. We discuss what bar graders really see when reading your essays.
- Comparing Tools for Bar Exam Essay Success Several internet tools have been created to help law students prepare for the essay portion of the bar exam. We compare your options.
- Strategies for Resolving Problems on Your Bar Essays There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to the essay section of the bar exam. In addition to the sheer number of essays you have to complete, you never know what subjects or topics will be coming at you next. The good news is that there are strategies for resolving the common problems you may encounter on the bar essays. We offer some tips!
- How to Be a Bar Exam Essay Writing Machine Bar exam essays require you to draft an articulate answers to seemingly unpredictable fact patterns that test a wide range of legal subjects. A successful bar exam essay simply requires you to methodically spot the issues and analyze the key facts. A systematic approach to the essays, while perhaps a bit dry and repetitive, will help you tackle any fact pattern and produce an organized answer that consistently racks up points. In short, success on this portion of the bar exam requires you to be an essay writing machine.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 10: Top 5 Bar Exam Essay Writing Tips (w/Ariel Salzer) Today, we’re discussing our top bar exam essay writing tips with special guest Ariel Salzer. Ariel is one of our most experienced California bar exam tutors, so we’re super excited to have her here today to talk about the essay portion of the bar exam, which, as many of you may know, can be a huge headache for those taking the bar.
- Bar Exam Essay Questions: How to Grab as Many Points as Possible It’s never too early to refine your approach to essay writing to crush it on the bar. These tips will help you gear up to write some practice essays during bar prep, and maximize the points you grab from the board of bar examiners during the big show.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 28: Balancing Law and Analysis on a Bar Exam Essay We're discussing how to balance the law and your analysis on a bar exam essay, and why the ratio of law to analysis may be very different than you think!
- How to Use the Brainy Bar Bank to Raise Your Essay Scores We're hearing from one two time bar exam taker who used the Brainy Bar Bank to significantly raise her essay scores (and pass) the second time around.
- How to Get Past the Initial Panic on a Bar Essay This post is about how you can get past your panic on a bar essay by planning ahead exactly how you’re going to start any essay that comes your way.
- 5 Easy Tips to Bolster Your Analysis on the Bar Here are five easy to follow tips to make your analysis section strong on the bar exam.
- How to Practice Essays in the Final Weeks Before the Bar Exam This post outlines some tactics you can implement to make the most out of the practice essays you do in the three weeks leading up to the bar exam.
- Write, Read, Rewrite: Using Model Answers to Game Your Essays Do your best to work closed book and within the allotted time for your essay. The MPT essays need to be done within 90 minutes and the MEE essays need to be done within 30 minutes. As your writing journey progresses, here are some things to keep in mind.
- Common Mistakes on Bar Exam Essays and How to Fix Them! We hope this guide will help you gain more valuable points on your bar exam essays.
Studying for the Bar Exam Performance Test
- The Key to the Performance Test: Find Your Approach What's the key to success on the bar exam performance test? Having your approach dialed in beforehand, so you can work efficiently and effectively.
- The Performance Test: Why You Should Be Studying Now As many 3Ls look forward to the bar exam, it's common to feel a bit overwhelmed. Students start to wonder, “What should I be doing right now?” Our answer is simple: start learning about the performance test!
- Can Paper Clips Help You Pass the Performance Test? If you're taking the bar exam in a jurisdiction that includes a performance test portion, this post is for you. Many students complain that the PT section has too many papers to keep track of. Could bringing a paper clip to the exam solve this problem and help your score?
- Three Things to Do to Raise Your Performance Test Scores The performance test is the favorite part of the bar exam for many, given that you don’t need to have any law memorized. But some people still hate and fear the performance test. If you're one of these people, here are three things you can do to raise those scores!
- Get Ready for the MPT! The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) is a component of the bar exam in 38 U.S. states plus D.C. That means you’re extremely likely to face a performance test when you sit for the bar! Read this post to learn everything you need to know about the MPT and how to study for it.
