Do you have a "study schedule" ???

---SAMPLE STUDY SCHEDULE FOR FULL-TIME STUDYING---

Choose locations and topics. Know where you will be studying and what substantive area of law you will be studying in that location on each day between now and the bar exam. (Yes, you can adapt your schedule, but you should have a plan now.) 

Wake up however long in advance of 9 am that you need for breakfast, newspaper, exercise (and whatever else is in your morning routine), and getting to your study location.

Be at your study spot by 9am every day, ready to complete 33 MBEs in one hour.  (Use PMBR or other reliable materials for your practice MBE questions.)  Then spend 1.5 hours reviewing explanatory answers. Write flashcards as needed for rules you missed. 

Read/study outlines for rules you missed because you do not know or understand them. 

Note on outlines. Use outlines actively as resources; don’t just glaze over skimming them.   Often, it’s a better use of your time to work with practice tests, checklists, charts, your own summary outlines, flashcards, etc. than it is to read long outlines. 

Stretch and continue work until 1pm.  (Get used to working in 4 hour blocks so that focusing for 3 hours in bar exams blocks becomes “easy” and comfortable.  The more each practice day looks like a “bar day,” the easier time you will have on the exam.

Outline or write out one essay; study model answer, do flashcards for rules you missed, (look up rules you don’t understand as needed.).

1-1:30 Exercise –perhaps take a walk outside. (Some people find it helpful to listen to law tapes/recordings while exercising.) 

1:30 Eat lunch and Relax

2:30-6:30. Listen to bar review lectures. Take notes along with substantive lectures, and complete hypotheticals along with workshop lectures, in the subject you are working on that day.

(It is often helpful early on to focus on one substantive subject per day or for a couple of days if it’s an area you are weak in.  As you near the exam, work on mixing subjects up together.)

Write out one practice essay in full, and review and study model answer. 

On weekends, continue working through bar review lectures and workshops including performance test workshops and completing practice tests as time permits. Do one performance test each Sunday afternoon.  Study topics you did not understand that you identified as problem areas during your practice testing, looking up rules as needed. Stop by 7pm each night for dinner and R & R each evening.  Go to sleep early so body clock is on “bar time.”

---SAMPLE STUDY SCHEDULE FOR WORKING STUDENT---

6:30 am wakeup.  Do 17 MBEs in 30 minutes.  (PMBR materials are recommended.)  Spend 1.5 hours reviewing explanatory answers.

Write flashcards for rules you missed.  Review bar outlines for rules you do not know or understand.  Again, active studying is best; use time to work with rather than just skim over material –in other words, do lots of practice tests and use outlines to look up rules you do not understand rather than simply reading long outlines.

Work, 9-12

Lunch 12-1 Outline one essay while you eat your lunch.

Work, 1-5

Stay at work (or near work) in quiet office space or a nearby library or coffee shop, and from 5-7 pm write out one full essay, then study model answer. 

8-10pm listen to bar review substantive and/or approach lectures and do workshop hypotheticals along with lectures.

Weekends study topics you did not understand, as needed.  Do a full “Bar Day” both Saturday and Sunday ---working about 9-6 with an hour for lunch and then taking off for R & R in the evenings.

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P.S.  Tell us about your study schedules!!!

Note: Study Plan vs. Study Schedule.  A Study Plan is a comprehensive road map to all that you will do between now and the exam to succeed; your Study Schedule is what each day will look like. Look for future posts and your bar review course for how to create an effective "study plan."

Draft a Study Schedule for yourself, and post it for those you live with.  Stick to it.  Review it weekly and revise it as necessary to be sure what you are sticking to is working for you.  Below are some sample times and ideas of what you might do during those times.  These are ideas only; you must have a study schedule that works for you.