The Bar Exam Toolbox team developed the Self-Study Program to help you manage your own study without buying an expensive commercial bar review course, which may not even suit your personal needs.
We’ve taken the knowledge gained from 10+ years of helping bar studiers find bar exam success and created this program with tools and resources to help you formulate your study plan, learn the substantive law, write passing essays and performance tests, and keep your cool on test day.
Ready to go? Click here to sign up.
What Does the Self-Study Program Include?
The Self-Study Program is designed to include everything a dedicated self-studier needs to pass. Here’s what’s included.
Help with your study plan:
- You’ll fill out and submit a detailed self-evaluation
- You’ll get written feedback and targeted advice on your study plan from one of our bar exam experts
Access to the substantive materials and practice problems you’ll need, including:
- Writing of the Week (WOW) Workshop ($235 value)
- Practice of the Week (POW) MBE Workshop (a $149 value)
- Brainy Bar Bank (MEE and MPT) ($95 value)
- A complimentary copy of Smart Bar Prep Standard substantive outlines ($124 value)
- Discount codes for AdaptiBar and UWorld (for MBE prep)
- (Optional) Have the Bar Exam Toolbox team prepare your custom study schedule and Asana project for you
- (Optional) Add support from a highly-qualified Bar Exam Toolbox tutor, consisting of one hour of call time, written feedback on one substantive essay (MEE), and written feedback on one performance test (MPT)
Our team’s advice for bar success, including:
- An overview of the bar exam you’ll be taking
- Strategies for reviewing your past exam answers, if you’re a repeat taker
- Template study schedules that can be customized to fit your needs (screenshot below)
- Tips for using Asana and Trello (two our favorite free resources) to create your own study plan and schedule
- Advice if you’re working and studying for the bar exam
- Useful tips for wellness during bar study
- A helpful overview of commonly tested topics on the MBE and MEE, along with quizzes to practice heavily-tested topics
You’ll have the following template study schedules to modify for your needs:
The Self-Study Program also provides materials to guide you through learning the law, executing a winning essay and performance test, and rocking the MBE.
Help on Each Section of the Test
The Self-Study Program helps maximize your points on every section of the test:
Learning the Substantive Law
- Techniques for Quickly Learning the Law
- Using Active Learning Techniques in Your Bar Study
- Tips for Studying with Condensed Outlines
Tips for Essay and Performance Test Preparation
- Where to Find Practice Materials
- Foundational Exercises to Build Skills (on reading fact patterns and outlining a question)
- Writing for Maximum Points
- Strategies for Critically Self-Evaluating Your Work
Preparing for the MBE
- Why the MBE is Challenging
- Studying Effectively for the MBE
- MBE Disasters to Avoid
- Evaluating Your Performance on Multiple Choice Practice
- Template Grid for Tracking MBE Performace
- Using AdaptiBar Effectively
- Recommended MBE Resources
And, because all the preparation in the world won’t help if you have an exam-day meltdown, there’s a section with checklists for exam-day logistics and advice on keeping your cool if things start to go south in the exam room.
All together, the Self-Study Program has what you need to pass — on your own terms!
Ready to get started? Click here to sign up.
Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers!
If your question isn’t answered below, please feel free to contact us and we’re happy to help.
When can I start the Self-Study Program?
The Self-Study Program can be started at any time because the materials are online, on demand. Just keep in mind that access lasts for a year from the date of purchase, so you should not try to start more than a year before the exam you are taking. The template study schedules are set up for 16 weeks of part-time study, 8 weeks of part time study + 2 weeks of full-time study, 10 weeks of full-time study, 9 weeks of full-time study, and 8 weeks of full-time study.
Here’s what a study schedule looks like. You’ll also learn how to easily import your study schedule into Asana or Trello, where you can track your progress.
Can someone make my study schedule for me?
Yes! If you’d like the experts at the Bar Exam Toolbox to make your study schedule for you, select the Gold or Platinum levels, which include a custom study schedule. We will ask you to fill out a detailed questionnaire and will create a schedule based on your needs.
I’d like to work with a tutor for personal support. Is that possible?
Yes! If you’d like additional personal support, select the Platinum level, which includes one hour of call time with one of our excellent Bar Exam Toolbox tutors plus written feedback on one substantive essay (MEE) and one performance test (MPT). (If you’d like more time and attention, please fill out our Tutoring Contact Form to set up a call and get pricing information for our full tutoring packages.)
What is the Brainy Bar Bank?