- How Your Legal Writing Class Prepares You for the MPT We've written previously about the link between Legal Research and Writing (LRW) and other law school classes. Now we'll explain how your LRW class has already prepared you for the MPT.
- Last Minute Tips for the MPT If you’re taking the bar exam in any of the states that require the MPT, hopefully you've already been preparing for this component of the exam. Here are some last minute tips to help get you to the finish line!
- Don't Turn the Performance Test into a Bad Decision Brian Hahn, founder of Make This Your Last Time and a second-time passer of the California bar exam, is back with advice on how to avoid turning the performance test into a bad decision.
- Strategies for Common Performance Test Issues The performance test (PT) section of the bar exam is somewhat of an enigma. It is unique to study for in several ways. The tricky thing about the PT is that there is no material to study. So, what do you need to study? How can anything go wrong?
- Five Common Issues on the Performance Test and How to Fix Them Bar candidates are often intimidated by the performance test because the materials that present the question are so long they consume an entire packet! However, success on the performance test does not depend on how fast you can read, but how well you can read and if you have mastered an approach for each section of the performance test.
- Managing the Clock on a 90-Minute Performance Test Most bar exams require applicants to complete one or two 90-minute performance tests as a component of the exams. A performance test asks you to complete a sample work assignment typically performed by a law firm associate. We discuss how to handle the clock on this part of the exam.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 54: Last-Minute Tips For the Performance Test We are sharing some last-minute tips to help you squeeze out as many points as you can from the performance test portion of the bar exam.
Studying for the MBE
- Bar Study Tips: Preparing for the MBE We’re excited to have MBE expert Sean Silverman answer some questions about preparing for the bar exam. Sean is an attorney, a lecturer for a New York based bar review company, and a bar exam tutor.
- To Defeat an Enemy, You Must Become Him Have you ever wondered why bar exam experts do what they do? In this post we talk to expert Alfred M. Zappala about preparing for the bar exam and more. You may recognize his name from his book, The Multistate Digest!
- MBE Trouble? Tips for Studying Again If you recently found out that you didn’t pass the bar exam, we're sorry to hear that. But as you get ready to study again, we want you to make the best preparation plans possible. To help, MBE expert Sean Silverman shares some tips on how to study to raise your MBE scores.
- How NOT to be an MBE Victim - Advice from Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher For Part II of our three part interview with Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher, the founder and president of BarWrite® and BarWrite Press, we discuss how not to be brought down by the MBE and much more.
- There is JUST TOO MUCH MBE Law to Learn! Are you feeling crunched for time to study all the MBE subjects? What if there was a way to tailor your study approach to the most heavily tested areas of the law? Well, there is!
- Top 5 Study Tips for Conquering the MBE Did you get disappointing MBE scores on the bar exam? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. In this post we welcome Sean Silverman, an MBE expert, who shares his top 5 study tips for conquering the MBE!
- A Slightly Counterintuitive Way to Study for the MBE As you get closer to the bar exam, studying efficiently becomes ever more important. Here’s a tip for improving your MBE scores — force yourself to focus primarily on the material you don’t know.
- Yikes! I Need to Improve My MBE Scores If you got disappointing bar results over the past few weeks, you're likely going through the important process of determining what went wrong. For some of you, that might be the MBE. If so, we have some resources that will help you develop a study plan to improve your MBE scores.
- Are You Ready for Civil Procedure on the MBE? If you're sitting for the bar exam after February 2015, you want to make sure that you're ready for the new Civil Procedure questions. In this post we go over everything you need to study for this new material!
- Can Taking a Break Save Your MBE Score? As we get closer to the bar exam, many bar takers are setting aside time to take three hour MBE practice exams. Taking these practice tests is a crucial part of bar exam prep for many reasons, including a not so obvious one: they will help you discover if fatigue is an issue for you.
