Category: Strategies

Posted on - 5 Comments on Bar Prep Wisdom from Succulents

Bar Prep Wisdom from Succulents

I went to a succulents gardening workshop the other day 🌱

I figured succulents wouldn’t wither like the flowers I tried arranging before. There’s a limit to how much talent one person can have, I guess.

But there’s no limit to how much I think about bar prep because that’s what I started thinking about when I was listening to the instructor 🤦🏻‍♂️

4 relevant lessons and also photos of my bald-looking succulent bowl:

(First lesson: “You have to kill a lot of plants to be an expert.” 🤯)

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Posted on - 2 Comments on I spoke with Mary Basick & Tina Schindler at a UC Irvine bar prep panel. Here’s what they said.

I spoke with Mary Basick & Tina Schindler at a UC Irvine bar prep panel. Here’s what they said.

I sat in on a panel at UC Irvine with Professors Mary Basick and Tina Schindler the other month.

If you’ve spent any time looking into CBX resources, these legends have probably crossed your radar. You might already be using one of their co-authored books Essay Exam Writing for the California Bar Exam or California Performance Test Workbook.

After an hour in that room, I got to confirm what moves the needle in bar prep.

My favorite moment:

Me: “Well, you learn to swim by getting in the water, not studying water.”
Tina: “I love that.”

🥺

My notes and insights from the talk:

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Posted on - No Comments on MBE Tips and Tools (+ Best Supplements)

MBE Tips and Tools (+ Best Supplements)

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

  • 1.8 minutes per question for 6 hours
  • Paranoia from seeing seven C’s in a row on your answer sheet
  • 50/50 choices that make you go, “Damn, what’s with this ultimate decision?”

Up to 50% of your bar exam score hangs on a series of letters. I don’t mean essays and performance tests, which are also a series of letters.

Wow! Sounds important. (So are these 3 high-priority areas that take up 21% of the MBE.)

For some people, the MBE comes easily, while it seems impossible for others.

While the MBE is a formidable portion of the bar, improving on it is figure-out-able.

So how do you improve your MBE score? Here are:

  • 3 quick tactics you can try RIGHT NOW
  • 3 study strategies for long-term success on the MBE
  • How to implement these tactics and strategies
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Posted on - 45 Comments on Should You “Trust the Process”? You’re the Dean of Your Own Bar Exam Studies

Should You “Trust the Process”? You’re the Dean of Your Own Bar Exam Studies

Here’s something that people who pass the bar exam never say:

“All I had to do was listen to all the bar course lectures and take a lot of notes. Just complete the course and you’ll pass!”

Sometimes we think “doing whatever it takes” to pass the bar exam means exhausting yourself and throwing 1000 hours and even more dollars into a black hole. (But it doesn’t have to be expensive.)

Or following some unsustainable cookie-cutter schedule that doesn’t care if you have a job or a family. Good luck if you fall behind by one day.

Or letting a perfectly fine morning slip through by religiously sitting through 4 hours of droning lectures. Worse, pausing lectures to fill in all the notes.

Then not even remembering 99% of it.

Rewinding the video for the 5th time because you can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire

I remember those days. All of those things above are things I stopped doing on my second attempt at preparing for the bar exam.

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Posted on - 15 Comments on Why You Feel Exhausted Studying for the Bar Exam

Why You Feel Exhausted Studying for the Bar Exam

Let me guess. Is this your idea of bar prep?

  • Listen to lectures while sitting still like a statue
  • Pause to take notes and fill in the blanks (doubling the time it takes to finish the lectures)
  • Re-read giant outlines you highlighted last week (osmosis didn’t work) before falling asleep with the lights on

It’s like you’re experiencing the most annoying part about traveling—sitting for hours next to someone who takes up the armrest even though they got the window seat.

And repeating this every day. Is this what Limbo is like?

You’re drained and demoralized because you’re trying to “study” but aren’t feeling a sense of progress as words and days pass by you.

But why are you trying to do this the hard way?

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