johndiu

Do I need BarBri (or other review course) if I am taking my bar exam for the second time while working full time?

brookny

you have to read this - story from Jay Wiseman

I'm still feeling kind of disoriented, and mostly feeling relief. I passed the exam on my second try. I was so certain that I wasn't going to pass that I had my entire schedule for the next 3+ months laid out on that assumption, so exactly what I'll do now is going to take some re-thinking.
While I'm happy that I passed, it's a distinctly bittersweet happiness because some of my best friends in school, who worked harder and got better grades than I did, still haven't passed. I wish them every success next time.

I tested for the first time in July of 2005. Due to personal busy-ness, I didn't retest in February.
What I did differently this time:

I got my essay books back from the state bar (living in SF made this relatively easy) so that I could, among other things, see the comments made by the graders. Unfortunately, there were none. However, I hand-wrote the exam and I can't write all that fast so in looking at my answers I kept thinking about how they could have been longer. I therefore used a borrowed laptop this time around and I think that doing so helped -- a lot. Using the laptop simply allowed me to get more words "on paper" in the time allowed and thus write a much more detailed analysis.

I would _definitely_not_ handwrite the exam if I had it to do over again. For one thing, I can't write all that fast so I can't get as much analysis down on paper as I'd like to. For another, my handwriting isn't very good so it's hard to read -- never a good thing. For a third, on this most recent exam I got way into one question before I realized that my analysis was off. If I had handwritten this, I'd have to cross stuff out and begin again. This time, I merely deleted the text and rewrote it. The reader wouldn't be able to "tell" how off I had originally been. Seriously, the essays just _looked_ better. (According to Adachi, infra, that carries significant weight in terms of its grade.)

On subjects that I felt completely "cold" on, such as criminal procedure, I dragged out my emanuel flash cards and went to work. Of all the law school study aids out there -- and my apartment is a veritable museum of them -- I continue to feel think they offer the best value for the money. (Better, IMO, than the PMBR flash cards.) They're relatively cheap, very interactive, and quite comprehensive. I used them a lot, both in law school and for bar prep. I found them especially useful for going from a cold start on a particular subject to arriving at a point where I felt sharpened up pretty well. This time around, I worked my way through all the cards on crim law, crim pro, evidence, and con law.

I also did "a whole bunch" of PMBR questions, as well as all the Fleming's multistate questions. (I waited until I had finished the flash cards before I went into the multi-states on subjects that I felt cold about.)

However, the BIG thing that I did differently this time was as follows: I copied model answers -- a _lot_ of model answers.

Back when I was a first-year, I was advised to do this by a third-year whose name and face I have forgotten, but it proved to be _very_ useful advice.

Much as art students are encouraged to "copy the masters" I've found that copying model answers does a lot to train both my brain and my hands in how to write a good analysis. I first really started to "get it" when I copied a lot of the model answers in Tim Tyler's "Nailing The Bar" books. (Excellent books; IMO they're the best on the market at _showing_ how to "crack the code.")

I'd read the question, do my own outline, and then type the model answer in. Sometimes I'd then turn right around and write my own answer and compare it to the model answer. This was extremely useful (if sometimes -- OK, frequently -- humbling).

I then got Adachi's bar breaker series and did the same. I also made a point to learn his particular method of outlining a fact pattern -- it's by far the best I've ever seen for that -- and I used his approach diligently both in practice and on the actual exam. Note: I found having his Bar Exam Survival Kit to be an essential accessory to the two "main" books.

One might think that merely copying a model answer would be a mostly passive process that taught very little, but I found very much the opposite. While the front of my brain was copying the words, I found that the back of my brain was studying the technique, and also reviewing the rules and the analysis. It was _very_ much an "active learning" technique.

I copied numerous Tyler model answers. I also copied _all_ of the Adachi answers on torts, CP, and PR. (They essentially always have an essay on PR on the test.) I copied as many answers as I could on other topics before exam day arrived.

After a while, I found myself learning how to sort of "imitate in advance" what Tyler or Adachi would write. I would see something come up and I'd say to myself: "Hmmmm, I'll betcha he's gonna write about that issue something like this..." As time went on, I became correct more and more often. Candidly, doing this was very much like using training wheels when I first learned to ride a bicycle back when I was a tot. After a while, I didn't need them anymore. Something very similar happened to me in this case.

When I got on the actual exam, I was able to apply them. For example, I had written Adachi's "boilerplate" on duty, standard of care, and breach so often for negligence that when I saw the negligence issue on the torts question I was able to plop his approach down onto the paper virtually word for word.

If I had it to do over again, there's no question that I would copy even more model answers. I'd probably also copy several performance tests.

I am more and more of the opinion that the technique of copying model answers, just like art students copy the masters, is a technique that should be used much more widely than it is.
If I could go back and do it over again, I'd buy the Tyler books and the Adachi books during my first semester of my first year of law school, and I wouldn't dream of showing up to take an essay about a particular subject without having first copied their essays on that subject.

Very best regards to all, especially those who will be re-testing.

sharif

This is from someone who has failed the bar exam, learned from his mistakes, and passed the bar exam on the second try.

I enrolled in Bar/Bri my first attempt, and for my second I just studied on my own using the Bar/Bri books and some outlines I had made. One of the main problems with any bar exam is that there is too much information to distill down to a reasonable level. Bar/Bri claims that they do this for you, but they don't. That is why they tell you to prepare short outlines for each subject during the last two weeks of study. I followed this advice, unfortunately all I had time for was creating my outlines and not really learning (read: memorizing) the law. I think you are right on track if you are using the Bar/Bri conviser book/baroutlines.com to study. You want to try to focus your learning down to as little material as possible. On my second attempt main strategic difference was that I used the outlines that I had made the previous summer (along with some info from some of my friend's outlines, due to my paranoia), and the last three weeks or so before the bar I would sit down with those outlines ( 13 or so subjects; 9 pages singled spaced was the longest for contracts; the shortest, community property, was 2 and half pages) and I would just try to memorize them. I would read one outline over and over again for an entire day, and at the end of the day I would have someone ask me questions from the outlines. If you can say the answers out loud, then you have memorized it. I really think this was the difference in my passing the second time. Because I certainly did not put in much more time, possibly less, because I was working full-time during the second attempt (took the last two and a half weeks before the bar off).

There are a million different ways to study for this thing. After I found out I failed I was frantically trying to find a way to study differently (if not better) than I did the first time. Some of my friends did it this way and I liked the way it sounded. It gives your studying a focal point and a finish line. I felt like the reading would never end and I was never going to retain anything, but by doing it this way you can spend the first month or couple of months, making sure you have good outlines, practicing as many essays as you can, doing MBE questions and writing out the answers, and then the last 2 to 3 weeks before the exam you focus solely on your outlines (with a sprinkling of essays and MBE questions thrown in) and the studying will have some kind of structure, something I was never able to do on my own.

Now, I know many people who would never do it this way and feel that outlines are a waste of time, and they are probably right. But this did help me a great deal, so I thought it couldn't hurt to throw it out there. No matter how you study as long as you stay focused (the hardest part) you will kick ass.

Source: J.T.