- 3 Simple Ways To Improve Your MBE Score If you’re enrolled in a bar review course or if you’re studying on your own, by this point you may have already completed a simulated or mock MBE exam. You may have already received the score for this exam and depending on what that score is, you’re probably freaking out and already plotting a career change. Well, if you’re currently experiencing this fear, we're here to tell you, STOP WORRYING!
- 5 Reasons To Be a Confident Out-Of-State Applicant For the Bar Exam If the jurisdiction you want to take the bar exam in has state-specific sections, many questions will nag at you – Can I learn the state-specific subjects? How much different is that state’s law? Can I compete with in-state applicants? We have some tips for out of state applicants for the bar!
- An Approach to Answering MBE Questions We describe one approach to answering MBE questions.
- Fighting Through MBE Prep Struggles: 5 Questions to Ask When Nothing is Working When it comes to the MBE, most anyone will tell you that practice is the key. But what do you do when your scores plateau or even start getting worse during your bar prep? It is fair for the alarm bells to ring when your MBE practice begins going poorly all of the sudden. Here are five questions to ask when you feel like nothing is working.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 7: A Conversation with Sean Silverman - MBE Expert Today Lee talks with guest Sean Silverman, an MBE expert, who tutors for the MBE, the Florida bar exam, and the UBE.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 18: Strategies for Mastering the MBE We’re discussing our top tips for mastering the MBE portion of the bar exam. If you’re taking the exam in nearly any jurisdiction you’ll have to take the MBE so don’t miss this episode!
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 21: How to Analyze Real MBE Questions (w/Sean Silverman) - Part 1 Today, Lee walks through some past MBE questions with guest Sean Silverman, an MBE expert.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 22: How to Analyze Real MBE Questions (w/Sean Silverman) - Part 2 Today is the second episode in our two-part series analyzing real MBE questions. Lee and guest Sean Silverman, an MBE expert, walk through several MBE questions and give their take on how best to approach them.
- How Do I Survive the Bar Exam With MBE Scores at a Historic Low? With MBE scores at all time lows, we're talking about how to not end up on the wrong side of the MBE scoring.
- How to Analyze Real MBE Questions We're offering some advice on how to face real MBE questions.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Episode 45: Why Are MBE Scores Dropping? And What to Do About It As a Bar Taker We’re focusing on strategies and tactics to help you beat the trend of declining MBE scores, seen in recent data released by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
- Tackling MBE Hearsay Questions Hearsay questions make up a large portion of the Evidence MBE questions you’ll be confronted with on exam day. Learn how to tackle these questions, and you could see a critical boost in your MBE score. Below are tips on how to approach hearsay questions.
- Approaching Criminal Law Questions on the MBE The Multistate Bar Exam can be a nightmare for bar exam takers, especially with the myriad topics covered on the MBE. Fortunately, you can quickly improve your MBE score by following a solid approach to answering Criminal Law questions on the MBE.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 50: What We Discovered About the MBE From Explaining Lots of Questions We talked about what we learned about the MBE while creating the Practice of the Week (POW) MBE Workshop, and spending lots of time with the questions.
- How to Approach Constitutional Law MBE Questions Constitutional Law questions can be tricky for bar exam takers because of the deep analysis involved in reaching the correct answer. We're looking at the best way to study for these questions on the MBE.
- Tackling Torts MBE Questions In this post, we’ll talk about how you can approach Torts MBE questions to boost your score.
- How to Approach Criminal Procedure Questions on the MBE Even though Criminal Procedure is a broad topic, you can still adopt an overarching approach to answer these questions. This article provides tips on how to develop that overarching approach and how to tackle those tricky search and seizure questions.
- Tackling Real Property MBE Questions Real Property questions on the MBE make up 25 of the 175 scored questions you’ll encounter on exam day. We're looking at your overarching approach for Real Property MBE questions, as well as some advice on how to stay collected through the more dreaded Real Property topics (ahem, the Rule Against Perpetuities).
