LAST MINUTE BAR EXAM TIPS

I know this is a little late, but better late than never. For those who are taking the bar for the first or millionth time this summer, here are some last minute things I did the second time that made a difference for me!!! **Disclaimer: This is what worked for me, take tips at your own risk!

1) Study in your best environment.

Not everybody studies the same way. For example, I'm a late sleeper. I like to wake up late and study till the wee hours of the morning. Trying to study early in the morning the first time just didn't work for me. Also, if you're a quiet studier, don't let yourself get dragged to a coffee shop. Or if you hate libraries like I do, don't give in and go to one.

2) Take your vitamins

Let's face it, you're going to eat bad and you're not going to go to the gym. This is particularly true towards the end of the process. The gym can wait, get your vitamins instead!! I recommend "StressTabs" in your vitamin aisle!!!

3) Don't write out full essays (and don't use Barbri's at all)- Especially this late in the game

Barbri's essays are awful. Their answer outlines are even worse. Do yourself a favor, go to the CA bar website and read old essays . Then issue spot and outline them and compare them to the bar's sample answers. Unless you barely made it to a barely accredited law school, you should know how to write complete sentences. You don't need to waste time practicing that. Outline instead!!!!

Also, get an account at Baressays.com. It's not too late for this! It gives you real essays that failed and you can compare them and see what is required to get a certain grade!

4) Get a hotel room (even if the exam location is close)

You would think that you might be more comfy at home but there is something to be said for being in an all "Bar Exam Zone" where everyone in the entire hotel is feeling the same emotions and giving everybody else the same considerations.

5) Stop answering your phone a week in advance

Everybody else's drama can wait a week, not to sound horrible, but unless someone died it really can't be as important as the bar exam!

6) Go swimming at the hotel pool right after the exam

This may sound silly, but it just washes away the day's exhaustion and leaves your prepared to study some more. And if you took the bar in the 113 degree weather of Ontario, CA, you will realize how important this is. It kind of just washes away the day.

7) Forget flashcards

This was a monumental waste of time the first time.

8) Constantly shorten your outlines!

For the exam, take your short outlines and your conviser to the hotel for studying. You don't need any other Bar Bri book!!!!

9) Don't use earplugs during the bar if you didn't use them in law school

They never worked for me, the bar was not the time to give them a second chance.

10) Don't rehash the day's mistakes.

It's over. Done. Final. So forget about it and use the time to study for the next day.

11) Set up a time limit for how late you are going to study and then put the notes down. I'm not a big advocate of a ton of sleep in general, but even if you're not sleeping, you could be watching tv or relaxing

12) Eat a smart breakfast. No bacon and eggs. Nothing greasy or heavy. Good suggestions are a protein bar and banana or a PB&J sandwich.

13) Up the caffeine factor a little more than your usual intake. Yes, you will need it. Even if you're jittery, jittery is better than asleep

14) Study a little in the morning before the exam. Don't believe the idea that last minute cramming doesn't help. There were several things on the exam that I had only learned a couple minutes before it.

15) Know with confidence that if the kid next to you says after the exam that it was easy, he probably failed.

16) Do not assume that just because a subject appeared on the first day of essays, it won't be on the other day of essays. Don't rule anything out!!

Overall, you have to remember that you have been a student for a really long time and that you generally know what works for you. Now is not the time to adapt other people's study habits, etc. It is time for you to do what you've always done which got you to law school. The bar exam is so different from law school exams that you almost have to take yourself back to the student you were before law school, when you still had an intact spirit and some hope and attack this exam. The first time I took it, I saw it as an opponent I was playing defense against and any good competitor knows that a defensive game is a losing one. The second time I really did take a different view on the exam and wrote offensively. I wrote every argument that came to mind, I didn't stop to doubt myself. I kept hydrated and caffeinated and came through with a passing grade!!

GOOD LUCK!