Brian, Author at Make This Your Last Time

December 9, 2017June 4, 2026 - 30 Comments

How to Systematically Identify All the Relevant Issues in a Bar Exam Essay Using “Issue Checking” (Stop “Issue Spotting”)

Be honest now. Imagine you’re mentoring a starry-eyed 1L starting law school. How would you explain how to “spot the issues” in an essay? How exact and specific can you get?

Is it just a mystical process where the crystal ball in your head somehow divines issues from the heavens?

On its surface, a bar exam essay is simply a string of IRACs (easier said than done of course). Prep companies and law schools tend to focus on the “R” and “A” and assume that you already know how to find the “I” naturally.

That’s funny (not really) because an issue that’s never raised, or an irrelevant issue, is completely worthless.

Unlike multiple choice with an objectively correct answer, essays are subject to the whims of the grader. Getting (“spotting”) the correct issues is the easiest way to quickly signal to the grader that you’re at least discussing the right things.

But has anyone actually taught you how to be able to spot those issues? They give you the IRAC framework and leave you in the dust to figure it out. How did those law school exams turn out?

Issue spotting is essential. And it’s a learnable skill you can practice for your bar essay preparation, even if your law school grades didn’t reflect it (like mine).

That’s why I’m going to explain it to you in more detail than this “tip”:

To spot issues, try your best.

Let’s try something more reliable, shall we? There’s a subtle difference between “issue spotting” and the technique I’m about to share.

December 2, 2017January 24, 2026 - 30 Comments

Improve Your MBE Score: 3 Rules for Effective MBE Preparation

Ah yes, the MBE, everyone’s favorite multiple-guess section…

1.8 minutes per question for 6 hours
Paranoia from seeing 7 of the same letter in a row
50/50 choices that make you go, “Damn, what’s with this ultimate decision?”

Up to half of your score hangs on a series of letters. I don’t mean essays, which are also a series of letters.

Wow! That sounds important. So how do you practice and prepare to improve your MBE score?

That’s actually the good thing about the MBE. It’s relatively objective and quantitative. This means that, while the MBE is formidable, improving on the MBE is a very improvable and figure-out-able portion of the bar.

Keep these rules in mind to go from “multiple guess” to “multiple choice”:

November 18, 2017May 26, 2025 - 15 Comments

The Barbri Regret: Is It Really Working for You?

Bar exam results. Tens of thousands across the country face them time and time again. Hope and despair, rinse and repeat.

You endure the onslaught of “aww… you got this” and “I’m sure you passed!” for weeks and months. Like can we just agonize in PEACE?

Waiting is the hardest part. Anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty squirt into your heart every time they think of the moment of truth. Uncertainty is being locked in a padded room alone with your hopes and worries.

Then… the ruthless truth. This is the result of all your work, condensed into one phrase: “You were not successful on the exam.” Someone out there deemed that your efforts weren’t enough.

How do you face your family and friends? How do you face yourself?

You want to “trust the process.” But does something need to be changed?

"The more I review, the more I realize what a waste of time the big bar prep programs are. . . . Never will I 'trust the process.'"

August 29, 2017December 19, 2025 - 16 Comments

BarEssays Review: Practicing Essays Is Not Enough

Ever wonder what you’re doing with your life? How you even got into this mess?

And by life, I’m talking about California essays (and performance tests) that seem to need a beautiful mind to unravel. Because that’s your life now. It should be. I’ve been there. So has Gabrielle:

(If you’re taking the MEE or another bar, you may want to stop reading when you get to the table of contents.)

Part of why the written portion of the California bar is so difficult is what they demand out of your essays. The hypos are dense and packed with a landmine of issues for you to figure out under constant pressure.

This is one of several reasons why the California bar is considered the hardest bar exam in the country. This isn’t up for debate. You can try, but I will win.

June 24, 2017June 16, 2026 - 3 Comments

How Do You Become Confident in Your Bar Prep?

Are you panicking? Feeling crazy like a possessed head of lettuce (which doesn’t even make sense because it’s just that crazy)? Feeling stuck and overwhelmed?

If so, these are perfectly valid reactions to the daunting task before you. You’re not alone in feeling this way!

It’s OK if you don’t feel confident about your bar prep. As a guy, I can understand being pressured to “be confident” and “be yourself.” That kind of advice is so vague and misleading I don’t even know where to begin.

But if you want to rant to me or ask me for “any advice?” so you can somehow receive a magical response with the one weird trick that will solve all your problems and make you feel a little happy for more than three minutes… If you’re hoping for that feeling of confidence to be infused in the form of a green-juice smoothie…

Cease.

That’s not happening today. This is a letter to the you who is willing to develop confidence in your bar prep.

If you’re not ready or willing to generate that feeling from within yourself, you can come back to this later. Or never—who says you need to feel confident with your bar prep anyway?

We both know the inconvenient truth:

You have ambitious goals, yet you want validation—permission even. You’re not sure you can do this whole bar thing because your life story is that special and unique. If a prisoner of 32 years can do it, what’s your excuse?
You’re desperate for guidance and help and what seems like therapy sessions. Yet even if you finally get a flash of inspiration, you find yourself unable or unwilling do anything with it when tomorrow comes.
You want to see your name on the pass list, but there’s a part of you that wants to skip ahead and fantasize about your future self. It’s like how a couple wants to be married already but not get married (big fancy wedding turns out to be a logistical nightmare designed more for the relatives than the couple).

Or what do I know? Maybe you’re already collected and know what you’re doing. Great!

“Easy for you to say! I’m like this because I’m not confident about this in the first place!” you say as you sob grossly. Ah yes, the classic catch-22. Can’t get job without experience, can’t get experience without job.

Being coddled isn’t going to make you confident either. It’ll just make you complacent. I don’t want to make you complacent like when your friends hit “like” on your generic selfies for no reason.

I want you to pass the bar and continue to succeed after that too.