- How to Learn from Your MBE Mistakes There are tactics you can employ to tackle the feared MBE questions regardless of where you are in your bar studies. We discuss those tactics in detail here.
- Tips for MBE Practice Questions While it can sometimes feel like there is no way to prepare for the curveballs on the MBE, there actually is a lot in your control to increase your chances of success.
- Tips for Taking the MBE from Someone Who Struggles with Multiple Choice We're offering some advice for studying for and taking the MBE - especially if you've struggled in the past with multiple choice exams!
Studying for the MPRE
- Easy (and Cheap) Ways to Study for the MPRE By now we hope you've read our discussion on the MPRE and are planning on taking it soon. In this post we talk about how to start studying for the actual exam while saving money.
- The Basics of the MPRE The MPRE is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. Also known as the “ethics bar,” it's required for bar exam admission in most jurisdictions. Read this post to learn everything you need to know about this test!
- Your Guide to Studying for the MPRE Whether you just finished taking the bar exam or you’re entering your 3L year, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is likely in your near future. Find out what you need to know to get ready for this important exam!
- How Almost Failing the MPRE Made Me a Better Bar Exam Tutor Failing the MPRE is a wake up call for any 3L. In this post we share a story of how our tutor turned his near-failure of the MPRE into a learning experience for the bar exam.
- Tools for MPRE Success: BarMax MPRE One of the great things about the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination is that you can use the study period to test out different bar review options. In this post we review BarMax, an online bar review provider that can be purchased through the iTunes store.
- The Basics of the MPRE Taking the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam) is to getting your driver’s permit as taking the bar is to getting your driver’s license. It’s a sometimes overlooked, but crucial step to becoming a lawyer in your state and you want to make sure you’re properly prepared for it.
- The MPRE: What Not To Do If you’re in law school, you’ve probably at least heard of the MPRE. It’s the exam you’re required to take to show that you’re ethically fit and can exercise sound enough judgment to become a lawyer. The MPRE is required before you can practice law (even if you pass the bar—you need the MPRE to get sworn in). Most schools also require a course called Legal Ethics or Professional Responsibility to help teach you the concepts that are also tested on the MPRE.
- ESQYR Review: Resource for Past Bar and MPRE One of the most important strategies for passing a bar or MPRE exam (or any type of exam) is to take lots of practice exams. In order to make taking practice exams effective, you need to make sure the practice exams be as genuine as possible, and you get specific, detailed feedback on your practice exam from a knowledgeable person. We talk to a new online service, Esqyr, which takes care of the first need.
- Tips and Tricks for the MPRE If there’s one thing we learn in law school, it is that everything is relative, so unsurprisingly, students who take the MPRE find it “easy” in relation to the bar. Yet, just because it’s easi-er, does not mean it is a test that can be taken on intuition alone. We explain how you still need to prepare for the tricks.
- 5 Tips for Success on the MPRE The Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) is a difficult exam for law students to take. The difficulty doesn’t lie in the material necessarily, though the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility can be counter-intuitive at times, but rather, the difficulty is in everything that surrounds the MPRE.
- Preparing for the MPRE Passing your bar exam will be exponentially more challenging than passing your Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), but there is one aspect of MPRE prep that could be considered more challenging. The MPRE is done while you are still in school and not just focused on it. Read on for more tips on the MPRE.
- A Brief Guide to the MPRE The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a separate test that is required for admission to the bar in almost every state except: Maryland, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico. Despite the common misconception, it does not test an individual’s moral and ethical values. Instead, its purpose is to test examinees’ understanding of the ethical standards regarding the professional conduct of practicing attorneys. We are offering a short guide to the basics of the MPRE.
- Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 47: Preparing for the MPRE (w/Brittany Raposa) We’re talking about optimal preparation for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) with special guest Brittany Raposa — one of our bar exam and law school tutors.
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