P.A.S.S. The Bar Exam

What is a bar exam Performance Test? Check out these free introductory videos.

http://www.passlaw.com/ptsample.htm

Super Performance Test Sunday! Do your PT early today so you can watch the Super Bowl!

I usually recommend Sundays 2-5pm for California Bar Exam takers, and Sundays 3:30-5pm for MPT takers.  Every week, after the rest of your work is done, do your Performance Test under timed conditions and study the sample answers before calling it a day. Why? You often have to complete your Performance Test(s) after a day of bar exam essays so it's good to get ready to take them when you are not at your freshest.  

Today, however, do your PTs now, early in the day, so you can take the afternoon (West Coast folks) and evening (East Coast folks) off to enjoy the Super Bowl, have fun with friends and family, and then...

Get back to studying tomorrow morning!

The bar exam is a difficult but wholly doable task; keep your attitude positive, work slowly and steadily, and do everything in your power to pass.

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which more than anything else will affect its successful outcome."

--William James

Stop focusing on pass rates. You are not a statistic!

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

--Denis Waitley

 

I often get questions from students about bar exam pass rates. It's frustrating. Why?  Because implicit in the query is often the unspoken, "And this means I too am likely to fail, right?"

No!!  No way.  Why allow yourself to be a statistic?  When you hear someone failed the bar, why decide you will too??  You don't know how many hours that person put in studying, whether he or she completed the bar review course and did all the work, whether the person focused fully or allowed in daily distractions.  You don't know if he or she panicked under pressure during the exam. You don't know how many practice tests the person completed in full under timed conditions, and how hard the person tried to learn from sample answers.  And, you don't know if that person set him or herself up for failure by believing from the outset that the bar exam was not passable.

All you know is what YOU can and cannot do.  Why not decide then, "I am not a statistic  I will pass.  I invested years of my life and many thousands of dollars studying to get this JD, and I am going to pass the bar exam. Period."   

One of my students last week said to me, "What I need is to be able to look myself in the mirror after it is over and say I did everything in my power to pass."

"You got it!" I said.  "That's right.  Now get back to work."  

Stop worrying about last year's pass rates.  Stop posting or lurking in bar exam chat rooms, listening to horror stories and getting yourself freaked out.  Focus.  Focus on hard work and on improving each and every day. Master the material you know will be tested, with dogged determination, all of it. Don't go in "hoping" some area won't be tested.  Learn it.

And, do daily practice exams (essay, MBEs and PTs), under timed conditions, tons of them, and study the sample answers to see how to improve.

Start by believing you can and will pass, then do what needs to be done to make that a reality.  

 

Why do people fail the bar exam? July bar takers: please start training now!

Someone asked me at a recent lecture why the lower pass rates?  The answer was clear.  "You are not doing enough practice tests, in full, under timed conditions."  

Too many are looking for "magic" ---some guru, some course, some book, some key, to make it happen without hard work. 

So, July 2012 Bar Exam takers who are reading this blog, start working now.  Get used to the idea that you are in training for your "summer olympics" these next six months, and give up looking for pixie dust. 

February Bar Exam Takers --Nerves, Burnout, Stress??? This is Normal!

Yes, I've been talking with dozens of students, some part-timers taking February for the first time, others repeating February having not passed the July bar exam.  And either way, the consensus is the same: stress, burnout.  Totally normal.  It likely means you are on target.  

Listen, if you weren't working hard and worrying at least a bit, you would not be taking this thing seriously.  And, it's a tough exam.  It's sitting for days straight, with total focus, in a room full of anxiety, with anywhere from 13-20 or more substantive subjects swirling in your head.  It's not a walk in the park!

That said, you have earned this.  You are not getting up one day and deciding, "Oh, Gee, I think I'll take the bar exam this winter."  No way.  You have prepared and studied and struggled --and achieved-- for three to four years to earn the right to sit for this exam!  