The MEE Brainy Bar Bank collects over 12 years of real MEE bar exam essay questions, more than 160 questions total. Each essay question is categorized by area of law (Torts) and one or more topics and subtopics (Intentional Torts: Assault and Battery). The MPT Brainy Bar Bank collects over 20 years of real MPT bar exam performance test questions, more than 60 questions total.
You can browse by category areas, topics, and subtopics, mark your favorites, view the most- to least-commonly tested areas/topics/subtopics, and easily keep track of which questions you’ve recently seen.
Want to learn more? See a step-by-step description here.
What is the Writing of the Week (WOW) Program?
The WOW program offers guided essay practice on 21 substantive essays and five 90-minute performance tests. Each week’s workshop includes:
- A 10-15 minute substantive video mini-lecture where a Bar Exam Toolbox expert explains how to approach a given substantive bar exam essay. Each week will cover a different substantive area of the law. And you’ll get a downloadable copy of the relevant practice question and/or performance test.
- A timed countdown video to ensure you practice under timed conditions.
- A video round-up lecture where we review the answer and walk you through a self-evaluation to understand how you did.
- A downloadable copy of the model answer.
- A special Bar Exam Toolbox “issue checklist” to help you evaluate whether you raised and discussed the key issues necessary for a passing score.
The WOW assignments are included as part of each study schedule so you can use them to support the substantive review you are doing on a given day.
What is the Practice of the Week (POW) MBE Workshop?
The POW program videos walk through five real MBE questions in each of the seven MBE topic areas (35 questions total), showing you how to identify the issue and law you need to successfully answer each question. In addition, each sample question is paired with a similar practice question, so you can apply what you’ve learned (35 additional practice questions).
What have previous Self-Study students said about the program?
I wanted to let you know that I passed the February [UBE]! I cannot thank you and bar exam toolbox enough for all your help and the program I purchased. The self-study bar prep schedule for people working was just exactly what I needed to pass. The resources you guys provide are amazing and the assessments that are done before starting to study really helped me as a repeat taker to know where I needed to go and what I needed to work on. Your program gave me the confidence to be able to study and work full time. I want to say thank you, thank you for your patience in responding to all my emails and all the resources provided. It is a huge relief to have passed the bar exam, and I owe bar exam toolbox for that! – February exam taker
Ready to Get Started?
To get immediate access to all of the useful resources in the Self-Study Program, select your preferred option below.
UBE Self-Study Options
What You Get
- Access to all Self-Study materials, including:
- An extensive self-evaluation, to help you structure your bar study
- Detailed daily/weekly study schedule templates, which you can modify for your personal needs
- Feedback from the Bar Exam Toolbox tutors on your study plan
- Strategies and exercises to improve your essay and performance test answers
- A free copy of Smart Bar Prep Standard bar outlines ($124 value), along with practical advice for using these effectively
- Information on how to self-evaluate your work and review any old exam answers
- Best practices for MBE prep, including how to effectively use AdaptiBar
- Practical tips for wellness during bar prep and on exam day
- Access to all Brainy Bar Bank materials, including:
- 12+ years of real MEE questions (more than 160 questions total)
- 20+ years of real MPT questions (more than 60 questions total)
- Frequency analysis for the most commonly tested legal categories, topics, and subtopics
- Frequency analysis for the most commonly tested topics and subtopics in each legal category
- The ability to easily favorite questions and see which ones you've viewed
- The ability to easily find practice questions on specific topics and subtopics
- Access to all WOW course materials, including:
- Carefully selected practice problems, chosen from frequently-tested bar topics
- An introductory video lecture covering the substantive area(s) of law in the practice problem
- A wrap-up video of "must haves" for a passing answer
- A Bar Exam Toolbox post-answer checklist, to help you evaluate your work
- A countdown timer to help you pace yourself and stay within the time limits
- Relevant sample answers for each WOW practice problem
- 21 MEE practice essay questions, videos, and answer keys
- 5 performance test practice questions, videos, and answer keys
- Weekly accountability to ensure you practice writing regularly
- Access to the Practice of the Week (POW) MBE Workshop
- A customized study schedule, created by the Bar Exam Toolbox for you
- Personal help from a Bar Exam Toolbox tutor, including:
- 1 hour of one-on-one tutoring time
- Written feedback on one substantive essay response (MEE)
- Written feedback on one performance test response (MPT)
Silver
- Silver: Get access to all Self-Study Program materials
Gold
- Gold: Add a personalized study schedule
Platinum
- Platinum: Also add individual tutor support
Got a question? We’re happy to help! Just contact us and ask.
Best of luck on the bar exam!