MBE | Make This Your Last Time

April 23, 2023January 4, 2025 - 2 Comments

Struggling with the MBE? Don’t Gloss Over These Tips

For the MBE, I often see bar takers trying to seek endless questions and debating minutiae like AdaptiBar vs UWorld.

Instead, you want to know the rules cold. This doesn’t just mean memorizing the general rule. It means knowing sub-issues like the elements, exceptions, possible defenses, and other nuances so you can hone in on and eliminate choices better.

The more nuanced your understanding of the rules, the clearer the choices, and the fewer ultimate 50/50 decisions you’ll be forced to make.

A relatively general understanding of the law can be enough for essays (as they are more about issue identification). The MBE is more focused on testing the specific ins and outs of the rules—and of course, knowing how to use those rules.

That’s how you could be one of those bar takers who are stellar at the written portion (essays and PT) but still struggle with the MBE.

But we can address this!

August 26, 2022March 3, 2025 - 11 Comments

AdaptiBar vs. UWorld MBE QBank: Which one should you get?

Not sure if AdaptiBar or UWorld is better for your MBE needs? Someone had a succinct dilemma about this:

Good dilemma (and choice of outlines). Here’s a breakdown of both and a summary table.

July 9, 2022November 16, 2024 - 1 Comment

101 Rules for Bar Exam Preparation

Here’s a list of 101 quick bullets on how to prepare for the bar exam.

Your answer is probably in here if you ever feel like asking vague questions like:

“Do you have any advice?” without any context
“Can you help?”
“Thoughts?”
“HELP!” “Let’s connect” (?)
Anything with more than three question marks or exclamation marks in a row unironically

If you have the Magicsheets & Approsheets bundle, you already have access to the exclusive pocket guide “17 Strategies to Get Un-stuck and Un-frustrated by the Bar Exam.”

I tried something even more straight to the point.

Why 101? I wanted to do something contrived like 100 and ended up with 1 more (say hi to your OCD for me). I’ll probably update this in the future. This is an amorphous and evolving draft. Nothing is set in stone. Things change. Things get better. Same with your bar prep.

Feel free to disagree with any point. Advice is autobiography. Advice is never one-size-fits-all. Take what you like and leave the rest.

If some rules seem contradictory, that’s where interesting things happen.

Let me know which parts you agree with, parts you disagree with, or contradictions you thought about on your own and resolved.

May 16, 2022February 9, 2024 - 1 Comment

How do Magicsheets and Approsheets fit into your other bar exam study materials?

There are a LOT of study supplements, resources, and outlines for bar prep. As time passes, more and more get added to your potential repertoire.

Sometimes, the sheer overwhelm causes bar takers to load up on all sorts of materials, attend every workshop, DM everyone offering something — spreading themselves so thin that they end up not using any of it!

The materials collect digital dust, and bar takers end up restarting at square one, exhausted. But “the great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” (Herbert Spencer)

I, too, offer study materials for the California Bar Exam and the Uniform Bar Exam. Here’s my answer to questions about them, including HOW to use them. This will be useful whether or not you use my material.

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022 - No Comments

Should you forget about essays and just focus on the MBE (“auto-pass” with the MBE)?

No, this approach has a few potential inaccuracies and dangers.

Below are four of the dangers and a better approach to take instead if you want to prioritize a few areas.