Today is February 2d.  February is your month to pass the bar exam.  The work now is to turn all stress and nervousness into power, into strength.  Let your worries harden to steel determination.  You CAN do this!

Pace yourself.  And, if you are burned out, rest a bit.  Take a few more naps.  Put a reward into each day, and at least some fun evening off once a week (dinner, a movie, something that takes you away from bar fact patterns.)  Fatigue allows for stress to paralyze.  I want your stress to empower.  You can make that happen.

Remember, this is your exam to pass.  And, this is your month for it all to come together.  Slow and steady wins the race!  

10 Reasons Why People PASS the Bar Exam

10 Reasons Why People PASS the Bar Exam

Teaching Bar Review, we can see in moments when you are heading toward PASSing the Bar Exam. If this is your first bar or a repeat administration, read the following with care and do everything in your power to fall into all of these categories.

• 1.      You have decided you WANT to PASS!

You are taking an upcoming Bar Exam, so you decided you want to pass. You mean it.  Every line in your private thoughts underscores an emphatic: “I will pass this Bar Exam.”

If this is not your first exam, you are proud of the courage you have mustered to do it again and pass this time.  You have rid yourself of any thoughts resembling: “Those stupid graders just must not have seen what I wrote. I know it was all there. I’m not even going to go look at my old tests…” You have replaced such thoughts with: I will look critically at what I did and what I did not do last time, and I will take the steps necessary to pass this time.

You wouldn’t dream of thinking something like, “Well I only failed by a couple of MBE questions, so I’ll just focus on those and I’ll do fine.” No!  You are taking the exam again, so your focus is on a comprehensive study approach that covers everything that’s tested on your bar exam.  You may give more attention to certain subjects than others (perhaps more attention to MBE subjects than essay-only subjects) but you are studying everything, carefully.

            You have not set yourself up to fail. You NEVER say anything like:

              --“I’ll just try it out and see what the test is like.” (NO!)

             --“I’m too busy to study now, but I’ll knock it out last minute. I always do.” (Not even                            close!)

              --“I can always take it again, right?” (Uh, NOT!!!!)

You do not bother yourself now with exactly what you will do with your law degree after you pass.  You want to PASS, you are going for it to PASS, and you’ll figure out later, after you PASS, what job or jobs you want to pursue –selecting from the myriad of choices that you know will be available to you!

• 2.      You set your priorities in line with your decision to PASS.

You are someone who studies when your schedule says to study.  Period. You treat every study  appointment with yourself as if it were an appointment at a specialist’s office, someone respected world-wide, someone you’ve waited six months to see, someone who has the cure/treatment you desperately need. 

Your priorities are studying, sleeping, eating right and exercising.  You have put off everything that can wait until after the Bar Exam until then --after the Bar Exam.

 

• 3.      You have a study plan.

You have a bar exam business plan.  In it, you have made a commitment to taking a reputable full service bar review (Kaplan/PMBR, BarPassers or BarBri for instance) --and taking out loans if you need to in order to pay for such a course, and to taking any supplemental courses that will help you succeed (PASS and/or PMBR, for example).  You have arranged for time off from work, and childcare if you have children.  You know how you will get it done –big picture.

• 4.      You have a study schedule.

You have calendared exactly how you will implement your study plan, each day.  You have calendared what you will study and where, each and every day during bar review.  You have done this by fusing the calendar of your (highly reputable) bar review program, with your personal calendar.  You have chosen a spot where you can work and focus. And, you have “posted” your schedule (on the fridge or on your office door), somewhere visible so that everyone who seeks some of your time knows when you are studying (and when you are not studying and can give them some attention).  

• 5.      You have eliminated or reduced distractions.

You don’t answer texts, emails or phone calls while you are studying.  You focus.  You don’t go into chat rooms to worry about what is predicted to be on the exam.  You focus.  (You get the idea.  If it’s not helping you pass, eliminate it entirely or at least reduce its effect on taking away your time, energy, and focus.)

