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Bar Exam Tips: Stop Worrying & Ask Mom to Pray

Posted Jul 28, 2009 9:02 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Law grads taking the bar exam this week should stop worrying—but it wouldn’t hurt to appeal to a higher power, according to a blogger who has written five tips for test takers.

Among the tips, posted at Kevin O’Keefe’s Real Lawyers Have Blogs:

• Relax. “Don't be one the nervous nellies you'll see carrying bar review materials damn near to the testing room door and studying during breaks and at night,” O’Keefe writes. “Throw those bar review materials in a Dumpster tonight.”

• Don’t rehash the questions. “Stay the heck away from anyone who wants to talk about the exam,” says O’Keefe. “All you'll hear is how people analyzed the issue totally different than you. Who cares? It happens all the time in law school essay tests you passed. The bar exam is no different.”

• Ask Mom to pray.

Comments

1.

tim
Jul 28, 2009 9:41 AM CST

Don’t stress over it.  If you put in the time you will pass.  I took it in Feb since I did an internship out of state that put me behind a few months.  When I went to take it in February, there were a lot of the smart bar review folks taking it for the second time. 

You have to be top 10 to ace the bar.  if you follow the bar review materials you will pass.

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2.

JN
Jul 28, 2009 12:18 PM CST

I had the unfortunate (but hilarious in hindsight) occasion of having a proctor (a kind older woman who then smiled and excused herself) break wind audibly as I was finishing up the multistate. I was so giddy to be done with the exam that my sense of humor delved into that of my former nine-year-old self. I’m pretty sure my laughter, while silent, was obvious from my shaking shoulders.

But, yes, throw your books out (or put them aside, just in case) the night before. Have a cocktail with a friend. Relax. Don’t bring materials to the room. You know it by now.

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3.

tim
Jul 28, 2009 1:07 PM CST

meant to say don’t have to be in to 10 to ace

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4.

Pig Vomit
Jul 28, 2009 2:58 PM CST

And ask dad to PAY!

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5.

Jen Olak
Jul 28, 2009 9:31 PM CST

There were some funny Bar Exam tips on the Nutmeg Lawyer Blog.  I particularly enjoyed the tip about not focusing on the sobbing.

http://thenutmeglawyer.blogspot.com/

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6.

Guano Dubango
Jul 29, 2009 4:47 AM CST

And don’t forget to “relax” after the exam.  I had the best loving of my life the day after the bar exam.  I had neglected my girlfriend for a month before the exam, because I did not want to be distracted.  We made up for lost time the day after the exam.  Very nice.  I recommend it highly.

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7.

EZ
Jul 30, 2009 9:38 AM CST

Relax and be confident; listen to your favorite upbeat or inspiring song a few times right before going in; take a few minutes between essay questions to relax and refocus.  But most importantly, be confident - there is usually no single correct answer on the essay questions - the graders just want you to demonstrate a reasonably coherent thought process. Finally, don’t bother to rehash the exam afterwords.

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8.

8hourstiltheweekend
Jul 31, 2009 6:41 AM CST

Get the old test practice questions from the NCBE and do them all!!!  I ordered them and didn’t do them until the night before the exam.  Many of the questions were on the exam and I am sooooo glad I decided to look at them at the last minute. Looking back, I should have looked at them a week before the exam and not spent so much time on BarBri stuff.

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9.

Richard Warburton
Jul 31, 2009 6:55 AM CST

Timing is critical. Pace your self. It is better to six essay questions OK that to do 2 really well. Practice well in advance, take all available bar review courses provided by the law school. On the night before, see a movie or do something fun and get a good nights sleep. After than relax, and you’ll do fine.

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10.

Deborah
Jul 31, 2009 7:52 AM CST

I took BarBri and didn’t pass. Then I took Pieper (in NY) and passed. I also gave up using my laptop to take notes in bar review and decided to write them by hand. Big decision, and it worked. I highly suggest doing as many sample essays under time pressure as you can. Lastly, try to relax and not over-stress about the exam. It will not be the end of your life if you don’t pass the first time, and you will do better if you can convince yourself of that.

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11.

Donna
Jul 31, 2009 10:19 AM CST

Eat what you normall eat, and drink what you normally drink (unless it is alcohol) - nothing more!  I had to go to the bathroom THREE times during the morning session of the multi state and didn’t answer 17 of the 100 questions.  It was unbelieveable.  I cried over lunch and went back into the afternoon session and somehow managed to pass…. I thought orange juice (extra vitamins I guess)  would somehow help me concentrate better!!

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12.

Dan
Jul 31, 2009 10:42 AM CST

Don’t let an essay question topic that appears on the exam and that you did not study in Bar Review, throw you off your game. Bar examiners generally throw in a somewhat obscure area of law on at least one essay question. The purpose seems to be to see how examinees handle a subject that they may not have studied in depth. Don’t freak-out and do your best to answer based on your analysis of the question. Remember - most if not all of the other examinnees haven’t studied that material either!

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13.

CTV
Jul 31, 2009 10:55 AM CST

Dress in layers.  They had the AC cranked up in our exam room and I was right under a vent.  They wouldn’t let me move; I froze the first day even though it was late July.  The next day I came in with jeans, a T-shirt, sweatshirt, scarf, hat and mittens.  Ridiculous, but at least I could focus on the exam and not my chattering teeth!

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14.

LV
Jul 31, 2009 2:59 PM CST

Have a stash of sleep medication prescribed by your doctor.  If you don’t need it, fine.  But I did not sleep a wink for about a week before the bar exam until I finally called my doctor hysterical. 
I woke up the day of the multistate with a raging case of the flu because of the lack of sleep.  It was fabulous to try to take the exam while falling asleep and throwing up.  I had to have a proctor assigned to me so I could run to the bathroom without checking my test in.  The poor little lady in the bathroom felt so bad for me!  By the grace of god I skated by.

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15.

Professor Chris
Jul 31, 2009 4:04 PM CST

Two things: stick strictly to a time management plan and don’t talk to ANYONE.  You have the whole rest of your career to make friends with other attorneys, and anything anyone is going to say during the bar exam is probably more likely to erode your confidence and make you second guess yourself than prove helpful.  You should look at like this: you’ve committed yourself to a study regimen, and you should let that play out (for better or worse) without distraction.

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16.

Doug
Jul 31, 2009 7:39 PM CST

Time management!  For the essay portion, you don’t need perfect answers but you do need answers for each of the questions.

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