• 6.      You look things up that you don’t understand.  You learn before you memorize.  

You can explain all the relevant rules, simply and clearly, to someone with no legal background.  If you can’t, you look stuff up until you can. 

You do not stress when you get answers wrong in practice questions; you learn from studying the sample answers –always focusing on improvement!

• 7.      You avoid negative people.

You recognize the “the negative voices,” and you avoid them.  They may come in the form of people you love or total strangers.  They may be blunt and belittling ("Why do you think you are smart enough to be a lawyer?).  They may be passively destructive ("Why are you away from your desk?  If you keep taking time off like this, you'll never pass.")  They may be experienced lawyers reminiscing with their "bar exam horror stories." 

Too many people share their negativity.  Why? For some, it's because they simply don't know how to be positive.  For others, it's because they are genuinely afraid for you and aren't capable of positive reinforcement.  But for you right now, on the road to success, it doesn't matter why.  So don’t waste time or energy trying to understand anything negative; just step away. Surround yourself with positive voices.  Anyone with a less-than-supportive message, you put off, at least until after the bar, and perhaps beyond...

• 8.      You have handled all the details.

You have the clock you will bring into the exam.  You have read all the directions on what you may bring in with you and how (you know about clear plastic bags).  You have made all your hotel reservations ahead of time, and paid all your bills. 

You are not sitting in the bar exam distracted by whether bills were paid, the dog was fed, or your own feeling cold because you forgot to dress in layers. 

You have handled it all –now all you have to do is PASS the Bar!

• 9.      You are routinely doing practice tests in all areas to be tested.

Every day, you do practice tests under timed conditions.  After completing practice tests, you compare and contrast your answers to sample answers, taking away from all your practice sessions concrete ways to improve. You have trained to work in 3-4 hour blocks so you are prepared for the depth of concentrated time you must be on and in high gear during the Exam.

• 10.    You have planned something FUN after you take (PASS!) the Exam.

You are taking yourself (and perhaps someone you love) to Tahiti (or another special vacation spot) or treating yourself to something you have always wanted, the day after the bar exam.

You have a plan in place for an amazing reward to acknowledge all your hard work, and your success!!!

 

 

Trying to figure out why you are re-taking the February bar exam?

An older but very popular post follows.  Use it to see if you can figure out what went wrong and how to pass this February!!!

 10 Reasons Why People Fail the Bar Exam

With decades of experience teaching bar review and guiding students to success on bar exams nationwide, I can talk with people and often determine the reasons they failed the bar exam.  Often, it's one of the ten reasons below. 

Note: If this is your first Bar Exam, read the following with care; do everything in your power NOT to fall into any one of these categories. 

1. You were not worried enough. 

You got by in law school—maybe not top of your class, but you passed all your classes and graduated, so you think you can and will get by now. "It can't be that tough," you think, picturing people clearly not as bright as you who have passed.

Wrong!  The bar exam is that tough. It is a whole different ball game, physically and mentally, from law school finals.  It lasts two or three full days, not a few hours. You will be exhausted, more tired than you ever were in law school. Second, it is far more material to learn and memorize than you have ever had to deal with on a single exam or set of finals in law school. Third, the anxiety level is much higher. People around you are terribly stressed out, and rightly so since so much of peoples' futures ride on the exam’s outcome.

What to do?  Don't start panicking but do get with the program! Work hard, really hard, now; relax when you pass. If you're working while studying, realize that you may not be able to do it all. Think about taking out a bar loan so you can give the Bar exam two totally concentrated months of full time study.  (You are worth it!  Don’t be penny-wise and pound foolish when it comes to an investment in you.)

Tell everyone and everything except studying, sleeping, eating well and exercising, "No," until after the bar exam.

2. You are too worried. 

You are filled with so much anxiety that you cannot relax enough to learn the material. You have a lot to study, and you are right to be concerned, but you cannot absorb the law if you are completely stressed. So, stop. Sleep more. Take breaks. Do deep relaxation and physical exercise. You cannot study effectively for 20 hours a day, and you don't need to in order to pass. Just be diligent, disciplined and give it a good 6-10 hour day. Remember: slow and steady wins the race. 

Also, realize you are dealing with more material, more subjects, but the depth of analysis is not nearly as intense as a law school final or law review article. (Note, in a state like California, this is especially true on essay-only subjects. MBE subjects tend to be tested in more detail than subjects for which you only have to write an essay answer.) 

You are not trying to be Justice Holmes or have your Bar Exam answers published in the Harvard Law Review. You just want to pass.

Lose the worries and focus on the learning. 

3.  You have not learned the law well enough. 

Did you brief cases in law school or buy canned briefs? Do you really know and understand what a case is—what the difference is between a holding and dicta?  If you did not do your own work, you will need to really train hard on the skills pieces to do well on performance tests.

How about the substantive law?  Did you learn the various exceptions to the warrant requirement? All of them?  Do you understand res judicata and collateral estoppel?  Do you know what an easement is? Do you understand UCC Section 2207? 

 If you don't REALLY get all subjects that will be tested on the bar exam, it is OK to admit that. You can learn a lot now, before it's too late. But don't set yourself up to fail.  Don't pretend that you need not really understand concepts.  You must.  The better you understand all the rules, the easier it will be to issue spot, and analyze--to write effective essay answers and choose the correct answers on MBEs. 

Want to test yourself? Take any concept you are not sure you get, and explain it to someone who is not a lawyer.  (You have two minutes.  Go!)   Can you explain it? If you can, chances are you get it.  If you can’t hit the books again!!

4. You are the Dreamer.

You are going beyond the scope of the fact patterns. You read into things. You assume facts not in evidence.

Read slowly and force yourself to stay awake. Touch each word.  Recall what you read, take notes, and then analyze the facts thoroughly and carefully. Stay away from saying, "But what if ..." and trying to change or not accept the facts.  "What if the party were an adult?, you wonder." If the facts say the party is a minor, work with that. Why bother with the "what ifs?"  Analyze the facts and law accordingly. The examiners have given you specific facts to trigger specific discussable issues.  In essay questions and on MBEs, use the facts that are given to you.  Period.  End of story.   (On PTs, you may need to question facts. That is another story altogether.  If you need help on PTs, go to http://www.passlaw.com/ptsample.htm) 

5.  You have weak reading comprehension skills. 

You really don't understand what you are reading. Either you are nervous, trying to read too fast, or you have not trained your reading skills thoroughly enough. The Bar Exam, like all standardized tests, is largely a test of reading comprehension. Your reading must be in top shape to pass. 

Do lots of practice tests and study the model answers. Figure out what you did wrong. Re-read instructions. Also, if you want a good exercise: try reading and summarizing in one to three sentences, all the articles in the opinion section of a daily newspaper (or online news journal)  - this will train your skills and keep you informed at the same time!

6. You are a Practicing Attorney in another Jurisdiction. 

You are licensed to practice in another state, and trying to get licensed in a new state. You may have been practicing law for years, and yet, for some reason, can't seem to pass this Bar exam. Perhaps you are angry at having to take the Exam in the first place. You are an attorney, after all. You are licensed. You have done your time. You shouldn't be asked to have to take another test. It's been a while since you were a student and you resent this imposition. You are also knowledgeable in the real world.

Your issue? You know too much. You think of too many practical issues and get hung up on them. You need to pretend you are back in school. Think BIG issues, and write a complete analysis. This is not shorthand to help you resolve a client's problem. This is long hand. Give a complete analysis to prove your skills for the grader.

Think back to algebra and geometry courses where one would fail, even with the right answers, if one did not "show the math."  The bar examiners want to see and follow your logic.  Show them all the steps of your thinking.  Make it simple to follow your analysis!

Also, lay off the jargon unless terms are used in the problem. Don't use flashy terms to impress the grader; you won't –no "heretofore," "the party of the first part" "said party" or "said issue." Just write a simple IRAC (issue, rule, analysis, conclusion) in short but complete, plain English sentences.

7. Your presentation is sloppy; you type with too many typos or write illegibly. 

If the graders can't read what you wrote, they won't. They will not assume you wrote the right things. They will not give you the benefit of the doubt.  Give them headings.  Give them space. Don’t crunch words, lines, or paragraphs together. Don’t expect them to go looking for your important points.  Make it easy for them to see.  Make your exam answer “reader-friendly.”

8. You don't manage time well enough. 

You didn't bring a clock with you to the Exam, or you didn't look at the clock you had. Either way, time ran away without you. You were caught with moments to go and unanswered or barely answered questions.

Missing a large portion of even one essay or PT is enough to fail you. Practice, under timed conditions, with a big, easy-to-read clock.

9. You are not ready to be a lawyer. 

Maybe you went straight from college to law school, and are still a little overwhelmed. Maybe you love your job and know too many lawyers who hate theirs and are fearful of joining their ranks. Or maybe you are discouraged by how hard it is to find jobs today.  Perhaps you are not even certain yet that you want to be a lawyer, or be responsible for having someone else's life or financial future in your hands.

These are common sentiments.  They are logical and reasonable thoughts.  But they are thoughts you should put off until you pass the bar exam.  You went to law school.  You graduated.  If you are taking the Bar Exam, take it to pass.  If you are unsure whether you want to be a lawyer afterward, embrace that.  It’s perfectly reasonable.  There are dozens if not hundreds or thousands of jobs you might pursue in which a law degree will only be an asset.  Remember, your first job is not your only job.  You will have lots of opportunities to try new work –especially if you are successful now.  If you already have a good job, perhaps you might decide now that you will give yourself some time after you take and pass the Bar Exam before accepting a law-related job. Don't commit ahead of time to a job you are not ready to accept. Give yourself time to look around for something you really want.  Remember, though, whatever you do, passing the bar exam will provide a stamp of credibility, and you have invested so much already.  Finish this piece of your journey.  Do it now.  

2012 is your exam to pass!!!!!!!!!

10. You were simply unlucky. 

Some people do just have a bad day, family problems, physical accidents or other curve balls that occur with the worst of bad timing. If this is you, please, just climb back on the saddle, and do it again!

 

 

Are you repeating the bar exam this February?

Have you taken a hard look, a careful look, at what you did or did not do last bar exam,  Do you know exactly where you need to improve and have you been training those skills and filling the gaps in your substantive knowledge?

Too many people re-taking the February bar are still searching for miracle cures, asking around to see who might be able to make the quick fix.  No one can. You must do the work yourself.  You must set your mind to doing as many practice exams as possible and studying the sample answers carefully to see how you can improve.  You must see this for yourself.  You are the one, not your tutor or professor, who goes in to sit for the exam.  You must learn how to improve.  Keep at it.

Dogged persistence!

What do you do when you don't want to study? How do you get motivated?

READERS: Write in!  

As we prepare for the weekend, there is no time to lose.  Everyone taking this February's bar exam must maximize the hours ahead, make the most of every minute.  

Whether you are taking practice tests, reviewing lectures, studying flashcards ---or exercising, preparing some healthy meals or trying to get a good night's sleep, you are moving forward.  Now is your time.

In February, you will get a surge of adrenalin. But this last weekend of January, you may feel like you are dragging.  Get up.  Get moving.  Sing a motivational song.  (One of my favorites, an oldy but a goody for bar motivation, is "You Can Get it if You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff.)  

Read a bar exam essay and the sample answers aloud!  Let the analysis sink in.  Get yourself in study mode now!  And have a productive weekend!!!!!